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The thatched huts overlooking the sea are really welcoming. Tua Koin was set up by Roman Luan, an NGO based on Atauro Island, as a model for eco-tourism within the community there. As most of the materials are obtained locally and helpers/workers locally employed, and hence, the economic reaps are all diverted back to the community.
The Atauro-based NGO, Roman Luan, runs an eco-village called Tua Koin whereby it aims to build capacity among the local community in Atauro through eco-tourism. The visit was an interesting one and I was amazed at the efforts put in by the NGO in setting up such a place.Apparently, Tua Koin is the only eco accommodation for tourists who are visiting.
There is a small community library at Villa, Atauro Island. It is a tiny place with a staff in-charged. They do have 3 computers, books although not many and even some games. Most of their library books and equipment were donations from overseas. When we were there, the staff was preparing some simple yet creative learning aids. We had a game of "pick-up-sticks" there.
School visits can be on your agenda if you love to interact with children. However, it would be even better if you speak Portuguese of Tetum as communication can be a barrier. The children there are a curious bunch and they love visitors.Go interact with them. You can play some games with them or even teach them to sing some simple songs.
The people in Atauro are a friendly bunch. There is no problem saying hi or visiting them in their homes. It will be interesting to just pop by some of the homes of the locals and just se their living conditions. They usually welcome visitors. Just smile and ask politely whether you can go in. You can even play with the kids in the villages.In Atauro, the place, VIlla where I was staying, was better in terms of living conditions as compared to Bikeli.
When the tide gets really low, the reef flats are exposed and this is the best time when you can head down to the flats and do a reef walk.During the walk, remember to look down, see whether you can find anything beside rocks, etc. There were lots of reef creatures and fishes which I saw when I was reef walking. Some of the things which I saw are :- Lion fish- Sea Cucumber- Star Fishes- Urchins- Frog fish- Puffer fish- Sea slugs- Flat worms- Hermit Crabs- etc etc etc
An activity which we did almost every night was star gazing. Every night, we would either get our picnic mat or chiars out nearer to the sea, sat there for hours to just chit chat and star gaze. It was fun. We counted ther number of meteor we saw. We saw Orion every night.Now, I kinda miss this activity.
Although Atauro can be seen from Dili, it takes 2 hours on a fast ferry there. Something really funny happened on our way to Atauro.A cow jumped into the sea. Azmazing enough, they managed to "save" the cow. What happened was, the captain of the big passenger ferry made a few turns to save. Everyone was so fascinated with that incident. When we were at Atauro, we were told that most people in the island knew about the incident. The grapevine was really powerful.
Atauro Island is 40km north of Dili. You will be able to see the island from Dili. The ferry ride will take 2 hours or so. Atauro is a rather unexplored island. There is a small eco-village on the island. One can visit the many villages there or simply enjoy the accompany of the friendly islanders there. I shall be writing more on Atauro on the next few tips.
You may be wondering why I am recommending the Santa Cruz Cemetery as one of the places you must go when you are in Dili.In 1991, there was a massacre at the Santa Cruz Cemetery and more than 200 people were killed. The Indonesians killed the East Timorese protestors as they were resisting the Indonesian control. P.S.: I had the chance to attend the Santa Cruz Massacre Commemorative Mass on 12 Nov 04. See my travelogue for more information.
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