Day three of a four day hike with Eco Discovery through the remote landscape of Manufahi and Manatuto between Turiskai and Laclubar. This was the hardest, and wettest, day of the trip, but also the best with some incredible scenery and enjoyable hiking trails.
Larmera welcomed the day with a bit of a sunrise, followed by thick mist, which cleared to an amazing effect I’m not sure I’ve seen before. The sun and mist formed a curricular rainbow with my shadow in the middle.
It was blue skies and hot by the time we left with a relentless 600m descent which worked the knees. It was through surprisingly lush forest for the end of the dry season, and brought us to a refreshing stream.
It was then up a couple of hundred metres before heading around the hillside with incredible views to the right.
We dropped back down to another stream, losing all the altitude we had gained, before an even larger climb.
We stopped for a well deserved break with a wonderful view, both of the play of light and cloud on the distant hills, and the lattice like patterns on the closer hillside.
Thankfully that was the worst of the altitude loss and gain for the day. The path leveled out and took us through large cemetery, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Dozens of people were there, with tents set up and food being prepared.
We stopped for a welcome lunch just outside the village of Lawado. After eating we walked through it, taking local shortcuts to avoid road walking. These ran out though so we jumped in the support vehicle for 10 minutes drive further on, conscious of the clouds building. In Dili rain tends to come at the end of the afternoon, up here, based on this trip, it comes early afternoon…
We walked for about an hour along good paths through eucalyptus forest, passing a huge slip. Unfortunately almost of this section was walked in torrential rain!
It was a relief to reach the road again, just as the support vehicle came by! We drove for 20 minutes along very rough and steep roads to reach the remote community of Manelima, which lacks electricity. The local kids found the sight of us putting up our tents fascinating, and appreciated the popcorn we shared with them.
I took the drone up to look around what is one of the more attractive Timorese villages I’ve visited, with lots of buildings following traditional Timorese designs.
Another good sunset ended the day.
