Rote
The Southernmost Island Of Indonesia, Where The Lontar Palm Underwrites The Entire Economy And A Long Left Hand Reef Point Draws Surfers Who Wanted Bali Thirty Years Ago · Ba'a, East Nusa Tenggara
Rote is THE SOUTHERNMOST ISLAND IN INDONESIA - a low dry island off the tip of Timor, which puts it about as far from Pulau Weh and its Kilometre Zero monument as the country gets. TWO THINGS DEFINE IT. THE FIRST IS THE LONTAR PALM, which underwrites the entire Rotenese economy: the flower stalks are tapped for sweet sap that is drunk fresh, boiled to syrup or fermented, the leaves roof the houses and make the fan-shaped body of the SASANDO, a plucked bamboo harp found nowhere else on earth. THE SECOND IS NEMBERALA, where a LONG LEFT-HAND REEF POINT called T-Land peels for hundreds of metres and draws surfers who are quite openly looking for the Bali of thirty years ago. The island is dry, poor, empty and extremely quiet, and the surf camps and the lontar villages barely interact at all - a gap that is visible the moment you leave Nemberala and is worth being thoughtful about in how you spend while you are here.
Rote Ndao, East Nusa Tenggara, Ba'a, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
REACHED FROM KUPANG on Timor, which has flights from Bali, Jakarta and Surabaya. FROM KUPANG A FAST FERRY TAKES ABOUT TWO HOURS to Ba'a and a slow one considerably longer; there are also SMALL FLIGHTS TO ROTE on a limited schedule. FERRIES RUN MOST DAYS BUT ARE WEATHER-DEPENDENT AND CANCELLED IN ROUGH SEAS, so build spare days. THERE IS NO GATE AND NO ADMISSION - Rote is an island, and NEMBERALA on the west coast is where almost all visitors stay. SURF CAMPS AND GUESTHOUSES arrange transfers, boats and scooters. THE SURF SEASON RUNS ROUGHLY APRIL TO OCTOBER on southern swells. BANKING IS LIMITED TO BA'A - bring cash to Nemberala. Electricity is unreliable in places and generator-backed.