The attraction of inland Flores is the traditional culture that still thrives,despite the island having been been overrun with religious missionaries. Islam, Christianity (mainly catholicism), and traditional animist beliefs intertwine here rather peacefully – it's not uncommon to see the town masjid (mosque) a few doors down from the katedral, or a church with a sacrifical stone for killing animals during ceremonies outside. On the outskirts of Bajawa, 8 hours (but only 250km) from Labuan Bajo, we had the fortune of meeting Silvester, a very knowledgeable guide who spoke decent English and took us on the back of his motorbike to visit a few of the nearby villages.
Bajawa is the traditional heartland of the Ngada people, whse cultural practices remain despite the encroachment of Europeans, religion, and tourism. The most traditional villages – we visited Langa and Luas (not totally sure about the name of the latter) – feature grass and timber huts around a central courtyard. The courtyard contains ceremonial entities that represent the ancestors of each family in the village – one umbrella-like structure (Ngadhu) that represents the male ancestor is paired with a minature house-like structure (Bhaga) that represents the female ancestor. Erecting one of these is quite a task; although the materials are cheap, they must come from certain areas, in certain forms (e.g. the tree for the Ngadhu pole must be “cut down” by removing all the roots), and have many rituals performed for them. Pigs and buffaloes must be slaughtered, the meat providing a feast for the whole village and the skulls hung up for all to see.
Despite these beliefs, all of these villagers are also devoutely catholic, with the church occupying part of the space around the courtyard. While we were visiting Langa, a dance party was in full swing as part of a First Communion celebration.
Although these super-traditional villages are not very common, most villages around Bajawa were built of more modern materials (concrete, mudbrick and steel), but they still had Ngadhus and Bhagas made of the traditional materials. Another custom that remains in modern Ngada peoples is the provision of different houses for males and females (identified by a figure on the top of the house – a minature bhaga for women and a scarecrow-type person for the men). Silvester also mentioned that women hold the “power” in regards to family connectons to the village clan families; if an outsider married a village girl, then he would come to live in the village. But if his wife died, he would be swiftly booted out. The reverse holds true if an outsider marries a man from the village – he must leave and live with the woman in her town.
Although there are other things to do in central Flores, such as heading north from Bajawa to reach the tujuhbelas (17) islands (there are actually 24 islands, but Indonesia's independence day is on the 17th of August, so 7 islands don't count) for some beach time, we headed east to the village of Moni. This “village” is more like a collection of restaurants and hotels on the main highway. It's the base for visitors wishing to see Flores' three coloured volcanic lakes on Kelimutu.
Near the summit of Kelimutu (Mt. Mutu in the local language) are three deep crater lakes. They're famous because they change colour every now and then as the acidic waters (pH varies from 0.5 to 3.0) eat away new minerals in the crater. Most guidebooks will tell you that the lakes are three different colours: turquoise, red and black, however, recently the red lake has turned to an an identical turquoise as the turquoise lake. Since these two lakes are only seperated by a small ridge, it was a bit disappointing not to have them be different colours (and living in NZ, we're spoiled by turquoise-coloured lakes; these were similar to Pukaki and Tekapo). The black lake was quite interesting, as we had never seen a lake so black (it almost looked like someone had dumped ink into it) and all the other tourists on the summit with us were fascinated by a turquoise-coloured lake that we had the black one (which sits away from the other two) to ourselves.
But the way that most tourists visit Kelimutu makes the colours only half of the excitement. Since Indonesia is so near the equator, the sun drives predictable weather patterns in the mountains. At night, the mountains are usually clear with no cloud, but once the sun comes up and begins to heat up the land and create convective air movement, mist begins to form and the afternoon usually brings violent rain squalls. So to get any sort of a view, one has to be on the summit at sunrise. For most mountains here, that means a climb beginning somewhere between midnight and 2 in the morning. But Kelimutu has a paved road most of the way to the top, so at 4am, we awoke to the knock of our motorcycle drivers, and 30 minutes of windy roads in the dark on the back of the motorcycle, we began the short 20 minute walk up to the summit for sunrise.
That's about all that Moni has to offer – most people walk all the way down from Kelimutu, via traditional villages (not as interesting as the ones in Bajawa, though the people are very friendly) and the local waterfall (though we missed a turn somewhere and saw more villages than we had planned). Next up is Kupang, West Timor, a brief stop on the way back to Bali.
Pictures (from top)
1 – Water Buffalo in the mud, inland Flores
2 – Bajawa
3 – Luas village, Gunung Iniere volcano in the background
4 – Sunrise over the turquoise lakes, Kelimutu
5 – Moonset over the black lake, Kelimutu
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