Perhaps the most beautiful of the Moluccan isles are the tiny Bandas, mere specks in the vast Banda sea. These lush, breezy islands offer little clue today that they once radically changed the course of world history.
Vasco da Gama rounded the Horn of Africa, Christopher Columbus landed in the New World, and Ferdinand Magellan’s crew became the first circle the globe—all in an attempt to obtain the spice riches of the East Indies, including Banda’s nutmeg. The age of exploration realigned Europe as, in turn, the Portuguese, the Spanish, and the Dutch and English became wealthy from the spice trade.
Control of the Bandas was contested up until 1667, when the British traded tiny Run Island for Manhattan, giving the Dutch full control of archipelago. The result for the Bandanese was already tragic—to monopolize the nutmeg trade, the Dutch in 1621 murdered most of Banda’s male population, and divided the islands up into parcels awarded to contract plantation owners. The Dutch perkeniers, often no more than criminals and drifters, tended the trees with slaves. The old Dutch Fort Bergica, cannons in place, still dominates the central island of Banda Neira—a silent testament to this sad chapter in Moluccan history.
Situated some 140 kilometers southeast of Amboyna, the Bandas cover barely 50 square kilometers of dry land, of which half is taken up by crescent-shaped Lontar Island (also called Great Banda). Lontar’s coastline traces the crown of a huge sunken caldera, which also forms tiny Sjahrir, formerly Banana Island.
Rising out of the sea in the center of the crater are Banda Neira and the perfect cone of Fire Mountain the still smoking snout of a once-huge volcano. A few kilometers east of Lontar is Hatta Island. West of the Lontar group are three other small islands: Ai, Run, and tiny Neijalakka Island.
Bandaneira, the only town of appreciable size on the islands, boasts several comfortable hotels, guides and facilities for boating, diving, fishing, waterskiing or visiting the outer islands. The town also has several interesting mosques.
Banda is one of the world’s finest spots for scuba and skin diving. The reefs surrounding the islands are healthy and lush with fish and colorful invertebrates. Rent a tiny dugout in Bandaneira and paddle out into the protected lagoon to any of a number of fine snorkeling spots for an afternoon spent gliding over water with a visibility to 12 meters.
For the serious diver, the reefs surrounding the outer islands often border on spectacular drop-offs, and this transition between shallow reef and deep water is where the big marine species prowl. Exploring the vertical reef faces, you will meet with inquisitive sharks and giant groupers.
Above water, the Bandas are just as beautiful. On Lontar Island, you can visit fragrant nutmeg groves where these delicate trees are protected by a canopy of towering kanari nut trees. The nutmeg are carefully picked with a long ple tipped with a basket. People aren’t the only ones who enjoy nutmegs—the Bandas’ large fruit pigeon eats the apricot-like fruits as well.
Although a fierce eruption in May 1988 forced the evauation of Fire Moutain’s population, some have moved back, learning to live with the occasional tremors and the risk of another eruption in exchange for the island’s bounty of rich soil. You can climb Fire Mountain in a morning, and the view of the crater and surrounding islands is spectacular.
(PeriPlus)
