Indonesia | Oct 2024 |
Finally made it to Sumba - 30+ years in the making. After clocking decent mileage in Indo in the past 2 years (Sumatra, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, Java) in 2023-24, I was primed to try something new and different. Glad I got the gumption to do this one.
Here's details of section 1 of my 4 days on the road.
I arrived to Tambolaka, Sumba's main point of entry, on a one-way flight, around R 1,5000,000, pricier than expected for a 45 min flight. Stayed 1 night at Hotel Pasola, located about 100m outside the (tiny) airport; it was ok, no frills but decent AC and - oddly - cable TV with decent English channels, all for $10/night (breakfast included, kind of).
Prior to leaving Bali I booked a moto with Sumba Rental Bikes, largely due to the fact their website was easy to digest. Went with a Honda ADV 150 - a bike I had been wanting to try for some time (the ADV 750 is/was all the rage is Singapore in recent years, kind of like gourmet hot dogs for a short period of time in 2012). On arrival, I met the owner, a German transplant from Bali, who was also staying in the Pasola. It was a solid bike, with rugged tires and crash bars (ominous), about $16/day, higher than my usual $5-10/day NMax/Aerox fare.
Prior to arrival, I didn't research Sumba riding much - watched a couple of "influencer" videos (fairly useless). I knew Sumba is touted as the "the new Bali" (re: surfing), that it has a traditional culture, and is fairly undeveloped as a tourist destination (3 positives). Most of the tourism is on the west side of the island.
I set out from Tambolaka and headed north to the coast, then west. Things got awesome pretty fast. This part of Sumba is barren, scraggy land, where subsistence farmer work fields of rock. The coast here is cliffs with big waves slamming in and looked like surfer heaven. At my first stop, I experienced the first of many blowholes, where waves blast from caves underfoot, kind of like a Blue Whale going off, 30m from the water.
My first stop was Weekuri Lagoon, probably the most famous tourist destination in Sumba, though I had the place to myself. Aside from the unique lagoon, it's in pretty rough shape, with a crumbling wooden walkway with large sections missing. After that I stopped at a couple of beaches - impressive sights, more blowholes. Next was Ratanggaro traditional village, where I looked from afar (didn't pay to dress up in local costume and have my photo taken (would be good for an "Expert Guide to Sumba"). Honestly, at all of these stops, I kind of felt like a guilty rich interloper on the territory of disinterested and very underdeveloped (poor) locals.
After the traditional village (and also having passed by many non-tourist traditional villages, which was cool), I decided to head south to the surf beaches. While I Google mapped my route parallel to the coast, I must have missed a turn or been re-routed, as I ended up in the hills on a washboard road heading NE, back towards Tambolaka. After about 30 mins I was back on a major road and headed south.
I ended up at Rua Beach. While I was expecting a tourist scene down here, it was surprising to see just how juxtiposed development is; I booked the only economically priced accommodation I could find, The Village Rua Beach, about $30/day. It's near Nihu Resort, which costs $X,000s a night, and where "Brad Pitt goes surfing", so I was told.
I ended up staying 2 nights, hanging out with Ben the manager and another straight-out-of-a-Hollywood-script character selling plots of land in the area. I rode around a bit west and east along the coast, to one of the main surf areas and beaches, and also made a silly foray down a dirt road thinking I could ride down to the ocean, on what turned out to be a steep and seriously quickly degrading road - the notion of sliding out of control crossed my mind and I am lucky it didn't happen.
Ride: 100(?) km / 4 hrs
Stay: The Village Inn Rua Beach $30 ****
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