Atauro Island Loop Hike – Atecru to Vila

A tough 17km hike, up and down over 850m, between Atecru and Vila on Atauro Island, crossing the island from coast to coast. I hiked to Atecru via an easier, shorter route, but couldn’t face all the road walking again so came back this more scenic, but definitely harder route.

The exit from Atecru is rather ominously marked by human bones, apparently victims of a past famine.

It starts steep and rocky…

Before easing off a little, with warm colour from the rising sun lighting up the landscape.

There were some big views behind me.

And a number of fences to climb ahead of me, as I walked between agricultural areas protected from goats.

It was a scenic hike, though a little stressful as I had walked this route seven months before with a guide, and was now trying to remember the route. Some of it looked very familiar, other sections less so…

It was a relief to reach the outskirts of Anartutu, a surprisingly large village up in the hills.

The weather was significantly better than when I stayed here during the wet season.

I flew my drone for a better view.

Unfortunately there was a solid 1.5 hours of road walking ahead, which was a slog, and had more uphill than I remembered…

It was a relief to reach this church, from which a path leads off to the right down to Vila.

This was far more enjoyable, and shady, hiking, though the constant downhill was a little hard on the knees.

There was a particularly pleasant short section through these palms trees, though falling coconuts was a risk…

The landscape changed quite significantly heading down, before reaching this huge sign marking the start of the route to Manucoco, the highest point on the island, and more importantly to me that I’d reached the outskirts of Vila, from where I caught a tuk-tuk back to Beloi.