The Telunas Story

Teluk + Nus +Foreigner = Telunas

Local legend tells us that the name Telunas actually came from two local words, "Teluk" which means cove and "Nus" which is a special flat-headed squid.  The locals would come to this cove to catch this special kind of squid for a few months out of every year.  So, over time this cove was known as Teluk Nus or "Squid Cove". 

Around 100 years ago, at the beginning of the 20th century, an English family made it's way down from Singapore and settled on the beautiful beach of "Squid Cove" to start a small farming plantation.  As they interacted with the local fishermen in the area they continued to hear people refer to the area as "Telu Nus" (a hardly audible "k"). 

But when they would repeat the word to the locals, it kept coming out as "Telu Nas"!  We don't know exactly why it changed, probably because the locals are so nice to us "bule" (foreigners), that they didn't want to offend them.  They still say that you can spot some of the English descendents in the nearby village of Moro.  They say, "the people who are tall and light skin come from the English family who used to live on Telunas".

More Telunas History:

World War II: During World War II, the locals tell us that the Japanese actually used Telunas Beach as some sort of Camp or Post for the area.  They set up an observation post on Gunung Sulit (the highest peak in the area at 311m), which is a 4-6 kilometer hike from Telunas Beach.

Before the Japanese arrived in the area, they first occupied Singapore and many of the foreigners fled south into the Riau Islands to escape the Japanese invasion.  Locals from Desa Sugie (the village near Telunas) took a number of families up into the mountain to hide them from the Japanese.  Supposedly they lived in a cave for quite some time.  I'm still looking for the cave!  There's a lot of other stories about the cave and what happened to the people.  If you want to know, you'll have to ask me to tell you the story around the bonfire.

Sea Elephant Story:  Around 15-20 years ago an elephant appeared on the shores of Telunas Beach.  He made Telunas his home for approximately a year before lying down for a never ending rest.  The Riau Islands bump up to the large island of Sumatra to the east, where elephants are known to live.  Elephants are also known to be able to swim.  So, there is a good chance that one adventurous elephant took off on an island hopping journey that ended when he found paradise at Telunas Beach.

All of these stories have been confirmed by a number of locals, with the last two having eyewitness accounts that are still alive.  We can't at this point prove any of them beyond a shadow of doubt, but that's half the fun anyway.   It adds to the wonder, enchantment, and mystery of this special beach we call Telunas.