Sumba Is Not Bali. That Is the Point.
After a motorbike ride down an empty road, my daughter and I found ourselves jumping off a high wooden platform into a deep lagoon with salt-white sand, healthy coral — and no one else around.
As the Indian Ocean splashed, we swam, jumped again and laughed. We lost track of time.
Maybe we were just lucky. The platform had to have been built by someone, for the fun of many. But it was neither the first nor last time that we felt practically alone in Sumba.
Sumba, one of Indonesia's easternmost islands, is just an hour's flight from Bali. But Sumba is as quiet as Bali is thumping. There are no digital nomads, DJ parties or drones at sunset.
The island is twice the size of Bali with one-fifth the population. The airport is a walk-across-the-tarmac affair with one baggage carousel and, on the 40-minute drive to our hotel, we saw maybe a dozen people.
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However, if you're not sure you're going to camp often, you probably won't need something like this right away. Most campsites have picnic tables at every site so you'll have a place to eat and hang out. Elaborate cookware, plates, etc. It's easy to start spending lots of money on camping-specific gear. Don't get me wrong, it can be fun. If you're just starting out, though, you don't need most of this stuff. Plates and utensils from home will suffice at the beginning. If you don't want to worry about cleaning them, paper plates and biodegradable utensils will work fine. 12v or battery-powered refrigerators Again, I have one of these in my van and I adore it. Total gamechanger. It was also really expensive. To start, any inexpensive cooler will work fine, especially since you should be camping somewhere near a store that likely has ice. A 20 minute exposure at my campsite in Kings Canyon NP. 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