Knowing More Than Just Mollo

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Lakoat.Kujawas Homestay is located on Jalan Kampung Baru, No. 2 Taeftob Village North Mollo, Southern Central Timor, East Nusa Tenggara. It is located 130 km away from Kupang or 18 km north of SoE City, lakoat.kujawas offers more than just a house to stay, enjoying the typical fresh air of the mountains, a wealth of history and tradition, the hospitality of Mollo people, cooking and enjoying a variety of local food directly from the community houses. Managed by Christian Dicky Senda, a short story writer who has a great interest in arts and culture of Mollo with his farmer parents and have a great interest in the culinary world. Dicky is currently researching the diversity of Mollo local food along with its processing recipes for the purposes of writing literature. (Mollo, Selayang Pandang, can be readhere)

the host: Dicky, Mama Rika and Bapa Senda

We offer a number of special activities. If you're in lakoat.kujawas on Thursday, you will be invited by Dicky to explore traditional markets in Kapan, the capital district of Northern Mollo. There, you will find vast organic agricultural products from the community, including food ingredients that are rarely found in markets. You can shop and cook them together with Dicky and Mama Rika in lakoat.kujawas kitchen. Another excitement that we offer is trekking to several villages surrounding Tafetob Village, meeting with the weavers and eating local food in Bosen Village (weaving class with Mama Yakobeth and friends is a special offer for you), interacting with oranges and betel farmers in Lelokasen. Or, you can choose to do the trekking, further and more challenging to Manesat Anin and Noebesi village as far as 8 km, round trip on crystal clear Sebau River from Mutis Mount, heading to the south coast of Timor. In Noebesi and Manesat Anin, you can visit the weaver and community garden, harvesting sweet potatoes and vegetables, learning to make bose corn and cooking with local residents. There are several special menus, such as bose corn, boiled yellow cassava and roasted sweet potatoes, all of which can be enjoyed with grilled chicken and gala-gala (turi) flowers lu'at chutney.Don't forget to bring books or make some fun activities with children there. 

Kapan traditional Market

Lakoat.Kujawas Homestay is integrated into social entrepreneurship project tried to be developed by Dicky Senda tried together with his native Mollo friends with the mission of ecotourism development in Mollo. Those integrated include co-working space with library and discussion room as a platform for various employment opportunities in achieving and collaboration work with Mollo community in arts, literacy, culture, agriculture and creative economy. Lakoat.Kujawas is also pioneering an online store on Instagram, selling several typical products of Mollo, such as typical organic lu'at chutney of Mollo, Mollo homemade coffee, organic corn bose, Mollo honey forest and woven fabrics of Mollo. So when visiting Mollo, you will not only stay and enjoy the richness of nature and culture of Mollo, but you can also try a brand new experience in interacting and exchanging experiences with the locals, learning local wisdom and contributing anything, moral and material for the development of local resources. (See also 5+1 Things You Needto Know about Mollo).

Below are several other tourist destinations that you can visit while staying at Lakoat.Kujawas.

1.      Oehala Waterfall, located in the region of Central Mollo. It takes about 20 minutes by private vehicles leased from local people to reach this cascading waterfall. You can enjoy sunset with a view Mollo Mount and Noelmina Valley from Bolaplelo altitude, stopping by orange and vegetable plantations Oelbubuk and Netpala. Netpala Village itself is one of the oldest indigenous villages in Mollo.

Oehala waterfall

2.      Fatumnasi, it has natural forests and rivers. It is one of the entrances to Mutis Mount, which is considered sacred by people Mollo. In protected forest near Fatumnasi, you can see Ampupu trees, a type of flourishing eucalyptus, even a part of forest had been dwarfed, and forming a natural bonsai. In Fatumnasi, you can stay at Lopo Mutis Homestay, run by Anin family. The host, Father Matheos Anin is friendly figure and is one of the elders of Fatumnasi. Staying in Lopo Mutis in the form of ume kbubu, a traditional house of Dawan tribe, that will provide an amazing experience. For you who are interested in learning the culture and history of Mollo people, Father Anin is one of proper speakers. If you come to Fatumnasi on Monday, you can go to traditional markets and shop for local food ingredients to be cooked with family of Father Anin. In the afternoon, it can be an opportunity for trekking to the carrot, potato, leek and garlic plantation owned by community or bathing in the river of which springs originated from the slopes of Mount Mutis. Do not forget to buy woven fabrics created by women in Fatumnasi as souvenirs. On the way to and from Fatumnasi, there are several attractive points that you can visit, including Fatukoto Lake, and drop by to one of the important sites of Mollo people, namely Fatunaususu which has become a symbol of opposition of the residents who refused marble mining, a dozen years ago. 

