September 20, 2025 • 9 mins
Exploring the municipality of Manatuto, including Manatuto town, One Dollar Beach and Laleia.
More information on Manatuto - https://exploringtimor.com/manatuto/
Website - www.exploringtimor.com
TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@exploringtimor
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jonty (00:06):
Bondi.
Welcome to exploring Tim Este,the podcast that talks about
Southeast Asia's best kepttravel secret.
I'm your host Jte, and I'llshare firsthand insights, expert
interviews and practical traveltips.
Whether you're a traveler, acultural lover, or just curious
about places rarely covered inthe mainstream.
You're in the right place.
Let's explore two more.
Less day.
(00:31):
Today's episode is one of thelargest and least populated
municipalities in Timor-Leste.
This is Mana Tutu.
So Tutu lies between Dili andBacao, so it's to the east of
Dili, and a lot of people willtravel the coastal road, far
fewer people will venture inland into mantu.
There's not a lot of roads butit is quite a varied and
(00:54):
interesting municipality tovisit.
And anybody who's visiting Baalor heading out to Jao Island and
em will head through Mantu.
And I would recommend that theydo spend a little bit of time at
least exploring MOU two Town andsome of the sites along the
coastal road.
Which is one of the best roadsin the country.
It's relatively recently builtand very few potholes in
comparison with other parts ofthe country.
(01:15):
One of the best known sitesalong that coastal road is$1
Beach.
This was a popular spot with UNpeacekeepers.
During the early two thousands,locals would charge'em a dollar
to access the beach, which ishow it got the name entry is now
free.
But unfortunately, the site isgenerally closed from the road.
There's quite a large perimeterwall, and there's these towers
(01:36):
that look a bit like guardtowers, but are actually kind of
scenic spots.
So if you can find a local, theymay be able to open the gate and
let you in, but more likely youmay have to access it from
walking along the coast fromeither end, which is a bit of a
shame.
The facilities are a bit rundown.
Obviously some money was spenton it at some point in the past,
but maintenance is not astrength in Timor, there is good
snorkeling there though, and itis a bit of a landmark as you
(01:59):
are driving along and worth aquick stop to take a look at one
of the more kind of unusualbeach setups that I've seen.
Now when you're heading alongthe road from Dali to Baal
probably the most scenic sectionis sba, which is also known as
Snake Road.
And this is where the roadwiggles like a snake around the
side of the hillside.
It's very impressive lookingback onto it.
(02:19):
And there are some quiteprominent headlands that stick
out.
And it's probably the only roadin Timor I found that actually
had an area to the side whereyou could pull over and take
photos and have a look.
Generally you just have to pullover to the side of the road,
but here, there's actually aspace at the top of the saddle
which offers some fantasticviews.
Now just before you get to theSnake road, if you're heading
from Dili, take a lookout onyour left for a Jao class patrol
(02:43):
vessel.
This is one of the vessels inthe Timorese Navy.
Certainly as of early 2025, itwas being refitted there.
It may be there for some time.
It's not very obvious whenyou're driving from dilly to
Bal, but when you are drivingthe opposite direction, you
can't miss it.
And that's just quite a coolthing to look out for by the
side of the road.
So that was just before SnakeRoad, just after Snake Road.
(03:05):
There's a small roadside shrinededicated to San Anthony Fed
with natural spring water, whichis a popular stopping point.
There's quite a few places toget food and supplies around
that area.
That's also the way you wannastart.
If you wanna hike up towardsMount Curry, which is a
fantastic if reasonablychallenging day hike, I'd
recommend that get a guide tohelp you on the way up.
(03:26):
'cause it's not entirely obviouswhere to go.
But that offers some incredibleviews.
If you're into hiking.
Now the main town in Manito iscalled Manito.
It's slightly off the main road,so if you're just driving
through to Bakar, you couldeasily miss it.
I would strongly recommend thatyou take a short detour and
spend an hour or two exploringthe town.
There's actually quite a fewthings worth seeing.
(03:46):
Now there are two.
Hills in Manito.
The most popular one has astatue of San Antonio, and
that's to the east of town.
The road up to that is rough butmanageable.
And that is a popular place forpeople to go and pray.
And it also offers someexcellent views of the
surrounding area.
My preference is the other hill,which is more to the west, and
(04:10):
that is topped by a formerPortuguese colonial
administrator's house, which iscompletely run down, it's fallen
apart.
It's basically ruins.
It's got atmospheric ruinsthough, and it has some
incredible views.
