Exploring beautiful Atauro Island

Exploring the beautiful tropical island of Atauro, one of the most idyllic places in Timor-Leste. Jonty shares tips on what to do and see, including Beloi, Vila, Makili, Akrema, Adara and Atecru

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Transcript

Jonty: 0:06

Bondi. Welcome to exploring Tim Este, the podcast that talks about Southeast Asia's best kept travel secret. I'm your host Jte, and I'll share firsthand insights, expert interviews and practical travel tips. Whether you're a traveler, a cultural lover, or just curious about places rarely covered in the mainstream. You're in the right place. Let's explore two more. Less day. Today's episode is about Eru Island, also called Aro Island, depending on your English or Tetin pronunciation. And this is where people are most likely to visit if they come to Timor-Leste as it is the hub for snorkeling and diving, it is one of the easiest places to visit from Dili, and it has the most tourist infrastructure, although that is quite a low bar, just to manage expectations. There are three resorts, but they're all quite basic, but that's part of the charm. It's a quiet, tropical paradise with little development outside of Belo where the ferries arrive. As Uru lies about 30 kilometers north of Dili and it's home to about 12,000 people. It's reached by Ferry, which as of recording in mid 20 25, 5 days a week, there are ferry services between Dili and Aru, and there are also flights from Dili to Aru. Interestingly, unlike the rest of the Timor-Leste, the local population is predominantly Protestant, not Catholic. After Calvinist missionaries arrived in the early 20th century. I covered snorkeling and diving in episode two of this podcast. I won't repeat that here. And I'm gonna do a separate episode on hiking on at Island. This episode is gonna focus on the other attractions on the island. Starting with Beloit, this is where almost all visitors will spend the majority of their time as it is, home to the ferry wolf, it's close to the airstrip and the majority of the accommodation on the island is in Beloit. It's also a beautiful place with a nice beach and there is a fantastic reef just off shore, which can be reached either by walking in or better still by getting one of the local fishing boats for about five minute journey out to the inner reef and going snorkeling there or a little bit further out to go diving. There are three main places to stay in Beloit. There is Barry's Place, which I always stay at, that's my favorite. There's also at Dive Resort and Compass Diving, which have more of diving focus, but also offer accommodation and food. And there's also a number of home stays within the village. The village is well worth a wander around to get a flavor for what a Timor's village is like. And if you have the energy, you can head up towards Beloit Beach Hotel, which may or may not be open. And next to that, there's a huge new Protestant church being built on the hillside. This is about 20 minutes walk away from the beach, and it offers good views of the coastline. The boy is home to some excellent local markets. The best day to visit those is on a Saturday, as that is when they have the most stalls. So expect to see large bags of seaweed, some very colorful fish and lots and lots of dried fish, which the island is known for. Although Belo is where most of the visitors spend their time. The largest settlement on the island is Villa. This is about a 15, 20 minute took, took ride from Beloit along the coast. Villa isn't my favorite place on the island. It's very spread out. There's a few places of interest. There's quite a good church. If you head up the hillside, there's a Lady Mary Cave, which is a statue of the Virgin Mary, which was built during the Indonesian occupation and offers great views over the town. Lamp. Pita Beach is very pleasant and can be reached low tide by walking south along Villas beach towards, achie, and also at low tide on the Villa Beach. Look out for the rusting remains of a ship. If you head further south from Villa, there's the beautiful fish and village of Achie. You can either get there by heading up and over the hills, which is past Lady Mary Cave, and there's a new giant statue of Virgin Mary being built and then down to McKee. Or you can go along the coast at low tide only, it's a bit rocky. You need to be comfortable with a little bit of clamoring, or we can turn it into an excellent half day hike by doing it as a loop, depending on the tide. So either go up over the hill and back around the coast or the other way, depending on when low tide is. McKee it's known for its, craft. There's a local collective there, and there's also a statue of St. Peter, the patron saint of fishermen, close to the water. The other main settlements on the east coast heading north from Beloit