Ratenggaro village is located at the edge of a beach with white-sand and roaring ocean waves in Umbu Ngedo village, Southwest Sumba Region. It has a distance approximately 56 km from Tambolaka city. The course itself will take around an hour and a half to reach the Ratenggaro traditionary village. Although there is asphalt, any vehicle shall not run speedily.
Entering the traditionary village, magical presence does truly exist in Ratenggaro. While we are going into the village, we will witness an alignment of gravestones which has lied since 4500 years ago as megalith’s heritage. The origion of Ratenggaro comes from Rate word in which it means grave and Garo that refers to village’s residents that used to live there. Here is a story of tribal war in the past. It told a miserable circumstance which the Garo people had been defeated by newcomers and their corpses were just beried there. There are 304 gravestones sculpted uniquely yet properly. And they do resemble like huge and solid altar.
Besides having most gravestones, Ratenggaro is very well-known through its traditional houses in which each has the height of 15 meters. Every other village can only reach 8 meters. Also, this traditionary village forms its houses in a shape of four level floors staged home. Each floor has respective allocation as following: the lowest for pets; second for home owner’s living; third for the harvest and kitchen; the highest for any sacred object. And the buffalo’s horn is being placed on the highest floor as the symbol of dignity.