Flores is located in East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia and is best known for Komodo dragons and the Kelimutu tri-colored volcano lakes. Tourism is flourishing in that area, and I am thankful to my Indonesian colleague who shared about its beauty with me in 2016, and the plan finally harvested in April 2017 after planning for months!
The trip was adrenaline filled from hiking the mountains to swimming the seas. Lots of time were spent on the road due to inaccessibility of some places, but the scenic memories were totally worth the tiring journey.
Geography of Flores
Everyone knows Bali. Labuan Bajo (LB) is the main town located in the west of the island, and it is 1.5 hours by flight from Bali.
Trip Planning
There are a few local travel agencies including LYL Adventures and Get Lost Partner which I researched on during trip planning. Fortunately, my Indo friend's father's friend lives in LB, so we got his help to customise a 8D7N itinerary for us. He then tapped on his network to find us a driver and a guide for our overland and sailing trips respectively.
Estimated Costs
Our trip was much cheaper than the local agencies due to the benefit of customization and networks. Another plus point was the luxury of traveling with my Indo friend whose fluent Bahasa got us around conveniently. She was also the translator as our driver could only speak Bahasa. We spent approximately SGD 1.3K per pax, including air tickets with breakdown as below:
- Air Tickets (Garuda Multi-City SIN-BALI-ENDE-LB-SIN) SGD 640
- Insurance SGD 70
- 4D3N Flores Overland Tour SGD 250
- 2D1N Sailing Tour SGD 125
- 3N LB Hotel Stay SGD 100
- Food & Others SGD 115
Itinerary
After spending 2 days in Bali, exploring sunsets at Seminyak and Uluwatu, as well as doing a half day Ubud cycling tour, we were off to Flores on the 3rd day!
Day 1 - Overland Tour (Ende >>> Moni)
Bali >>> Ende Garuda flight departed at 7:30am, and we arrived near mid-day in time for lunch. Similarly to Bali, there is no time difference between Ende and Singapore.
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| Ende Aiport |
Ende is predominantly Catholic, as we were there on a Sunday most restaurants and shops were closed. We found a local decent warung that was still open. The itinerary included a visit to Soekarno's house when he was on exile during the Japanese invasion in 1930s, but it was closed and we could only view it from the outside.
It was a 2 hours drive to Moni, the village where we would stay for the night to watch Kelimutu sunrise the next morning. On the way our driver suggested visiting a local village, Saga, as there was time. Casually dressed, we thought it was a quick 1 hour visit to the villagers' home, little did we expect what's to come.
The chief of Saga village, Lowo, was very hospitable, and explained the history to us enthusiastically, and offered to show us to an exclusive beautiful waterfall few tourists have visited.
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| Hot and itchy! |
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| Waterfall - worth the hike? |
Day 2 - Overland Tour (Kelimutu >>> Bena >>> Ruteng)
This was the longest day of the trip. We woke up at about 3am to get ready for the sunrise at Kelimutu. Local entrance ticket costs IDR50,000 (SGD 5). Price for foreigners is IDR150,000. The hike up was simple, comprising of steps and flat paths and the sunrise was amazing. We stayed there for 3 hours, snapping photos non-stop.
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| Lake ahead of us was turquoise blue and on the far back it was black |
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| Third lake is covered by blanket of clouds |
Although we arrived at 11am, our lunch only came at 1230 because the lady boss decided to prioritize a larger group of over 15 Indonesian tourists who arrived later than us. Though angry, we couldn't deny that the grilled tuna was the best we had eaten and half a large fish only cost us SGD 10!!
We got dressed to play with the waters before our driver told us that it was another 10 hour drive to Ruteng, where our lodging is for the night. It was already 1pm by then. We hurriedly hit the road.
Along the way we stopped by Bena, a more touristy traditional village, near dusk, as well as a nearby hot spring which locals bathe in and collect for cooking at home. Bena Village Tourism
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| Bena Traditional Village |
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| Collecting water from the hot spring |
Dinner was at Bajawa, a local family restaurant operated by Chinese - Camellia Restaurant. Service was fast, and food was yummy. The BBQ pork satay was so delicious we ordered 2 plates. We tried this lemon honey Arak (about 40% alcohol content) which only costs IDR 2,000 (< SGD 2).
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| BBQ Pork Satay + Arak - Yums |
Day 3 - Overland Tour (Ruteng>>>Wae Rebo)
Explored the small town of Ruteng in the morning before we went to visit the Cancar spiderweb fields.
The journey to Wae Rebo was rather arduous. Due to some main road closures, we had to go by a very bumpy rocky road which journey lasted for more than 2 hours. We arrived at the nearest village Denge, and from there some locals go-jacked (i.e. pillion) us via motorcycles for about 2km and we paid them about IDR 25,000 (SGD 3) per person.
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| Hiking a little before riding the go-jack |
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| Hike for 2 hours with some upslopes and downslopes |
The hike to the village took us near 2 hours and we arrived near dusk. Hike has to be accompanied by a local guide. Trek difficulty is moderate through the forests with some some up slopes, nothing too steep. Upon arrival, we had to go to the village head's house to go through a ritual, essentially a blessing to pray for a good and safe stay. A small token would be requested, approximately IDR100,000 (SGD 10) per person.
Temperature at night was cool, about 15 to 20 Degrees Celsius. Bathing conditions were not very pleasant in make shift toilets with water from the mountains stored in a pail, and occasional slug-like creatures on the sides of the wooden walls. No hot water of course, but as it was only for a night, it was bearable. The sleeping area is shared among all tourists, who will sleep on mattresses with blankets provided. Dinner was simple vegetables and meat shared by everyone in the main tourist house. Not many post-dinner activities except for star-gazing, which was really beautiful.
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| Meals cum sleeping area |
- 1st: Living Quarters of the family (per picture above)
- 2nd: Storage of food and goods
- 3rd: Storage of seeds for next harvest
- 4th: Food stocks in case of drought
- 5th - Store offerings for offerings to ancestors
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| 5 levels accessible via a bamboo ladder |
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| 7 unique mbaru niang of Wae Rebo |
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| Village kids who got all excited when we gave out sweets |
Despite the short stay, the breath-taking scenery was well worth it. The children will appreciate some candies/ toys/ books and a few of them could recognize English through all the interaction with the tourists. They should be very used to tourists by now, but were still sincere and welcoming towards us. It is no wonder Wae Rebo won a Unesco Excellence Award in 2012.
The last day was mainly spent on the road, arriving at the main city Labuan Bajo in time for dinner.
With that, we concluded our 4D3N overland trip from the east to the west of Flores. Part II - Sailing Tour up next!
