Skip to main content

Wae Rebo, trekking to the Mbaru Niang houses

Wae Rebo is a village in Satar Lenda Village, Rana Mese Subdistrict, East Manggarai Regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia, where residents cling to ancient traditions and remain in cone-shaped palm roof houses called Mbaru Niang.

Wae Rebo or often referred to as the country in the cloud is located on a plateau on the island of Flores and is reached from Labuan Bajo, then travels overland to Denge for 3-4 hours.

Dlium Wae Rebo, trekking to the Mbaru Niang houses

Denge is the closest village to Wae Rebo which is located in a valley between mountains with 4 hours trekking. Tracks include rocky roads, uphill dirt roads to rivers with bamboo bridges.

Wae Rebo is the home of the Modo tribe and UNESCO awarded Mbaru Niang a form of cultural heritage conservation. The Wae Rebo community still maintains their traditional traditions and culture from generation to generation.

This village is one of the natural and cultural tourist destinations in Flores. Wae Rebo is in mountain valleys and plateaus, but residents prepare sleeping mats, clean thick blankets and dinners for visitors.

Dlium.com Wae Rebo, trekking to the Mbaru Niang houses

Wae Rebo trekking starts from Denge for 4 hours but along this hard journey you will get beautiful views on the right and left of the road. Travelers must hire a local guide from Manggarai as a guide and also as a porter.

The track towards Wae Rebo 8-9 kilometers which is very draining and makes the entire thigh and calf muscles burn. This village has a library and visitors can donate books.



Each visitor sounds "kentongan" or a bamboo bell placed in a bamboo building as a sign of arrival. Residents and tribal leaders then carry out a welcoming ritual, but visitors are not allowed to take pictures and videos.

The Waelu ceremony is a kind of welcome for visitors where the chieftain will deliver a speech and pray for visitors for safety, security and avoiding danger in life.

Popular Posts

Awar awar (Ficus septica)

Awar-awar or lagnob or hauli tree or barabar or sirih popar or tobo tobo ( Ficus septica ) is species of plants in Moraceae, trees grow in bushes or in neglected places and sap contained in roots, twigs, leaves and fruit is used to treat poisoning and digestive problems. F. septica is usually 1-5 m high, although in the forest it can be up to 25 m. Round, hollow and bare branches. Roots, twigs, leaves and fruit will emit a yellow sap and sticky if injured. The base of the leaves is large and spiky, arranged alternately or face to face with a stem length of 2.5-5 cm. Large leaf blade, round egg, 9-30x9-16 cm, rounded base and blunt narrow tip, flat-edged, upper side dark green with 6-12 secondary bones pale white. Fruit paired, single or clustered up to 4 items, short-stemmed, at the base has 3 protective leaves, light green or gray green and 1.5 cm in diameter. F. septica is food for 22 animal species including wasps, bats, birds, monkeys and mice as well as seed dispersing vecto...

Sunda coucal (Centropus nigrorufus)

Bubut jawa or Sunda coucal ( Centropus nigrorufus ) is a species of animal in the Cuculidae, birds up to 46 cm long, black and reddish-brown, living in pairs, spending time in trees and often descending to the ground. C. nigrorufus has a black and glossy purple head, neck and back. The wings are rust-red or brown, the wing covers and the inner secondary feathers are black. The tail is long and black. Iris is red. The beak is slightly curved and black. The legs are black and shiny. The fingers have long, black nails. Bubut jawa eats caterpillars, grasshoppers, beetles, frogs, lizards, crabs that have habitats on the edge of the forest, secondary shrubs, riverbank shrubs, mangrove forests and spread up to an elevation of 1500 meters. Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Subphylum: Vertebrata Class: Aves Order: Cuculiformes Family: Cuculidae Genus: Centropus Species: Centropus nigrorufus

Breng (Coldenia breng)

Breng ( Coldenia breng ) is a species of plant in the Boraginaceae family. It is a herbaceous plant that grows along the ground, with radial, cylindrical stems, red, multi-branched, alternate, and white-haired. C. breng has alternate leaves along the stem, oval to nearly round, up to 2.5 cm long, up to 1.5 cm wide, and white-haired. This plant grows in floodplains, seasonally inundated riverbanks, and drying rice fields. It thrives in sandy or silty soils and is drought-tolerant. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Boraginales Family: Boraginaceae Subfamily: Cordioideae Genus: Coldenia L. in Sp. Pl.: 125 (1753) Species: Coldenia breng Aryo Bandoro Dlium TheDlium YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium