Sumba is one of Indonesia's most compelling islands — and one of its least visited. While Bali draws the crowds, Sumba has remained a place where traditional life persists in a way that feels neither staged nor frozen. Villages of thatched clan houses face each other across courtyards dominated by massive stone tombs, and the people who live in them still practise the animist religion of Marapu.
The island divides roughly into two: East Sumba, centred on Waingapu, is drier, more open, and the main source of the island's famous ikat textiles. West Sumba, around Waikabubak, is greener and hillier, with the highest concentration of traditional villages and the most spectacular megalithic tombs. The tombs are the defining sight — stone slabs weighing tens of tonnes, hauled into place by hundreds of men and raised to mark the graves of nobles and chiefs. Some are centuries old; new ones are still being built.
The annual Pasola festival, held in February or March depending on the lunar calendar, is one of the great spectacles of eastern Indonesia. Hundreds of horsemen divide into two groups and charge at each other with blunted wooden spears. Injuries are common; deaths have happened. The Marapu priests believe the spilled blood fertilises the earth. You will not see anything else like it.
Waingapu makes a practical base for the east. From there it is easy to reach traditional villages such as Prailiu and Pau, and the ikat weaving cooperatives that supply cloth to collectors across the world. Waikabubak serves the west, with the village of Anakalang — its tombs so large they fill the central plaza — just a short ride away.
Getting to Sumba takes effort: flights from Bali or Lombok, or a long ferry. That effort keeps the island honest.