Every story we published on Sumba in the last seven days, in one page: transport, weather, culture, business and life on the island.
Living on Sumba ·
BMKG, Indonesia's meteorology agency, said on 22 September 2026 that a very strong El Niño will make the 2026/2027 rainy season late and short in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), the province that includes Sumba. Most of NTT is expected to see the wet season start in December 2026, with the peak in January or February 2027. NTT's climatology station forecast 51 to 100 mm of rain for November, below normal.
Business & investment ·
Three customary law communities in East Sumba have applied for communal land certificates at the regency's land office (ATR/BPN), Deputy Regent Yonathan Hani said, as reported by Waingapu.Com on 7 November 2026. One file is nearly complete; if issued, it could be the first customary land certificate in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). No certificate has been issued yet.
Business & investment ·
East Sumba recorded 41,524 tourist visits in 2025, 36,242 domestic and 5,282 foreign, according to the regency's tourism and culture office as reported by ANTARA and kumparan in January 2026. That is almost the same as 2024 (41,812) and below the 2022 peak of 46,298. Visitors stayed three nights on average.
News ·
Since 15 July 2026, TransNusa has flown non-stop between Denpasar (Bali) and Waingapu, East Sumba, four times a week: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, according to ANTARA. Flight 8B-5652 leaves Bali at 08:19 and the return, 8B-5653, lands in Bali at 12:24, on a Comac ARJ-21 jet.
News ·
Residents of Karera Jangga village in Paberiwai district, East Sumba, are leaving farm work to pan rivers for gold without permits, local news site Waingapu.Com reported on 6 November 2026. One resident, quoted under a pseudonym, said people living at the sites collect 5 to 10 grams a week; the figure comes from a single source and could not be verified.
Living on Sumba ·
East Sumba police's narcotics unit monitored hundreds of passengers arriving at Waingapu port on the evening of Monday, 2 November 2026, as they left the ferry KMP Dharma Kartika V, as part of the nationwide Operasi Sarang Narkoba, Waingapu.Com reported. Officers used behavioural profiling, searched bags that looked suspicious and asked some passengers to take urine tests. The report mentioned no arrests or seizures.
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