Where? Flores Island, one of Indonesia's 17,000 islands.
When? Dry Season: April to November
Highlights: The sheer diversity of landscapes; volcanoes, jungles, beaches. Far from the beaten tourist path.
How far? 675km.
How long? 10 days.
Road Quality? Paved.
Traffic? Very little traffic. Almost no cars. Mostly motorbikes and crammed wooden buses pumping noisy disco music.
Budget? It is easy to travel on $5-$15 per day.
I'm convinced you could drop me anywhere along the 700km Trans-Flores Highway and the view would captivate me. The road twists and turns, never straight for more than a few hundred metres, as if its only purpose is to showcase the island's beauty. The road weaves around volcanoes, through rainforests, atop ridgelines, between stepped paddy-fields and beside a tropical coastline with waters a shade of blue you’ve got to see to believe possible.
When someone asks me where they should go for their next bike touring trip, Flores is always my first recommendation. Flores has so much to offer, is so undiscovered and is my absolute favourite bike touring route.
How hard is it?
The first climb begins immediately out of Labuan Bajo. It is steep and gruelling and will leave you terrified of the 700km that await, but when you reach the top, rest assured that by far the hardest section is already over. Plenty of climbs await, but the gradients are gentle, and shouldn’t pose too many problems for the touring cyclist. After every climb is the perfect downhill, gentle and seldom requiring you to brake, with long, winding, roller-coaster turns that provide a different view at every bend.
It is not the mountains but the humidity that poses the biggest challenge. On some days my clothes couldn’t be any more saturated had I been swimming in them. Sweat collected on my nose, chin and elbows, and my fingers wrinkled as though I had soaked in a bath all day. It is best to cycle early and late, taking a couple of hours out in the middle of the day, to write your diary, read a book, or lounge on the beach.
Friendly Locals
An explosion of energy erupts from every school you cycle past as children excitedly chase after you, shrieking ‘Bule, Bule’ (Indonesian for ‘foreigner’) and “Hello Mister”. I would hold out a hand as I passed and receive up to 20 friendly high-fives, from excited schoolchildren who beamed wide and contagious grins of total joy.
Unique Flores Culture and Tradition
In our modern world of technology and rapid globalisation, where Western values are readily adopted at the expense of local culture and tradition, it is rare to visit a region which holds as steadfastly to its tribal heritage as Flores. In Flores, surprises abound and there are plenty of reminders which harken back to the island’s tribal roots.
I met an inconspicuous man who introduced himself in perfect English as the ‘King of Saga’. It’s not every day you meet a King! He took me to Saga Village, which was a smattering of rudimental houses scattered up the steep mountain slopes and was home to 220 people. The village is 500 years old, supposedly settled on the site where a young virgin boy had been buried alive to bring good luck to the village (though not for the virgin boy, I suspect!). There was a ceremonial square with a large stone table in the middle. It looked as though a can of paint had been spilled on it as a faint red stain trickled down the side. This was the stone upon which animals were sacrificed, a custom still practiced across Flores today.
It was interesting to hear him discuss animal sacrifice so matter-of-factly, yet a stately, regal air surrounded him. He had recently passed the controversial decision to downgrade the required sacrifice from units of buffalo to pigs and roosters, because “buffalo are now more costly than in the times of the ancestors”. He told me that you had to sacrifice 5 pigs when building a new house. He had just had a house renovation but when I asked if he had killed 5 pigs, he quickly replied, “Oh no, it’s only 2 pigs for a renovation” he said, as if this was exceedingly obvious.
The King of Saga invited me to dinner, where he got out his laptop and showed me videos of his father’s funeral, and different ceremonies in the village. I had suspected these events might be aimed at tourists, but there wasn’t a single white person visible in any of the photos or videos; this was just life as normal on Flores.
Tour De Flores
A tourist initiative started in 2016 to encourage visitors to Flores, resulted in the annual Tour De Flores, a race across the island. As a result of this, many locals have an appreciation of cycling and the effort it takes to cross the island. I found them very supportive, but be warned they might be surprised that it has taken you so long when the professionals (with carbon fibre bikes and support cars) complete it in only 6 days.
