Exploring Lautém, inc Jaco Island and Com

Exploring the varied municipality of Lautém, home to Jaco Island and Com.

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Episode Transcript

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 on themunicipality of La Te.
So la Te is the Eastern mostflattest and second largest
municipality after Quek inTimor-Leste.
It is popular with visitorsdespite the distance and time
involved to get there.
The capital of LA term LosPalace may only be 210
kilometers from Dili, but allowat least five hours to get there

(00:53):
by road.
Jaco Island is the best knownsite, an uninhabited sacred
island at the Eastern most endof the country.
But there are also interestingsites in Timor Estess only
National Park, the Nino Cones,Santana National Park,
traditional fat, KU spirithouses, Timor's, largest lake,
and the relaxing coastal villageof com.

(01:15):
So to start with Jaco Island,which is one of Tim Orestee's
two islands, along with RooIsland.
Jacko is an uninhabited island,about 10 square kilometers,
about 700 meters off the easternend of mainland Timor less day.
It's home to beautifully clearwaters off a white sand beach.
There really isn't anything onthe island other than an
impressive set of whale bones tothe south of where the boats

(01:37):
land and the thick bush interiorwith no paths.
But it is a quiet and relaxingplace.
Just offshore are severalpatches of coral, although
they're less diverse or licefield than those around Roo
Island.
You have to be careful aroundthe currents.
And there is some risk ofcrocodiles, which is why I never
went in the water there, butplenty of people do do.
So.
Um, It is impossible to hiresnorkel gear locally, so bring

(01:59):
it with you if you want to dothat.
Jack Island is considered sacredby Timorese, and staying
overnight is not allowed, but itis a popular place to visit for
a few hours.
Jacko Island is not the easiestplace to get to in Timor Este
'cause you effectively have togo all the way across the
mainland.
And then you're gonna end up atthe end by Valley Beach where
there is a number of differentaccommodation options.
And then you can get a smallboat from the southern end of

(02:21):
Valley Beach, which costs$10 perperson for a return trip.
You pay when you get back at thechannel between Value Beach and
Jacko Island May look swimmablesay it's about 700 meters, but
the currents are very.
Strong.
So swimming is not recommendedat all.
The crossing can be a bit rough,particularly in the afternoons
when it gets a bit choppy andlife jackets aren't available

(02:42):
locally, so you may wanna bringone with you.
Let the boat operator know howlong you want to be on the
island.
Normally, a couple of hours isplenty and they'll come pick you
up, although timings may beapproximate.
But they will come and get you.
Now on the value of beach side,crocodiles are irregular there,
so it's advisable to stay out ofthe water.
The strong currents do deter,but not entirely the crocodiles

(03:02):
in visiting Jaco Island.
So technically you could getfrom Dili to Jacko Island and
back in two days, but you'regonna spend 12 to 16 hours
driving.
With a couple of hours at thebeach.
So it's much better to spend atleast three days if you're
heading out to jao.
Ideally maybe a couple of daysextra to really explore LA term.
'cause there's quite a lot ofother things to do other than

(03:22):
just Jao Island.
You could break up the journeyby staying in Baal or calm on
the way or the way back.
So it's about.
Five hours into Los Palace, thecapital of La Te, but it's about
six to eight hours drive tovalley Beach.
The road between dili and com isgood.
But from common onwards, theroads get increasingly poor.
So things do take a bit of timeit is possible to reach Jao by

(03:46):
public transport, but it's noteasy.
So you'd need to get a bus fromDili to Los Palace.
Then there is apparently a dailybus from Lost Palace to, to ala
which runs but no schedule.
You might want to speak to somelocals about when the bus may or
may not turn up.
And then from to Tulo, it's asteep eight kilometer walk
downhill to Valley Beach, andthen you get the boat over to

(04:07):
Jao.
So it is.
Technically possible with publictransport if you've got plenty
of time and patience.
But for most people, you aregonna want your own transport or
to do it as part of a tour.
The Jacko Island is part ofTimor Lesser's first and
currently only National Park,the Nino Conis Santana National
Park.
This was established in 2007 andit's named after an independence

(04:28):
movement hero who is a formercommander during the resistance
against the Indonesianoccupation.
And he was born in Tulo, whichlies within the park.
It is quite an unusual park.
It is both land and sea.
So 55% of it is land, 45% ofit's ocean.
It's over 120,000 hectares, andit includes, areas, which kind

(04:49):
of feel like an obvious nationalpark and quite a lot of towns It
includes com which is a coastalvillage.
There's to Alah, it's JacoIsland.
There's the largest lake inTimor Lesses.
So quite a variety of thingsexist within the National park.
In fact, there's about 15,000people live there.
And activities such as fishingcontinue as they did before
2007.
People have lived continuouslyin this area for over 40,000

(05:11):
years, and over a hundredarcheological sites have been
documented.
The most visited sites are I andLenny Harra Cave.
Both should be visited with alocal guide and not entirely
obvious to reach.
And they're also sacred placesand you should be respectful of
the local community and theirwishes.
Your accommodation should beable to help you arrange a guide

(05:32):
to visit the sites ili Keke istenuous dollars per person.
And Lenette Harra Cave is fiveUS dollars per person.
So I is about a two and a halfkilometer return walk off the
main road.
The walk gets increasingly roughand steep.
It's a bit downhill beforereaching the best known rock art
in Timor-Leste, which is quite abeautiful depiction of a sea

