Welcome to your Sumba tour! At Tambolaka Airport in Sumba Island, your local English-speaking guide and private driver will meet you and drive you to your resort. On the scenic, 2-hour drive, you’re sure to see your first glimpses of traditional Sumba-style houses.

After check in, the rest of the day is free to spend at your leisure. Begin your exploration of this beautiful island or just take some time to relax at your resort.

Meals: Lunch

This morning after breakfast, your Sumba tour will begin with a pickup at your resort. You’ll drive to the provincial capital of Waikabubak, the jumping-off point to visit the twin villages of Tarung and Waitabar. Here, you’ll get the chance to see Sumba’s unique architecture up close. The typical style of houses on Sumba Island includes high, thatched roofs.

In Waikabubak, we’ll stop for an early lunch at the Mandarang Hotel restaurant, then we’ll drive a further 30 minutes to Anakalang, a region known for its distinctive funeral customs.

Anthropologists say Sumba culture is the closest-known living culture to Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures. For example, megalith burial is a practice that has survived to present day in Sumba. The techniques used to transport and carve the megalith stones also trace back to a pre-historical era. You’ll have the chance to see such megaliths at the Royal Tombs in the villages of Pasunga and Gogali.

Next, drive on to the remote village of Praiijing, considered the most beautiful village near Waikabubak. Praiijing Village comprises 3 sections spread out over a large area. Enjoy a short, gentle trek from the upper part of the village to the lower. Along the way, your guide will explain the beliefs and customs of the local Marapu religion. Feel free to mingle with locals, watch the children play, or sample a betel leaf.

Continue by car roughly an hour to Lamboya, located in the southern part of West Sumba. On the drive, you’ll enjoy remarkable vistas over lush valleys and the Indian Ocean. The local life you’ll see at Lamboya has remained largely unchanged for centuries.

Return to your resort.

Meals: Breakfast - Lunch

After breakfast, check out from your resort. Today your Sumba tour brings you first to Waikabubak to visit the local market. Wander through aisles of tropical fruits and other interesting items on offer, then head to the nearby art shop where you can see the famed ikat textiles.

We’ll drive back to Tambolaka to pick up our boxed lunch, then head to Mandorak Beach in the Kodi area. Kodi is home to numerous traditional villages, ancient funeral sites and pristine beaches with legendary waves. Our rustic route will pass through maize, cassava, cashew and teak plantations.

Kodi, another stronghold of Merapu culture, is renowned for its lively pasolas. In the pasola—a ritual joust unique to West Sumba—two groups of men (usually 50 to 100 participants per group) from two different clans ride horses and demonstrate their martial skills by throwing wooden spears at their opponents. Normally held in February or March, pasolas celebrate rice-planting season. However, exact dates are released only a few days before the event.

Stop at the beachside Mandorak House, a community project aimed at helping the Kodi tribe survive in modern times. Here, on Mandorak Beach, you’ll have the chance to enjoy your boxed lunch, swim in the ocean and relax.

After lunch, continue to Wainyapu, Kodi’s most impressive traditional village. Built on a cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean, this village is noted for the incredible height of its houses’ thatched roofs. All its traditional houses are made of bamboo. If you ask a friendly local if you can look inside his or her house, you’re sure to be proudly presented with a tour of the interior, revealing how the family lives.

Drive back to Tambolaka and check in at your beachside hotel. Spend the remainder of the day enjoying the virgin, white-sand beaches of Pantai Kita.

Meals: Breakfast - Lunch

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast on the last day of your Sumba tour. Afterwards, your guide and private driver will drive you to the airport for your onward journey.

Meals: Breakfast