On this island, off the south coast of Timor, the great explorer Captain Cook rested longer than intended, since he was greeted with smiles and refreshing drinks of fermented lontar juice. This isolated island supports a population of (30,000). Thanks to the tree of life, the lontar palm. From the lontar blossom, a sweet liquid, tuak is tapped. The highly nutritious tuak can be drunk in its raw form, fermented into an alcoholic beverage or made into sugar, either way it serves as a food supplement, as rice is saved for feasts and special occasion. The lontar trunk provides wood for boats and traditional houses. Its fan-like leaves are used as roofing on the traditional house. The house, divided into male and female, parts, a one family dwelling and forms part of a single clan village protected by a stone wall. Even the dead are wrapped in the lontar leaves. These leaves are also plaited into baskets, in which offering to the ancestors are placed at ceremonies. And thought of as gifts received to the descendant of the Sun to ensure a prosperous harvest. Whether you want to experience Savu’s rich culture sip the refreshing lontar juice, wim in the clear water, surf the waves or just enjoy the hospitality of the Suvenese, it’s only a short trip from Kupang by plane or boat.

From the eastern tip of Flores there is a small chain of islands towards the east: the Solor archipelago, consisting of the islands of Solor, Adonara and Lembata (formerly Lomblen), and the Alor archipelago, formed by Pantar and Alor, These rough hilly islands are created by vulcanism, and form the continuation of the Lesser Sunda Islands. The inhabitants grow maniok, corn and do some farmery, fishing and weaving. At several opportunities they perform rituals with are related with their traditional religion. In a way it looks like the time has stood still on those islands, allthough you can still see the influences of the modern times.
When I visited Lembata for the first time, women and children ran away for that strange, red man with his strange apparatus. Taking pictures was almost impossible. As soon as I grabbed my camera, people started laughing and yelling; the victim hid because of shame or stared to the camera like a stone. ‘Have you ever been on the moon?’, was asked to me ‘Were there animals as well?’
The hard work of the missionaries and government servants didn’t leave the traditional culture as it was. The whale hunt used to start with a ritual cleansing of the skulls of the ancestors, while nowadays a mass is held on the beach by father Dupont. But many traditions and habits still live on, and that also goes for the lieetle meetings with a little tuak (palmwine).
On the irregular shaped, 1200 sq.km. island of Lembata live about 82,000 people. Most are catholic, and there are about 8,000 muslems and about 6,000 supporters of the traditional ancestral religion. Lewoleba, at the western coast is the location where one of the biggest markets of East-Indonesia is held. Big parts of the island are only inhabited by deer and wild pigs.
Little is known about the life on Lembata before the Europeans got there. The islanders do know different stories of origin; one of them tells that they came from a hole in the ground. Some residents believe that their ancestors came to this island from far and unknown places. Along the southern coast are several stone structures which represent the boats in which the ancestors arrived.
The first Europeans which set foot on the island were the Portuguese, on the look for spices. They arrived in the early 16th century, soon followed by Dominican fathers which spread catholicism.
The peninsula, dominated by the volcano Gunung Ile Ape, is the base of the Lembata people which support the traditional ancestral religion. In the koker, small temple huts on the slopes of the vulcanoes, the villagers maintain the contact with the ancestral spirits. Small sacrifices as food, cigarettes and sirih-fruits are left behind to pleasure the supernatural world. Sometimes an animal is sacrificed. The most important annual festivities in this area is Pesta Kacang, or ‘bean-festival’.
In 1990, Alor, the most remote island, was visited by 25 foreigners. Hotels with airconditioning are not to be found here, but lovers of the Indonesian culture can find their joy on Alor. The residents speak eight different dialects. You can see moko, drums especially used for the ancestors, and formed to an example of the bronze creations of the Dongson culture ( about 300 BC)

