Wae Rebo: Home of the Last Mbaru Niang

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The ride was full of jolts as we passed through huge swaths of picturesque hills and paddy fields tapering down to the Savu Sea on the southern shore of Flores. The road then took a right, skirting the sea to the fishing village of Dintor next to a craggy Mules Island.

From there, the road swings uphill, passing the village of Denge with a charming Catholic church and homestays for foreign travelers, up and up till the road runs out.

Robby, our guide, ground his Nissan van to a halt when the road literally ended in front of a stream, where a bridge was being constructed. From here, we would have to foot it to Wae Rebo.

For the next three hours, we huffed and puffed and sweated our way up the steep mountain track through a beautiful forest that occasionally opened up to majestic vistas stretching to the sea.

Robby kept reminding us that we were lucky because the paved road had been extended so that we now had to walk only three hours. Earlier travelers had to walk seven hours to get to Wae Rebo.

As the walk plateaued out, we began to see many coffee plants, a sign that we were nearing the village, as it is one of the main crops of the villagers. The path then led to a wooden hut where we could get our first glimpse of Wae Rebo, iconically represented by seven round thatched huts called mbaru niang.

The mbaru niang were the reason we had made the track to Wae Rebo. The communities in Manggarai used to live in such huts, but the Indonesian government began encouraging villagers to move to the lowlands in the 1970s and to live in 'modern' square huts.

Like so many social programs that the Suharto government embarked on, they were very successful, to the point that Wae Rebo became the only remaining village in Manggarai where villagers still live in mbaru niang. Villagers said this was because the village was so isolated that the government found it difficult to assert its influence there.

Before we could proceed down the hill into the village, we had to announce our arrival by rattling a bamboo clapper. "This is to let them know and to prepare for (the arrival of) guests," said our guide Robby, a Manggarai native himself but from another village. He said that this is the only way to let them know because the village was so isolated in a valley among the hills that mobile signals cannot penetrate the area.

He then warned us not to start taking photos as we entered the village. "You have to go to the main ceremonial hut and be welcomed by the head man. Prepare a Rp50,000 note and give it to him as a sign of courtesy. He will then ask permission from the village ancestors for you to visit the village."

"You will then be led to another mbaru niang to have coffee and a chat with one of the villagers who will tell you about the history of the place. After that, you're free to walk about and take photos," he said.

As an aside, he told us that some guests who did not observe the protocol had problems with their health or their cameras. "The ancestors were angry because the guests did not show respect," said Robby, leaving us in no doubt that we were entering into a culture where ties to the spirits of ancestors, supernatural beings and nature remain a tangible part of people's lives.

We then descended to the village. We were received by the headman in the main mbaru niang, a communal hut housing ceremonial gongs, drums and the spirits of their ancestors. He rattled off something in Manggaraian and the ceremony was over within a few minutes.

We were then led to the next mbaru niang where guests are housed. Inside was a circular wooden floor that can sleep easily 30 people in one big conical space. There were no rooms, only a front door and a back door leading to a separate kitchen and, for the convenience of us modern guests, a bathroom and toilets.

We sat around in a circle around where Marcelinus over a cup of coffee (planted, harvested and roasted at that very village) and bananas, told us of the origins of Wae Rebo that is apparently about 1,500 years old.

The villagers believe that they are the 19th generation to live there. Curiously, and their features seem to bear this out, they trace their ancestry to the Minang-kabau in West Sumatra. "But people who come here see very little culturally that is similar to the Minangkabau," said Marcelinus. "So much time has passed since then. The only thing we have in common is the carving on the roof in the shape of buffalo horns," he said.

Marcelinus also tells the legend of how the village was founded by someone named Empo Maro. It is a strange tale because Maro sounded more like an anti-hero rather than a hero. He was drummed out of several villages and nearly killed several times because of his arrogance, before finally being told by the spirits to start a village at Wae Rebo.

We were free to explore the village and take photos after that chat. Emerging from the hut, we counted mbaru niang arranged in a rough semicircle around a common area.

In the center was a platform made of rocks, called asompang, that is used for ceremonial purposes. There is also another stone platform in front of the communal drum house that is called a lik.

There is a legend, told by anthropologist Catherine Allerton in The Life of Wae Rebo that these stone platforms were built by magical beings called darat. "These spirits look rather like beautiful humans, with very long, dark hair, but with six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot. The darat spirits were able to lift huge stones very easily with one hand, and so helped the stone platforms to be built quickly."

Having completed the platforms, a misunderstanding between the humans and the darat resulted in them issuing a curse where they could see humans but humans cannot see them forever.

But even this coexistence seems to be changing. There is nothing more emblematic of this change than a small solar panel that is lodged next to the window of one of the mbaru niang.

The solar panel heralds the entry of modernity, even when Wae Rebo today remains relatively isolated with no mobile telephone and television signals. But the solar panels are there, a gift of some aid agency seeking to uplift the quality of life of remote villagers.

Marcelinus tells us, however, that many of the solar panels have failed to work properly so they rely on electricity from a generator from 6pm to 10 pm every night.

Modernity has also crept in to the world view of most of the residents because of their ties with the village of Kombo, several hours' downhill walk from Wae Rebo. Today, about 50 villagers, mostly women and young children live in Wae Rebo. The rest live in Kombo where they go to school and tend to their paddy fields and other agricultural lands.

Many of the young villagers also merantau, go to other islands and cities to earn a living. Marcelinus himself spent some years working in a hotel in Bali before deciding to come back to Wae Rebo.

On closer inspection, there are signs of modernity even among the iconic mbaru niang. The hut where we lived in is relatively new, having been restored in the 1990s. Some of the beams have yet to acquire the patina that age bestows, but the restoration was part of the villagers' attempt at developing a cultural tourism industry.

And isolated as it is, Wae Rebo has begun to attract more visitors each year. "It used to be only overseas visitors but in the past few years we have ben getting more and more visitors from Jakarta especially during penti," said Marcelinus. Penti is the Manggarai new year and is celebrated in the village.

The modern world, however, is creeping closer to Wae Rebo. The paved road has reduced walking time to the village from seven to three hours. When the bridge that marked the end of our drive is completed, the paved road would have sneaked nearer. It will be only a matter of time before Wae Rebo becomes a mere stroll from the cars taking travelers there.

For now, however, Wae Rebo and the villagers seem to have struck a good balance between cultural tourism and their ancient ways. In 2012, the village was given the Top Award of Excellence at the United National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards.

Even so, change is inevitable. If you have the time and resources, you should go soon to Wae Rebo before time and tourism take their toll and the bridge to that world of spirits, ancestors and nature begin to fade.

Ong Hock Chuan (Contributor)