There is no wifi in the forest
But you will find a better connection
Wae Rebo Village, a traditional village located in the district of Manggarai, in Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara, received the Top Award of Excellence from UNESCO in 2012 and also received the UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Award on 27 August 2012 in Bangkok. This small village is located on 1,200 meters above sea level, and it was believed to be found by a man named Empu Maro about 100 years ago. It tries to preserve the culture and tradition by keeping the village close to nature and maintaining its traditional houses called Mbaru Niang.
There are 8 houses in total (6 houses for the local people, 2 extra houses for the visitors). 1 main house that you should visit when you 1st reach the village (8 families), 5 normal houses (6 families in each house), 2 extra houses for visitors (fit to 28 visitors)
I was given another great opportunity to visit one of Flores's famous destinations, Waerebo Village. On October 16th, Our group which consisted of 8 guests from France, Kak Inna (Labuan Bajo’s branch staff), me, and Kak Ansel (the guide) left from Labuan Bajo to Dintor.
The trip in a big car takes about 7 hours. Supposedly we should’ve passed the Pelo road, but the driver took the faster route, which was through the Kole road. The road is narrow and very rocky, but it cuts off approximately 40 minutes from the time if we take the Pelo Road. We got out of the car when we arrived at the Kebegego (the cliff) to see the beautiful view of rice fields from above and also the view of the road and then we took a short walk to where the car waited for us. We passed the great church which indicated that we were passing Todo Village. And then a short stop at Narang and finally we arrived at our guest house in Dintor.
We left at 10 in the morning and arrived at 6pm. And when we arrived, we cleaned ourselves and then ate the dinner prepared by the guest house. The electricity in Dintor will be off at 10pm so if you want to charge your phone, you should do it during dinner and the night talks before going to sleep. And you could actually save your battery because there is no signal at all here and also in Waerebo so you could turn off your mobile data for the 3 days trip.
The next morning, we got up and ate breakfast at 7am and then we were leaving to Waerebo. It took approximately 20 minutes to drive by car to Denge, the village where we should start our trekking to Waerebo. The car couldn’t pass the bridge even though it’s a paved road since there is still road improvements going on.
So here’s the long and tiring trekking start. In the 1st stage, we need to go on a paved road that climbs about 2km until we reach the 1st post, and then the narrow and rocky uphill roads for 3km till we reach the 2nd post. The narrow and rocky uphill road still continues for about 2km until the 3rd post. From the 3rd post, we were left with about 150m trekking to the Waerebo which is mostly a downhill road with a little bit of uphill road. We started trekking at around 9am and arrived at Waerebo at 11.30am.
When we arrived at the village, we were not allowed to take any photos/videos until we completed the traditional meeting with the tribe’s leader at the main house. After the meeting, we were allowed to take photos of everything in the village. We then could go directly to the guest house and we will be provided with lunch which we will eat together in the middle of the house. There aren’t specific activities to do at the village, but you could go around the village watching the women make Songke cloth and the children playing; go to the library at the top of the hill; and also see 2 small natural that are used by the local to wash and cleanse themselves (one specifically made for women, and the other specifically made for men). After going around the village, you could sit in the field with the other visitors and talk with them, exchanging stories, and making new friends.
In the evening, we will gather in the middle of the house for dinner. And the rest of the evening you could do whatever you want with the other visitors, like exchanging stories, playing cards, or other simple and fun things inside the guest house until it’s time to sleep.
The electricity will be on at about 5-6pm and will be off at around 10-11pm every day. And it’s better for you to sleep early because all the trekking certainly makes you lose your energy and make your body ache so you need rest the most.
The next morning, it’s quite hard to watch the sunrise from the village and we could only get the sunlight at about 06.30am. So at that time you could take some nice photos with the traditional houses as your background and equipped with sunlight.
Tips :
- Use a hiking backpack and bring only that
- Bring as few items as possible so you won’t feel too burdened while trekking. (You could leave some of your belongings that are not necessary to use in Wae Rebo at the guest house)
- The trekking trails are quite hard and tiring because of the uphill and rocky roads, so it’s better to wear proper hiking shoes or hiking sandals.
- Bring analgesic balm ointment or hot patches to prevent aches and pain in the muscles and joints. You could apply it before you sleep so you could wake up without the aches.
- Bring warm clothes so you could wear it at night till dawn when the temperature is cold
- Bring card games or any simple board games that aren’t too big and easy to bring to play during your free time (after lunch and before dinner) with the other visitors or with your group tours.
- Bring snacks to eat during that time too (after lunch and before dinner) or when you feel hungry.
- 2018 -
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