Indonesia’s answer to the Maldives is one of the best-kept island secrets

In 1998, fishermen diving for sea cucumbers in the azure depths of the waters around Indonesia’s Belitung Island noticed something curious through the clear shimmering water. Seventeen metres down: a cluster of antiquated ceramic jars and shards of barnacled broken pottery clumped together in the silty sandy depths like coral crafted by a ceramist.

On further inspection, and to the world’s profound delight, they had discovered a remarkably well-preserved ancient shipwreck – a 6.4-metre Arabian dhow, a fine example of the traditional wooden sailing vessels used on trade routes between China and the Middle East. Its cargo, spilling onto the ocean floor, was a treasure trove of Tang Dynasty artefacts – bronze mirrors, silver and gold vessels and 60,000 glazed bowls, plates, jugs and spice jars dating to 830AD. The discovery, in a watery grave untouched and unidentified for a millennium, became known as the Belitung Island Shipwreck.

Tanjung Kelayang Beach… “Indonesia’s Maldives.”Credit: Getty Images

I am first made aware of this enthralling story while enjoying dinner at an alfresco restaurant on Belitung Island’s Tanjung Kelayang beach. The setting is all rather perfect. Overhanging hibiscus trees, tealight-lit tables, my toes digging into the cool silica sand. Looking out to sea, a thin line of cloud is glowing an inky pinky orange, the setting sun making silhouettes of the offshore islands.

Kelayang beach, Belitung.Credit: Adobe

I’m dining on fresh-caught fish doused in turmeric, coconut and a local lime. It’s served with berego, a Belitung rice and sago snack. As I finish it, I notice the eye-catching ceramic dish underneath. How beautiful it is – the perfect souvenir. Where can I buy one?

My query is overheard by fellow diner Wakhyu Brata, who turns out to be the operations manager of Belitung’s Bluemind Experience tour company. He pulls up a seat at the table and regales me with stories about the Belitung Shipwreck (aka the Tang Shipwreck), of its remarkable excavation and how an exhibition of the discovery captivated audiences when it toured the world.

Replica ceramic treasures from the Belitung Shipwreck.Credit: Penny Watson

During our chat he hints that some of the original ceramic pieces discovered can still be found on the island. My dinner plate, a delicate pottery piece with a pale oyster-blue wash, is an excellent copy but “try taking a plate like that through Customs, and they won’t let you leave the island”, Brata says.

To be fair, leaving the island is not a top priority right now.

Belitung is located on the east coast of Sumatra in the Gaspar Strait where the South China and Java seas meet. Its north-west corner, where I’m staying, has been dubbed the “Seychelles of Indonesia” and “Indonesia’s Maldives”. I liken this heavenly beach paradise to a mini-Raja Ampat, a white sandy wonderland of gentle translucent waters with tropical fish darting in the shallows, and blooms of staghorn and brain coral sitting quietly in the cooler depths. The coastline’s scattering of tiny islands – rocky outcrops sprouting picture-perfect coconut trees – are part of a UNESCO Global Geopark. It is scenery worthy of a fairytale, or a pirate movie. That a shipwreck and its treasure were discovered out on the horizon, just 1.6 kilometres away, is entirely in keeping.

Striking... Belitung Island is a UNESCO Global Geopark.Credit:

Known for its lucrative deposits of tin, Belitung has a mining history and was once a base for BHP Billiton, Billiton being another name for Belitung. Its population of about 320,000 has traditionally worked in mining, but the depletion of tin in the 1990s has since seen the emphasis on fishing, agriculture and, incrementally, tourism.

Underwater wonderland.Credit:

My invitation to the island has come from Tanjung Kelayang Reserve, a 350-hectare privately owned nature reserve that fronts Belitung’s stunner north-west coastline. Of this land, 200 hectares have been dedicated to rewilding and conservation, with a promise of protecting the island’s endemic fauna and flora while supporting local communities.

I arrived earlier this morning on the 45-minute flight (400 kilometres) north of Jakarta. At the one-shed international airport, my host Yuni Kusama points out that I am the only bule, or foreigner, at the airport.

She explains that the reserve’s Perth-based Indonesian owner (who requests anonymity) wants Australians and Europeans to visit Belitung “because they’re eco-travellers. They’ll understand that we are trying to create a truly sustainable destination”.

Maldives vibes... Belitung Island.Credit:

From what I’m seeing, the assessment is bang-on. Aussies keen on a low-impact intrepid island adventure will fall for this place. So will those seeking a laid-back beach holiday or an eco-luxury escape.

