Visiting Flores, make sure you visit the most famous traditional village in the world: Wae Rebo.
Wae Rebo Traditional Village is a remote village located in the Satarmase sub-district, West Manggarai Regency, Flores Island, East Nusa Tenggara Province. Getting to Waerebo Village is not easy because it is very far away; it is also expensive and takes a long time because it is located on a mountain.
Wae Rebo is located at 1,200 meters above sea level, like a paradise above the clouds. The natural scenery of mountains combined with 7 traditional cone-shaped houses will give a special impression to every visitor who has ever come to Wae Rebo Village.
You will need to walk for about 3 to 4 hours. It does depend on your physical conditions because trekking to the Wae Rebo village means climb as far as 7 km.
Wae Rebo Village is the most beautiful village in Indonesia, and this village has absolutely no cellphone signal. Wae Rebo Village is well managed, because this village is assisted and given guidance on Tourism by the Indonesia Ecotourism Network. The goal is to advance villages that were previously less attractive, to become tourist villages that many people want to visit.
How to reach the village?
Visitors who want to go to Wae Rebo Village in Flores must start from Ruteng. If you are from Denpasar, you can go directly to Ruteng by air. If there are no flights to Ruteng, you can use a bus or travel from Labuan Bajo, the capital of West Manggarai Regency which takes about 6 hours. Arriving in Ruteng, the journey continues towards Denge or Dintor Village for about 2 hours which are the last villages that can be accessed by vehicle.
To go to Denge, you can use a motorcycle taxi or a wooden truck, which can usually found at Mena Terminal which operates from 09.00 to 10.00. If you want to save more, use a wood truck. It’s just that this transportation does not operate every day.
Then you need to walk to Wae Rebo Village for 4-5 hours. If you have to use a motorcycle taxi from Ruteng to get to Denge Village, the costs incurred are more expensive, around IDR 150,000-200,000 one way. It is more economical if you use a timber truck which is only charged IDR 50,000 per person.
As for facilities, in Denge Village there is a home stay for overnight stays. Not far from the home stay, there is an information center and library. When you arrive at Wae Rebo Village, you can ride in a traditional house owned by the local people if you want to stay the night. There are no home stays or special lodging here because it only consists of 7 traditional houses.
In addition to the beautiful scenery, you will be greeted by the friendliness of the people when you arrive at this beautiful village. There are 7 traditional houses that have survived for 19 generations here. This is also the main attraction for tourists, especially the foreign tourists. They are generally curious to see this traditional house called Mbaru Niang, made of wood with a roof of woven thatch.
The shape of Mbaru Niang is conical upwards, a very unique traditional architecture. The seven Mbaru Niang are gathered in a large green land, decorated with beautiful hills around it, the weather is still very cool because it is surrounded by forest. Wae Rebo Village is a historic place that became a world cultural heritage site by UNESCO in 2012.
Beside its traditional houses as the main attraction, the life of the local people is also very interesting to know. Most of the people are farmers and their women make weaving. There is a coffee garden; usually visitors will be served delicious typical Flores coffee. The combination of local cultural wisdom with 7 traditional houses located on the top of a green hill makes this place like heaven above the clouds.