Located 300 miles east of the cultural center of Bali, Komodo Island is a remote, seemingly prehistoric part of the sprawling island nation of Indonesia. This portion of the Island Dreams’ web site is dedicated to exploring Komodo National Park and the Komodo Island region, both above and beneath the waves. Our guides and resources for this adventure will be some of the world’s experts on Indonesia and its diving. They include author Kal Muller, scientist/researcher Dr. Gerald Allen, dive leader extraordinaire Larry Smith, and Secret Sea Visions photographers Burt Jones and Maurine Shimlock.
Home to a wild population of more than 5,000 Komodo Dragons, a topside walking tour of Komodo Island National Park is an experience like none other. The smell of the sun-baked earth and the strange cooing sounds of the exotic, flightless magapode birds will stay with you for years after. Walking in the dry river bed, you can view the dragons’ cave like liars, keeping an eye out for marauding individuals approaching from the jungle. Excitement mounts as you approach the dragons’ "feeding station," where your accompanying Park Ranger may have to fend off the curious (hungry?) dragons with his stout wooden staff. The chance to view and photograph these remarkable and frightening creatures, literally face to face, is an experience the traveler will not soon forget.
Beneath its surrounding oceans, experts believe Komodo to contain an apex global concentration of marine bio-diversity. As a result, Komodo is a paradise for scuba diving adventurers. Following are a few impressions penned by expert diver and pro-photographer Maurine Shimlock, "We enter the cool transparent water, leaving behind Komodo’s baking hot primeval landscape. Drifting easily down a volcanic slope flamboyantly adorned with soft corals, we slip through undulating masses of transparent fish. Perched on a mass of pastel-colored soft corals is a rare lacy scorpionfish, camouflaged as a filter-feeding crinoid nestled among the gorgonians. Moving carefully, and willing myself to breath calmly, I raise the camera to my eye and begin to photograph this exquisite creature."
"You pause from hiking down the mountain to enjoy the sunset. Below lies a serene tropical beach and above a cloud forest. Around you are hills covered with savanna. In the ravines between the hills are monsoon forests. An amazing range of environments, you think to yourself, for an island only twenty miles long and ten miles wide.
Suddenly from the thick grass nearby a buck bolts and runs across your path. You are startled, but soon recover. After all, it is only a deer, and in a few seconds your heart rate drops back to normal. Still, something is not right. You have the feeling you are being watched. A feeling of dread. The hairs on the back of your neck suddenly stand on end. But you don’t see anything.
Then you notice a smell. Unpleasant. Very unpleasant. You hear a sound in the nearby grass. You turn to look, and then it happens. The grass flies apart and something comes at you. Reptilian with cold, dead eyes. It’s big. Very big. Twice your size from its ugly head to its massive tail and more than your weight. The creature’s jaws open to display a set of inch-long serrated teeth dripping with deadly, infectious saliva. The speed of this monster is incredible. Before you can even move it is upon you, its wide mouth biting down on your thigh…"
What is this? A scene from the next film installment of Jurassic Park? No, the above can really happen and has really happened on the small Indonesian Island of Komodo. A bit of remote land where dragons dwell. They are the largest lizards in the world, the Komodo Dragons.
The discovery of the Komodo Dragons (Varanus komodoensis) is one of the cryptozoological surprises of the 20th century. Before 1912 the species was completely unknown and large lizards were thought to be extinct. Then, in that year, a party of pearl fishermen anchored at an almost entirely-unknown isle in a chain of islands called the Lesser Sundas. The fishermen brought back stories of an enormous, prehistoric creature living there. The island’s name was Komodo.
An expedition followed from the Buitenzorg Zoological Museum in Java. A report about the dragons was published, but received little attention in the years leading up to World War I. It wasn’t until 1926 that an expedition from the American Museum of Natural History, under the leadership of W. Douglas Burden, traveled to this remote island to further investigate the dragons and, if possible, bring some back alive.
The expedition discovered that the stories were true. The largest of these lizards measured over ten feet from nose to tail. The males were the top predator on the island, capable of killing a water buffalo several times its weight. The Burden expedition, with considerable difficulty, managed to bring home twelve dead specimens and two live lizards.
The Komodo dragons still live on Komodo today and have also been discovered on several neighboring islands. Though there are as many dragons alive today as in 1912, they are still considered an endangered species because they have such a small habitat that an ecological disaster, like a single volcanic eruption, might wipe them out.

Are the dragons dangerous to humans?

Yes. A Swiss tourist who sat down to relax while the rest of his tour group went onward was attacked and eaten by a dragon. All that was left was a piece of his camera. A number of other people have been killed by dragon attacks over the years. These incidents are only few in number, but perhaps only because the dragons live in such isolated locations. The Island of Komodo has only 800 human inhabitants and double the number of dragons. Most of the other islands where the dragons live have no permanent human residents at all.

