Wae Rebo
A Village Of Seven Conical Mbaru Niang Houses In The Mountains Of Flores, Reached Only On Foot; Winner Of A UNESCO Asia Pacific Award For Cultural Heritage Conservation In 2012 · Satar Lenda, East Nusa Tenggara
Wae Rebo is a single village of SEVEN CONICAL HOUSES standing in a bowl of mountain at eleven hundred metres in western Flores, and it is reached ONLY ON FOOT - a three to four hour uphill walk from the road end at Denge. THE HOUSES, CALLED MBARU NIANG, ARE FIVE STOREYS OF THATCH over a circular timber frame, each holding several families, with the upper levels used for storing seed and for the ancestors. THERE ARE SEVEN BECAUSE TRADITION SETS THE NUMBER AT SEVEN. The village rebuilt them properly in the 2000s and WON A UNESCO ASIA-PACIFIC AWARD FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE CONSERVATION IN 2012 - an award for the restoration, which is often misreported as World Heritage status. YOU DO NOT WALK IN. A welcome ceremony with the village elder comes first - you wait at the edge until it has been performed, and only then are you a guest rather than an intruder in somebody's home - and that is the single most important thing to understand before setting out from Denge.
Wae Rebo, Satarmese Barat, Manggarai Regency, Flores, Satar Lenda, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia
THERE IS NO GATE AND NO OPENING TIME - Wae Rebo is a living village and visitors are guests. GETTING THERE MEANS DRIVING TO DENGE, roughly four to five hours from Labuan Bajo on rough mountain road, staying the night there, and WALKING THREE TO FOUR HOURS UPHILL the next morning. MOST VISITORS STAY ONE NIGHT IN THE VILLAGE in the communal lodge house, which is the intended arrangement and the reason to come. ON ARRIVAL YOU WAIT AT THE EDGE UNTIL THE WAELU, the welcome ceremony, is performed by the elder - you do not enter the village before it. A VILLAGE FEE COVERS ACCOMMODATION, MEALS AND THE CEREMONY. Numbers are limited by the size of the lodge. The path is hard in the rainy season and leeches are common.