FLORES OVERLAND TOUR 8D7N

Early morning drive at 04.00 to Kelimutu, continue on foot to reach the peak, wait for the sun to rise. As the sun comes through, the view of the craters will appear and its magical phenomenon starts to whisper. Drive down to Moni for breakfast and departure. It is a 4-hour drive to Riung, located in the north coast of the island. Stop for chilling and lunch in the beach Nanga Pandha.

The tourist facilities in Riung are very basic, most accommodation are lodges and restaurants are offering very limited menus. What makes this place worth visiting is the excursion to 17 island. It is a less-visited destination, stunning beaches, and idyllic to escape hustle.

Leisurely enjoying breakfast at hotel, leave for a full day excursion to 17 island. Your journey starts in Kalong, a mangrove forest inhabited by bats/fruit bats. Our presence here, especially the sound of the motor from the boats will wake them from their sleep.

What a wonderful daytime show! The boat will then take you to other islands for snorkeling and beach-hopping. Lunch is a simple barbecue on the beach. Return to the mainland and stay for the night.

After days of driving, of course it was very tiring. And we are about to release it in the hot spring, a natural bathing place that is coming from the mountain. Drive to downtown Bajawa for lunch, enjoy a brief stroll, then drive down to Bukit Avatar for sunset and enjoy wonderful view of one of the island’s mountain Mt. Inerie. Drive to hotel and stay overnight.

Explore the island’s culture, in the village of Bena, Tololela, and Belaraghi. Megalithic villages, kinship pattern follows the maternal line, ancestral shrines of male (Bhaga) and female (Ngadhu) that stand majestically in the yard surrounded by houses. From Bena, you’ll trek down to Tololela (1 hour trek).

Lunch will be in the village. Trek down to the car, drive to the hot spring for chilling. A stunning hot spring where two small rivers of cold and hot water meet. Drive to Belaraghi for overnight. Dinner will be in the village.

It is a 6 hour drive to Ruteng. Visit an archaeological site of the Homo Floresiensis, which is estimated to have become extinct 50,000 years ago. The initial excavation took place in 2003, and the result was tremendous.

An ancient human fossil with tiny body size which is only 106cm tall, and a very small brain volume that is only 1/3 of the modern human. Afternoon stroll in downtown, visit an old Catholic church that was built in 1929. Check into hotel and stay overnight.

En route to Waerebo, stop for a moment in Lingko Cara to see spider-web rice field. A unique pattern of land, that is to tell the old-fashioned technique of distributing land in Manggaraian tradition.

Drive down to Dintor, stop for lunch at a local restaurant. Unlike most restaurants where we get to choose menu, here we eat what is available at the time. And the travel operator usually make reservation a day before arrival.

It is a short drive from here to the next village where we have to continue on motorbike taxi to reach the hiking point. It is a narrow winding road, you just need to be relax and trust your driver.

The hike to Waerebo is 2 hour, in the lush green jungle. During the peak of rainy season, the village is closed for visiting. Join a welcome ritual before your exploration carries on.

Spend a night here in the village. Lunch and dinner are included. Holiday in Waerebo is purely an adventure. The expectation of high-end facilities is out of reach. A shared sleeping deck with home-made mats, cold bathing, limited hour of generator-powered electricity, and simple meals.

Enjoy sunrise, meet the villagers who are preparing to start the daily routine as farmers. Breakfast, departure, and trek down the same trail back to the parking lot, take motorbike taxi again back to the car, and leave for Labuan Bajo. Stop for lunch in the beach (pre-packed lunch), chill out, and enjoy driving to hotel.