Lospalos

Lospalos is the main town of the far eastern district and the place to see the sacred houses of the Fataluku people, tall thatched structures raised on stilts with a steep four-sided roof and carved finials that look like nothing else in the region. Several stand in and around the town. The district speaks Fataluku, a Papuan language unrelated to the Austronesian tongues of the rest of the country. The town itself is a market and administrative centre on a plateau, and the road east continues to Tutuala. Most travellers stop for an hour on the way to the coast rather than staying.