Ceritalah | Six days at sea aboard the Nggapulu, a ferry that’s Indonesia in microcosm
- The ship is one of 79 vessels operated by national ferry company Pelni that serve far-flung destinations in the sprawling archipelagic nation
For six days and five nights, the 146.5-metre-long craft, capable of carrying some 2,170 passengers, was also Team Ceritalah’s home as they travelled from Surabaya in East Java to Makassar, Bau Bau, Ambon, Banda Neira and Tual in the Kei Islands.
It’s a journey of almost 4,800 kilometres that crosses a stark geographical divide known as the Wallace Line, taking Team Ceritalah from one of the world’s most densely populated islands with its distinctly Asian combination of monkeys, elephants and tigers to the ravishing and rarely traversed waters just off the southern coast of Papua – home to an array of Australasian fauna and flora such as cockatoos, birds-of-paradise and marsupials.
From the moment passengers start boarding the towering ferry in a supremely chaotic rush of porters, luggage, crates and personal belongings, the Nggapulu became a microcosm of Indonesia itself.
There were Javanese, Sumatrans, Bugis – the ubiquitous traders from the archipelagic nation’s eastern half – Papuans and Ambonese. Family groups, newlyweds, traders and students rounded out the gamut of contemporary Indonesia.
