The Komodo gateway — pink sand beaches, three-colored crater lakes, and Labuan Bajo's dive sites where manta rays feed at sunrise
Flores is one of Indonesia's most dramatically beautiful islands — a rugged volcanic spine of Catholic fishing villages, traditional ikat weaving communities, and two of Indonesia's most extraordinary natural attractions: Komodo National Park (home of the world's largest living lizard and pink sand beaches) and Kelimutu, a volcanic crater complex where three lakes cycle through an impossible palette of turquoise, blue, chocolate brown, and black as minerals in the crater sediment oxidise. Labuan Bajo on the west coast is the departure point for Komodo island and has become one of Southeast As…
Flores was named 'Cabo das Flores' (Cape of Flowers) by Portuguese sailors in 1512, though the name now applies to the whole island. The Portuguese established missions here in the 16th century, converting the population to Catholicism — one of the few places in Southeast Asia where this conversion held completely, making Flores the most Catholic island in Indonesia. The island was administered by the Portuguese until 1859 when it was ceded to the Dutch. Flores was the site of one of the most significant paleoanthropological discoveries of the 21st century: the 2003 discovery of Homo floresie…