We’re a little bit late making this post, but life after a holiday can get pretty hectic, especially if the weekend after you get back you head off and climb another 3,000 m + volcano. The end of Ramadan is ideal time for a holiday escape from busy Java, and we’ve been planning a trip to Flores since we arrived in Indonesia. Finally we made it there and it was well worth the trip.
We started with one night in Bali because it’s easier to fly to Flores via Denpasar, and Bali also has the allure of a wood fired pizza on the beach and bottles of wine. We took advantage fully, before flying to Labuanbajo on Western end of Flores and then taking a boat direct to the idyllic desert island beach and bungalows of Suraya Kecil. This is a fantastic place, and there are too few places like it. We chilled on our deck, went snorkeling right of the beach (coral, turtles, and myriad fish). The small restaurant served good food and cold beer and there was no cell phone reception – what more can you want?
From Seraya Kecil we took a day trip to Rinca Island, which is part of Komodo National Park and one of the places where the famous Komodo dragons can be found. The noisy boat trip in a local fishing boat was great, taking us between many islands and we also saw dolphins on the way. Arriving at Rinca, the boat captain escorted us for the short 500m walk to the park office armed with a wooden stick to protect us from any hungry dragons. We registered and paid our entrance fee and met our guide for a 1-2 hour hike outside the camp area. Around the camp we immediately saw many docile dragons sleeping around the huts hoping for scraps from the kitchen. We then struck off into the forest with our guide who was carrying a forked wooden stick to protect us from any dragons that were more awake than the camp specimens. We saw around a dozen different dragons in the forest and on the grassy slopes of Rinca, including some pretty close up. When our guide prodded a sleeping beast we weren’t quite sure he was quite experienced enough to do that, having informed us that he had been working there for only 3 months. After the hike we headed of by boat to do some snorkeling at an island on the way back.
We reluctantly left Suraya Kecil to start our journey across the mainland, which seemed like a lot of effort after the beach for several days. The first long day tool us all the way to central Flores trough some great mountain and rice agriculture landscapes. The drive from the coast up to Bajawa is amazing with the perfect cone of Gunung Inerie and some steep mountainous ridges as a backdrop to the winding road. We arrive in Bajawa for a great sunset with Gunung Inerie in the background and we had a good meal and prepared to get up early to climb Inerie the next day. After such good weather all week, it was a bit of a shock to wake up at 4:30 am to leave for the hike and hear it raining, but we decided to go for it. Not a bad decision since the rain did stop and the cloudy weather meant the climb up the steep exposed slopes was cooler and easier than usual. We helped to update the Inerie bagging information on the Gunung Bagging website. It was a bit misty and damp at the summit, but we got good views of the crater and the slopes down to Bajawa. This would be a spectacular vantage point in good weather. The descent for us was tougher than the ascent and we slipped and slid down the scree slopes while our guide wearing flip-flops skipped down the mountain. After a well earned rest at the guide’s small house we were picked up by our driver to go to look at some of the traditional houses in Bena traditional village nearby. We brought some ikat weaving, the first of many pieces.
From Bajawa we decided not to head north to the coast but to travel only a short distance east to the next major town/village of Boawae. This is close to another interesting volcano – Ebulobo – that we thought was easily climbable (volcano obsession?). On the way we stopped at Wogo traditional village, which was another traditional village that was much less touristy that Bena. We had coffee in a local traditional house and bought some overpriced baskets for the privilege. We arrived in Boawae in the early afternoon and has a nice time relaxing – we walked down to the local market and had a great time buying some fruit for the hike up Ebulobo the next morning, much to the entertainment of the local children. Our hike to Ebulobo is also recorded on Gunung Bagging, and was a really great hike. The starting village of Molakoli is such a friendly place, and the volcano has a fascinating rocky summit and is quite active with strong sulphur smells. After finshing the hike, we hit the road again for the long drive via Ende to the popular stopping place near to Kelimutu National Park. The drive from Ende at the coast up into the mountains is spectacular, and although it was raining heavily at times we saw the waterfalls cascading down steep slopes and witnessed how hard the locals have to work to keep the road open and clear away falling rocks.
Moni village is a pleasant place but with a very intermittent electricity supply. On the first evening we had the local specialty of Moni cakes (potatoes, onions, pepper) by candle light, although luckily the beer was still pretty cold. We then got up early again for the drive up into the Kelimutu National Park and the short stroll to the “Inspiration” viewpoint where you can see the 3 different coloured crater lakes. Honestly, if you believe the Lonely Planet this is one of the most incredible and “moving” sites in Indonesia, but we were quite disappointed – interesting place, but really nothing compared with Gunung Bromo or Papandayan on Java. After following the miserable Lonely Planet advice of walking back to Moni (why?) we had breakfast and decided to take the rather crazy Gunung Bagging to new heights by going on a mission to find the true highest point in the area – Bukit Kelilepembusu. We managed to get our grumpy driver to take us back up the road towards Ende and then turn off towards the ridge that held the Telkom cell phone tower that was our goal. We hired a couple of local villagers with motorbikes to drive us the 8 km along the dirt trail to the summit. It’s only Ribu we know of so far where you can drive to the summit. The guy guarding the Telkom tower was rather surprised to see us, but he let us into the compound so we could take a few summit photos.
After a lazy afternoon in Moni, the next day we headed towards Maumere, taking a great detour to Sikka along the south coast where there is an old and fascinating Portuguese Catholic church and some famous ikat weaving. We were a little mobbed by the Ibus with their ikat and were also treated to a demonstration of the whole process, including the natural dyes. After buying more than we planned, we finally set of for our final few nights near Maumere. We stayed at the fantastic Ankermi (Happy Dive) bungalows, which is one of the nicest places we have ever stayed. The attention to detailed in the whole place was amazing, and the homecooked vegetation and seafood was first class. It’s a simple place, but very classy. We also took 2 great dives – the first to a very gentle slope with lots of soft coral, nudibranchs and green turtles; the second was a famous wall dive called “The Crack” because you can see and amazing wide and deep crack in the cliff caused by an earthquake. Along the wall we saw several sharks, mostly sleeping in some caves so we got very close. We also saw turtles again. On this dive we need to the small wooden stick (like a chopstick) to help to anchor ourselves steady as the currents got very strong. We couldn’t swim back to the boat, so we surfaced and had the boat pick us up. As we headed back for our final night, we had great views of Gunung Egon that towers above this part of Flores and is itself getting very active.
chris whiting
great writeup dean.i put in( molakoli flores) to search for info on ebulobo and your blog was the only info i could find. i cant wait to conquer ebuobo later in the year with dan and also the mighty kelilepembusu. by the way i got my ribu count up to 6.would be in the gunung bagging hall of fame by now if i included the spesials and notable failures eg beuticanar,papandayan. i am living in hong kong now so you have a place to stay if you ever come through.surprisingly some great hiking here.
Andy
Chris, good to hear from you. We really had a good day climbing Ebolobu, even though it was cloudy around the summit. The general area is really great – the kids in the village will follow you around for sure. The summit is a really interesting jumble of big rocks and slabs. Enjoy!