And just round the corner fromit is a manmade cave shrine with
a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Now, the road up to there, I'mnot sure you'd do it in the car
(04:31):
very easily, but on a motorbikeit is manageable.
It's a pretty challenging bit ofroad, but it's worth it for the
fantastic views.
Now, in Manito town itself,there's a couple of plazas and
memorials to timor's heroes fromthe Indonesian occupation era.
And then the sizeable sentAnthony Church lies close to the
waterfront.
The original church was built in1880, but the current one was
(04:54):
renovated in 2009.
And I think it needs a bit morerenovation now, but it is an
interesting church to visit.
And if you look around theoutside of the church, there are
14.
Stations of the cross in thegrounds along with another
shrine to the Virgin Mary.
So there's a few things to seein Manito Town itself when
you're heading east out.
Manito, there are a couple ofsort fields.
(05:15):
These are the largest saltfields in the country, and
depending on what time of yearyou come, if it's during the wet
season, they may be filled upwith water.
If it's in the dry season, theymight be dry.
There's a happy medium where youget these beautiful white and
red colored kind of pools ofwater depending on what time of
year you visit.
Probably the best known site inManito is the Lia Church which
(05:37):
is often proclaimed as one ofthe most beautiful churches in
Timor Lester.
This is just a short detail offthe main road.
Just make sure you turn left asyou head through town.
This is a Portuguese designchurch built in 1933.
It's this pastoral pink color onthe outside.
It's very attractive.
And then the interior is verycolorful with green and yellow
striped ceiling.
(05:57):
It is definitely one of thenicer churches I've visited in
the country.
Now for most people, that's whatyou're gonna see in Manito, is
you're gonna go along thecoastal road and those are the
main sites to visit.
For those who are a bit moreadventurous and have got
suitable four wheel drivevehicle or a comfortable on a
motorbike, you can head inland.
The main town's inland is lubar.
Is in beautiful surroundings,lots of mountainous hills
(06:20):
around.
It's got a quite impressivechurch and some more remains
from the Portuguese era as well.
It's a bit out the way, but it'squite an interesting place to
visit.
I did it as part of a big hikein that region.
This is one of the few places Ididn't visit in Timor Este, but
if you do head from Manitoinland quite away inland, you
get to at Dara.
So this is one of the mostimportant sacred sites within
(06:42):
Timor Este.
So in the early 20th century theVirgin Mary appeared to several
women near a large Banyan treeon the hills.
This is near uh, SIA.
And as a result, a shrine, whichwas consecrated as a national
shrine in 2004 a church, aconvent, a college, and a town
were built during Portuguesetimes.
Every October hundreds of peopletravel on pilgrimage from around
(07:04):
the country to visit the shrine.
And although the vision of theVirgin Mary is not officially
endorsed by the Catholic church,its significance to the people
of Timor-Leste was acknowledgedby Po John Paul II in May, 2002
in his message on the occasionof the Declaration of
Independence, this is whenTimor-Leste became an
independent country and he madereference to it in his blessing
(07:26):
of the country so the site is,at least an hour and a half
drive south of Manito.
It'd be a beautiful drive inlanddefinitely one for the dry
season.
Also Manto.
There are a number of excellentsnorkeling sites.
I've already mentioned$1 Beach.
There's a site called K 41,which is 41 kilometers east of
Dilly.
And that is a well-known sitefor snorkeling and diving.
(07:48):
There's also Bob's Rock, whichis just down the road from K 41.
I would note that once you startgetting further east from Manito
towards bacal, the risks ofcrocodiles do increase
significantly.
So it's best to say closer tothe Dili end.
There are a number of divecompanies in Dili that will
offer day trips out to go divingalong those sites.
And they're all shore dives, soyou don't need a boat.
(08:09):
They'll provide transport andtake you from dili.
You can walk in off the shore,go for some great diving and
then come back.
That's a really good way ofexploring the coast of Manito.
In terms of transport, this isprobably one of the better
connected parts of the countrybecause the road is excellent
and you can get public buses outto Baal, which costs$5 or less,
and you can get off the bus.
(08:30):
The trouble with the buses isthey all tend to leave about the
same time and return at the sametime, so you need to get to your
destination at the end of theday.
If you get off early, the chanceof getting another bus to
continue the journey might be abit challenging depending on the
time of day.
So that's giving you a bit of aflavor for Manna Tutu.
Thank you so much for listening to exploring Timor
Less Day.
(08:50):
If you've enjoyed today'sepisode, please consider leaving
a rating or review.
It really helps more peoplediscover the show.
