I asked our local guide what was the longest time it has taken one of his guests to reach Wae Rebo and he said over eight hours! The guest was in her 80s and stopped every few minutes along the hiking trail. I thought this was incredible that she did it, because the trail isn’t easy. It’s hardly a top secret place to visit, you’ll see tourism banners at Labuan Bajo airport when you hop off the plane for this village, but it’s promoted for good reason. Power bank– I brought my power bank to charge up my phone but they do have power points in the tourist house to charge your things up. Wae Rebo village gives tourists an opportunity to go on an adventure to visit the last village of traditional houses in the Indonesian jungle.

If you attempt to go to Wae Rebo village without a tour, you’ll need to know where to go on the hike because there are paths which go in different directions. You’ll also need to organise a bed to stay overnight at the village of Wae Rebo as well. When the Indonesian government stepped in and put money into helping preserve the village, they built two more houses here, I’m guessing one of them was for tourists to stay overnight in. Then 12 architects from Jakarta helped re-build the remaining houses which didn’t go unnoticed. So, we left Labuan Bajo at 7:30am, got to our lunch spot at Wae Rebo Lodge at 3pm and started hiking at 4pm. If the road hadn’t flooded, we would have started hiking by around 1pm.

Highest Rated in Climbing Frames

The hike actually really reminded me of hiking in Lamington National Park in Gold Coast Australia. Funny how just a couple of hours down the road from where we live feels similar to hiking in the Indonesian jungle. The tropical landscape is really similar with flowing waterfalls along the way.

It was a massive gamble for us because of the torrential rain, we didn’t know what the hiking trail was going to look like to get to the traditional village. My anxiety increased by the time we started the hike because the rivers were pumping, and we had no idea what to expect. We spoke to the friends from Jakarta who stayed at Wae Rebo village with us too and they said it took three hours. I’m not sure how long it took the family as they couldn’t speak English. Towards the end of the trek we raced before it got dark to get there. Never heard of Wae Rebo village? Neither had we until very recently. We had heard good things about the island of Flores so we decided to add it onto our first ever trip to Indonesia. After doing a bit of research, we came across Wae Rebo and knew we needed to go and see this incredible village and spend the night there.. From Labuan Bajo, it should be a four hour car ride, and a five minute motorbike ride to starting point of the trek. You then have to hike up hill for about three hours, although it took us less time which we’ll talk more about in this guide. When you reach Wae Rebo, you’ll stay in one of the unique cone shaped houses with other tourists, there’s about 30 beds in the house (I didn’t count them, so this is a guess). Visiting the traditional houses in Wae Rebo village is an adventure within itself. It’s not suitable for young children and it’s an experience you won’t forget in a hurry. While the entire village is super welcoming and friendly, I wonder if our experience would have been different if there was 200 tourists there when we went?The new Lookout tower from Rebo is the perfect addition to any garden, compact enough to fit in a convenient corner while still big on inspiration and helping encourage imaginative play; it’ll keep kids entertained for hours. What is more impressive was our driver. We were in a 2wd car, yet his driving was absolutely incredible. He managed to drive us through more flooded rivers to get there. I literally have no idea how he did it.

What to expect from the hike Unsure whether it was the right decision to start hiking at 4pm in torrential rain. I can’t begin to explain it, but when you get to the traditional village, there’s an energy about it like no other. The views of Wae Rebo village is so incredible as it’s situated in a valley, completely surrounded by the dense jungle. We were in total awe and had to keep stopping, just to take it in as we got closer to there. I have seen a few articles about how people drove motorbikes to the village. I 100% do not recommend doing this as the roads are steep, narrow and totally broken. It would be a mission, let alone super dangerous to even attempt it.As the locals grow their own coffee beans, Steve tried their coffee and said it’s one of the best coffees he’s ever tasted. When we arrived to Wae Rebo, we wondered how old the village is as it felt like it’s super old. When we asked our tour guide and the local community, they said they didn’t know. But one of the villagers told me he is the 20th generation of his family to live there which is mind blowing. Trousers– I wouldn’t wear shorts because there are leeches on this trek. I was constantly looking at my shoes trying to spot them before they made their way up to my leggins (they can bite through them) When we arrived, we were invited into the Chief’s home for the welcome ceremony. He said that we were now part of their family which was really beautiful. The tone of the locals continued throughout our stay with sincere authenticity and kindness. When you land in Labuan Bajo, the airport is literally a five minute drive from the city. We stayed at Loccal Collection during our trip which is like a slice of Santorini and we stored our luggage there before going to Wae Rebo because it’s an overnight trip.

Included in the tour is lunch, dinner, breakfast and lunch the next day. Although it seems pretty expensive, and obviously you could organise the trip yourself, doing a tour is way easier, especially as I don’t think we would have continued with ours if we didn’t have a tour guide because we went during a massive storm. The locals at Wae Rebo told us the first ever tourists to make the trip out to see them were Russian, then Japanese. We were shown the bed to sleep in and when we went to bed, I opened my eye mask about 20 minutes later to find a big spider near my head. I tried to get Steve to put it outside which I think was unsuccessful but as Steve returned, he noticed a massive leech in my bed. A torch– you’ll need one for if you have to hike in the dark. They only have electricity from 6pm-10pm.There’s also a poster up on the front of the house the tourists stay overnight in which shows you the visitor count. In 2007 when they opened up the village for tourists to visit, they saw 105 visitors. By 2015, 3741 tourists came to visit. There’s a pie chart on this poster which shows you how tourism helps preserve the village of Wae Rebo, which made us understand that tourism helps support the local community in the village of the Manggarai regency. We have never been on a more rewarding adventure before, because when you reach this village, it will truly take your breath away. When you reach Denge Village, you’ll have lunch at Wae Rebo Lodge and you might have the same meal for lunch on the day there and on the return trip. This consists of rice, tempeh, eggplant, fish and veggies. Explore our full range of kids playhouses, including playhouses with slides, to find the perfect outdoor toys for your little one. Please Note: Tools are required in the assembly of this item including a drill, wood is not pre-drilled but full instructions are provided.