For the first two nights, I stay at Sheraton Belitung, at the centre of the reserve. It’s a lovely, newish, 123-room resort thoughtfully constructed from hand-pressed local kaolin clay bricks, with native renggadai wood ceilings and finishes. The colour palette blends seamlessly with the white sands, dark green tropical garden and expansive natural lagoons, which are connected to the resort’s zero-emissions water-treatment plant. The resort is luxurious, but casually so, with a peaked-roof, wall-less lobby where my bare feet don’t get a second glance, and clean and spacious rooms with comforts including balconies with standalone bathtubs.

Thoughtfully constructed… the Sheraton Belitung. Credit:

On the beachfront, the indoor-outdoor Island Restaurant, serving traditional Bangka Belitung cuisine, ensures long leisurely dining interspersed with kayaking, snorkelling, laps of the Olympic-sized pool, and volleyball jousts over a net whimsically strung between two coconut trees.

Island hopping, in the reserve’s characteristic wooden fishing boat, is part of the fun too. Over two days we zigzag around the Geopark to snorkel in the depths around bird-shaped Garuda Island and walk knee-deep in the echoing sea caves of Kelayang Island. We stop by a tiny floating fish market where grouper and napoleon fish are bred in cages sunken into the cobalt blue sea. We motor into a light headwind to Lengkuas Island and are greeted by a vision from a children’s book, a 55-metre Dutch colonial lighthouse, built in 1882, with seven porthole windows ascending 12 floors to a domed lamp top. There’s talk of turning it into a museum showcasing Belitung’s long maritime trade-route history.

Belitung beach and islands with its storybook Lengkuas Island lighthouse.Credit: Adobe

On day three, I swap sand and sea for the reserve’s Whistle Trail nature walk with guide Akbar Alfarisyi, a former biology teacher who joined the reserve in 2022. “Now the biology teaches me,” he says as we walk through the cool forest, the island’s biodiversity hotspot with more than 150 species of native flora and fauna. Along the path, Alfarisyi points out the reserve’s rewilding successes – exquisite native orchids (of which there are 67 species on Belitung), termite nests (food for the reserve’s four protected Sunda pangolin), cinnamon (a relatively rare species with a mint scent), and a strong-flavoured white pepper (once the island’s chief agricultural export and now critically endangered).

We visit the reserve’s trigona beehives, which are cared for by the villagers of Komunitas Pelabo Sijuk, who receive an income from the bottles they sell. Unlike regular hexagonal hives, stingless beehives are a mesh of smallish sacks. I dip a reed straw into one to taste the delicious honey – it has a woody fermented flavour, both sweet and sour, like the aroma of wine barrels.

On night three, I stay at the reserve’s Billiton Ekobeach Retreat, accessible via a sandy shoreline walk or a short putt-putt by fishing boat. It has five rustically charming, stilted beach huts spaced along their own stretch of sand. The structures and bespoke furniture are made from beach-sourced driftwood and other natural waste items for a Robinson Crusoe vibe, but they’re also comfortably appointed with air-conditioning, ceiling fans and hot showers.

Billiton Ekobeach Retreat.Credit:

The final day might well be the finest. Once again, I meet Wakhyu Brata, this time to join a Bluemind Experience private island adventure. We skip over the waves to Kera Island, an idyllic oasis covered in a tropical garden with a hidden sandy cove where a picnic lunch is served. Afterwards, Brata, having snorkelled around the shallows with his net, waves me over. He has caught four fresh sea urchins, round, spiky and glistening black, with silver and blue spots that shimmer like crystals.

Simple but comfortable… a guestroom at the retreat. Credit:

We stand knee-deep in water as he cuts the spikes off, then cracks the top off, the shell to reveal slivers of buttery yellow flesh, a delicacy known as uni in the Japanese culinary world. After swishing it clean in the salty water, I scoop the soft, briny, umami-loaded sea-shimi straight into my mouth. It’s a taste sensation, yet another of Belitung Island’s remarkable underwater treasures.

THE DETAILS

VISIT
Belitung and Tanjung Kelayang Reserve are open year-round, with the dry season (April to October) typically offering the best time to visit. See https://tanjungkelayangreserve.com/. Bluemind Experience organises the reserve’s island-hopping activities. See https://bluemind.co.id/

FLY
Qantas and Garuda Indonesia have direct flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Jakarta, where it’s a one-hour flight to Belitung on domestic airlines, including Citilink and Batik Air. See qantas.com.au; garuda-indonesia.com; citilink.co.id; batikair.com.my

STAY
Tanjung Kelayang Reserve has two accommodation options. Sheraton Belitung Resort has rooms from $US160 ($250) a night. Billiton Ekobeach Retreat has beach huts from $US150 a night for two people. See https://billitonekobeach.com/; marriott.com

The writer was a guest of Tanjung Kelayang Reserve.