The dragons can eat up to 80 percent of their own weight in a single sitting. Their attack strategy is to wait in ambush, then rush forward and tear a single large bite from the victim. The victim soon collapses due to blood loss or later from the effects of the septic bacteria found in the dragon’s mouth. Though most Komodo dragons prefer wild bore or deer as their meals, they will try to attack and consume almost every other animal they can find, including other dragons (Interestingly enough for reasons scientists still don’t understand, the dragons are not susceptible to infections from the bites of other Komodos).
When the first expeditions landed on the island they recorded the largest male dragons to have a top weight of around 300 pounds. More recent studies have indicated that this figure is high,. probably due to the a substantial amount of undigested food in those specimens’ stomachs. A more typical weight for the largest dragons is probably around 160 pounds. Though the Komodo’s can see fairly well, they do most of their hunting based on smell. Also a dragon can detect the smell of carrion from a distance of several miles when the wind is right. Although they will hunt when they have to, these giant lizards are more than happy to consume an already dead animal when they come across one.
Komodos are very fast for short sprints and can scramble up a hill as fast as a man can run on level ground. They have huge curved claws and teeth similar in shape to a Tyrannosaurus Rex’s. Like a snake they can stretch their jaws to swallow large chunks of their victims. The Komodo’s defense includes a thick skin with heavy folds that make the lizard look as if it is wearing a suit of chain mail armor. They are also one of the smartest lizards and their eyes seem to hold a primal, but clear intelligence.
Why are Komodos the top predators on the island instead of an animal like the tiger? Scientists think that it has to do with the creatures’s metabolism. The Komodo Dragon, like most reptiles, is cold-blooded (scientists continue to debate whether dinosaurs were cold-blooded). This means it doesn’t maintain a constant body temperature, but is dependent on the sun to warm it up enough in the morning so it can take on vigorous activity.
Tigers are warm-blooded and maintain a constant body temperature at all times. This allows them to be active no matter what the temperature or time of day. Animals who are warm-blooded burn much more energy than cold-blooded ones. This means they must eat more. Scientists think that islands like Komodo are just too small and have too few prey animals to feed a population of warm-blooded, high-energy tigers, but can support the lower energy demands of the cold-blooded dragons.
So are the Komodos the largest lizards out there? Fossil finds in Queensland, Australia, indicate that the Komodo Dragon had a much larger cousin, Megalania prisca, in the prehistoric past. Megalania was more than twenty feet in length and weighed more than 1000 pounds. Though it sounds like a dinosaur, it was a giant lizard. Unlike the dinosaurs, Megalania lived at a time when humans were present and undoubtedly Megalania consumed some dag sapiens.
This gigantic lizard lived during the Pleistocene period. It made its debut about 1.5 million years ago and disappeared around 19,000 years ago. Or did it?
There have been sightings of large lizards in the Australian outback for some time. In July 1979, cryptozoologist Rex Gilroy was called to a freshly-plowed field by a farmer. Across the field were 30 or so tracks from what looked like an enormous lizard. While most of the tracks had been ruined by rain, Gilroy was able to make a plaster cast of one that had been preserved. The footprint looked surprisingly like something that might have been made by a Megalania.
Other incidents include a farmer who saw a lizard moving along the edge of his field. Using a set of fence posts as a guide, the farmer estimated the animal’s length at twenty to twenty-five feet. In 1961 three woodcutters were scared by a lizard they thought to be twenty feet long.
The largest known Australian lizard is Varanus giganteus, a relative of Megalania and the Komodos. At six feet long and with a weight of thirty to forty pounds, though, it seems too small to explain these reports.
So are there giant lizards still out in the wilds of Australia? The only way of knowing for sure is for somebody to bring one back, dead or alive. The Komodo dragon surprised science once with its existence. Perhaps the Megalania will too.

Flores is 360 km wide and varies in width from 12 to 70 kilometers. It’s an island with impressive vulcanos, nice mountain lakes, grassy savannahs and even some mountain forest. The landscape has a fierce beauty. Nevertheless Flores is one of the least visited islands in Indonesia.
There are 1.4 milion people, of which 85 per cent is Catholic. Etnographically the island is very varied. The traditional religions excist alongside, or are just hidden by Catholisism. The original population consists of Manggarai, Ngadha, Solorese,m Soa, Riung, Nage, Keo, Ende, Lio and Sika. The coasts have been the habitat for immigrants from other islands for centuries: Savunese, Bimanese, Buginese and Makasarese; the last three groups are Muslem.
The island is said to beon the border line in the archipelago; the residents of Flores, mainly those in the east, have a dark skin, the curling hair and a firm build wich is recognisable among Melanesian populations of the more eastern islands; in the west the Malay influence is still visible. In some faces in East-Flores, you can see the Portuguese blood; the arrival of the Iberian lead to the birth of a race now called ‘Black Portuguese’.

