Pulau Seram Travel Guide
Pulau Seram is a remote island just north of Ambon and it has a decent choice of accommodation and stunning coastal scenery that make the trip worthwhile.
Mount Binaiya is the highest peak and is a popular place with keen hikers. The island is full of natural forests and mountains and there is a good scattering of places to stay mainly located on the coast, with the busy village of Sawai offering the best selection.
Taman Manusela National Park is a protected area that was Maluku’s first ever park to get national status. The Manusela Valley creates an enclave in the park and the trekking is good, but the terrain is tough. The animals and birds that call the park home can be hard to spot as the area is dense with plants and trees.
Huaulu village is made up from traditional buildings and old religions are still practiced in this remote area. The roads are in fairly good condition and there is some local transport to make use of in the form of buses and ojeks.
Seram is a large producer of cloves, nutmeg and fish and the local people make use of the natural resources at hand to make their living. The tourist magnet of Sawai village has good snorkeling and bird watching and is a useful place to begin trekking through the interior.
Getting There & Away
Jakarta is home to the nearest international airport and from here you can get a 3-hour flight to Ambon. There are a few unreliable flights that run from Ambon to Seram, but taking a boat is better advised. There is a choice of the slow car ferry that takes about 2 hours or a faster speedboat that can be booked privately.