Netpala Village

3.      Promenade in Kapan Town, the capital district of North Mollo. It is one of the old towns in Timor, built by the Dutch when they desired control over the sandalwood trade route in Timor, reportedly it was once called Midden Timor, for it became a halfway point in the territory controlled by the Dutch, before being moved to SoE, into Zuid Midden Timor, a level equals to regency and remains until today. Prior to the Dutch entry, Kapan itself was still a part of Oenam kingdom, led by King Sonbai, and there were many Chinese who came to trade and married to local residents. The traces of Chinese descents in Mollo can still be found today in Chinatown, O'besi Village to remote areas in mountain slopes of Mollo. Since the 1950s, the people from Bugis and Sabu also entered Kapan, from initially traded every day in markets, to finally settle down and form its own community. Bugis Village in the old market areas (nearby Embun Mollo VIllage and Chinatown) and the village settlement of Sabu people in new markets. In Embun Mollo Village, Rest house was once built, and is highly popular as a guest house for important officials and guests visiting Timor, including General Nasution. Unfortunately, the historic building was torn down and rebuilt for a new structure, thus losing its historical value. In Kapan, if you are interested in learning the art and culture, you can meet two key figures, some kinds of physicians who master various Mollo traditional treatments, and one the other one is speaker of indigenous languages, especially in the field of marriage which is increasingly rare to encounter. Of course, in Kapan, there is also a platform for creative economy or social entrepreneurship called Lakoat.Kujawas which is seeking to collect local potentials into a new force in the hope of being managed by community for common interest.

4.      Kote Fortress in Sebau, was one of the royal bastions in Mollo once upon a time. Currently, the ruins of the bastion and traditional houses are in preservation efforts by the next generation. Nearby the castle, there is a river flowing throughout the year, crystal clear water flowing from Mutis Mount towards the south beach. There are several points of camping on the riverbank that can be your choice to spend the night and enjoy the cool air of Mollo Valley.

Fatumnasi

For more information, you can contact us:

Email: lakoat.kujawas@gmail.com or dickysenda@gmail.com

Telephone: 081338037075 (Dicky Senda)

Or see our profile on Instagram @lakoat.kujawas, Twitter @lakoatkujawas, blog www.lakoatkujawas.blogpspot.co.id and Page www.facebook.com/lakoat.kujawas

NB: Currently, lakoat.kujawas provides 2 bedrooms with a capacity of 2 people per room, and we are currently building two units of ume kbubu (traditional house of Dawan tribe) with a capacity of 3 people per ume kbubu in Taeftob Village. In the near future, lakoat.kujawas will also be integrated with other homestays run by residents in Taeftob Village and in other villages in the region of Mollo. The tariff per room is IDR 75,000/night, including breakfast. The price is not included lunch and dinner, public transportation (taxibikes or shuttle) to several location points and local tourist guide services.

the Hill in Netpala Village

How to reach Lakoat.Kujawas?

Our location in on Jalan Kampung Baru, No. 2, Taeftob Village, North Mollo, TTS, NTT.

From Kupang:

1.      Take Kupang - Kapan travel service. Depart from Kupang between 1-3 pm. It takes around 3 hours. Phone Number of Travel Service 081210999432 (Hendrik Travel). The tariff is IDR 50,000 / person (shuttle).

2.      Take busses from Kupang-SoE or Kupang-Kefa or Atambua-Kupang from Oesapa Kupang. Get off in Kapan branch. Bus fares IDR 30,000/ person. In  Kapan branch, take a taxibike to Ibu dan Anak Hospital, it costs IDR 5,000. Take yellow public transportation from the junction next to Ibu dan Anak Hospital Nonohonis, it costs 15,000/ person.

Mama Mina, the weaver, our parner di LKJWS

 How to reach Lopo Mutis homestay in Fatumnasi (if you want to go to Mount Mutis or Mutis forest) from Lakoat Kujawas:

. Use ojek, it costs IDR 35,000, or use public trasportation (kind of pick up car) it costs IDR 20,000. You can also rent a pick up, it costs IDR 200,000 for one way.  

Souvenirs from Mollo:

Lakoat.Kujawas produces lu'at organic chutney (original and beef liver), Mollo homemade coffee, jagung bose, and Mollo forest honey and sells woven fabric produced by weaver group of Noebesi. They can be ordered via Instagram @lakoat.kujawas.

Mollo typical woven fabric can also be found in Kapan traditional market (every Thursday), Fatumnasi traditional market (every Monday) and Tobu traditional market (every Saturday).

Translated by Yustin Liarian

Lakoat.Kujawas Homestay

Organic Mollo Coffee