History

There are little written documents about the early history of Flores. It is known that the Chinese traded sandlewood with Timor since the 12th century, but possibly earlier; and the trade route passed Flores. It’s not clear whether there were contacts. After they sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and founded a base along the coast of India, the Portuguese continued their expansion to Southeast Asia and they conquerred Malacca in 1511. The year after they sent their first big ships to the east, on the look for spices which were worth a fortune in Europe.
Flores didn’t have spices, but the Portuguese writer Tom Pires wrote in 1515 that the island was exporting food, among them tamarind, as well as a reasonable amount of sulphur. The sulphur, probably mined around one of the vulcanoes on the island, was shipped to Cochin-China (Southern Vietnam) through Malacca.
The captain of a Portuguese expedition to the Spice Islands named the most eastern peninsula of Flores ‘Cabo das Flores’, Flower Cape, from which the island got it’s current name. In early Portuguese writings, eastern Flores ( among them Sikka, Larantuka and Solor ) were named ‘Solor Novo’, New Solor, while the area around Ende, was named ‘Solor Velho’, Old Solor.
Flores had little to offer to the Portuguese in an economical way, but the sandlewood from Timor was precious, and Flores was located strategically along the searoute between Malacca and Timor.
In 1566 the Portuguese built a fortress on Solor which - far from the highly malaria active coasts of Timor - formed a refuge for merchants. It also formed a good location for the ships to wait the change of the monsoon winds.
The Portuguese were accompanied by missionaries and in 1570 ther already was a missionary school in Larantuka, East Flores. The traditional traders, Buginese and Gowanese, felt threatened in their trade by the Portuguese, but they were contained by their superior ships and weapons.

Settlement on Ende

When the Portuguese discovered Eru Mbinge (nowadays the island of Ende) at the end of the 16th century, it was an harbour for sandlewood and slaves, where Malay, Arabic and Chinese merchants lived. There also was an weaving industry, since the dry areas east of Ende were producing cotton; the fabrics were used as payment until the end of the 19th century.
The Portuguese built a fortress on Ende, but were forced out by the angry population in 1630. This happened after a strange relationship in which the captain of the fortress, a priest and a local princess were involved. A few survivors setteled east of Ende in Paga and Sikka.

The raja of Sikka

The Portuguese succeeded in gaining loyalty of the raja of Sikka, Dom Alesu Ximines da Silva, which was raised by a priest for four years in the Portuguese support place of Malacca. Before he went home he was rewared with precious parafernalia, of which some still exist: a golden helmet (with the date 1607), a staff with a golden point, two heavy golden chains, a knife, 70 elephant teeth and a wooden statue of christ. Da Silva’s efficient government, stimulated by the strategic gift of the very precious elephant ivory, lead to a partial hegemony of Sikka and the surrounding area. As a sign of loyalty, the Portuguese flag was raised in Sikka until the end of the 19th century, even during the period of Dutch rule.
The last raja, Dom Sentia da Silva, surrendered his political power afther the independence of Indonesia, as well as the other raja’s of Flores. His family and descendants still enjoy a lot of prestige, and and still are the owner of the rich parafernalia.

Dutch interests

In 1613, a Dutch force lead by Apollonius Scotte started an attack on the Portuguese fortress on Solor. In 1621 the Dutch tried to conquer Larantuka, but they failed: but the Portuguese didn’t succeed either in conquerring Solor in the same year, which was defended by islamis aid.
In 1641 the harbour of Malacca came in Dutch hands. Several of the defeated Portuguese fled to Makassar on Celebes to live under the sultan of Gowa and to trade. Others went to Larantuka. In 1667 the military department defeated the sultan of Gowa in the famous battle near Makassar, and Larantuka had to deal with another flood of refugees.
In 1859 the Dutch bought the remaining parts of Portuguese ground on Flores; under the sole condition that the area would remain Catholic. The arrival of the Dutch jesuit missionaries around 1865 caused a renewd interest in Catholisism. In that time there were only 3000 Catholics left, concentrated in Eastern Flores. A priest told that they found two groups of religious people: ‘animist with a sip of Catholicism and Catholics with a substantial part of animism’. The characterisation of a later priest was even more cynic: ‘baptized pagans’.
In the first place, the Dutch didn’t have any reason for controlling Flores strictly. When they saw they couldn’t supress the rising slave trade in Ende, they sent and expedition in 1889, in which the city was destroyed and fifty merchant ships were burned.
In 1889, a survey team looking for tin, was banned from the region by angry Florinese. The group returned with a military expedition and left hundreds of death. Tin wasn’t found.
The sporadic resistance against the Dutch rule lasted when the colonial government decided to govern over Flores directly. The Catholic raja of Larantuka was the biggest pain-in-the ass, but his ban in 1905 caused a rest to settle over the island. However the colonial government was little loved in Flores, it never caused any big-scale resistance. The mountainous area and the many cultural and linguistic differences prevented the Florinese to coordinate their efforts.

