Lapopu Waterfall

Lapopu is the highest waterfall on Sumba, dropping some ninety metres in a series of broad tiers over travertine and rock into a pool at the base, inside the Manupeu Tanah Daru National Park in the west of the island. The park protects one of the last substantial forest blocks on Sumba, which is otherwise largely savanna and grassland after centuries of burning and clearing, and it holds a set of birds found only here - the Sumba hornbill, the Sumba green pigeon and the Sumba buttonquail among them - which is why birders come. The fall is a short walk from the road, over a suspension bridge and along the river. Flow varies a great deal: at the end of the wet season it is wide and heavy, and by late in the dry it thins substantially.

What you actually see

• Sumba's tallest fall - some ninety metres in broad tiers into a pool.
• A remnant forest block - one of the last on an island that is mostly savanna.
• Endemic birds - the Sumba hornbill and others found nowhere else.
• A short walk in - suspension bridge and riverside path from the road.

When to go

May to July for both flow and dry roads; it thins later in the dry season. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Flow drops markedly late in the dry season. The road in is rough. Facilities are minimal. Malaria is present on Sumba.

Nearby

Waikabubak and the megalithic villages are east; Waingapu is further east.