ASIA - Indonesia
CONTINENT: ASIA
COUNTRY: Indonesia
DIFFICULTY:
(1: Low, 5: High)
ITINERARY:
Travel in the Indonesian bay between the less known and attended
islands: Krakatoa - Madura - Comodo - Flores - Lamalera, in search
of natural landscapes and unknown traditions.
Carla travelled
between these five islands with a "Channel 5" crew
to make a documentary about this amazing bay.
In Krakatoa
the group walked to the top of the namesake Vulcan, witch is
still active after the terrible explosion that destroyed part
of it. The island is covered with thin black sand, white pumice
rocks and green bushes.
Later she
went to Madura, located in front of Surabaya, to attend the
Karapan-Sapi, that takes place every August, in witch bulls
trained for the occasion challenge each other in a crazy race
where they are tied in pairs and equipped with some bamboo branches
where a kid is pulled, trying to balance himself on the branch.
The atmosphere of the race and the fans are similar to the Siena
Palio.
The third
island reached, after several hours of navigation, was Comodo,
where several giant varani also called dragons lives in the
wild. These animals easily reach the length of two meters and
a weight of over 150 kilograms. Carla attended their feeding
and followed their movement's trough the forest and beach.
The next
stage brought her to Flores, one of the most beautiful islands
of the bay. It is also volcanic and characterized by several
volcanic cones which are now lakes, with particular changing
colors during the day, creating a lot of differences between
them. In Moni, it is even possible to see three of them close
to each other's: a black one, a turquoise one and an emerald
one.
The last
destination was the island Lamalera, near Flores in which the
inhabitants lives by hunting whales. Carla took part in one
of these expeditions, being the only woman, between fifteen
fishermen, on a boat made of bamboo and canes, from sunrise
to sunset. It's a very demanding hunt, where man and animal
fight with equal weapons. After several rituals the chase of
the prey begins, moving only by oars they come close enough
to have one of the fishermen jump several times from the boat,
to the back of the whale, hitting it with an harpoon made out
of a bamboo cane and a piece of iron, risking his own life.
When they return to the village, all the fish are divided equally
between the families.
Proposal
for the itinerary:
The trip can follow the same route described by Carla or it
can be modified towards other, more traditional destinations
(i.e. Bali and Joyakarta islands).
The best time of the year is August for a duration of 15 to
20 days. There are no particular difficulties but the travel
is mostly made by boat and often sleeping in huts.
This trip can be planned for different times of the month, depending
the dates of the local festivities and typical traditions.