Tolerant Catholicism

When the island was finally ‘pacified’ the Catholic mission activity in Central- and West-Flores. In 1917, the first mission was founded in Ruteng, and withing one generation West-Flores was completely Christened. This fast conversion was partially caused by the fact that the missionaries allowed the Florinese to maintain their traditions and habits. The many traditions that survived are varied and fascinating. In many areas the bridal treasure is still of most importance; it can consists of money, water buffalos and inherited elephant teeth. Marriage in church or not, the marriage can only be done when the bridal treasure is paid and the traditional rituals have been executed.
At the birth-limitation rules of the government, the church didn’t complaint. In an effort to improve the local economy, the missionaries (as well as the Dutch government) founded coconut plantations; they introduced the culture of coffee, founded shipping firms and offered health care and education. The role of the church was this big that they were like a state in a state. However their worldly activities nowadays are limited, the chuch maintains an important place in the economy of the island.

LABUHAN BAJO
During the tourist season in the summer of 1990, Labuhanbajo, along the western coast of Flores, was flooded by tourists All losmen and pensions were full, but the ferries continued to bring in tourists from Sape (Sumbawa), and busses continued to spit out visitors which came overland from Ruteng. Many words were said about new losmen and hotels, but only two were being constructed.
With that many tourists the people in Labuhanbajo have stopped staring at tourists. Even the children have enough of saying ‘Turis! Turis!’ and ‘Hello mister!’.
At the end of the 1970’s a tourist was something like a visitor from another planet. Many things have changed, good as well as bad. Nowadays Italian women in bikini get of the ferry without being worried about the feeling of the local islamic fishermen. During a last visit there was not a single rat which tried to nose through my hair, and experience which I had 15 years ago, which I wouldn’t prefer again.

Changing views

Unless the recent attention, Labuhanbajo in fact is a quiet fishery village. Most of the 3,000 residents earns a living on the water; the bay is full with spider-like trimarans, canoos in different sizes, sailboats and motorized boats. The bay, scattered with islands, is one of the nicest in entire Indonesia.
There still is a plan to tear down a part of the pillar dwellings between the road and the sea. Of course the residents are not happy with this ‘improvement’. Until the time of demolishing - and maybe it will never happen - this is one of the best spots to overview the bay from the restaurant or one of the restaurants on the hill across the bay. The view during the sunsets is breathtaking.
For the best panoramic view on the harbour you have to climb the Pramuka, the hill just south of the village. Especially during sunsets the view can be extremely spectacular. The easiest way to climb the mountain is from the northern side.
Who likes nice panoramic views should certainly make a walk to Tanjung Waturamba, north of Labuhanbajo. Take the coastal road towards the north. Turn right at a road with several pillar dwellings. The road runs along the coast for another ten kilometers when you reach Tanjung Waturamba.
This peninsula, protected by the island of Seraja Besar, is the northwestern most tip of Flores. The road crosses an ares where hotels are planned and the road should be inproved by now.
Just outsidwe Labuhanbajo you have a good view over the boats which have anchored and over the pillar dwellings. On your left side you will see a few panoramic views as far as about five kilometers from Labuhanbajo. Here, a hill - unofficially named Amelia Seaview - behind the Waicicu Bungalows gives a view over the sea in the east, where you can see a perl farm, but also the already familiar islands and the sea in the west. From here it’s about five kilimeters to the most remote tip of the peninsula.

Explosive development

However the sound of the mosque still awakens religious and non-religious people every day before five in the morning, the character of Labuhanbajo is changing rapidly. Not only because of the arrival of the many tourists, mainly Europeans on their way to Komodo. Another important factor os the completion of the 136 kilometers of paved road to Ruteng, which has created new opportunities for the former remote fishery village. Daily there are several buses both ways, and they are always full.
Reo, located along the northern coast, still is the most important harbour of the district Manggarai, but the development in the environment of Labuhanbajo is fast.
Health care is improving (especially the fight against malaria) and now there is clean drinking water and electricity. There are gradually more elementary schools, Catholic as well as islamic and public.

A number of families from Manggarai - mainly Catholics, which form a majority in the district - have settled in Labuhanbajo after the completion of the road. Some have important jobs in the factly growing subdistrict of Komobo, of which Labuhanbajo is the main location. Others are farmers, which have left the crowded and remote hinterlands with governmental support. About three kilometers outside the village, along the main road, a new market can be found.
Corn, rice and maniok are the main products, but the farmers experiment with different trading crops: oranges, fruits, cacao and cashew nuts. The Catholics that settled here found another source of income: in the village of Kaper, five kilometers outside Labuhanbajo along the road to Ruteng, and a few other villages, they perform swipfights for the tourists. The fights are performed very good, under the sound of music.

