Introducing Waingapu
Waingapu is an enjoyable, dusty, spread-out town: urban enough to boast a few modest hotels and warungs, but so close to the countryside in spirit and location that roosters put paid to any chance of a lie in. It became an administrative centre after the Dutch military ‘pacified’ the island in 1906 and has long been Sumba’s main trading post for textiles, much-prized Sumbanese horses, dyewoods and lumber.
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Waingapu is the main entry point to Sumba by air or sea, but the island’s principal attractions lie in the west and southeast. The town has a few ikat shops and workshops, and traders with bundles of textiles and carvings hang around hotels or walk the streets touting for custom.
Last updated: Feb 17, 2009
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