Nias Island – Nias Island is an island off the western coast of Sumatra of Indonesia. Basically Nias Islands is located in a chain of islands parallel to the west coast of Sumatra and Simeulue is about 140 km (87 mi) northwest, and the Batu Islands are located about 80 km (50 mi) southeast. In 2010 census there are more than 756,338 inhabitants on the island.
Culture
Nias Islands is best known for festivals and celebration. The most very well-known events in Nias are War Dances, performed regularly by the locals.
Another most famous event in Nias Island is Stone Jumping, which is a manhood ritual that sees young men leaping over two meter stone towers to their fate.
Museum in Nias Island
Gunungsitoli, the capital city of Nias Islands is home to Nias’s only museum called Museum Pusaka Nias or Nias Heritage Foundation which collected over 6000 objects related to Nias’s cultural heritage.
The museum had recently built a new building and had improved their storage and exhibitions when the 2004 earthquake and tsunami occurred. The museum suffered some damage to the grounds and collections, but museum staff are working to recover from this devastating event.
Fauna of Nias Islands
Nias is home to a unique endemic fauna which differ from other areas of North Sumatra because of the island’s remote location separate from Sumatra. One of the famous fauna from Nias Islands is Beo Nias, Beo Nias is one parrot subspecies only found (endemic) on the island of Nias, North Sumatra.
Beo Nias has great size compared to most other subspecies of parrots. This animal is the most popular and much sought after by fans because its ability in mimicking human speech. Unfortunately, the endemic of Beo Nias is endangered.
Religion in Nias Island
The predominant religion in Nias Island is Christianity. Six out of seven Niasans are Christians, the remainder are about evenly divided between Muslim and Traditional belief.
Weather
Nias Island has a typical equatorial climate with very high temperatures and humidity, which vary little year-round. Western Indonesian dry season is from May-Sept, but frequent 1-2 hour showers can still be expected, usually at night. The rainy season is from October-April.
The Main Attractions : Beaches, Coral and Mangroves
There are many beautiful beaches in Nias Islands one of the famous beach is Sorake Island. Sorake Beach is located in the south of Nias Island, in Indonesia. This place is immersed in the fascinating tradition and culture together with the beautiful landscape of the Island of Nias.
Sorake Beach is also known as one of the best places in the world for surfing because of its excellent big waves. If you want to go To Sorake Beach, you can visit this website, they provide a good travel package to Sorake beach.
The other famoust beach in Nias Island is Moale beach, know for its soft sand, dead corals mangrove. Many tourist surfing in this beach.
Coral in Moale beach, Nias Island mostly were dead. The main reason behind this is because many locals fisherman using some dangerous chemical to catch the fish and other sea food resources.
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Mangrove is also can be found Moale beach in Nias Island which is has function protecting the shore from the waves and Tsunami.
Hazards
Several tourist have contracted with malaria in Nias Islands but recent draining of swamps have greatly reduced the threat. It’s more prevalent inland along with dengue fever. In the Hinako Islands chloroquine-resistant strains of malaria are present – take precautions!
Meanwhile at Lagundri bay existed with some petty criminals – keep your gear locked down. Theft has reduced, replaced by high pressure memento selling. Young local surfers make up a third of the crowd and are slim, fit, fast and have it wired, but are friendly and relaxed in the water although they take plenty of waves. Show some respect to Niasans as the Nias people are proud and capable of getting angry.
Surf In Nias Islands
Nias Islands has been famous around the world as the heaven for surfer. It was gifted with beaches with world’s bigges wave. The most famous place in Nias Archipelago for suris Hinako Island, The islands are a popular surfing destination, especially Bawa Island, and nearby Asu Island.
Nias was first surfed in 1975, by Aussie surf pioneers Peter Troy, Kevin Lovett and John Giesel. They put up with swarms of malarial mosquitoes and the most primitive of living conditions to ride absolute perfection in the jungle. These days, it’s much easier to get to Nias Island and a slew of losmens fringe the deep bay, competing to accommodate the constant stream of surfers. The massive 2005 earthquake tipped the island, lifting reefs in the south with some waves improving and others disappearing. Just offshore in the Hinako Islands, the two super-consistent, crowd-spreading spots have also been affected; Bawa’s bowly rights have suffered while Asu’s lengthy lefts have got even hollower over the lifted reefs.
How To Reach Nias Island
To reach Nias there is 3 alternatives transportation you can use : by ship or by flight. There is a weekly ship from Jakarta to Gunung Sitoli The capital city of Nias Island. There were also ferries from Sibolga, North Sumatera to Gunung Sitoli, Teluk Dalam, or Lahewa every day. If you there was a daily flight from Medan to Gunungsitoli. This became less frequent following the crisis.
The Location of Nias Island:
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