SUMBA IS CALLING !!!

Hello from Tambolaka!! What's that you might ask? Well, it's a city in the Southwest of Sumba, which is also the name of the airport here. Sumba is a pretty small island but they have 2 airports here. 1 is the Tambolaka here and another in East Sumba. The biggest is the East Sumba, which city is called Waingapu, also the name of the airport!

This time, I only went on a 4 days 3 nights trip but I've explored almost all of west to east Sumba! Both are a definite opposite of the other. East Sumba, Waingapu is definitely a way more modern city-like than Tambolaka, which is a more country-side with more nature. Can't wait to explore the beauty of this East Nusa Tenggara? Let's go!

DAY 1 (WEEKURI LAKE - RATENGGARO VILLAGE - BAWANA BEACH)
I chose to go to Tambolaka from Bali and went back from Waingapu to Bali. The ticket costed me about IDR 2 mio and that's excluding my ticket from Jakarta to Bali. I guess in total it costed me IDR 3,5 mio or so, as expected since the east side of Indonesia is known to be expensive. :')

If you want to stay updated, be sure to use Telkomsel, as it's the only operator with a signal. When it comes to islands, Telkomsel has always been the best, though when you get into the deep Sumba, nothing will get you connected!

First stop is Weekuri lake! From Tambolaka, it takes approximately 1,5 hours by car. The trip there, you can see the resident's village, farm animals, and nature. Yeap, you'd encounter a lot of farm animals all over the area!

See! The nature around the road is just so amazing that you won't get bored with the 1,5 hour-trip, especially because we stopped every few minutes to take photos..lol! Like how the nature is, the road won't be smooth like in the city, it's cramped that merely fit 2 cars and definitely felt like an off-road!

We have arrived at Weekuri lake! Don't know if there's an entrance fee here, since I went with my tour, which already includes all hotel, food, and tourist spot fees!

To get to the lake, it's a 3 minutes walk from the entrance. Don't worry tho, the track is super safe, not like the usual scary tracking with slippery grounds. What caught me off guard is that there are actually plenty of locals, mostly kids, that went for a dive in the lake. Instead, little to none tourist came here, I guess tourist would prefer the east side of Sumba instead? Or was it because I didn't came here on holiday season?

The lake is super huge and right on the borders of the sea, so it's salt water here people! The lake's color is also a very pretty turquoise color!

Looking through the lake you'd get to see this beautiful sea! Imagine standing on a cliff, where you can see the lake on your left and the sea on your right! The name of the sea is also Weekuri fyi!

Our second stop is the Ratenggaro village. This village is where locals of West Sumba live. It's also on the borderline of the beach. I'd recommend bringing snacks and candies if you're visiting this area, as there are a lot of children and you can give this as a sign of thanks for allowing us to trespass their homes. it's better then giving money. Be sure to give it to the parents and not the kids, so that the parents can distribute it evenly!

There's also a cemetery in the village, which is those block of stone there. Don't worry though, cause it doesn't feel haunted at all, we can even take photos there! There's only 1 grave that we're not allowed to touch and that's located at the front entrance of this village!

The farm animals here are horses, pigs, and dogs, so you'll see a lot of that!

Third stop is Bawana Beach! When we're going to our next stop, we're definitely racing with time to catch the sunset and almost didn't make it! Thankfully we got just a glimpse of it, though we're supposed to be able to go down the rocks to the beach and everything to see the sunset better!

DAY 2 (LAPOPU WATERFALL - WAIRINDING HILL - WALAKIRI BEACH)

On the next day, we immediately went for a waterfall! Yeah! Again, the view while going to the waterfall is amazing! Thank goodness the weather is also good with a super clear blue sky! The waterfall we're going to is called Lapopu Waterfall and that takes about 1,5 hours from Tambolaka!

And again, stopping in the middle of the road to take a beautiful shot!

SUGOOIIIII

Made it! To get to the waterfall, it's 10 minutes walking through the rocky track. You can also go through the waters but the rocks are slippery there, so be careful!

You need to go through this makeshift bridge (only 2 people at a time, kay!) and because the view is awesome, we can't help but get a shot of ourselves..lol!

Ta-dah! Well, this is not really the best waterfall I've ever seen but it's still good and the water's cold. Plus we are the only ones here, so it's like our own private waterfall!

That's about it from the west side, now let's get to the east! First, Wairinding hill! Can you believe that this hill is located on a roadside? Only a slight walk and you can already see the hill!

Ta-dahh!!

It's all just hills but I still can't believe it's right on a roadside. Right after arriving, the local children all came up to play with us!

Walikiri Beach! Yeap, another beach to catch the sunset! While getting to the beach, we went through this grass field that just perfected the golden hour!

Here's the beach, which is pretty ordinary but usually people came here to take a picture at those Mangrove tree there but we went here when the water is in a high tide, so we can't go there.. :( I was definitely waiting for it too! Well, nature says otherwise, so I can't do anything about it. If you're curious about what I'm talking about, just search "sunset pantai walakiri" on google to see how beautiful it is!

Still got to see the sunset, so everything's okay! Even got the purple hour..lol!

DAY 3 (PURU KAMBERA - PRAINATANG HILL - TANGGEDU WATERFALL)

So Puru Kambera here is just a grass fields on the roadside (again) but from those fields you can reach the sea. The walk is a bit difficult tho with all the sharp rocks, high grass, and small insects that will make you itch, plus the weather is just hell!

See, it's like this! Very pretty with the very blue sky and sea. Can't be more thankful that the weather is nice!

Again, the wide grass field is like our own private one. You can spend the whole day just enjoying the fields, picnicking maybe? xD

So wide, huh? This is taken by a drone fyi!

You'll see some horses here, there's the wild horse and race horse. If you want to snap a photo of it, be sure to not take it from the back, so that you won't get kicked by it!

That "FA" sign on it's backside is a sign that this is a race horse!

Not just horses but also cows, lots of, lots of cows.. There're just so many farm animals at Sumba, huh?

Prainatang hill here is along the way to Tanggedu waterfall and is also just on a roadside but I can't help but feel like I'm at a foreign country! We went everywhere with a car, which I don't usually do, so I can say that this is my best road trip ever!!

Can't utter any words..just ultimately amazed and taken away by the beauty of the scenery!

Last stop, which is the Tanggedu waterfall! To get to the waterfall, you'll need some effort by going through the tracks across the field, through the river and even cliff. You'll be going up and down a steep and slippery stones. This is definitely a hard journey but worth it! Are you curious? Let's check it out! Though I didn't get a shot of the hard journey, since I'm already thankful that I made it out alive, I don't think stopping and taking shots would be in my mind at that time..lol! If you're wondering how hard the journey is, come and try it!

In the beginning of the journey, the road is still very normal and pretty with all the grass fields and hills!

Doesn't it feel like you're on a mountain? Lol! Just hope there won't be snakes around!

About a kilometer afterwards, we arrived here! Wohoo! You just have to try swimming here! The water is amazing. It's like a mini waterfall and separated to few ponds. This one is the less heavy that you can swim in without getting carried away by the waves!