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G'day All,
Just returned from two weeks touring East Timor (Timor Leste) in a hired Prado (from Rentlo - Dili). The roads there are a real eye-opener with National Highways having sections that would be classified as "difficult" here. There are more wash-outs than bitumen. Then you can really get off-road with "Regional" and "Local" roads.
There are still many washed out bridges, where river crossings are the go. This is fine in the dry season, as the rivers are dry or nearly so, but don't even think of going there in the Wet. Between November and March, the rivers can be hundreds of metres across and 2-3 metres deep and the roads can become quagmires. The climate is similar to N.T.
In a country which is about 150 km across and 350 km long, we ended up covering over 1600 km, with very little duplication. We crossed the country 6 times on different tracks and got to see some spectacular scenery and met many wonderful people.
Don't be fooled by press beef-ups. Yes, there are parts of Dili I wouldn't walk around after dark, but the same can be said fore any town in Australia. There has been a massive clean-up of Dili and most of the refugees have left the camps. Once out of Dili, everything is fine. The UNPOL (United Nations Police) are all fitted out with Prados - thousands of them. They are just the right size for the narrow roads and tracks. There were also Pajeros, but I only saw one Patrol during my stay, so pthththt! to Nissan.
Accommodation was cheap (US$10/double B&B) with meals about US$5-10. They are "rustic" so don't bother if you want motel accommodation. We looked at it as camping, so anything better than a mat on the ground was fine and there was nowhere we couldn't find a clean bed in a lock-up room. Several times we stayed in someone's home and even were put up by some nuns in an orphanage high in the mountains in the middle of nowhere.
The only costly item was the car hire at US$100/day plus insurance. There is no coverage in Timor at all so you need to limit the excess by US$15/day for US$6000, US$22/d for US$4000 or US$22/d for US$2000. Fuel was similar cost to Australia but you buy it from local street vendors in 5 litre bottles.
We averaged about 15km/hr on the highways and about 8km/hr on other roads. I didn't get above 80km/hr anywhere.
I would happily go back and do it again and can thoroughly recommend it to anyone as an adventure holiday. Mystical mountains, massive waterfalls, snorkling off the beach, real off-roading, friendly natives and an eye opener to the suffering these people have been through over the last 30 years of Indonesian oppression and civil disruption, but with a feeling of optimism for the future. Get in now before it gets too civilised, while tourists are still looked on as a curious phenomenon.
I would be happy to give advise to anyone thinking of a trip there. I am not associated with any tourist group, just a friend of Timor. My reason for going was as a Rotary volunteer on a school building project in Maubissi (70 km south of Dili).
Just returned from two weeks touring East Timor (Timor Leste) in a hired Prado (from Rentlo - Dili). The roads there are a real eye-opener with National Highways having sections that would be classified as "difficult" here. There are more wash-outs than bitumen. Then you can really get off-road with "Regional" and "Local" roads.
There are still many washed out bridges, where river crossings are the go. This is fine in the dry season, as the rivers are dry or nearly so, but don't even think of going there in the Wet. Between November and March, the rivers can be hundreds of metres across and 2-3 metres deep and the roads can become quagmires. The climate is similar to N.T.
In a country which is about 150 km across and 350 km long, we ended up covering over 1600 km, with very little duplication. We crossed the country 6 times on different tracks and got to see some spectacular scenery and met many wonderful people.
Don't be fooled by press beef-ups. Yes, there are parts of Dili I wouldn't walk around after dark, but the same can be said fore any town in Australia. There has been a massive clean-up of Dili and most of the refugees have left the camps. Once out of Dili, everything is fine. The UNPOL (United Nations Police) are all fitted out with Prados - thousands of them. They are just the right size for the narrow roads and tracks. There were also Pajeros, but I only saw one Patrol during my stay, so pthththt! to Nissan.
Accommodation was cheap (US$10/double B&B) with meals about US$5-10. They are "rustic" so don't bother if you want motel accommodation. We looked at it as camping, so anything better than a mat on the ground was fine and there was nowhere we couldn't find a clean bed in a lock-up room. Several times we stayed in someone's home and even were put up by some nuns in an orphanage high in the mountains in the middle of nowhere.
The only costly item was the car hire at US$100/day plus insurance. There is no coverage in Timor at all so you need to limit the excess by US$15/day for US$6000, US$22/d for US$4000 or US$22/d for US$2000. Fuel was similar cost to Australia but you buy it from local street vendors in 5 litre bottles.
We averaged about 15km/hr on the highways and about 8km/hr on other roads. I didn't get above 80km/hr anywhere.
I would happily go back and do it again and can thoroughly recommend it to anyone as an adventure holiday. Mystical mountains, massive waterfalls, snorkling off the beach, real off-roading, friendly natives and an eye opener to the suffering these people have been through over the last 30 years of Indonesian oppression and civil disruption, but with a feeling of optimism for the future. Get in now before it gets too civilised, while tourists are still looked on as a curious phenomenon.
I would be happy to give advise to anyone thinking of a trip there. I am not associated with any tourist group, just a friend of Timor. My reason for going was as a Rotary volunteer on a school building project in Maubissi (70 km south of Dili).
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