Enggano

Enggano..i can say i am in love with this island. The small remote island in the Indian Ocean. You can access this island from Bengkulu, the capital of Bengkulu province, Sumatra by ferry what so called "KM Raja Enggano". You can get this ferry at Pulau Bai, the Bengkulu Harbor, although this is not the proper ferry used for crossing the Indian Ocean, but it seems the government doesn"t care about it. Also, when the weather is nice you can get Enggano with this ferry from Bengkulu around 10-12 hours, but if the weather worse then it can be 16 hours. This ferry will take you from Pulau Bai harbor, Bengkulu to Kayapu, Enggano. It cost around Rp.33.650 (price in Nov.2008). You can rent room in the ferry for Rp.75 000 per person.
Going to Enggano it is better to prepare everything, include that you should set in your mind that you never know when will you can comeback to Bengkulu, since this ferry will go depend on the weather. Sometimes this ferry won"t go for days till the weather get better.
In Enggano, mostly use the rain water for bathing, cooking. Although there are rivers, but maybe the accessibility is not easy to get the river. The biggest village in Enggano is Malakoni which is the distric capital. You can get Malakoni from Kayapu around 3 hours driving, or around 2 hours by fisherman boat in the good weather.
The only conection to outside using mobile phone only available in Malakoni, but some people said that in Kaana you also can get the conection to outside island. Kaana is around 2 hours by motorbike from Kayapu. Kayapu is the only proper harbor for this island, the only available acces to outside island.
Coral reef in the southern Enggano mostly destroyed by illegal fishing, in the eastern some living coral still can be found. Fish are many, maybe because of the upwelling cover this island also.
Enggano is also famous of Birds, you can find so many different beautiful birds in this island. It is famous also with 'Ikan Asin" (salty fish), Emping Melinjo (chip made from Melinjo). Melinjo grows very well in Enggano with bigger fruit compare in the mainlain such as Sumatra or Java. What you can"t imagine is that benzin in Enggano is sooo expensive, it is about rp. 15 000 per liter when the price in Java about Rp.6000 for premium.
However, i love this island, it is still sooo beautiful..nature..You can find still rain forest here. Many beautiful view you can find here, no polution. However, you have to be carefull with MALARIA! don"t forget your mosquitos net, and take malaria pils. Although this is remote island, with many inocent people, but still don"t be so careless, everywhere there are still some bad people. Whatever, Enggano is worth to visit, and i hope i can go back to this island again someday..i love this island much with the people.