Indonesia's "Middle Earth" is Flores, a land of "hobbits," giants, dwarves, three-colored lakes, and other oddities usually thought to have only existed in fiction or in dreams. Found east of Sumbawa and Komodo, Flores or flowers in Portuguese, is a scuba diving and snorkeling haven for its varied marine life such as whale sharks and dolphins, thriving in an equally distinct underwater environment of sheer cliff walls, submarine plateaus, sunken caves, and all possible size, color and type of hard and soft coral. This island's west coast is one of the few places on earth, apart from Komodo, where komodo dragons can be found lurking in the wild.
Flores' most famous tourist attraction is Kelimutu, a series of three-colored lakes in the laidback district of Ende. These crater lakes are in a volcano's caldera and a volcanic gas makes them change colors almost as fast a snake would change its skin. In 2004, the lakes' hues were turquoise, brown and black. A year before, it was turquoise, green and red. That same year, scientists who excavated at Liang Bua Cave discovered small skeletons of 18-thousand-year-old hominid species fondly called "hobbits."Flores was also inhabited by the extinct Stegodon dwarf elephant and continues to be the habitat of giant rodents.
In the north coast, Maumere and Riung are famous for their idyllic diving and snorkeling spots, as well as Seraya Island in Labuanbajo, known to be a migratory path for whale sharks. Labuanbajo is also where ferries can be rode to Rinca Island and the World Heritage-listed Komodo Island. Moni is a launching pad for trekking Mount Kelimutu while tens of thousands of bats reign at dusk in the mangrove island of Kalong. Local villages and indigenous architecture can be found in Ruteng and Bajawa while the laidback Ende city serves Kopi Ende, a unique blend of Indonesian coffee beans and ginger.
