Waterfalls of Cutete Trail

An enjoyable 10km hike from Pante Macassar heading up a pleasant valley to the mountain village of Cutete. From there we got a local bus back to Pante Macassar, making for a full and varied day.

There is a large sign by the main road from Pante Macassar heading east, but this is a hike that very much requires a local guide (try Nato on +670 7539 4952), as the trail is not easy to identify and follow. Before the (rough) road to Cutete was built, this trail was the main way to reach the village, so was well trod. Now very few locals use it and there are no settlements along the way. Good footwear is required as the way can be slippery and wet in places.

We passed by some impressive trees, and had a views of the magnificent landscape around.

We walked along a water channel, which I was a little worried about falling into…

The trail follows a stream, which about a third of the way along is home to a reasonable waterfall.

There were occasional glimpses of the valley sides.

Plenty of bamboo grows along the trail, and has been turned into nifty water channels.

Toward the end there was a steep climb in the sun, which at least offered good views of the valley we’d walked up.

We reached the small village of Cutete, which had traditional buildings with a different design to any others I’d seen in Timor-Leste.

I took my drone up for a better view of the surrounding landscape.

Transport is a challenge in Timor-Leste, and we ended up waiting three and a half hours for the local ‘bus’ to get back to Pante Macassar (it probably would have been nearly as quick to have walked back…). The bus trip was quite an experience though…