The heat still lingered as the motorcycle wheels reached the end of the asphalt. Ahead, the road turned slippery, covered in limestone rocks veiled with moss. The tires kept skidding, as if begging for mercy from the rider—pleading to be guided by hand instead. Around us stretched dozens of limestone hills, rising side by side. Sometimes they formed natural gateways, other times they stood like sharp mohawk hairstyles, the kind popular among young men today.
Here, in the western part of Raha—the last port I came across in Muna Regency, Southeast Sulawesi—the limestone formations revealed themselves even more boldly, tearing into the cloudy afternoon sky.
As we walked on, that old man, La Ode Sada kept telling stories about the caves scattered across the region. “Here, we call caves Leang,” said his wrinkled mouth. Yet his firm, steady steps erased any doubt I had about his endurance.
“Actually, many people have come here already. Most of them foreigners, or researchers from Jakarta,” he continued. “According to them, most of the drawings inside these leang were created long before humans developed the ability to write.”
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Leang Kobori
After climbing the third slope, the sky grew darker. On the left side of the road stood a wooden house, standing in stark contrast against the towering limestone wall behind it. The path ahead was still crowded with waist-high shrubs, though a faint yellowish track clearly marked our direction.
Before long, a fence appeared, with a small gate in the middle. Beside it, a signboard stood quietly. Without another word, La Ode Sada went ahead, leading us into a courtyard where the mouth of a wide cave stretched open.
“Now we’ve arrived at Leang Kobori,” he said.
“This cave is called Kobori because of the abundance of ancient drawings inside,” added the cheerful man. “There are records of nearly 300 images within this cave.”
He pointed to several drawings tucked in the corners of the large chamber—the main hall, as cave explorers would call it. Boulders were scattered across the floor, and toward the far end, the ceiling dipped lower. In places where sunlight still reached, faint images were visible. At first glance, they looked like children’s doodles: shapes resembling buffaloes, kites, horses with riders, and many others.
“Experts say these drawings were made using limestone soil mixed with charcoal,” he explained.
For a moment, the images held me in awe. It was the first time I had ever seen prehistoric artwork up close. They sparked wonder, even though I kept questioning their true meaning. Were they symbols of how these people understood life? Or were they simply raw expressions of ancient art, carved without any deeper intent?
Leang Metanduno
The second cave we visited was not much different, except for its name: Leang Metanduno. “The paintings here are fewer, only around 130,” said La Ode, breaking the silence.
Most of the drawings were also similar, depicting scenes of daily life. Yet they appeared fragmented, without forming a single, unified message. Many of the paintings were clustered only in areas touched by sunlight.
“There are actually tunnels inside,” La Ode explained further. “They eventually lead to a large underground lake,” he said, describing the passages within Leang Metanduno. Unfortunately, with the limited equipment we carried, exploring those tunnels was impossible.
By the time dusk arrived, we finally left the row of caves behind. From the stories we had heard, there were still many more caves yet to be explored. Perhaps new challenges awaiting the next adventurers? (Sulung Prasetyo)
Writer notes: In a groundbreaking study published in Nature in January 2026, scientists reported that a hand stencil discovered in Liang Metanduno cave on Muna Island has been dated to at least 67,800 years ago — making it the oldest known rock art in the world with robust scientific dating. This was determined using laser-ablation uranium-series (LA-U-Series) dating on calcite deposits that formed directly above the red pigment, providing a reliable minimum age constraint for the artwork beneath.
This minimum age of 67.8 ± 3.8 thousand years not only exceeds previously dated Indonesian rock art from Maros-Pangkep by over 16,000 years but also surpasses the oldest hand stencil known from Spain, once attributed to Neanderthals.
