Flores Island : The most beautiful island of Indonesia

GEOGRAPHY
Flores island is one of the island on East Nusa Tenggara province. It stretches between the east longitudes of 118° and 125°, and between the latitudes of 8° and 11° south. The east Nusa Tenggara cover the area 49,880 sq km and it has a population of 3,500,000. Flores becomes one of the biggest island on the territory of East Nusa Tenggara or NTT which comprises 566 islands, including many smaller islands which are not in-habitated and unnamed. The three main islands are Flores, Sumba and Timor from which comes the term ‘Flobamor’, which has been familiar as one of the names of NTT.

Flores is the volcanic island and has unique and spectacular attractions. Mount Kelimutu has become a favourite destination, with its three crater lakes of different colours. Sumba is the island famous for its arts, handicrafts, particularly the textile weaving, and cultural assets. Timor, being the principal island with Kupang as its capital, serves as the centre of government and economic activities.

The other permanently inhabitated islands are Lembata, Adonara, Solor, Palue, Nules, Komodo, Rinca, Sumba, Sabu, Raijua, Rote, Semau, Alor and Pantar.

Roughly 57 percent of the territory is hilly with mountains rising to 2427m (Gunung Mutis) in Timor and 1792m (G. Kelimutu) in Flores. The mountains of East Nusa Tenggara are not as high as in West Nusa Tenggara where the highest mountain of all of Nusa Tenggara is G. Rinjani in Lombok (3726m).

Geologically, East Nusa Tenggara can be regarded as being divided into two zones:
a volcanic inner curve formed by the islands of Rinca, Komodo, Flores, Alor, Pantar, Adonara, Lembata and Solor, which have fertile soils; and an outer curve of limestone and other rock formations, made up up of Sumba, Sabu, Rote, Semau and Timor.

Flora and fauna
The west coast of Flores is one of the few places, aside from the island of Komodo itself, where the Komodo dragon can be found in the wild. The Flores giant rat is also endemic to the Island.

In September 2004, at Liang Bua Cave in western Flores, paleoanthropologists discovered skeletons of a previously unknown hominid species. Homo floresiensis, affectionately termed hobbits after the small characters in the Lord of the Rings, appear to be miniaturized versions of Homo erectus standing about one metre tall. They may have existed until as recently as 11,000 BC. Local reports of elf-like people, the Ebu Gogo, or the Orang Pendek of Sumatra, have caused speculation that Flores man may have survived into the historical period, or even to the present. The discovery has been published in the October 28, 2004, issue of Nature magazine and the April 2005 issue of the National Geographic Magazine. [1] However, on August 21, 2006, the National Geographic Newsletter published an article reporting that several scientists now believe that the remains discovered in 2004 were not of a different species but were pygmies. Flores was also a habitat of the extinct Stegodon dwarf elephant until approximately 18,000 years ago.

Culture
There are many languages spoken on the island of Flores, all of them belonging to the Austronesian family. In the centre of the island in the districts of Ngada and Ende there is what is variously called the Central Flores Dialect Chain or the Central Flores Linkage. Within this area there are slight linguistic differences in almost every village. At least six separate languages are identifiable. These are from west to east: Ngadha, Nage, Keo, Ende, Lio and Palu’e, which is spoken on the island with the same name of the north coast of Flores. Locals would probably also add So’a and Bajawa to this list, which anthropologists have labeled dialects of Ngadha.

Portuguese traders and missionaries came to Flores in the 16th century, mainly to Larantuka and Sikka. Their influence is still discernible in Sikka’s language and culture.

Flores is almost all Catholic and represents one of the “religious borders” created by the Catholic expansion in the Pacific and the spread of Islam from the west across Indonesia. In other places in Indonesia, such as in the Malukus and Sulawesi, the divide is more rigid and has been the source of bloody sectarian clashe

Tourism
The most famous tourist attraction in Flores is Kelimutu; three coloured lakes in the district of Ende. These coloured lakes change colours on a regular basis. The latest colours (late 2004) were said to be turquoise, brown and black.

There is good snorkelling and diving on several locations along the north coast of Flores, most notably Maumere and Riung. However, due to the destructive practice of local fishermen using bombs to fish, and locals selling shells to tourists, combined with the after effects of a devastating tsunami in 1992, the reefs have slowly been destroyed.

Labuanbajo (on the western tip of Flores) is a town often used by tourists, from where they can visit Komodo and Rinca. Labuanbajo also attracts scuba divers, as whale sharks inhabit the waters around Labuanbajo.