by Lena — Tuesday, September 15th, 2009 at 10:00 am
in Travel and tagged with La Petite Kepa, NTT
Holiday time is around the corner, and I bet many of you are heading to the beaches. Instead of the usual place (a.k.a Bali), why not head out a path less beaten? If you’re not after luxury, but want to be close to nature, wake up to unobstructed view of the sea, eat delicious, home-cooked, seafood meals with a French flair, all for a fraction of the cost of Bali, then read on!
Kepa Island is located in Alor, East Nusa Tenggara. To get there, you fly from Jakarta to Kalabahi, the capital of Alor Regency (Kabupaten Alor). From Kalabahi, a 30 minute car ride will take you to the Alor Kecil Village, where you then board a small motorized canoe for a 3 minute crossing to Kepa Island.
What’s on the Island?
There’s a small village, and of course, there’s the fabulous La Petite Kepa, a small homestay managed by a charming French couple in collaboration with the people of Kepa Island and Alor Kecil Village. Cedric, Anne and their cute daughter Lila have lived in Alor for more than 10 years.
What to do on the Island? Work really, really hard. At relaxing 
The days are spent swimming, snorkeling, diving, reading and conversing with each other. The water is gentle and safe for children (but the littlest ones still need to be supervised by adults). Dolphins are often seen around the Island—I even got to swim with them up close. After a hard day of relaxing, everyone sits around a table enjoying simple yet fresh and tasty meals, with a bit of a French touch.
There are nine bungalows at La Petite Kepa, so there are no crowds. Children are very welcome; Lila, who speaks French, English, Indonesian (and some Alorese!) will be their own little guide and friend. The guests are mainly European, so if you’re learning a European language, it’s a great place to practice, as at any given time there could be many different nationalities there.
One small warning though: there are no fresh water sources at Kepa Island, so water must be brought from the mainland in small boats. Guests are therefore encouraged to use as little water as possible, but it’ not at all hard to live with just a few splashes of water. Really. After all, when you’ve spent the whole day going back and forth to the sea, the last thing that you need is to soak some more with a bath. And don’t worry, drinking water is plentiful, and plenty of sea water is made available for toilet flushing,
For detailed information about La Petite Kepa, check their website: http://www.la-petite-kepa.com/. The price is Rp125,000 per person including 3 meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner). Diving and snorkeling equipments are available for hire. Mandala Airlines flies direct to Kalabahi (with a stop-over in Surabaya and Kupang) every Sunday and Thursday, and from Kalabahi to Jakarta Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday (http://book.mandalaair.com/). My round trip fare from Jakarta was Rp2,7 million.
Tips
Fashion: Kepa is a very laid back and relaxed place, people tend to dress very casually in shorts, shirts and tank tops. Remember, it’s not Legian.
Beauty: Don’t forget to bring a hat, a cover up, sunglasses with UV protection and a lot of sunscreen (check for UVA and UVB protection). Forego soaps for your bath and use an in shower conditioner to lather up (such as the Olay In-shower Body Lotion), and your skin will stay moist and soft. Don’t rinse conditioner off your hair (or use a leave in condition) to keep your hair from drying. For a bit of color on your face, use a natural cheek stain such as Tarte’s or Benefit’s.
Shopping: local tenun ikat!
Bon Voyage!
Gw blm pernah liat kuda laut warna orens dan fuschia! Tantiknaa..
Emang gitu atau kena sinar matahari sih, Len?
Btw, ini mengiurkan bgt! Ini dulu atau Banda Neira dulu, ya?
iya cakep bener ini pemandangannya…
tapi yang memanfaatkan keindahan pulaunya dan making money out of it dengan bikin penginapan malah bukan orang Indonesia, ya..
too bad
Lutnya cakep. Pantainya bagus ga, Len?
dundan, warnanya emang gak biasa! pink-orange gitu (gak sampe fuschia sih, that’s the sun and camera tricks hahaha)
vanya, petite kepa modelnya kerja sama antara the french couple dan masyarakat adat. jadi cedric dan anne sbg manager dive operations dan yg deal dgn tamu, sedangkan masyarakat adat sediakan tempat, dan layanan lain2 (masak, maintain the lodges, drive the boat etc, as well as owner of the land and lodges). nurut gue ini kerjasama bagus, krn dari sisi service orang lokal belum bisa menyediakan standar internasional.
ada 5 diver operator di alor, semuanya orang asing, dan di tempat2 remote lainnya yg pernah gue datangi di indonesia, juga orang asing. gue sih salut banget sama orang2 yg begini, they have an idealism beyond commercial interests; it would have been easier for them to open a similar place in bali atau lombok, yang lebih rame dan established. orang2 indonesia sendiri gak mau invest di tempat2 remote kayak gini.
silvershore, pantainya kecil aja karena pulaunya juga kecil. small white sand beach, ya cukuplah, orangnya juga gak banyak di pulau.
cantiknya…mmm..ini dipromosikan oleh orang asing ya? sayang bangettt ya…
Lena,,pulaunya cantik bgt,,pasti n lautnya masih bagus ya disana,,di alor denger2 tenunnya cakep warna warni,,oiya bagus mana sama gili trawangan? di NTT banyak pulau kecil yang cantik-cantik viewnya,,tapi sayang remote area yang cantik kya gini masih lom digarap dengan baik ya sama pemerintah n masyarakat lokal,,,
alice, dipromosikan dan dikunjungi oleh orang asing. sayang memang bahwa orang indonesia sendiri tidak banyak yg jalan2 ke sana.
missmarshmallow, wah dari sisi pemandangan, both on top and under water, jauh lebih bagus lah dari gili trawangan.
gili trawangan is much bigger, but kepa is like gili trawangan in the early 90′s (i.e. before the swimming pool haha).
duhh ini bagus bgts yahh ini.. nusa tenggara cantik bgt yahh sptnya masi untouched gt.. i can picture this island to be my future retirement home =D sayang orang asing yg operate bisnis di sana.. orang kita kurang apresiasi ya ama tpt2 remotes begini… kalo gw menang lotre, i’d love to invest in something like thiss n retire di sana hehe
tetep ..
iya len, sayangnya juga kenapa bukan orang indo sendiri yang mempromosikan worldwide. apa kurang bisa menghargai dalam negri atau kurang dana. glad at least u have tried once here
keep on promoting len… bravo.. 
next time kita bikin FD getaway trip ajaaa ke sini
Trust Lena to find a secluded, little known water/sea sport spots!
Keep the travel log coming, Len!
Bagus banget bisa untuk referensi traveling, pernah denger tapi gak lengkap. Btw itu termasuk eco homestay y, penerbangannya cuma dilayani mandalaair sajakah coz lmyan mahal… eniweiiii thanks untuk pencerahannya..
Makin byk aja resort/island yg di maintenance ma org asing kyk p.sikuai ato p.cubadak ya….h. Anyway bagus niyy bwt referensi traveling berikutnya. trus pa cm mandalaair doank yg mlayani rute ke kalabahi ???? Muahal neikk…
dys, yuk mari kita patungan bikin lodge
debbie pasti minat juga. let’s get in touch when we’re, let’s say, 60??
alice, kalo orang lokal sih udah pasti gak ada daya dan dana. investor indonesia lainnya ya mungkin gak tau, gak pernah ke sana.
vanya, target pasar yg cukup jelas adalah yg gak hobi mandi
rere, begitu loe pul, kita jalan2 ya, backpacker’s style, sblm loe jadi ibu pejabat