A decent half day walk from Dili up to Dare in the hills behind the city for brunch followed by a return walk back to the city. Logistically and navigationally this is probably the simplest walk in Dili. Just head up the back road to Dare which starts south of Villa Verde, there is only one road! Stop for food at the wonderful Dare Cafe and War Memorial, then return down the main Dare road to Dili Hospital where plenty of microlets can be caught to take you anywhere in town.
It doesn’t take long heading up the road before there are some big views of Dili below.
There is also some quite serious erosion. The soils around Dili don’t cope that well with the torrential rain of the wet season, followed by months without rain during the dry season.
As is common around Dili there are quite a few half constructed buildings around…
There was that wonderful lighting effect with hills disappearing into the haze.
This cow was pretty well hidden in the bush, and thankfully on a lead given the size of its horns.
There are some communities well hidden in the bush as well.
There were a few dogs around, which defend homes loudly but don’t tend to approach, so just give them some distance and keep some stones in your pocket…
Most of the road is paved but there are a couple of stretches where it would be much rougher to drive, but fine to walk.
After a steady two and half hours walk I reached Dare Cafe and War Memorial for a much needed break. This is definitely a cafe with a view!
The drinks and food, particularly the pizzas, are great and reasonably priced. On a terrace above the cafe is an interesting display and memorial to the conflict in East Timor (as it was then called) during WW2.
After a decent rest it was time to return along the main Dare road, which was much busier with traffic, but felt safer than expected. It is less steep and longer than the back road so still took a couple of hours to walk down. Along the way where an unexpectedly large number of plant pots, this is where people get their garden plants from in Dili.
Bananas grow easily here…
There were fewer views than from the back road but the ones that there were were still pretty impressive.
I took a short detour off the road to this small waterfall.
Which was more attractive than this man made rubbish laden drainage waterfall.
The vast majority of the road was sealed but there was one rough part where the hillside had fallen away.
Some of the last big views before returning to town.
The quality of the houses certainly improved as I left the hills behind.
Near the end of the walk is the Portuguese colonial era Palace Nobre, now a government office.
For the detailed route and logistical information please select this hike below (click top left for the list of hikes).
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