Komodo Boat Trip: Discovering the Wae Rebo Village

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Joining the Komodo boat trip or liveaboard not only give you an amazing water adventure but also a chance to visit Indonesian local tribes. These tribes usually live in the depths of the forest far from human civilization, because of that they only have limited technologies and only capable of speaking their own language. In Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT), there’s a village located high in the mountain where tourists frequently visit called Wae Rebo.

The Komodo boat trip also takes you to many cultural places

Wae Rebo village is one of the highest located villages in Indonesia with a height of 1.200 meters above the sea surface. Because of this, a thick fog covering the village is a normal phenomenon in the morning. To reach this village, tourists have to trek quite a challenging route for about 2 to 3 hours.

In 2012, UNESCO granted a heritage site status to Wae Rebo village for its cultural richness and unique houses. Speaking of house, they have a unique architecture that sure can pique the visitor’s interest. This village only has 7 main houses, each house shaped like a cone with 5 floors and a height of about 5 meters.

Recognized internationally, Wae Rebo has millions of visitors each year

One house can fit about 6 to 8 families. Inside, each floor is assigned for different purposes. The first floor is for gathering and sleeping, second floor for food storage, third floor for raw food storage, fourth floor for emergency food storage and the top floor is for a shrine. This unique house is called Mbaru Niang by the locals.

Let’s talk about the locals now, even though this village is located in NTT but many people said that they are the descendant from Minang tribe, which is located on the far east in Sumatra. One of the elders in there with the name of Empo Maro claimed he did come from Minang descendant. His family came all the way from Sumatra to Labuan Bajo to find shelter and finally ended up in Wae Rebo.

Even though Wae Rebo popular among the tourists, and the number of visitors keeps increasing throughout the year, none of the locals choose to become a tour guide and instead stick to their original job. The man makes a living by becoming a farmer and the woman stays home to make clothes.

The coffee bean is the most popular farm goods in there, the coffee has a unique distinct taste and tourists often buy some of them along with the women’s handmade clothes.

Nothing beats fresh coffee grounds from the best coffee bean in the morning

Okay, so that’s some information I wanted to share with you about Wae Rebo village, if you’re interested to see it firsthand you might want to join the Komodo boat trip from Labuan Bajo for easy access. Cheers!