Year 2- 26 August 2025 –Day Tour of Flores
We woke at about 6.30 am and had some tea and breakfast. We had to be ashore by 8.30am for our tour. Apparently we were to be taken to an old traditional village, an open market and some hot springs. We decided we would go with the flow and hopefully we will have a good day. We set off in the dinghy about 8.15am and the tide was out which meant getting ashore was tricky. We got as far as we could along the pier and then climbed on to a long boat and then on to the rather decaying concrete pier. We tied the dinghy up and then walked ashore.
We were met by one wing (I think that was his name) and as we arrived a car arrived being driven by a Salim who I think was his brother and he spoke a little bit of English. Luckily Jon speaks quite a bit of Parashi, the Indonesian language. We had a fantastic day and I shall do my best to describe it.
Salim is about 30 and has been married for two years and just over two weeks ago has had a daughter. He is from Ruing but started work at the age of 12 as a crew member on a fishing boat. He then went tuna fishing and went on one fishing boat to the South of Australia and into the Southern Ocean. He spent 7 years in Bali and eventually he came back to Ruing and mainly works as a driver taking tourists. He keeps goats as well.
We left Ruing at 8.30am and drive through the village and began to climb up through the hills. Our destination was a traditional village on the bottom of a volcano high up on the top of Flores. We did not realise that it would take us three hours to get there. The reason for this is not only the distance but the state of the roads but also the steepness of the roads. We climbed through hills over and above dale and our destination was 1200 m above sea level. The road itself was tarmac and mostly ok but there were sections in bad need of repair with potholes and erosions etc which forced us to go very slowly over them. The road was supposed to be repaired each year but due to corruption it does not happen. The road is also really just over a cars length so not wide and is shared by many mopeds and other trucks and cars. There are not many cars but a number of trucks and so passing is tricky and slow.
We passed through many villages on our route which were very poor and subsistence living mainly. However, there was still quite a lot of building going on. There were some old traditional houses but many more concrete or breeze block houses some painted, some not and some with windows and glass and some not. Most of all the buildings had corrugated iron roofs. There were villages especially higher up with flat communal areas used for playing football or social sports or for communal gatherings. There were few mosques up here and the population judging by the churches were mostly catholic or protestant. In some villages the size of the church seemed disproportionally large bearing in mind the likely population.
The scenery was stunning. It was mostly tropical jungle with a variety of trees – palm trees including the type which they make Arak (a clear strong white spirit) from, banana trees, cinnamon, glove, nutmeg trees and all sorts of tropical trees. There were some fig trees and the thing that struck me most of all was the size of the bamboo trees for which they use for all sorts of uses. Some of the bamboo trees were about 100 foot high and their stalks were thick and strong. I saw them in all sorts of uses, including roofing tiles, supports, shelving etc. There are monkeys on Flores although we did not see any today.
Agriculture and farming is a major feature here. We saw many terraced padi fields where they grow rice. These terraces are built on impermeable soil (like clay) so the water stays on that bit of terrace and waters the rice. These terraced areas often had water buffalo grazing and horses. They use them both to plough these fields before seeding them. The horses were quite small sort of pony like and we saw a number running alongside a moped and at one point two in the back of a pickup truck. They did look quite healthy though. There were a number of cows here and there and some pigs and many chickens. Many houses has sort of nice rough gardens with plants and flowers here and there which gave them colour and features etc.
The road wound on and we gradually climbed further and further through the villages and jungle and agricultural areas. After about 2.5 hours we came to Bejawa a large town right high up on the top of Flores. You could tell it was a lot cooler up here and there was a nice breeze. Our driver had to take on fuel here and it was bustly and busy with lots of traffic mostly two wheeled but no bicycles. Once fuelled we headed out higher. Flores has about 14 active volcanoes and about 10 inactive. As we got higher we saw some of the active volcanoes which had cloud (including some smoke mostly on the top of them). We saw a number near us and we stopped to take some pictures from time to time. After Bejawa we headed up to the old traditional village of Bena.
