Exploring beaches, hills and snake roads in the municipality of Manatuto

Exploring the municipality of Manatuto, including Manatuto town, One Dollar Beach and Laleia.

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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.

0:31

Today's episode is one of the largest and least populated municipalities in Timor-Leste. This is Mana Tutu. So Tutu lies between Dili and Bacao, so it's to the east of Dili, and a lot of people will travel the coastal road, far fewer people will venture in land into mantu. There's not a lot of roads but it is quite a varied and interesting municipality to visit. And anybody who's visiting Baal or heading out to Jao Island and em will head through Mantu. And I would recommend that they do spend a little bit of time at least exploring MOU two Town and some of the sites along the coastal road. Which is one of the best roads in the country. It's relatively recently built and very few potholes in comparison with other parts of the country. One of the best known sites along that coastal road is$1 Beach. This was a popular spot with UN peacekeepers. During the early two thousands, locals would charge'em a dollar to access the beach, which is how it got the name entry is now free. But unfortunately, the site is generally closed from the road. There's quite a large perimeter wall, and there's these towers that look a bit like guard towers, but are actually kind of scenic spots. So if you can find a local, they may be able to open the gate and let you in, but more likely you may have to access it from walking along the coast from either end, which is a bit of a shame. The facilities are a bit run down. Obviously some money was spent on it at some point in the past, but maintenance is not a strength in Timor, there is good snorkeling there though, and it is a bit of a landmark as you are driving along and worth a quick stop to take a look at one of the more kind of unusual beach setups that I've seen. Now when you're heading along the road from Dali to Baal probably the most scenic section is sba, which is also known as Snake Road. And this is where the road wiggles like a snake around the side of the hillside. It's very impressive looking back onto it. And there are some quite prominent headlands that stick out. And it's probably the only road in Timor I found that actually had an area to the side where you could pull over and take photos and have a look. Generally you just have to pull over to the side of the road, but here, there's actually a space at the top of the saddle which offers some fantastic views. Now just before you get to the Snake road, if you're heading from Dili, take a lookout on your left for a Jao class patrol vessel. This is one of the vessels in the Timorese Navy. Certainly as of early 2025, it was being refitted there. It may be there for some time. It's not very obvious when you're driving from dilly to Bal, but when you are driving the opposite direction, you can't miss it. And that's just quite a cool thing to look out for by the side of the road. So that was just before Snake Road, just after Snake Road. There's a small roadside shrine dedicated to San Anthony Fed with natural spring water, which is a popular stopping point. There's quite a few places to get food and supplies around that area. That's also the way you wanna start. If you wanna hike up towards Mount Curry, which is a fantastic if reasonably challenging day hike, I'd recommend that get a guide to help you on the way up.'cause it's not entirely obvious where to go. But that offers some incredible views. If you're into hiking. Now the main town in Manito is called Manito. It's slightly off the main road, so if you're just driving through to Bakar, you could easily miss it. I would strongly recommend that you take a short detour and spend an hour or two exploring the town. There's actually quite a few things worth seeing. Now there are two. Hills in Manito. The most popular one has a statue of San Antonio, and that's to the east of town. The road up to that is rough but manageable. And that is a popular place for people to go and pray. And it also offers some excellent views of the surrounding area. My preference is the other hill, which is more to the west, and that is topped by a former Portuguese colonial administrator's house, which is completely run down, it's fallen apart. It's basically ruins. It's got atmospheric ruins though, and it has some incredible views. And just round the corner from it is a manmade cave shrine with a statue of the Virgin Mary. Now, the road up to there, I'm not sure you'd do it in the car very easily, but on a motorbike it is manageable. It's a pretty challenging bit of road, but it's worth it for the fantastic views. Now, in Manito town itself, there's a couple of plazas and memorials to timor's heroes from the Indonesian occupation era. And then the sizeable sent Anthony Church lies close to the waterfront. The original church was built in 1880, but the current one was renovated in 2009. And I think it needs a bit more renovation now, but it is an interesting church to visit. And if you look around the outside of the church, there are 14. Stations of the cross in the grounds along with another shrine to the Virgin Mary. So there's a few things to see in Manito Town itself when you're heading east out. Manito, there are a couple of sort fields. These are the largest salt fields in the country, and depending on what time of year you come, if it's during the wet season, they may be filled up with water. If it's in the dry season, they might be dry. There's a happy medium where you get these beautiful white and red colored kind of pools of water depending on what time of year you visit. Probably the best known site in Manito is the Lia Church which is often proclaimed as one of the most beautiful churches in Timor Lester. This is just a short detail off the main road. Just make sure you turn left as you head through town. This is a Portuguese design church built in 1933. It's this pastoral pink color on the outside. It's very attractive. And then the interior is very colorful with green and yellow striped ceiling. It is definitely one of the nicer churches I've visited in the country. Now for most people, that's what you're gonna see in Manito, is you're gonna go along the coastal road and those are the main sites to visit. For those who are a bit more adventurous and have got suitable four wheel drive vehicle or a comfortable on a motorbike, you can head inland. The main town's inland is lubar. Is in beautiful surroundings, lots of mountainous hills around. It's got a quite impressive church and some more remains from the Portuguese era as well. It's a bit out the way, but it's quite an interesting place to visit. I did it as part of a big hike in that region. This is one of the few places I didn't visit in Timor Este, but if you do head from Manito inland quite away inland, you get to at Dara. So this is one of the most important sacred sites within Timor Este. So in the early 20th century the Virgin Mary appeared to several women near a large Banyan tree on the hills. This is near uh, SIA. And as a result, a shrine, which was consecrated as a national shrine in 2004 a church, a convent, a college, and a town were built during Portuguese times. Every October hundreds of people travel on pilgrimage from around the country to visit the shrine. And although the vision of the Virgin Mary is not officially endorsed by the Catholic church, its significance to the people of Timor-Leste was acknowledged by Po John Paul II in May, 2002 in his message on the occasion of the Declaration of Independence, this is when Timor-Leste became an independent country and he made reference to it in his blessing of the country so the site is, at least an hour and a half drive south of Manito. It'd be a beautiful drive inland definitely one for the dry season. Also Manto. There are a number of excellent snorkeling sites. I've already mentioned$1 Beach. There's a site called K 41, which is 41 kilometers east of Dilly. And that is a well-known site for snorkeling and diving. There's also Bob's Rock, which is just down the road from K 41. I would note that once you start getting further east from Manito towards bacal, the risks of crocodiles do increase significantly. So it's best to say closer to the Dili end. There are a number of dive companies in Dili that will offer day trips out to go diving along those sites. And they're all shore dives, so you don't need a boat. They'll provide transport and take you from dili. You can walk in off the shore, go for some great diving and then come back. That's a really good way of exploring the coast of Manito. In terms of transport, this is probably one of the better connected parts of the country because the road is excellent and you can get public buses out to Baal, which costs$5 or less, and you can get off the bus. The trouble with the buses is they all tend to leave about the same time and return at the same time, so you need to get to your destination at the end of the day. If you get off early, the chance of getting another bus to continue the journey might be a bit challenging depending on the time of day. So that's giving you a bit of a flavor for Manna Tutu.

Jonty: 8:47

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.