Mountain Ranges, Rocky Trails, Waterfalls, Pristine Tropical Beaches, Merapu Religion, Katopo Knives, Traditional Village Life and A Fellow Land Rover Owner.
After a 13 hour crossing from Kupang, we arrived at Larantuka, the most easterly port on the island of Flores in the middle of the night. We had visited Flores previously, so set about looking for alternate travel through the island, skipping the beautiful Kelimutu and tour of the Komodo Islands. We ventured north initially, dropping in to the Lamanabi Trappist Monastery. Being a trappist monastery, to say that it was serene is an understatement. High up in the mountains, surrounded by lush forest, we walked the gardens and sat in the church, all in silence. The monks at the monastery consciously make the choice to join the trappist way, committing to a life of prayer, reading and hymns in the pursuit of a deeper understanding of their relationship with God. Their day is highly structured, with bells ringing to announce the start of each phase of the day, starting at 3.15am with meditation and reading and hymns and then moving to their chosen form of work, often in farming or in the kitchen, the afternoon with more prayer and reading, hymns on dusk and then in bed by 8.15pm. We camped the night and had the lovely background of hymns at dusk and then quietly waking up to hymns at about 4.00am. Beautiful.
Being up in the less travelled north, we then sought out some of the beautiful beaches. We headed over to the west (near the beak of the bird), got advice from the local village head and weaved our way through tracks to Kwuta Beach. Being so difficult to get to and with almost no visitation we had high expectations for a pristine untouched tropical beach to base ourselves for a few days. Unfortunately we arrived to a beach completely covered in plastic. If you looked past the rubbish, it was spectacular, but it was not a place to stay. The rubbish had been brought in by the tides, but set a theme for many of the beaches in Flores.
With much disappointment, we moved on, seeking out a beach campsite for the evening. I had a list of 4 or 5 beaches, but each were covered in litter. Going was slow, we were taking the back roads, low range, averaging just 15km/hr, at one stage having to cut down a tree that had fallen over the road. On dark we eventually made it to Hia Beach, camping in a recreational park, backed up to the beach.
Off early, we continued down the rocky road following the beach westerly dropping in to a campsite listed in ioverlander, getting there about midday, spending the afternoon talking to locals coming by to fish, exercise and take in the sunset. We woke to a beautifully calm day in the bay on Susi’s birthday, starting with a snorkel in the bay. While heavily fished, the coral protects some of the area from the fishermans nets and there were some lovely larger fish and small colonies of juvenile fish to be seen. We then set off for a big travel day, going via Maumere to Ende where I had booked a ‘flash’ hotel for Susi’s birthday. Confirming how small the world is, we crossed paths with Ilias, who we had shipped to Dili with on the outskirts of Maumere.
Following a catch up and lunch in Maumere, we headed down to Ende, crossing the big mountain ranges and taking the countless hairpin corners on our way (not ideal land rover roads!). After a lovely evening in Ende, enjoying hot showers, a comfortable bed, air conditioning and a lovely restaurant meal, we headed the small distance to Blue Stone Beach, camping in one of the beach front restaurants, where we indulged in a meal of barbecued seafood.
Off to Aimere where we based ourselves for 2 nights, using the day in between to visit Liang Bua Caves, where archeologists discovered the Homo Floresiensis (hobbits) in 2003.
Incredible discovery, with DNA indicating a completely different pre-human species. They only grew to about a metre tall and by looking at their physiology it is thought they were equally adapted to life on the ground and in the trees. We took a tour through the cave and the nearby Liang Galang where modern humans also lived until recent times. Fascinating place, with great spiritual meaning for the local people seeking fertility blessing and even if looking for their life partner. The two openings of the caves give a fairly obvious indicator!
Returning to Aimere, we then took the once a week ferry over to Waingapu, Sumba, an 8 hour crossing. On arriving I made contact with William, a Land Rover owner living in Waingapu.
Arranging to meet up the next day, we spent an afternoon with William, getting a better understanding of Sumba and its peoples, but also spending quite a bit of time in Land Rover conversation. How refreshing! His immaculate 1984 Series 3 Land Rover, named Laurens has a great back story. As a child, William used to see his Land Rover (then owned by the local church) go past his house. He decided early that this was the car that he wanted to own. Keeping in contact with the church in his teen years, he let them know that if they ever wished to sell it, he would be interested in buying. With the car broken down and no longer used, it ended up passing through a number of hands, parked in sheds and eventually William was able to secure its purchase. He had the engine rebuilt on Sumba and then drove it to Bali where it underwent a major body rebuild. It now presents immaculately, is used daily and has undertaken trips to Land Rover meets on Java and supported Land Rover trips on Sumba. And its little 2.25 litre petrol engine purred. He has since purchased his second Land Rover, one in quite a state of disrepair, that he will rebuild down the track. He now has the only registered Land Rover on Sumba and 2 of the 3 Land Rovers existing on the island. What a great experience.
