East of Wallace Tours
Adventures in East Indonesia

Unlock the Treasures of East Indonesia

Trips & Tours for Explorers

Travel Letter from Ternate

Jungle, Travel Experience, Wallace's Evolution Theorie

Wallace, Darwin and the letter from Ternate which helped change the world

‘My Dear Mr Darwin’ began the letter Alfred Russel Wallace penned to his fellow naturalist from the Moluccan island of Ternate on 9th March 1858. What followed was an outline of Wallace’s theory of Natural Selection, which would help revolutionise our understanding of the…

Sumbawa whale sharks

Snorkeling, Travel Adventure, Animals East Indonesia

Sumbawa, the unexplored Sunda Island - Snorkeling with whalesharks

This year we were on Sumbawa for the first time, one of the rather unknown Lesser Sunda Islands  and - as we think after our trip - unfairly in the shadow of its much better-known sister islands Lombok in the west and Komodo in the east.

Malam Ela-Ela

Tradition

Malam Ela-Ela - The ‘Night of Destiny’ on Ternate Island

The meaning of Ela-Ela bedeutet is ‚torch‘ in the local language. Malam Ela-Ela, also known in the muslim World as the Lailatul Quadar Night, is always celebrated in a very festive manner on the small Muslim Island of Ternate. The century old tradition is celebrated on the 27th night of the…

Tangkoko National Park

Adventure Tour, Animals, Jungle, Travel Experience

Tangkoko National Park - Eye to eye with little monkeys, birds and tarantulas

Our firstSulawesi trip took us, among other places, to Tangkoko National Park. Tangkoko National Park is located in the northernmost tip of the fourth largest island of the archipelago and is best reached by approaching the metropolis of Manado.

Halmahera's Gunung Ibu

Adventure Tour, Travel Experience, Volcano, Jungle, Animals of East Indonesia

Halmahera's Gunung Ibu - Eruption spectacle every 30 minutes 

At some point I realised that my picture of eastern Indonesia would have a big gap if I ignored an essential aspect of the local natural history. The Indonesian archipelago is part of the circus-pacific fire belt, the so-called ‘Ring of Fire’, and the area with the most active volcanoes…