Travels in West Timor - Inside Indonesia

SIMON ANDREWARTHA discovers a quiet invasion by outsiders, even in the remotest villages.

ARTHUR KING

'This area used to be inhabited by Bunak people. When the Belunese moved here, the Bunak seemed to just fade away. People said they didn't like the smell of the fish the Belunese used in their cooking'. This was how one respected elder of the local community explained what happened to the Bunak tribe. Today, the Bunak are found on the mountainous East Timorese side of the border with Belu regency in West Timor.

Before the first Portuguese arrived in the sixteenth century, Belu lay at the heart of one of the most influential kingdoms on Timor, Waihale. But as the Bunak had to make way for the Belunese, so the Belunese were in turn to yield to a new intruder. The kingdom of Waihale became the first victim of the Portuguese explorers. After landing on the north coast of the island with a force of about 80 men armed with muskets, the Portuguese marched to Waihale on the south coast, and destroyed it.

There is no written record of armed conflict between the Belunese of Waihale and the Bunak. The local community leader's explanation for the mysterious decline of the Bunak could be as good as any other.

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Wae Rebo

Overview

The traditional village of Wae Rebo in the district of Manggarai on the island of Flores, East Nusatenggara, has recently received the Top Award of Excellence from UNESCO in the 2012 UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Awards, announced in Bangkok on 27 August 2012. This small and isolated village was recognized for its rebuilding of the traditional Mbaru Niang traditional house based on the spirit of community cooperation towards a sustainable tradition, while at the same time improving its village welfare.

Wae Rebo is a small, very out of the way village. Located some 1,100 meters above sea level, where the air is cool and the village completely surrounded by panoramic mountains and the dense Todo forest. This tropical forest is rich in vegetation, where you will find orchids, different types of ferns and hear the chirping of many songbirds. Founder of the village and, therefore, their main ancestor who built the village some 100 years ago, was a man called Empu Maro.

The 17 Islands Riung Marine Park

Overview

Located on the north coast of Flores island in the Ngada district  lies an archipelago that forms a unique, paradisical sea garden, called the 17 Islands Riung Marine Park. This cluster consists of islets whose waters are rich in biodiversity, sandy white beaches and crystal clear blue waters where you can dive in and swim among the colorful and varied coral beds.

One of the most popular attractions, for which these islands are famous is the 'Rose of the Sea', a renowned underwater phenomenon, which can be seen around several of the islands. Below the oceans surface you will find clusters ofsea roses waving mesmerizingly in the current. These are in fact a collection of giant sea hare eggs that, bound by membranes, together form red petals like giant red roses waving in the sea.

The 17 Islands Riung Marine Park, which extends from Toro Padang in the west to Pulau Pangsar in the east, range in size, but all are virtually uninhabited.

The traditional villages of Tarung and Waitabar

Overview

In the heart of the expanding city of Waikabubak on the island of Sumba, clumps of straw can be seen peeking out of fences on the top of a hill. There, people in the village still hold steadfast to their old religion and traditions that have been taught them through the centuries by their ancestors.  

The town of Waikabubak, capital city of the district of West Sumba, nestles in a valley counting a population of around 26,423 persons only. But among its more modern brick  buildings there  still remain many traditional villages where its communities continue to  faithfully follow the old ways that were brought down through the  generations.  Most of these villages  are built on the hills around  the outskirts of town  but there are  also those that are  right  within the city of Waikabubak.