Flores seems to be 10-20 years behind its more famous neighbors, Bali, Lombok or Java. Further to the east, it is mountainous with lush green forests, abundant rice fields and traditional villages. Especially the villages in the Ngada culture around Bajawa are authentic. Bena is one of the most accessible and instagramable ones.
Yes, you will pay a small entrance fee (IDR 10-25,000, $0.70-1.70), but villagers still live in the picturesque grass-covered huts. They will go about their everyday business and you will be met with a smile and “hello mister” or “hello lady” from the village kids. In smaller villages you will have a sense that BOTH sides are trying to satisfy their curiosity about the other party.
Which village to visit?
One of the most marketed villages is Wae Rebo with 7 conical-roof houses, 4 hours from Labuan Bajo. The current entrance fee is IDR 250,000 ($17) per person with an overnight fee of IDR400,000 ($27).
Another adjacent village is Todo, which is touristy with five traditional houses located in the middle of a modern village. IDR60,000 ($4) entrance fee with the compulsory donation before the 60-second speech ritual. Many modern houses around, a soccer field, and even satellite dishes next to the traditional houses.
Many find Wae Rebo and Todo pretty touristy and superficial, and skip it for the other more authentic villages in the Ngada district further east around Bajawa.
Bena, Luba, Tololela, Gurusina and Bla are definitely better choices located 30-60 minutes from your homestay in Bajawa. Those are real villages with vibrant communities still living there and practicing their Christian and animist beliefs.
Which Ngada village(s) to visit?
Bena is the largest village 30 minutes by car or scooter from Bajawa. In the local language, a large five-totem settlement with nine clans living there. Picturesque and atmospheric when approaching.
Tip: stop on the road 30 seconds away from the main Bena entrance and look through the trees on the right. There is a clearing with a lovely village view.
Luba is a smaller three-totem village 5 minutes away from Bena built around a square. Atmospheric especially during the sunrise or sunset. Minimum IDR 10-20,000 donation with few tourists visiting. Locals will be genuinely interested in you as a rarity from the far away lands.
Gurusina and Tololela are further away with the similar Ngada houses. There is also a one-hour walk forest walk to Tololela, which is a good respite from the midday sun. Again, fewer visitors with IDR 20,000 donations.
Bla is closest to Bajawa next to the road, if you are only passing through this town.
Overall, you can opt for Bena and Luba with Bla on the way back, or have a longer trip to Gurusina and Tololela.
Traditional ceremony
If you can time it, witnessing a traditional ceremony in any of those villages is a fascinating experience. You will be greeted with a smile but largely ignored as a tourist, when the rest of the village is busy with their centuries-old rituals.
I was lucky enough to see the house inauguration ceremony of the Bena’s chief. This is a rare event as those reed-hatched houses can last up to 100 years, if the roof and bamboo planks are replaced regularly every 3-5 years. Bena is Christian but the earlier animist ancestor beliefs still form an integral part of the culture. Ngada people believe that they can connect and revere their ancestors through those rituals, who will protect them in everyday life. Hence, an abundant animal sacrifice is compulsory.
Bena day one: families arriving
Given the ritual’s rarity and significance, families from other villages and even other islands (e.g., Toraja in Sulawesi) are arriving to participate. The event lasts two days. Different families arrive on day one in their celebratory clothing and enter Bena dancing and signing.
The community spirit is strong with families mixing easily together with talking, gossiping and eating. To demonstrate its position, each family arriving is required to present a pig to the ceremony. More on those animals on day two.
Bena day two: animal sacrifice
Having arrived, being greeted and accepted on day one, day two is the main ritual of connecting with the ancestors through the animal sacrifice. In the Western culture, consumption of cows or pigs (for some) is relatively widespread. However, we almost never see (and probably avoid) the gruesome process of animals becoming steaks on our tables.
Absolutely not during the Ngada rituals. The whole village is excited and looking forward to the sacrifices, and everybody from the age 8 upwards in participating. For centuries, such ceremonies provided the critical nutrition and rare meat also to the less wealthy members. This event is still viewed with excitement and joy instead of apprehension or revulsion.
Buffaloes
This festival of life and death starts with the large buffaloes. They are a sign of prosperity as the most prized meat and donated by members of the individual clans. Ngada families even living on another continent (for example, Canada was specifically mentioned) are obliged to contribute to the buffalo cost.
The buffalo sacrifice started promptly at 6am with all eight animals sacrificed one-by-one by 7am. The villagers must have participated in similar events before, because the whole village is participating with their roles clearly specified and the sacrifice process efficient.
However, this is still a manual process with some animals dying quickly with others not so lucky. Probably not the clean death practiced in the Jewish or Islamic halal traditions.
The buffaloes are then efficiently dismembered and the precious meat cooked in Harry Potter-sized cauldrons.
Pigs
Pigs are viewed as the next most valuable animals but significantly cheaper than the prized buffaloes. This is the time for various families to show their wealth and prestige. I assume BMW, Mercedes and Lexus are playing the same non-food role in our communities. In Ngada, size, age and fat of each pig donated is widely commented (“they had a big pig”).
The sacrifice of 23 pigs was similarly gruesome and efficient, and all in the thick smoke of the burning bamboo sticks heating the pots. A pretty primordial experience, but greeted with unbounded joy by all Ngada. This all feels as if this ritual was catapulted a few hundred years into the twenty first century. Simply unreal.
However, even to an adult tourist, not a day to forget easily anytime soon. We will skip those images on the general page. However, if you want to see them, please contact me and I will send them.
Joyous communal sharing
In the afternoon 5-8,000 villagers came for the joint feast and food was also distributed free of charge to each house and family living in Bena. Even as a tourist, you will be gladly invited to this community feast with rice, meat and the local alcoholic arak.
Definitely a day (or two) to remember. Am I glad that I have witnessed that? Definitely yes. Would I go to another sacrifice ritual in the next week? Not so sure.
Where to go next?
Ruteng, Riung (Flores), Kelimutu or a Komodo tour are great (and more quiet) places afterwards.
Or go to Lombok for a the rice fields in Tetebatu (Lombok) and a Mt Rinjani (Lombok) Hike.
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