William also passed on the mapping for a reconnaissance trip undertaken by the Land Rover Club throughout Sumba. We ended up covering most of the tracks covered in South East Sumba, spending four days bumping along in low range, travelling at a speed of 5-15km/hr visiting Wai Marang Waterfall
Pantai Watuparunu,
Pantai Hupuwatu, Pantai Pindu Hurani, the Waterfall at Danau Laputi and lots of inland excursions through the mountains.
Long days travelling and only covering small distances, we met many locals living in the villages along the way, had great chats and got a really good feel for life and values in these area’s.
A couple of observations.
The people live very traditional lives. Daily life revolves around basic survival with much time spent collecting water (no running water), collecting wood for the stoves, on the coast, going fishing in the evenings to catch their protein for the day (no refrigeration, so this is a daily activity), tending the vegetable garden, tending the livestock (usually pigs and chickens) and in the mountains the men harvest cashew nuts, candlenuts and betelnut and while there will hunt for pigs, monkeys and any other source of protein. And in between there are the horses. Horses are highly revered on Sumba, being a big part of their cultural identity, but also they are the main currency used to secure a marriage. The bride will have a ‘price’ of x number of horses. My understanding is this is often between 50 and 70 horses. The horses are branded, so ownership is well known, but they tend to roam freely. I am not sure how they are rounded up and brought together as there are no fences or yards, but am sure there would be a system there! And the final observation was that of the children. The children all play an active role in the family operations. It is normal to see children carrying containers of water or loads of wood for the family home. All seems to be done with a smile on their faces and certainly not the exception! We had a lovely chat over dinner with a 12 year old girl who was waiting for the family to return from fishing one evening and she walked an hour to school and back, 6 days a week. The kids are tough and fit!
And then there is religion. While Christianity is followed by the majority, the Merapu belief is the religion followed by those outside the reach of the missionaries and my observation is that it sits side by side with Christianity for many. It is a fascinating religion, founded on respect for the ancestors, tight community consultation, strict rules on cohabitation in the massive family homes, a belief that the repercussions for your actions will be received in this life (not after death) and elaborate and expensive burial practices (it is the last megalithic community in the world). While some of the practices are peculiar (like daughter in laws can not speak directly to their father in law – must be via their husband and only the eldest son can remain living in the family home with their family – the rest have to move out and a husband and wife can be buried together, but not with their son and daughter and law, but can be with their grandchildren), it all ensures cohesion in the home and community and moral values being upheld.
After four days bouncing along tracks in low range (often with difflocks engaged), we surfaced in Central Sumba, replenished our supplies at the traditional markets in Waikabubak and took in the beautiful beaches, waterfalls and lagoons of Western Sumba.
We started at Lapopu Waterfall
then dropped in to Rua Beach and camped at Kerewei Beach
From Kerewei, we continued our travels to the west, stopping in at Karoso beach for a couple of nights.
We had a lovely afternoon and dinner with Kiki while she waited for her family to return from fishing. They live a hard life, but also a life with community and tight family units.
From Karoso we headed north, dropping in to Waikuri Lagoon.
And now a little bit about Katopo. Almost all West Sumba men and teenage boys wear a 50 – 70cm knife (katopo) in a sheath off their belt. It used for daily use, but also as a weapon (the father of the girl we had dinner with in Karoso only had one arm – apparently lost in a fight). The knives were part of a general feel of aggressiveness in the west. The manner (particularly with the men) was rather brusque, smiles hard to come by and you genuinely would not want to be involved in a conflict with them. It gave an interesting edge to sitting on a pristine tropical beach.
After a week of relaxing on the Western Sumba beaches and feeling we had got a good feel for the island, we decided it was time to move on. Ferry schedule information is almost impossible to come by, so we headed to the western port at Waikelo and found out a ferry was departing in a couple of days to Sape on Sumbawa. One last run over the island to Bukit Wairinding which we had missed in the East and we were back in Waikelo Port, camping there for the night, ready for the early morning departure.
Except the ferry didn’t arrive. It had broken down in Labuan Bajo the night before. New plans. Back across the island and we caught the next ferry leaving the island, not to Sumbawa, but back to Flores. Arriving after a night ferry ride, we drove to Labuan Bajo where we caught the next days ferry to Sape, Sumbawa, ready for the next phase of exploring Indonesia.
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