Getting There
Flores does not easily lend itself to a round trip without covering much of the same road twice, so it is best done from east to west or west to east. Getting there requires a little effort, which is why those few tourists who visit Flores are justly rewarded with a unique travel experience.
By Air
The two main gateways by air are Labuan Bajo in the West, and Maumere in the East, which connect daily with Bali.
By Boat
If you have time, you can travel by boat, and link your trip with nearby islands. There are ports in Labuan Bajo, Ende, Maumere and Larantuka. Daily ferries between Sumbawa (Sape Port) and Flores (Labuan Bajo Port) take 7 hours and costs 100,000 INR.
The very cheap PELNI Ferries carry out long journeys, and if you are happy spending a serious amount of time on a boat you can connect Flores with almost any other Indonesian island.
But first read my post: 24 hours on a Pelni Ferry in Class F!
Sleeping
Guesthouses
Most towns and villages will have a basic guesthouse available. These are cheap, around $5-10, with basic facilities. There are slightly nicer guesthouses in Ende and Maumere, and some funky hostels in Labuan Bajo which attracts the most tourists. Because of the distances between towns it is recommended to carry camping gear in case you don't reach a town at the end of the day.
Staying with Locals.
The locals in Flores are friendly, and many nights I was invited to stay with them. Their accommodation was humble, but their welcome warm.
There are no warmshowers hosts on Flores, but I did find local hosts on couchsurfing in Ende, Maumere and Larantuka. I stayed several days with each host and got an interesting insight into life here.
Camping
My only difficulty finding a spot to camp was that before I found somewhere appropriate I was often seized by a local and dragged to their house to spend the night.
I used a hammock rather than a tent here, which worked great as the nights tended to stay humid and warm, and there was an abundance of trees to set up between.
Eating
Flores Islanders are sustained mostly by what the island provides. Without romanticising it too much, life appears filled with simple pleasures and, in some ways, rather enviable.
The main dish of Flores is ‘Ikan Bakar’ which is barbecued fish served, of course, with rice. I would have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for several days at a time. One day I was photographing fishermen hauling their fishing nets laden with thousands of fish from a traditional dugout canoe. They threw some fish onto embers of smouldering coconut husks right there on the beach and invited me to eat with them. 5 minutes earlier the fish had been in nets, and now we were eating them directly on the beach where they had been caught; does it get any fresher than that?
While the western islands of Indonesia are Muslim, Flores is Christian, and therefore other than fish, pork is the favoured meat.
Flores Islanders take great pride in their coffee believing it to be the best in the world. I was regularly invited to drink ‘Flores Kopi’ and my groans of delight and approving nods were appreciated and reaffirmed their love of their home-grown coffee.
Extra Detours
Komodo National Park
Labuan Bajo is the gateway to the Komodo Islands which are thoroughly deserving of a visit. There are many companies organising relatively cheap boat trips which land at a few islands and take you snorkelling.
Firstly, these islands are the only place in the world to see the Komodo Dragon in the wild. This is the largest lizard in the world and appears to come from another time and place. This is as close as you can get to time-travelling and returning to an era when dinosaurs still roamed the Earth.
Secondly, the waters surrounding the Komodo Islands are filled with a thriving and colourful reef, which offers world-class diving and snorkelling opportunities. Dip below the water, to enter another world. Go diving here, and you will be considered unlucky if you don’t see giant turtles, sharks and enormous manta rays, along with the regular assortment of unique sealife.
The tri-coloured lakes of Kelimutu
From Moni it’s a long cycle or hike (or you can leave your bike at a guesthouse and take a motorbike or taxi) up to the Kelimutu Caldera. From here you can see the tri-coloured lakes of Kelimutu. Each lake is a different colour, which changes according to the interaction between oxygen levels and the volcanic gases. At different times the same lake can appear red, blue, green or like a big bowl of hot chocolate.
Local mythology believes this is the final resting place for the souls once people die. One lake is home to the spirits who died young and unmarried, another is the lake of elderly souls, and another houses the evil spirits. Once a year there is a ceremony to hike up to the lakes and give offerings to the souls.
Entry Price: 150,000 INR ($10)