Fishing

Before the construction of the road there were little farmers in Labuhanbajo: only a handfull Bimanese which sold their products locally. Most of the population were fishermen. The village is named after it’s islamic fishers: Labuhan (harbour) Bajo or Bajau; the fishermen are Bajau and Buginese. For them the good season is that of the southwestern monsoon, from October through March. They catch big amounts of squid which is saltened and shipped to Singapore. Most of the year they fish in the dark nights with the help of lights, which attract fish. They hang out a fine net under the lights, which is raised when a big amount of fish has gathered. The nets are carried by bagan, fishing platforms with sails, a small hut and a double or even triple hull. With the help of the bagan fish is catched in a big diversity.
In the meanwhile growing seaweed has become a commercially interesting thing as well. Twigs seaweed, attached to a line, are connected to the seafloor, or on a floating platform. The seaweed grows best in shallow and quiet waters. Fishermen collect trochusshells to extend their income. There are two pearl farms, one on the island of Rinca, the other on mainland Flores, in the environment of the landing strip of Labuhanbajo.

Stone forest

In the hilly area south of Labuhanbajo, on a place which is named Dataran Lemes, are several stonified trees. The trip to it isn’t fun. Follow the main road towards the south from Labuhanbajo and turn right after eight kilometers; with another ten kilometers you will arrive at the stonified forest. By foot this trip takes three hours. An alternative is a rented jeep.
Just after the turn you cross the river Wai Capi. During a short traject, near the villages of Kampung Capi and Tanah Dereng, the road is in pretty good condition. Here, an irrigation project is planned for growing 4000 hectares of wet ricefields. After this flat area the road gets worse. After passing two villages you reach Kampung Benteng, named after the fortress that stood here some time ago.
The stonified forest is located one kilometer ahead. You will see some remains between smooth rocks and besides a path, a little ahead, you can see bigger parts. The best piece, which looks like one single tree stem in parts, is located on top of a hill. On one piece you can still see something of a bark, the rest is taken away by tourists. Who is planning on visiting the ‘forest’ is advised to hire a guide through the Bajo Beach Hotel. Otherwise it’s possible you spend a lot of time looking at small parts.

Mirror caves

A much more easy and even more effording excursion is the trip to the Batu Cermin caves. (Stone Mirror). They are located at the end of a four kilometer road which starts just outside Ruteng and is especially built for accessing the caves. From the parking lot it’s several hundred meters to the two entrances. In the big and partially open spaces stalactites and stalagmites have formed in places. Where the roof is gone, long tree roots hang down.
Sunlight only enters the caves between about 9.30 and 10.30. During weekends the cave attracts loads of visitors from the environment. Witnesses of that are the graffity and litter left behind.

Snorkling near white beaches

Around the islands off the coast of Labuhanbajo you can snorkle and swim, but just lying on the beach being lazy is also possible; bikinis are allowed on these remote islands. The boat from Labuhanbajo takes just over 15 minutes to get to these islands.
But natural-born-snorklers can better go to the Sebolo islands, one hour away, where you have a big chance of seeing reefsharks, seaturtles and other deepsea life. But most people will be happy with the very white beach of the island of Bidadari. The reef of the coast has a big diversity of inhabitants, among them big tropical fish. A rocky mini-island off the coast, about 100 meters of the beach, is home to several Napoleon-fish.
It’s possible to swim to Pulau Serang, a small rocky island about 250 meters of the coast. Think about the currents! There is little fish and coral, but along the western side there are several interesting and shallow caves. The biggest atraction are the small water tunnels, through which you can swim from one side to another side of the island.
Across Pulau Serang is Pulau Sakure with a white sandy beach at the southern side. Here you find several soft corals and interesting fish. It’s the only place on Sakure where you can snorkle good enough, because the coral at other places - and with that all sealife - has been destroyed by fishing with dynamite. From Labuhanbajo Sakure seems to be a part of Pulau Bajo, the most northern island. Only when you sail along is, you can see that they are separate islands.

‘Monkey island’

A small island of the coast west of the harbour - Pulau Monyet (Monkey Island) - got it’s name because of the crab-eating monkeys which sometimes go here when it’s low tide. Across the bay is a rocky bald cape. There are also some scattered islands, of which the slopes are covered in dry grass and a single tree.

Ruteng is the capital of the district Manggarai, which is by far the biggest of Flores; it consists of almost onethird of the island. The capital is located at the food of a high mountain range and forms the center of a complicated network of valleys, which together make the biggest rice-producing area of Flores. The area is part of the most important coffee-producing areas of Indonesia.
Ruteng is a small, mainly Catholic town with a lively shop-and market quarter. The commercial activities are dominated by Chinese families. Because of it’s high location Ruteng has a nice cool climate.

