| .PROGRAM
Day
1 Welcoming of the group at the airport.
Transfer
to Padang. Possibility to buy gifts for the Mentawai
people. Transfer to
the harbor. Departure of the ferry between 8 and 11
pm.
In
case there is no ferry, or the ferry is delayed for
several days, we will organize
a transfer by speedboat. According to the weather
conditions, you may
spend one night at the hotel and depart on Day 2,
arriving at Muara Siberut
on Day 2. In this case, the cost of the hotel is
included in our prices.
Day
2 Day of Rest at Siloinak.
Visit
of the small coastal village of Muara Siberut.
Day
3 Departure for Atabai.
The
third day, departure by speedboat (light motor
pirogues) to Atabai. We venture
through a mangrove until reaching a river.The
river's water draught is quite
limited. When the water level is very low, we may
ask our guests to get off
and walk up the riverbed (less than 50 cm deep).
About noon, we arrive at the
departure point of the trek, where we meet our
porters. According the time
of arrival , we may take a rather easy path, but
usually very muddy, for a 4
to 6 -hour walk or sleep in Madobag. There is only
one difficult passage:
about
300 meters of a slippery uphill path. Arrival at the
end of the day. Setting
up camp.
To
not disturb the Mentawaians and for the comfort of
our guests, we have built
a camp about 200 meters away from the uma, the main
house of the Mentawai
clan that welcomes us. This camp is made of
platforms sheltered. by palm leaf roofs, where we
set up large Coleman "dome" tents. We
provide each
hiker with a comfortable camping mattress. There are
two people per tent.
Individual tents are available for an extra cost.
Day
4 to day 7 Stay at Atabai.
Wake
up for a bath in the river. Breakfast: Indonesian
tea and coffee, bread, sago,
jam, eggs.
Daily
activities: fishing with the women; sago processing,
manufacturing a rattan
basket, manufacturing a basket for transporting the
sago (the staple food
of the Mentawaians), making the sago, and baking it;
manufacturing a bow
and arrows, and making the poison for the arrows;
bark cloth processing.
And
if we are lucky, we will witness a shaman ceremony.
We can explore at
leisure the surroundings and visit other clans.
At dusk, dinner at our
camp, the food is a mixture of Indonesian classics
and Western
favorites. Nights under good dome tents (2X2m.) with
comfortable camping
mattresses.
Day
8 Back to Siloinak.
Hike
back to the river and the pirogues (4 to 6 hours).
Then a pirogue ride back
to Muara Siberut .Arrival at the end of the day.
Dinner and night at Muara
Siberut.Night in a simple guest house, with shared
bathroom.
Day
9 Transfer to Padang.
After
breakfast or lunch we will board the ferry. In case
there is no ferry, transfer
by speed boat.
Day
10 Bungus beach.
Arrival
early morning at Padang. Transfer by minibus to a
small beach, 20 km.
south of Padang. We will discover Bungus area during
a 4 to 6 hours stroll:
rice fields, visit to farmers, bath at a cascade,
and share a nice evening
with
good music in a cool restaurant on the beach.
Night in a simple
hotel (double or single rooms with attached
bathroom).
Day
11 Bungus beach.
We
visit some small islands by canoe: snorkeling, lunch
on the beach, nap under
the coconut trees, and in the evening, we will go
fishing onboard a large
wooden traditional boat. Night
in a simple hotel (double or single rooms with
attached bathroom).
Day
12 End of the trip.
Breakfast
and transfer to the airport for the travelers
departing the same day.
Transfer
to Padang town centre for the others. End of our
services at 6 pm. |