Minahasa Highland Tour: Hiking in the Mountains, through the villages and farmland

Minahasa highland is a beautiful destination for visitors who love nature. The best way to explore it is by taking a hiking tour that allows participants to see its mountains, villages and farmlands. To take this tour, visitors need to fly from their countries to Manado city which is the capital of North Sulawesi Province of Indonesia. 

From Manado city, visitors could continue their trip, accompanied by local guides, to Tomohon town which is the main gate for exploring Minahasa land. 

Rice field in Subdistrict Sonder of Minahasa

The first place that we could visit is Mount Mahawu. It can be reached by car from Tomohon in around 30 minutes of less. After that visitors could start walking up the slopes to the edge of the crater. In the morning fog still covers the crater. The temperature is quite cold. The wind is often strong at this high elevation area. From the top of the volcano, visitors could see the other mountains of Minahasa such as Mount Lokon, Mount Klabat, Mount Soputan and Mount Dua Sudara. Some part of Tondano town and its lake could also be seen. After enjoying the beautiful landscape of Minahasa peninsula, visitors could walk down the slope while watching birds and butterflies that thrive in the rainforest. 

The trip could be continued to Sonder where visitors could enjoy hiking through forest, farmland and villages between Tomohon and Sonder. 

Between Tomohon and Subdistrict town of Sonder, there are villages. Hiking down the slopes on certain part of the road allows visitors to see the beautiful landscape of Minahasa highland, and the agricultural crops that grow on both sides of the road and interact with local villagers. 

Agricultural crops in Minahasa highland

Villagers grow clove, aren tree, rambutan, coconut, durian, duku, banana, avocado, and a lot of other food crops in their farmland. Corn, peanut, green bean, sweet potato, rice, as well as vegetable plants economically support the livelihood of the Minahasan farmers.

The grain and fruit crops attract animals such as birds. So, visitors who explore the highland of Minahasa by hiking through its farmland and villages will be able to watch birds along the way. 

If you are interested in taking a hiking tour in Minahasa highland, please, contact me by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com.