ER
IT IS unfortunate and too simple to fly to Labuan Bajo just to see Komodo dragons. The reason is that there is a different kind of excitement when visiting Wae Rebo and Todo in Manggarai Regency. The two traditional villages are the right places to get to know the history of the Manggarai Tribe on the island of Flores.
In contrast to Komodo Island, which sells natural landscapes and unique ancient animals, Manggarai Regency displays more cultural offerings wrapped in local wisdom with traditional nuances. In Todo, for example, tourists’ insight will be filled with the history of the origins of the Manggarai Tribe which is in fact closely related to the Minangkabau Tribe in West Sumatra.
“The Wae Rebo people are descended from Minangkabau. And the Wae Rebo people were the first to be in Todo, after that the Todo people are now in Todo,” said Frans Mudir, the traditional head of Wae Rebo Village.
Then, Frans explained about the uniqueness of the seven buildings in Wae Rebo which are closely related to the cycle of human life. According to him, the Gendang House (main house) consists of five levels supported by nine wooden poles. The five levels narrate the womb of a fetus that is already in the form of a baby at the age of five months, and the nine pillars describe the perfection or time of the baby to be born to earth.
Meanwhile, the Labuan Bajo Authority Implementing Body (BPOLBF) President Director, Shana Fatina said that cultural literacy in Manggarai when combined with the natural landscape owned by Labuan Bajo would create a tourism product that is more prosperous for the community.
According to her, Labuan Bajo as a Super Priority Destination will have added value if it is combined with the culture of the supporting destination. It will make tourists stay longer, the expenses will also increase, and it will trickle down (the society).
She further explained that such cultural attractions can be found in many tourist villages in Manggarai Regency. The unique culture of Wae Rebo which has generated village income of more than IDR1 billion per year, is only one of several tourist villages in Manggarai.
In addition, there is Meler Village in Ruteng District which is famous for its spider web rice fields or often called spider rice fields. Then there is Liangbua Village, which is unique as a settlement in prehistoric times.
“It is a potential for Manggarai Regency to get economic benefits from the tourism sector,” said Shana Fatina.
In order to realize this tourism potential, tourism players in Manggarai and several professionals were brought in to share insights on how to develop attractive tourism products, to how to create slick promotional content for social media.
In fact, this effort was welcomed by Herybertus Geradus Laju Nabit, the Regent of Manggarai who stated that to support Labuan Bajo as a super priority destination, we will support it from a cultural perspective. And it has already begun to be developed, such as in Wae Rebo and Todo. So we’re going to get there. [traveltext.id]
