Siladen Island, Bunaken National Park, North Sulawesi: 450-500 inhabitants, 81 households, 1.1 km long and 0.6 km wide. Intimate and harmonious, Siladen gave me exactly what I was looking for – and didn’t find – on Bunaken Island: silence, distance, and beauty.

In 1995, the first cottage was built on Siladen Island. Prior to that time tourists stayed with local people in their homes. Historically, Siladen Islands has been owned by one family that prevented outsiders from developing on the island. Then, a two-hectare Western-owned resort opened on the island in 2001. […] In 2000, it was decided with the owner of Siladen Island that cottages would be built in a “natural habitat”. (Leila Sievanen, 2008, Social seascapes, political landscapes: Conflict and cooperation within an Indonesian marine park)

House (Siladen)

Grave and laundry (Siladen)

Abandoned church I (Siladen)

Abandoned church I (Siladen)

Abandoned church II (Siladen)

Abandoned church III (Siladen)

Abandoned house I (Siladen)

Abandoned house II (Siladen)

Bunaken and Manado Tua from Siladen

Around Siladen

Manado Tua from Siladen

Bunaken and Manado Tua from Siladen II

Bunaken and Manado Tua III

Low tide in Siladen

Low tide in Siladen II

Around Siladen II

Tante Martha I (Siladen)

Tante Martha II (Siladen)

Tante Martha III (Siladen)

Tante Martha IV (Siladen)

Totem on the beach I (Siladen)