Pulau Moyo

From Pulau Satonda, we retraced our route a bit to visit Pulau Moyo. Moyo is an island to the north of Sumbawa. Its area of 349km2 is mostly National Park - rugged mountainous jungle - with only 6 villages (1333 households) around the coast.
Visitors (and being remote, it isn’t a tourism hot spot!) are the more adventurous types - seeking diving, snorkeling and hiking (mostly to the waterfalls.
We arrived at the main village Labuan Aji late afternoon in heavy seas. The simple harbour offered no shelter, so we were well rocked to sleep that night! In the morning, Dale decided we needed to find a more sheltered mooring if we wanted to leave the boat to explore. The water at Aji was so rough that we couldn’t have launched the dinghy without difficulty.
We sailed a short distance south, around the next point ‘Crocodile Head’ (and the point really did look like a crocodile head with jaw slightly open). It was significantly calmer there.
We found a free mooring ball, and it was obvious that the residents of Aji must have moved their boats here too. There were a couple of more sophisticated boats moored, belonging to the adjacent resort ‘Amanwana’ a ‘glamping’ tent resort which charges $350 night!
We jumped into the kayaks to check that it was ok to use the mooring ball, and to find it how to get to town. When we got to shore, we saw there were 2 security guards (overkill much?!) who spoke no English. As always a helpful local came to chat and we found out that the security was for the resort, currently closed for the wet season. The security guys were iffy about us mooring there, but our friend told them it was an emergency due to the weather, and there was no alternative, so they accepted this. They weren’t keen when they found out we wanted to snorkel though. In the end they just asked us to snorkel and the pier end of the beach, and not near the resort (which was closed anyway)! Our kindly translator was quick to point out that this wasn’t HIS decision!
The following morning, we set off to Mata Jitu waterfall on the back of dirt bikes driven by two local lads. As soon as we left the pier area we could see why they used dirt bikes and not scooters! I’d read that the roads were dirt, and only paved right in the village, but I’d imagined a 3mt wide dirt track. Wrong! The ‘road’ was mostly a single wheel track, often over roots, rocks, mud, washed out - more like an enduro track than a road!
My driver was very considerate - pushing vines and branches out of the way to stop them hitting me, and carefully negotiating the various hazards. It was lots of fun, and quite an adventure in its own right!
The waterfall is stunning! In full flow due to the wet season it is quite a spectacle…
‘famous for its turquoise natural pools, stalactites, and four tiered steps. Formed millions of years ago, this spot offers serenity amidst the forest and was once visited by Lady Diana.’
There are 4 drops and the falls run through a greenish limestone, resulting in stalactites and stalagmites at the main fall. Apparently Lady Diana visited in 1993, though I’m sure she didn’t get there on the back of a dirt bike!
The park attendant explained as we paid our entry fee, that he was giving us a 50% discount. No idea why!
We jumped into the water, which was quite cool, and had a strong current. Being without running water on the boat for a few days due to a pump failure, I decided to wash my hair. I’m surprised that the force of the falls didn’t wash the hair right off my head! It hammered!
Once we’d had enough cold water and exploring the 4 terraces of the falls, our bikes took us to the village of Labuan Aji. We then hired a scooter for exploring the village, and checking out a second waterfall ‘Diwu Mbai’. Dale rode with me on pillion through the village (typically friendly - lots of waves and ‘hello’s - up to the falls. The toad traverses farmland - in particular Cashew orchards, before you get to the National Park.
These falls are less dramatic, but lovely and peaceful. They have a series of weirs and a catchment directing water to the village via an open stone lined canal of sorts. We were the only ones there (mind you at the first falls there were only 3 Europeans plus a local man and his grandchild, aside from us).
We explored, took photos, then headed back to the village to look for lunch. There are no restaurants in the village, other than at resorts, and mostly the resorts close for the wet. Malai Moyo Dive resort was open though and was really pleasant. We ate beside the pool and enjoyed the setting right on the beach. Two English women arrived to check in and we chatted until our food arrived. For fun we decided to ‘order the snack menu’ expecting each item to be about a mouthful. The food that came out fed us lunch, diner then breakfast the next day!
In the afternoon we toured the village and outlying areas, stopping to chat to locals from time to time. The village roads were mostly paved and wide enough to pass another scooter comfortably.
One of the things that caught my attention was how some fences are made by setting (obviously freshly cut) tree branches into the ground, < 1 mt apart, then attaching wire, rail or other found materials onto those.

One of two things happen to these untreated posts - they are eaten by termites or rot; or the branches actually strike roots and begin to grow! After a couple of years they have a very strong living fence! The live ones more than compensate for the 33% that decay.
We stopped to chat to a group of women and kids sitting on a front verandah. They were all really friendly and one lady spoke good English. I commented that her little girl looked sad. The 4 yr old was scowling with tears running down her face. Mum explained that the child had asked for icecream for lunch and Mum said no. After a while I noticed the child had gone inside with an older lady, and returned looking happy. A closer look revealed her with an ice block. Grandma gave in 😆😆😆

The other memorable thing about our Crocodile Head mooring was the flies! I have never seen so many! We thought maybe our bin was attracting them, but even the coral rubble on the beach was literally crawling with them!

Oh and the ‘approved’ snorkeling area was pretty poor, though there is brilliant snorkeling in the area. We ended up skipping the site (Takai Sagele - a ‘sandy island’ that only appears at low tide) as it became really stormy, and we didn’t want to get wet 😜

If Pulau Moyo is this beautiful during poor weather (grey skies), I can’t imagine how beautiful it would be under blue sunny skies!Read more