Flores Island

Flores Island

Flores is an island of Indonesia from the group of Lesser Sunda Islands. Once on this island you immediately notice a striking difference from the rest of Indonesia. Left behind are the Hindu altars of Bali, the hundreds of mosques of Lombok and Sumbawa, and on the expanse of the largest island, Nusa Tenttara, the realm of Catholic churches.

General Information

The Portuguese brought their faith to Flores as early as the mid-16th century. Catholic missionaries told the animist locals about the sufferings of Jesus and gained a grateful flock throughout the western part of the island. The Muslim east, centered on the town of Ende, resisted for a long time, culminating in the bloody clashes of 1907, after which Christianity established itself as the main island religion. Locally, it is thickly mixed with animistic rituals; mute witnesses to this are the cult altars scattered throughout Flores.

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The island is strongly elongated for a distance of 670 kilometers, punctuated by a winding mountain road that is completely eroded during the rainy season. It runs from the capital Labuhanbajo through the cool-climate mountain town of Ruteng, the capital of East Flores, Ende, and ends at the former Portuguese colony of Larantuke on the furthest coast. From here you can take boats to the wild and unvisited – and therefore interesting – islands of the Solor and Alor archipelagos.

This road is long and difficult: it winds serpentine along the mountain slopes, spilling out the contents of passenger stomachs, then descends to the coast, then marvels at the beauty of the scenery, then turns into a liquid mess of non-travel puddles. In the dry season, from April to October, the journey will require at least two days, in other months the road can stretch for a week.

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“All covered with green, absolutely all, the wild island of Flores in the ocean is,” – would sing Semyon Semyonych Gorbunkov, returning from an Asian campaign. The wildness is manifested in the absence of ATMs (you can’t do without cash), and the name speaks directly about its plant origin: the Portuguese called it Cabo das Flores, which means “flower cape”. Not much has changed in 500 years, and still the riot of colors of nature is one of Flores’ magnets for tourists. The island’s only super attraction, the Kelimutu Volcano (Gunung Kelimutu) with its three colorful lakes, is also an impressive natural spectacle that deserves a separate trip. Interest in the islanders’ life and culture can be piqued by visiting traditional villages around Ruteng (e.g. Compang Ruteng, Golo Guru, Golo Sigi).

It is only the relative inaccessibility of transportation that has turned tourist rivers away from Flores. Few are willing to jolt in buses for days on end across Lombok-Sumbawa and bobbing on ferries to get into the vomiting embrace of the Flores trans-island highway. Many of them make their way to Labuanbajo for one purpose only – to sail back to Komodo and Rincha islands to see the legendary Komodo dragons in their natural habitat. Ferries from the Sumbawa port of Sape dock in 9 hours in the capital of Flores, after which you must take a ferry to Komodo (3 hours). There is no pier on Komodo, the ships stop one kilometer from the shore, after which for an additional fee those who wish to cross by boat. They also organize flights to Rinci (3 hours).

Flores’ air service to the Big Land is organized by Merpati Airlines in the form of 4 flights per week Denpasar – Labuanbajo, 8 flights Denpasar – Ende and daily flights to Maumere (cost $100). The company “Trigana” supports this noble cause with regular air raids of its “kukuzniki” to the capital of the island, but it should be borne in mind that this regularity is far from regular. Flights are very often canceled and postponed for various reasons – from unloading to allegedly bad weather conditions. In any case, you should keep one extra day for possible connections.