If you have any questions orfeedback, I'd love to hear from
you.
Drop me an email at exploringTimor lessDay@gmail.com.
Until next time, or Bodo ADEs.
Bondi.
Welcome to exploring Tim Este,the podcast that talks about
Southeast Asia's best kepttravel secret.
I'm your host Jte, and I'llshare firsthand insights, expert
interviews and practical traveltips.
Whether you're a traveler, acultural lover, or just curious
about places rarely covered inthe mainstream.
You're in the right place.
Let's explore two more.
Less day.
(00:31):
Today's episode is one of thelargest and least populated
municipalities in Timor-Leste.
This is Mana Tutu.
So Tutu lies between Dili andBacao, so it's to the east of
Dili, and a lot of people willtravel the coastal road, far
fewer people will venture inland into mantu.
There's not a lot of roads butit is quite a varied and
(00:54):
interesting municipality tovisit.
And anybody who's visiting Baalor heading out to Jao Island and
em will head through Mantu.
And I would recommend that theydo spend a little bit of time at
least exploring MOU two Town andsome of the sites along the
coastal road.
Which is one of the best roadsin the country.
It's relatively recently builtand very few potholes in
comparison with other parts ofthe country.
(01:15):
One of the best known sitesalong that coastal road is$1
Beach.
This was a popular spot with UNpeacekeepers.
During the early two thousands,locals would charge'em a dollar
to access the beach, which ishow it got the name entry is now
free.
But unfortunately, the site isgenerally closed from the road.
There's quite a large perimeterwall, and there's these towers
(01:36):
that look a bit like guardtowers, but are actually kind of
scenic spots.
So if you can find a local, theymay be able to open the gate and
let you in, but more likely youmay have to access it from
walking along the coast fromeither end, which is a bit of a
shame.
The facilities are a bit rundown.
Obviously some money was spenton it at some point in the past,
but maintenance is not astrength in Timor, there is good
snorkeling there though, and itis a bit of a landmark as you
(01:59):
are driving along and worth aquick stop to take a look at one
of the more kind of unusualbeach setups that I've seen.
Now when you're heading alongthe road from Dali to Baal
probably the most scenic sectionis sba, which is also known as
Snake Road.
And this is where the roadwiggles like a snake around the
side of the hillside.
It's very impressive lookingback onto it.
(02:19):
And there are some quiteprominent headlands that stick
out.
And it's probably the only roadin Timor I found that actually
had an area to the side whereyou could pull over and take
photos and have a look.
Generally you just have to pullover to the side of the road,
but here, there's actually aspace at the top of the saddle
which offers some fantasticviews.
Now just before you get to theSnake road, if you're heading
from Dili, take a lookout onyour left for a Jao class patrol
(02:43):
vessel.
This is one of the vessels inthe Timorese Navy.
Certainly as of early 2025, itwas being refitted there.
It may be there for some time.
It's not very obvious whenyou're driving from dilly to
Bal, but when you are drivingthe opposite direction, you
can't miss it.
And that's just quite a coolthing to look out for by the
side of the road.
So that was just before SnakeRoad, just after Snake Road.
(03:05):
There's a small roadside shrinededicated to San Anthony Fed
with natural spring water, whichis a popular stopping point.
There's quite a few places toget food and supplies around
that area.
That's also the way you wannastart.
If you wanna hike up towardsMount Curry, which is a
fantastic if reasonablychallenging day hike, I'd
recommend that get a guide tohelp you on the way up.
(03:26):
'cause it's not entirely obviouswhere to go.
But that offers some incredibleviews.
If you're into hiking.
Now the main town in Manito iscalled Manito.
It's slightly off the main road,so if you're just driving
through to Bakar, you couldeasily miss it.
I would strongly recommend thatyou take a short detour and
spend an hour or two exploringthe town.
There's actually quite a fewthings worth seeing.
(03:46):
Now there are two.
Hills in Manito.
The most popular one has astatue of San Antonio, and
that's to the east of town.
The road up to that is rough butmanageable.
And that is a popular place forpeople to go and pray.
And it also offers someexcellent views of the
surrounding area.
My preference is the other hill,which is more to the west, and
(04:10):
that is topped by a formerPortuguese colonial
administrator's house, which iscompletely run down, it's fallen
apart.
It's basically ruins.
It's got atmospheric ruinsthough, and it has some
incredible views.
And just round the corner fromit is a manmade cave shrine with
a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Now, the road up to there, I'mnot sure you'd do it in the car
(04:31):
very easily, but on a motorbikeit is manageable.
