After a long day of drive to the east side of the island and a basic 4-star hotel (none of the family likes it), we were not sure why we came all the way here. And then, this day we got it! East Sumba looks very different than the west and it’s so charming in a different way.
My running situation was not clear when we arrived because there is no gym in the hotel which I complained to our agent, and the road outside of the hotel looks so rural and many animals around including street dogs which I was afraid to run by. Then I had the brilliant idea to ask husband to bike besides me to keep me company to scare aways the dogs. He kindly agreed and woke up 6:20am for a 6:30am start. Needly to say, I felt very loved.
I had a workout run, 3 miles warm up, 12 sets of hill repeats that I could do with the ramp outside the hotel, and 3 miles cool down. It was such a fun run that I enjoyed a lot, especially having to run twice on the treadmill before.
breakfast was so basic and when I stepped into the restaurant, husband said there’s no option for you. I had some congee with celery leaves and fried peanuts. Fortunately I came prepared and made instant oat with protein powder to fuel my 10 miles run in the morning.
We left 9am for a 2.5 hrs drive to Tanggeru waterfall. Again, we all enjoyed the scenery on the drive. At the times, we felt we were in yellow stone, with wild animals hanging around (horses, goats) on the hills, on open field. I also felt I was in Hawaii, with beautiful mountains nearby. Then we also thought it looked like Africa. hahahah….. We also discussed ways to make hiking routes for local tourism, which does not exist. So many ideas, can someone implement them?
we spotted a beach on our way, and we stopped for few minutes to stretch legs. Such a beautiful beach.
we bought local milk bananas on the way, girls and husband like it a lot
it is dry season so it’s not as green but so beautiful
we finally arrived at the waterfall after 5 min motorcycle drive from the gate, which we all welcomed as it was super hot at noon.
It is a beautiful place with many small waterfalls and pools. We didn’t stay long because the road will be closed by 1pm so we needed to make sure we leave before 1pm.
love this view
then we drove back to the beach to have our packed lunch. So serene. A long coastline without any resort. We thought what a waste of natural beauty, then to find out that the land belongs to someone but for mysterious reason it is not being developed.
our next stop was to a local barber shop for a hair cut, guess how much? 1.2 USD!!! In Jakarta, it’s more then 10 times.
we got back to the hotel 3:30pm. I took some rest, had a big papaya that we bought on the road (papaya is becoming my favorite fruit!), while girls did their kumons. Then at 5pm, girls had their sunset horse riding. Such a lovely scene.
Girls and I stayed at the hotel for dinner while daddy went out to find street food, lamb/goat soup and BBQ.
What a wonderful day overall! I highly recommend Sumba east for nature lovers.
Our New Journey 
Your picnic lunch on that beach under the trees looks so much like when we had a picnic lunch at Anini Beach in Kauai!!! Did you get that idea from me? Haha!! Love it!! 🙂 That beach is beautiful. I can see what you mean about it looking like lots of different places in one. My boys have always loved climbing over rocks, water, etc like that. Looks like a fun adventurous day! I know what you mean about the street dogs thing. That’s something I really dislike when we’re in Mexico- I feel always trapped in the house. I would never run or even really walk long distances around the house due to all the dogs.
You mentioned an agent, and also sounds like you’ve had guides driving you everywhere. Did you book everything through a local travel agency or something? Or how did you plan this trip and get connected with drivers/ guides?
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sumba is very remote so i booked with a local tour that organized everything, hotel, meals, transport, site visits, fee, as a package. But since it’s a private tour, we could make changes anytime, which has been great.
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