General information about Flores
Flores is of the largest islands of Nusa Tenggara. The landscape of the island is splendid and varied, volcano’s dominate the sights but there also are a number of crater lakes, savannah areas and mount bunches to admire. In spite of all the natural beauty is Flores of the less visited islands of Indonesia. The Christian mission in the past has been very successful, no less than 85 per cent of the population are catholic. The Moslems live mainly in the coast areas of Flores. The population can be divided in five large languages - and culture groups: from West to East is that the Manggarai, the Ngada, the Ende and Liogroepen, the Sikkanezen and the Lamaholot. In spite of the Christian believe, the values and traditions from the Animistic believe aren't completely abandoned. Especially in the agrarian areas becomes clear that the many rituals still play an important role from the birth till death. Especially in the Ngada district near Bajawa the traditions are kept alive. This becomes clear a from the ritual fights which still take place, among other things as the ritual dancing and the megalithic stones which are still honoured. Also the sacrifices to honour or to please the ancestors are still being performed by the educated, English speaking occupants.
Transportation
When you want to travel around Flores you’re mostly designated to busses and trucks that drive around on the island. The trucks will cost you as much as the busses, only the trucks are a lot less comfortable. When you want to travel to the surrounding islands you are designated to boats.