It's a pretty challenging bit ofroad, but it's worth it for the
fantastic views.
Now, in Manito town itself,there's a couple of plazas and
memorials to timor's heroes fromthe Indonesian occupation era.
And then the sizeable sentAnthony Church lies close to the
waterfront.
The original church was built in1880, but the current one was
(04:54):
renovated in 2009.
And I think it needs a bit morerenovation now, but it is an
interesting church to visit.
And if you look around theoutside of the church, there are
14.
Stations of the cross in thegrounds along with another
shrine to the Virgin Mary.
So there's a few things to seein Manito Town itself when
you're heading east out.
Manito, there are a couple ofsort fields.
(05:15):
These are the largest saltfields in the country, and
depending on what time of yearyou come, if it's during the wet
season, they may be filled upwith water.
If it's in the dry season, theymight be dry.
There's a happy medium where youget these beautiful white and
red colored kind of pools ofwater depending on what time of
year you visit.
Probably the best known site inManito is the Lia Church which
(05:37):
is often proclaimed as one ofthe most beautiful churches in
Timor Lester.
This is just a short detail offthe main road.
Just make sure you turn left asyou head through town.
This is a Portuguese designchurch built in 1933.
It's this pastoral pink color onthe outside.
It's very attractive.
And then the interior is verycolorful with green and yellow
striped ceiling.
(05:57):
It is definitely one of thenicer churches I've visited in
the country.
Now for most people, that's whatyou're gonna see in Manito, is
you're gonna go along thecoastal road and those are the
main sites to visit.
For those who are a bit moreadventurous and have got
suitable four wheel drivevehicle or a comfortable on a
motorbike, you can head inland.
The main town's inland is lubar.
Is in beautiful surroundings,lots of mountainous hills
(06:20):
around.
It's got a quite impressivechurch and some more remains
from the Portuguese era as well.
It's a bit out the way, but it'squite an interesting place to
visit.
I did it as part of a big hikein that region.
This is one of the few places Ididn't visit in Timor Este, but
if you do head from Manitoinland quite away inland, you
get to at Dara.
So this is one of the mostimportant sacred sites within
(06:42):
Timor Este.
So in the early 20th century theVirgin Mary appeared to several
women near a large Banyan treeon the hills.
This is near uh, SIA.
And as a result, a shrine, whichwas consecrated as a national
shrine in 2004 a church, aconvent, a college, and a town
were built during Portuguesetimes.
Every October hundreds of peopletravel on pilgrimage from around
(07:04):
the country to visit the shrine.
And although the vision of theVirgin Mary is not officially
endorsed by the Catholic church,its significance to the people
of Timor-Leste was acknowledgedby Po John Paul II in May, 2002
in his message on the occasionof the Declaration of
Independence, this is whenTimor-Leste became an
independent country and he madereference to it in his blessing
(07:26):
of the country so the site is,at least an hour and a half
drive south of Manito.
It'd be a beautiful drive inlanddefinitely one for the dry
season.
Also Manto.
There are a number of excellentsnorkeling sites.
I've already mentioned$1 Beach.
There's a site called K 41,which is 41 kilometers east of
Dilly.
And that is a well-known sitefor snorkeling and diving.
(07:48):
There's also Bob's Rock, whichis just down the road from K 41.
I would note that once you startgetting further east from Manito
towards bacal, the risks ofcrocodiles do increase
significantly.
So it's best to say closer tothe Dili end.
There are a number of divecompanies in Dili that will
offer day trips out to go divingalong those sites.
And they're all shore dives, soyou don't need a boat.
(08:09):
They'll provide transport andtake you from dili.
You can walk in off the shore,go for some great diving and
then come back.
That's a really good way ofexploring the coast of Manito.
In terms of transport, this isprobably one of the better
connected parts of the countrybecause the road is excellent
and you can get public buses outto Baal, which costs$5 or less,
and you can get off the bus.
(08:30):
The trouble with the buses isthey all tend to leave about the
same time and return at the sametime, so you need to get to your
destination at the end of theday.
If you get off early, the chanceof getting another bus to
continue the journey might be abit challenging depending on the
time of day.
So that's giving you a bit of aflavor for Manna Tutu.
Thank you so much for listening to exploring Timor
Less Day.
(08:50):
If you've enjoyed today'sepisode, please consider leaving
a rating or review.
It really helps more peoplediscover the show.
If you have any questions orfeedback, I'd love to hear from
you.
Drop me an email at exploringTimor lessDay@gmail.com.
Until next time, or Bodo ADEs.
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