(05:55):
urchin.
And then there's some otherimages such as cock fighting and
other rock cart, which is alittle bit harder to decipher.
And as you walk around the baseof the cliff, you get fantastic
views.
Looking towards Jacko Island,you wanna allow at least an hour
to visit the site.
And also just above where therock cart is, there's these very
impressive giant beehiveshanging off the rock face.
There are a couple of other rockart sites close to I headed,

(06:17):
which are far less visited.
If you've got the time andinterest, they may be worthwhile
then the path down to the cavesstarts from the main road.
It's about one kilometer returnwalk.
It's quite an impressive caveand it's got some rock art
inside, so that's also worth avisit.
The Visit those sites, you'reprobably best to stay in to
Chihuahua.
There's a very nice sdo, whichmay or may not be open.
There's been undergoing somerefurbishment and there are a

(06:39):
couple of accommodation optionsin Value Beach as well, close to
the waterfront.
Another good option forexploring LA term is to staying
calm.
This is one of the most relaxingplaces, probably in Timor, less
estate.
There's not a lot to do, but ithas a lovely beach although
there are crocodiles in thewater, but it's a nice beach to
sit on or walk along, and it'sjust quite a relaxed place.
There's a couple of good guesthouses to stay at the far

(07:01):
eastern end of town.
There's a sizable wrecked shipon the beach, which is quite
interesting to see.
And then if you go furtheraround, there's the remains of a
Portuguese colonial erabuilding.
Then heading from com, there'ssome crossroads with one road
going east of Jao Island and onegoing south to Los Ballas.
This is at for Loro and thisvillage has got more to see than
it might suggest on the map.

(07:21):
So there's the remains of aPortuguese fault, and just to
the north there's the mostunusual cemetery I've seen
anywhere in Timor Ete.
And I've visited a lot ofcemeteries in Timor Ete where
the tombstones have got animalbones on top of them, so antlers
from deer and skulls of cows Soit's quite an interesting
combination of the Catholicfaith and the traditional

(07:42):
animalistic beliefs are notsomething that I've seen
elsewhere.
And the main town in Laer iscalled Los BAAs.
Again, there's a few options foraccommodation there.
There's not a huge amount to seeand do in town, but the Catholic
church also has an interestingaccommodation of a traditional
Catholic kind of church mainstructure.
And then where the Tao wouldnormally be, there's a Timor,
fata Lu style roof, which isquite a distinctive motif of

(08:06):
this part of Timor-Leste.
You'll see it on their Luli,their Sacred Houses.
They're quite a different designto other parts of Timor-Leste
quite narrow, thin, and tall.
And so that's quite adistinctive site to see in town.
And LA term has the largest lakein Timor-Leste Lake era Laro
which is a seasonal body ofwater.
So the size really varies.
So if you're going in dryseason, it can be a thousand

(08:27):
hectares.
If you go in the wet season, itcould be five and a half.
Thousand hectares and it's quitedifficult to really appreciate
it unless you've got a drone andyou can see it from the air
because there's basically alarge area of kind of grass land
and then it starts getting a bitboggy and marshy before you even
get to the water.
And in the wet season it's hometo about 300 crocodiles.
So you don't really wanna go inthe water.
But it's quite cool toappreciate from a distance note

(08:49):
that if you are driving towardsjacko, there are two options.
You can go around the northernside of the lake.
Or the southern side of thelake.
The northern side of the lake isthe usual way to get to Jao.
And it is a passable road.
It's a bit bumpy, but it's fine.
If you go around the southernside of the lake, as I decided
to do for a bit of variety.
You cannot take a car.

(09:09):
There is one crossing of theriver where there's a very
terrifying rickety woodenbridge, which you can just about
get a motorbike over.
If you've got the confidence,it's not for the faint hearted,
and that's the only way toprogress there, there is no way
really to forward the river.
If you're in a car, you wanna goacross the northern way and
really the southern route isonly for those who are pretty

(09:30):
adventurous and confident on amotorbike.
And the final place to mentionin Laer is the coastal town of
Laer named the same as themunicipality.
And this you'll see on the wayin before comm.
And it's got quite a few thingsto see.
So there's quite extensiveremains of a Portuguese fault,
most of which is on the hillsideas you come into town.
So you don't really see itobviously from the road, but if

(09:50):
you head up into the hill, youcan see it.
Or if you've got a drone, youcan get some views from the air.
There's some Japanese bunkers onthe beach and there's quite an
interesting church on the hillbehind the town.
Just before we go into LA term,you'll see a monument on your
left and that commemorates ninepeople who were killed during
the violence in 1999 thataccompanied Independences.
Those included two nuns, threepriests, and Indonesian

(10:12):
journalist, the bridge thatcrosses the river.
There is also a popular place tospot crocodiles in the waters
below.
So that's giving a bit of anoverview of La Te.
It's definitely a bit differentfrom many places.
In Timor Less Day it isunusually flat and some of the
culture, and sites like that arequite different to other parts
of Timor less estate.
So if you have the time on a oneweek itinerary, you may be

(10:32):
pushing it'cause you probablyneed at least three days.
But if you're here for twoweeks, I'd definitely recommend
spending some time in LA term.
Thank you so much for listening to exploring Timor
Less Day.
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 [e-mail].

(10:58):
Until next time, or Bodo ADEs.