Mt Ramelau

Last weekend I went with Rob and Catharina to Hatobulico, the highest village in Timor-Leste and gateway to Mt Ramelau, the highest mountain. Andy was able to come along as well, since our only aircraft is currently grounded.

Saturday

We left Dili at around 8:30 and stopped in Aileu to visit a vanilla bean farm that Rob had heard about, and to pick up some vegetables from the local markets.

Rob buying potatoes at the market in Aileu

We had lunch at a roadside warung near Maubisse, then just before Flexia (pronounced ‘FLAY-sheeah’) we turned off to follow the road to Hatobulico. 16 km of ‘Timor cobblestones’ - basically a road made of rocks, which makes it hard to drive more than about 10 km/h.

On the Hatobulico road. Mt Ramelau is obscured by cloud in the distance.

‘Timor cobbles’ road (this was a relatively good section)

Hatobulico

Something from lunch had disagreed with me so we had to stop a few times... We finally made it to the guest house and spent the afternoon relaxing.

Sunday 

Rob and Catharina had visited a local church on a couple of previous visits and had been told that there was a revival of some sort happening, so we all went to join in the service. There was a notable spirit of repentance among the people and an emphasis on exalting Jesus. We were made to feel very welcome.

Talking with people outside the church after the service

After church we went for a short drive and walked to the top of one of the hills where there is a cellphone tower and a great lookout over the local area.

Admiring the view from the cellphone tower site. Mt Ramelau still obscured by cloud.

Catharina and I chose to walk back to the guesthouse a different way.

Monday

Since the weather pattern at the moment is that cloud builds up on the mountains in the afternoons, we had an early start for our climb of Mt Ramelau. Many people start the walk at 3:00 am to get to the top in time to see the sunrise, but we didn’t feel the need to do that - a 6:30 start in order to be at the top by around 9:30 was sufficient!

Keen walkers with Mt Ramelau behind

Entrance to the park

The first section has well-formed steps

          

View of the foothills and south coast, looking east

Up, up, up...

View of Kabulaki (mountain on the left) and Ainaro

Nearly at the top

We made it!

Looking back down on Hatobulico, and view to the east

View northwest towards Maliana

Ainaro township and the south coast

A ‘gruta’ (grotto) near the park entrance. Hint: side trips are usually worth exploring!

Departure 

Rob, Catharina and I had taken our bikes and were planning to bike back on Tuesday. However by the end of the walk my knee was starting to pack up, and with a few stressful things anticipated at work this week I decided it was probably best to come back with Andy in the car on Monday afternoon, and use Tuesday to recover!

People visiting grave sites for All Saints & All Souls holidays (the reason for the long weekend)

Typical tropical cloud and weather near Aileu