|
BAWOMATALUO (Sun Hill) is the most impressive of the hilltop villages in south Nias. It's an hour's walk uphill from the turn-off on the Teluk Dalam-Lagundri road; taxis from Lagundri to the turn-off charge Rp1000, and ojek cost Rp2000 (or Rp3000 all the way to Bawomataluo). Bawomataluo has been exposed to tourism for too many years now, and touts are persistent. The old village consists of an east-west road and a wide cul-de-sac that branches off due south from opposite the Chief's House. The stonework, particularly on the tables and chairs outside the Chief's House, is exceptional. These chairs once held the corpses of the recently deceased, who were simply left to decay in the street before being buried. In the centre of the village you'll find the two-metre tall jumping stone ( fahombe), which once would have been topped by sharp sticks and thorns. The custom was for teenage boys to jump over this stone to show their bravery and agility; you can see a picture of a fahombe ceremony on the back of a Rp1000 note. This quality of craftsmanship is continued inside the nineteenth-century Chief's House (9am-5pm; donation), where the walls are decorated with carvings of lizards, monkeys, and a depiction of an early European ship. A pair of carved royal seats for the chief and his wife share the same wall. Other notable features of the house are the plethora of pig's jaws hanging from the rafters, and the huge hearth at the back of the room.
Your Tip for Bawomataluo
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Bawomataluo - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Bawomataluo - visit the main Bawomataluo forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Bawomataluo webguide section below! Thanks.
| 