are Bili, and a CreER. Bili is by far the largest, but there isn't particularly anything to see from a tourist's perspective there. You can walk from bikini up the coastline to a CreER. Along the way, there are hot springs marked on the map, but these are not necessarily what you might expect to see when you think of a hot spring. They're coastals, so they're in the sea. They are tidals. You can't see them at high tide, and when they are exposed at low tide, they're hot enough to burn your skin. So they're more for something to look at rather than to sit in. But heading up to a crema, that's one of the most beautiful spots on the island. It's the only real white sand beach. It has a cave of the dead, which is a bit further north from the beach, which has the remains of human bones, and it probably has the best campsite on the island. There is a reef there, but it's a long way out to swim to even people with paddleboards would struggle to get there. But it is a beautiful place to swim and relax. But note, there are basically no facilities. There may be a small local shop, but otherwise you'll need to bring everything with you. Now I particularly like the West coast of at Island. Very few people visit the West Coast. It has quite a different look and feel to the East Coast. So particularly in the dry season, the east coast can get really quite dry and dusty, but the west coast is often still very green and lush. I took a boat ride once all the way around the island and it was very noticeable difference between the east and the west coast. The most popular spot to visit on the west coast is a Dara. This is a three hour hike from Beloit over mainly roads. So it is quite exposed and sunny and hot. But it's worth getting down into a Dara, there you can stay at Mario's Place, which is a collection of idyllic beachside huts. A Dara has an impressive reef to snorkel over, but certainly when I went, the currents were quite strong, and it's a rocky beach. There's only really one entrance and exit. So Mar's Place in Dara is definitely worth a visit, and they have superb sunsets. But my favorite on the island is at Crew. So this is about an hour south of Adara. It's one of the most beautiful places on the island. It has a long sandy beach and the snorkeling in the reef is probably one of the best and two more less day, particularly the drop off. So similar to a di and actually even in, in Belo, if you head further out, there's where the, the reef kind of drops off into the abyss. It's kind of a bit spooky, but it is an incredible experience. The snorkel over and there's a couple of historical sites in at Crew, which are also worth visiting. They will need to pay a little bit of money to the local community to do so. There's a cave that's been used as a shelter for at least 18,000 years, and it has 8,000 year old rock art. And then further around the coastline is the singing rock, which is an unusual hollow rock that can be played almost like a musical instrument. If you want an authentic timor's kind of homestay experience, I'd recommend staying at Jockey's place. He has a couple of huts and there's also camping as possible and the food is excellent. I stay there I think three times during my time in Timor, you can either hike out to after crew, which you're gonna spend at least half a day walking there from Beloit, or you can get a boat ride from Beloit ran to at Cruise. Another way of reaching it. Finally, there are some villages. Inland

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anna, two, two.

Jonty: 7:32

is probably the largest, which is about halfway between Villa and at Crew. There is a very rough road to get there. It is easier to walk, although it's still quite a decent walk. There's not a lot to see up there, but it is. Quite an interesting contrast from the coastal villages and then also Arlo you'll probably come across if you walk between Belo and a Dara. Arlo is an inland village just before you reach the West coast, and that's quite a attractive place to take a quick look around. They getting around Etter Island. They are building roads, but they're quite rough and you definitely need a four wheel drive vehicle or have good motorbike skills. Generally the best way of getting around is on foot. If you're heading kind of inland or if you're going around the coast, there are tuk-tuks available between Beloit and Villa. Hope this has given you a good overview of what you can do in the island, and I hope if you go and stay, you have a wonderful time. Thank you so much for listening to exploring Timor Less Day. If you've enjoyed today's episode, please consider leaving a rating or review. It really helps more people discover the show. If you have any questions or feedback, I'd love to hear from you. Drop me an email at exploring Timor lessDay@gmail.com. Until next time, or Bodo ADEs.