Indonesia Raya Tourism

History
Flores owes its name to the Portuguese, who called its eastern most Cape Cabo Das Flores, meaning Cape of Flowers. The island diverse cultures have enough similarities to suggest that they developed from common ancestry, differentialed by geographical isolation and varying influence of outsiders. Long before Europeans arrived in the 16 century, much of coastal Flores was firmly in the hands of the Makasarnese and Bugis from southern Celebes ( Sulawesi ).
As early 1512, Flores was sighted by the Portuguese navigator Antonio de Abreu and Europeans had probably landed by 1550. The Portuguese involved in the lucrative Sandalwood trade with Timor, built Fortresses on Pulau Solor ( Solor island ) eastern of flores island .and at Pulau Ende ( Ende island ) south coast of central of Flores. In 1561 Dominican Priests established a mission on Pulau Solor. Christianity was a successful import and today a church is the centerpiece of almost every village.In the 17 century, the Dutch kicked the Portuguese out of flores. Ternate and Gowa ( a part of Molluceas island ) also ceded all their rights on Solor, Flores and eastern Sumbawa to the Dutch, giving them nominal control, but it was too complex and isolated to rule effectively. Around 1850 the Dutch purchased Portugal’s remaining enclaves in the area, including Larantuka , Sikka and Paga. Even into the first decade of the 20th century, the Dutch were constantly confronted with rebellions and inter – tribal wars. Unrest continued until a major military campaign in 1907 subdued most of the tribes of central and western Flores. Missionaries moved into the isolated western hills in the 1920’s.
Flores is holding its breath for provincial statues . This will be a huge development for the island, as it is currently under the jurisdiction of Kupang and the Nusa Tenggara Timor ( NTT ) government and has only limited control over its affairs.

Geography
The island’s turbulent volcanic past has left a complicated relief of V – shaped valleys, knife edged ridges, and a collection of active and extinct volcanoes.
One of the finest volcanoes is the caldera of Kelimutu in Central Flores, with its three colored lakes. There are 14 active volcanoes in Flores. Only Java and Sumatera have more. The central mountains slope gently to the volcanoes plunge steeply into the sea.
In the island is part of one of the worlds most geologically unstable zones, and earthquakes and tremors hit every year. In December 1992 an earthquake measuring 6,8 on the Richter scale, and then massive tidal wave that followed it, killed around 3000 people in eastern Flores and Flattened much of Maumere.
The rugged terrain makes road construction difficult, although Flores is only about 375 km long, its main east – west roads winds, twists, ascends and descends for nearly 710 km – that is almost 2 – for – 1.

Climate
The rainy season ( November to March ) is more intense in western Flores, which receives the brunt of the north – Flores highest peak ( The 2400mGunung Ranaka ), gets an average of 3350mm of rain every year. But Ende , Maumere, have only 1140mm and Larantuka recevest 770mm.

Population and People
Difficulities of communication have contributed to the diversity of Flores cultures .In the remote areas, some older people don’t speak a word of Bahasa Indonesia and their grew up in purely animist societies. Physically, the people at the western end of the island are more Malay, while the other in habitans of Flores are more Melanesians. The island 2 million people are divided into five main linguistic and cultur4al groups. From west to east these are the Manggarai ( main town Ruteng ) ,the Ngada ( Bajawa ), the closely related Ende and Lio peoples ( Ende ) the Sikkanese ( Maumere ) , and the Lamaholot ( Larantuka ).

Religion
Around 85% of the people are Catholic but in rural areas particularly, Christianity is divided onto traditional beliefs. Animistic rituals are still important here for a variety of Occasions, ranging from birth, marriage, and death to the building of new houses, or to mark important points in the agricultural cycle. Even educated, English – speaking Floreness still admit to the odd chicken, pig ,or buffalo sacrifice to keep their ancestors happy when rice is planted or a new field opened up. In former times, it took more then animal blood to keep the Gods and spirits friendly, there are persistent tales of children or virgin girls being sacrificed. Muslims tend to congregate in the coastal towns such as Ende where they make up half population.


f all incredible sights in Nusa Tenggara the colored lakes of Kelimutu are undoubtedly the most spectacular. The three lakes are set in deepcraters at an altitude of 1.690m asl and are near the summit of the Kelimutu volcano ( Keli means mountain and Mutu is crater / steam).
They have a habit of changing color and most recently the largest was light turquoise, the one next to it was dark brown and the third one was black.
No – one was managed to fully explain the cause of the colors or why they change, except to suppose that different minerals are dissolved in each lake. The moons cape effect of the craters gives the whole summit area an ethereal atmosphere that can be quite creepy when clouds blow ion after 8am .
There is a story among the locals that the souls of the dead go to these lakes: young people’s souls go to the warmth of Tiwu Nuwa Muri Koo Fai ( Turquose lake ), Olds people to the cold of Tiwu Ata Mbupu ( Brown lake ) , and those of thieves and murders to Tiwu Ata Polo ( Black lake ).
Kelimutu has attracted sightseers since Dutch times and today there is a paved road up to the lakes from Moni, 13,5km away at base of the mountain. There is a staircase up to the highest lookout, inspiration point, From where all three lakes are visible.
There is wonderfully spacious feeling up here and you can scramble around the perimeters of two of the lake craters for a bit of solitude. Take care though, as the Scree is loose and it is hell of along way down. Hope for a sunny day sunrise is stunning and the turquoise lake reaches it’s full brilliance in the sunlight. More fantastic if we visit at 6 o’clock in the morning.

Posted in: on Selasa, 04 Desember 2007 at di 21.44