Welcome mountain

The top of Golo Curu (’Welcome mountain’), a hill north of Ruteng, offers a nice view over the city and the surrounding sawahs. Follow the road to Reo until a kilometer past Losmen Agung. Go straight after the bridge - instead of following the main road which bends to the left - until a churc, the Santo Fransiskus Assisi. Behind the church is an unpaved road which brings you to the top in about 20 minutes on foot. The best time for a trip to the top is in the early morning, because in the afternoon the mountains are often obscured by clouds.
The view is the best at sunrise, around 6.00, and just after. After climbing for a while you can see graveyards: one for Catholics, one for Chinese and one in between for war heroes.
On the top of Golo Curu the view is obstructed by vegetation, but a little lower you can look over the surrounding sawah’s, which look just as orderly as possible in such a rough landscape. Just west of the hill you can see one of the few lingko rondang, a traditional field in which wedge-shaped gardens are located around a central point.
Above the entrance to the upper part of the hill is a gate with the text ‘Ave Maria’; behind that an althar for the Holy Virgin. The story goes that a farmer from the neighborhood saw a bright light on the top oft he hill. A supernatural voice told him that an althar for Maria supposed to be build. The church obeyed, but there have no miracles taken place yet.

Changing traditions

The residents of Ruteng consider themselves modern Indonesian with pride and maybe even a little regret because they have said goodbye to their traditional lifestyles. The most spectacular habit of the old religion is still popular: caci, or whipfights, in which the participants hit eachother with whips of buffalo skin. It’s an important part of the traditional ceremonies and also during a Carholic marriage. The ’season’ is from the end of June until the end of August. The best way of tracking a marriage is asking for it at the local market (in Indonesian) or even better is you know someone that speaks the local language asking it for you. Attenting a marriage is worth while. Who dresses and behaves properly is treated as a guest of honour.
In Kampung Ruteng, which used to be an important ritual center, you can see a compang (village althar). The village is two kilometers north of Ruteng. The compang is a platform like stage of stone and soil with the graves of the founders of the village; it is surrounded by an oval-shaped stone surrounding fence. Too bad an ‘administration-fee’ is counted for tourists, and if you want to make a picture, you pay double price.

Pongkor, 45 kilometers southwest of Ruteng and reachable over an unpaved road is one of the remaining traditional villages of the district. It was the residence of the former raja of Manggarai. Among the holy heirlooms which are kept here is a special drum, of which the skin used to be made of the skin of the belly of a Bimanese female slave. You can take pictures of the drum, but a water buffalo has to be sacrificed before you are allowed to play on it. Pongkor and the nearby Tobo, about two hours from Ruteng, can be reached by public transport.
The traditional village of Lambaleda, northwest of Ruteng in the environment of Benteng Jawa, is seen as the best traditional center of weavings in Manggarai. Here, songke (songket in Indonesian) are made. The fabric is woven with an addition. Hand-made threat is used and sometimes natural dye. A songke-sarong can be obtained for a reasonable price. Lambaleda is more than 50 kilometers from Ruteng and can be reached by public transport via Benteng Jawa. The trip takes you over a bad road and takes about five hours.

Climbing vulanoes

Sportive climbers can climb Gunung Ranaka (2400 meters). It’s besides the little higher Gunung Namparnos, crowned with a red and white communications tower. In the crater of the Ranaka there was a little activity in 1989, and in 1990 smoke still came out. You can almost reach the summit by jeep. An alternative is travelling by public transport to Robo, the starting point of the steep, nine kilometer ascend to the summit.
Another popular target for a daytrip is the one hectare Ranamese (Big Lake). It’s surrounded by slopes with trees and containt a lot of fish. It’s located 24 kilometers southeast of Ruteng, 100 meters from the main road to Bajawa.

Trip to Reo

The little town of Reo is located north of Ruteng, just inland from the northern coast. Trucks and buses make a frequent connection between both places over a paved, but bad road (two hours). About five kilometers out Ruteng the nice panoramic views start to appear. They last until the village of Pagal, 21 kilometers from Ruteng. The area around Pagal, the subdistrict Cibal, is known because of it’s weaveries. In the villages east of Pagal, people weave from May until October, in the west from October to March.
From the place Golongorong, a few kilometers outside Pagal, an unpaved road runs to the west. The road follows a small mountain range and offers very nice views over the northern coast and a valley. After a few kilometers you reach the village of Compang. An open spot at one side of this little visited village is overruled by a stone ‘althar for the ancestors’. After marriages, whipfights are held here.
After Golongorong the road Ruteng-Reo descends for 37 kilometers to the coast. The picturesque harbour village Kendindi lies five kilometers west of Reo; a nice walk. From here, coffeee is shipped to Antwerp (Antwerpen, Belgium) and waterbuffalo’s to Surabaya.

