"Sorry, we’re out of that." Be prepared to hear that a lot if you visit Flores, especially if, like me, you visit in September, just after the peak season of August. Flores is one of Indonesia’s 10,000 or so islands, located just east of the Komodo Island National Park. Most visitors to the island never get beyond the small port town of Labuan Bajo, on the island’s west coast, on their way to see the dragons at Komodo. But, as is often the case, there’s a lot more to see and do on Flores.
However, while the natural and cultural attractions of Flores are many, getting to them is not necessarily all that easy. The basic infrastructure of transportation, food and accommodation is not quite there yet. Of course, this appeals to certain types of travelers. The island is attempting to promote its assets, and the situation is changing, so this may be a good time to see it before the crowds discover it, as long as you’re willing to accept the shortcomings.
The jade-green lake at Kelimutu Crater Lakes
Aside from the area around Labuan Bajo, most of the other interesting things to see are closer to the eastern end of the island. To get there, your best bet is to fly to Maumere. Several domestic airlines have daily flights from Bali Denpasar to Maumere. The main attraction in East Flores, the Kelimutu Crater Lakes, is near the village of Moni, which is about a two hour drive from Maumere.
The three different colored lakes of Kelimutu fill a cluster of volcanic craters in an area that is now a national park. The typical visit starts out from Moni in the early hours to watch the sunrise over the lakes. The thing is, there are precious few accommodations in Moni. Until recently there were just a couple of guest houses. I stayed in a new addition, the Kelimutu Crater Lakes Eco Lodge, an ambitious yet not quite finished attempt to create a ‘green’ and community based hotel.
The wild and deserted beach at Paga on the south coast of Flores
There are other things to see in the area around Kelimutu, such as traditional villages where you can see Ikat cloth weaving. The countryside of the region alternates between rice terraces on the gentler slopes and large groves of clove and macadamia trees. Oddly, while East Flores seems to produce a huge quantity of macadamia nuts, they’re all sent elsewhere for processing so you can’t buy any on the island.
There are, of course, a lot of beaches on Flores. The one pictured above, Paga, is about halfway between Moni and Maumere. There are no resorts or any other accommodations in the village, but there are a few roadside restaurants – shacks on the beach really – making Paga a nice place to stop for lunch. Be warned though that these places are not equipped to handle many people. With eight people in my group we completely overwhelmed one small shack.
Although Maumere is your gateway to East Flores and the island’s largest city, there isn’t a lot to see and do there. The city was almost wiped out by an earthquake and tsunami in 1992, so there is nothing of historic importance to see. The bay and islands around the city used to have some of Indonesia’s best scuba diving, but cyanide and dynamite fishing almost wiped out the reefs before the area around the islands was turned into a protected area. The beaches east of town remain rather nice, with just a few resorts in the area. The Sea World Club is one of the biggest and most internationally accessible of the resorts, although as with all the other places visited, it has serious upkeep and stocking issues.
Flores is yet another one of those hard-to-call destinations. The scenery and ‘undeveloped’ feel of the place certainly makes it interesting, but it’s hard to say if it’s worth the challenges you’ll face getting there and getting around. That’s up to you.
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