After spending ten days in Sumba and two days in Sabu Island, I came home with hundreds of photos, countless stories, and a notebook full of thoughts that I did not want to forget. So here I am, beginning a new travel series.
Let's start with Day One.
And fittingly, Day One did not go according to plan.
A Trip Years in the Making
The idea of visiting Sumba was not new.
My dad had been asking to go for years. I honestly cannot remember when the first conversation happened anymore, but I know it was sometime after COVID. Every year, something came up. Plans changed. Priorities shifted. The trip was postponed again and again.
This year, we finally stopped delaying it.
For those curious, our flight from Denpasar to Tambolaka cost approximately AUD 115.22 per person, or around IDR 1.4 million. After weeks of planning, arranging accommodations, coordinating transport, and carefully building a ten-day itinerary, we were finally on our way.
Or so I thought.
The First Surprise
One of the places I was most excited about visiting was Mbawana Beach.
If you have researched Sumba before, you have probably seen photos of its iconic ring-shaped sea arch. It is one of the most recognisable landmarks on the island.
Then came a WhatsApp message from our car rental contact.
The famous sea arch had collapsed in 2020.
Just like that, one of the highlights of my carefully planned itinerary disappeared.
I later looked up the news myself and confirmed it. My original plan for the day was to visit Mbawana Beach, Watu Malandong Beach, and Watubela Beach. Instead, our rental company suggested a completely different route. Since they knew the local conditions better than I did, I decided to trust them.
In hindsight, it was one of the best decisions I made during the entire trip.
Welcome to Tambolaka
We landed at Tambolaka Airport at 10:04 AM, slightly ahead of schedule.
While my family quietly waited for our luggage, I was busy messaging the driver, confirming arrangements, and making last-minute adjustments to the itinerary.
The baggage claim itself took quite a while. We probably waited at least thirty minutes before our bags finally appeared.
Once we stepped outside, the first thing I noticed was how different Sumba felt from Bali.
The landscape looked green, but not lush in the way Bali does. It felt slightly dry, slightly rugged. The air carried the scent of grass mixed with sea breeze.
And then there were the horses.
Before coming to Sumba, I assumed the famous wild horses were mostly something tourists saw in promotional photos.
I was wrong.
If Australia has kangaroos casually appearing by the roadside, Sumba has horses.
They were everywhere.
Crossing roads.
Standing near fields.
Grazing beside villages.
By the end of the trip, seeing horses became almost a daily occurrence.
Paradise Hidden Behind Rice Fields
Our first stop was Waikacura.
If someone had shown me a photograph beforehand and asked where it was, I probably would never have guessed it was hidden behind ordinary rice fields.
The rain was already falling when we arrived.
Not ideal.
Still, we walked around, admired the scenery, and took photos whenever the weather gave us a brief window of opportunity.
I remember looking around and thinking:
"How is this hidden behind ordinary rice fields?"
Places like this are why I enjoy travelling.
Because they remind you how many beautiful places exist quietly outside the spotlight.
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| A hidden paradise tucked behind rice fields. |
Chasing Breaks Between Rainstorms
Unfortunately, the weather had other plans.
By the time we reached Bendungan Waikelo Sawah, the rain had become significantly heavier.
We sat inside the car for around twenty minutes waiting for it to ease.
Then it slowed.
We got out.
Started taking photos.
And naturally, it started pouring again.
The dam itself was beautiful. Even under grey skies, the turquoise water stood out against the surrounding greenery.
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| Bendungan Waikelo Sawah |
But the weather was relentless.
Sometimes travel is like that.
You arrive at a destination you have been looking forward to for weeks, only to spend most of your time watching rain hit the windshield.
Oddly enough, those moments often become part of the memory too.
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| Trying to enjoy Waikelo Sawah between rain showers. |
Lessons from a Coconut
After lunch at Dapur Sumba, where I had one of the best fish soups of the trip, we continued south towards Pantai Watubela.
This was where Sumba truly began to surprise me.
One of the first things we did was order fresh coconuts.
Simple enough.
Or so I thought.
The coconut arrived with no straw.
No spoon.
Nothing.
Instead, the local vendor demonstrated how to drink directly from the coconut and then use a piece of the coconut shell itself as a spoon to scoop out the flesh.
One machete. No plastic or extra tools.
Just a technique that people had probably been using for generations.
I was ridiculously impressed.
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| Coconut and the spoon. |
It was one of those tiny moments that probably sounds insignificant when written down, but it stayed with me throughout the trip.
The Sumba I Came Looking For
Then came the horses.
Two horses and their owners appeared near the beach.
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| Horse and the beach. |
One of them walked directly into the water.
Not inside a luxury resort.
Just casually existing as part of everyday life.
Nearby, buffaloes, goats, dogs, and cows wandered around as if they owned the coastline.
For the first time that day, I found myself thinking:
"Whoa. I'm only experiencing this in Sumba."
Later, I climbed a nearby hill overlooking the coast.
And that was the moment that completely sold me on the island.
The landscape below looked unreal.
Palm trees stood in silhouette against the evening light.
Sunbeams broke through the clouds.
Water reflected the fading sunlight in the distance.
The coastline stretched away into layers of mist and shadow.
It looked less like Indonesia and more like something from a Jurassic Park movie.
I stood there for several minutes just taking it all in.
No photograph can fully capture how that moment felt.
But if I had to choose one image that represents my first day in Sumba, it would be that view.
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| The moment Sumba stopped being a destination and became an experience. |
A Night Without Electricity
The day was not quite finished.
When we arrived at our accommodation in Waikabubak, the city was experiencing a blackout.
The hotel handed each room a lantern.
For a brief moment, I became concerned.
No electricity?
Does that mean no hot shower?
No air conditioning?
No charging phones?
As practical concerns filled my mind, something else happened.
I looked up.
The sky was filled with stars.
Without city lights, they suddenly became visible in a way they rarely are.
It was beautiful.
Then, less than ten minutes later, the electricity returned.
The air conditioner came back.
The lights came back.
The hot water came back.
And the stars disappeared.
I knew exactly why. Light pollution had reclaimed the sky.
Would I trade my hot shower and cold air conditioning to keep the stars?
Probably not.
But for those few minutes, standing under a dark Sumba sky, I understood why people travel so far in search of places that still feel untouched.
Final Thoughts
My first day in Sumba was rainy.
My original itinerary fell apart.
One of the landmarks I had planned to visit no longer existed.
I spent time waiting for luggage, waiting for rain to stop, and waiting for the electricity to come back.
And somehow, it was still a wonderful day.
Because the moments I remember most were never part of the plan.
They were horses walking into the sea.
A coconut shell turned into a spoon.
A hidden spring behind rice fields.
And a sky full of stars that only lasted for a couple of minutes.
If Day One was any indication of what the next ten days would bring, Sumba was going to be far more interesting than I had imagined.
And we were only getting started.
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