Two men in a naked upper body dance in a circle on dry, hard soil while spectators gather around the spectacle. Bells around the waist and ancles of the dancers rinkle while the attacker, armed with a big whip, and his rival, with a shield for protection, ‘attack’ eachother. The rhytm of the drums and the gongs echos faster and faster. A sudden, dumb hit of a bamboo stick marks the beginning of the fight.

Ritual dances

Most of the many ethnical groups of Nusa Tenggara perform ritual dances at traditional ceremonies: births, marriages, funerals and nowadays even at national and local events. Some dances are related to local agricultural habits.
Whipfights are still performed by men, in which the power, the durability and the virility of both rivals is tested thoroughly. Traditionally, the fights are held until blood is seen, as an sacrifice to the ancestral spirits. The Indonesian government has tried several times - without result - to stop these ‘barbaric’ deeds. This failed because modern relaxation like tv’s, cinemas and others are still not very common here. So the fights are still performed by young and old, spectators and rivals are still encouraged enthousiastic. Less blood is flown however.
In East-Flores, the women perform the most ritual dances, in which the ladies are dressed in tyye-and-dye sarongs, with goldthreat. Often, ivory bracelets from the bridal treasury are worn. In some dances and separate from the women, the men participate as well. A certain dance in which women and men participate was also seen in other parts of Asia. Four dancers hold the end of a bamboo stick, paralel to the soil. The sticks are hit against the ground, interchanging, then raised and hit to eachother. The dance starts slowly, but soon speeds up while the dancers contintue their dance. With another dance a man climbs, helped by the other dancers, into a big bamboo stick. When he has reached the top he stretched horizontally, and waves to the spectators with his hands while his helpers turn him around on top of the stick.

Caci-ritual

Unique among the Manggarai population on West-Flores is the caci-dance, a whipfight between two rivals. The gear of the duellists symbolises the water buffalo, the strongest and most cruel animal among all animals in the area. The whip of the attacker is made of very sharp ratten; the handle is decorated with the skin of the knees of the buffalo. At the end of the whip there is a brush made of skin as well. the whip symbolises the power of the fater, the male, the penis, and also heaven. The shield of the rival is round, decorated with buffalo leather and symbolises the mother, the female, the uterus and earth. When the whip hits the shield, both symbols are unified.
The round shape of the shield can be found in many occasions among the Manggarai. Lingko randang, the traditional gardens made through the entire village are round as well. The village head plants a round piece in the middle of the garden and every family of the village has it’s own part while the outside ring functions as protection. From the Colo Curu in the valley near Ruteng, you can see a linkgo randang.
The circle can be seen again in the center of adat or villages. A nice example can be seen in Kampung Ruteng, north of Ruteng where a megalyth althar surrounds piled up soil. During certain ceremonies the villagers take place on the soil which is covered with stones and wait for the sun to go down. When dances and rituals are performed you can’t enter the center of the circle.

Hitting of the whip

As in western boxing games the spectators of the whipfights also have their favorite players. Supporters of the attacker support him in striking quickly. The team of the rival shouts when he seems very strong. Distracted by several fake attacks the defender drops his shield for a moment, and is hit immediately on his shoulders. The spectators support the attack en masse, especially when a piece of human flesh is hit.
Nowadays the wooden mask, worn by every warrior, is placed high on the head, a sarong around the face protects the face. Between the two ‘horns’ of the mask is a third horn with a red top. The red color symbolises the power of the gods. At the ends the goathairs wave, seemingly telling the attacker "Get me if you can, I will beat you. I’m not scared. I’m still smiling!".

The red brush between the horns of the mask also decorates the buffalo heads on the roofs of the houses of the Manggarai. These heads, made from alang-alang wood, represent power while the red brush symbolises the upper power - the power of the gods. The ears of the man-made buffalo head point at democracy and cooperation and tell this message:"What people say is not just lost; it gets stuck in the spirit and is thought about". The rings around the neck brand the union and the ‘fabric’ describes the family.
All naked skin of the fighters can be hit, except the kidney area. The partially covered chest, back and arms are the biggest targets. A ‘tail’ hangs out of the belt and indicates that this zone is not to be hit as well. Sarongs - in this case long pieces of fabric typical handmade Manggarai textile - cover the nowadays jeans or trousers which cover the legs.
A direct hit leaves a red mark on the back of the opponent. He jumps high in the sky, kicking with his feet, while the little bells around the ancles like he doesn’t feel the pain and wants to play with his opponent. Later, the wounds, together with the scars of earlier fights, will be shown as a sign of masculinity to the women and young boys in the village.
After a short stop for songs and several drinks of tuak the fighters change weapons and shields to take the others role, after which the fights continue.