Bena Village is a megalithic village located in Aimere District, Ngada Regency, Flores NTT. Bena can be reached by using a rental vehicle from Bajawa about 19 km to the south of Bajawa. It is the most famous and also most visited village in the Ngada District. With its impressive stone formations and ancestral shrines, as well as traditional houses, Bena has turned into a signpost for Ngada culture. The location of Bena Village which is on the top of a hill with Mount Inerie as a background really makes the atmosphere of this village beautiful and exotic. Its existence at the bottom of the mountain is a characteristic of the old people who believed and worshiped the mountain as the place of the Gods. The people of Bena believed that the existence of the Yeta God who had a throne on Mount Inerie would protect their village. At present Bena Village consists of approximately 45 houses surrounding each other with 9 tribes inhabiting these houses, namely the Dizi tribe, the Dizi Azi tribe, the Wahto tribe, the Deru Lalulewa tribe, the Deru Solamae tribe, the Ngada tribe, the Khopa tribe and the Ago tribe. The arrangement of houses in Bena looks very unique because its circular shape forms the letter U and each house also has a roof decoration that is different from each other based on the lineage that in power and lives in the house. The roof of houses at Bena displays a unique traditional vernacular architecture native to Indonesia.
We eventually arrived at Bena and were surprised that the houses were all thatched and there was no corrugated iron anywhere. There were lots of houses formed in a U shape with raised stone areas on a slight incline upwards. We went through the entrance and were given a purple scarf to wear. I was not sure whether this was to show that we had bought an entrance ticket or it was to warm us up to the opportunity to buy. We walked amongst the houses and they were making fabric what they call the Ikat Weaving which are scarfs or sarongs. They use different motifs on their fabrics depending on who the fabric is for. Horse motif is a sign for a dowry, figures holding a spear means that men should protect their family etc. We walked round the houses and many were making Ikat and also coconut bowls and teapots etc. It was a bit touristy although rooves and houses would have all looked like this before corrugated iron and brick/breeze block. The village itself was under the steep active volcano of Mount Inerie -which looked steep and very menacing.
Once we looked round the village we went off to a restaurant high on a hill called Heavens Door – reminding me of the song Knock Kock on Heavens Door which is what we were doing being so high up. We had a nice lunch with a great view down to the South coast a long way down.
We then headed back down to Bajawa again and went to the open market – which was only semi open and got some more vegetables. We then headed down to some famous hot springs which come from the active volcanoes.
Mengurada Hot Spring is one of the hot springs for tourism located in Mengeruda, Bajawa City, Ngada Region, Flores Island, Indonesia. The hot spring comes from Mount Inelika, Bajawa. The hot spring water in this resort is known to have medical effects such as curing deceases, especially skin deceases due to its heat temperature which is similar to that of therapy spas. Besides its temperature, the water also contains sulphur and other volcanic materials which also gives medical effects.
We paid a small entrance fee and went in. The hot spring comes up into a natural pool sounded by tree trunks and it then flows out and down a waterfall into a river which flows down beside it. This is turn is also quite warm so there must be a number of hot springs around. We changed and got into the hot pool which had a number of old people in and with some young relatives. The women wore clothes. It was like a really nice hot bath and the water had a metallic taste. We stayed in about 20 minutes and then got out and explored some of the river bits. It was a good way to relax after a day of travelling.
We changed and returned to the car and it was then the winding car journey back down to Ruing. The sun went down as we descended and the sunset was magnificent over the clouds and hills. We eventually arrived back in the dark to Ruing arrived about 6.30pm. We had left at 8.30am. It had been a long but fascinating day.
We had a bit of a challenge to get back in the dinghy but did so and returned to Stormbird. We had an easy supper of soup and cheese and biscuits and fruit.
We will move on tomorrow probably to Bari Bay where there are flying foxes.
The picture of the day is a picture of the Bena Village.
Need/Opportunity Year Three
In year three I will be going from Thailand to Sri Lanka, India, Maldives and then on to Chagos, Mauritius, Reunion, Cape Town, St Helena, Azores and back to the UK. I am looking for crew from Mauritius/ Reunion Island to Cape Town and from Cape Town to the UK. If of any interest do email me.
The blog will continue as we continue the journey. If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog then do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com