At 05u45 we are woken by some noisy hotel guests, but with the long day ahead, it is not that bad. At 07u30 we are ready to leave. Again the road is very curvy, we are treated to some fantastic scenery and the people are super excited to see us. We really enjoy driving through Flores.

Beautiful Flores

We drive about eight hours to cover the 275 kilometres to Ende, where we want to take the ferry to Kupang (Indonesian Timor). We want to know when the ferry sails, because unlike the previous ferries this one only sails once a week. We have to look for the pier which is located 10 km outside Ende, in Darmaga. At the pier, some local people tell us that the departure is scheduled for Saturday morning.

Sights from the Pier

We drive back to Ende where we want to book a hotel for Friday night, close to the pier. The plan is to then drive to the volcano Kelimutu. After seeing the room we decide to stay here in Ende and visit the volcano from here because the room can’t get any better than this. A clean room with air conditioning and the best bed we’ve had in a long time. When we tell the owner that we will advertise its new hotel on our site, he offers us a free night. We thank him for the offer but tell him we prefer to pay. Instead he promises breakfast which was initially not included in the price. The owners are super friendly and help where they can: they call around to confirm the departure of the ferry on Saturday, they cover Mickey with a blanket and we may use their scooter to drive around in Ende, free of charge. We find a nice spot on the beach where we can enjoy the sunset over dinner.

Dinner at Sunset

Ende

Close to Ende is the Kelimutu Volcano, known for its three crater lakes, each with its own colour. There is one in blue, green and red, but the colour may change due to certain geological conditions. The people in Ende let us know that we best visit the volcano in the morning because then it’s not too cloudy. The road to the volcano is very beautiful. This time, the road runs along a river in a green valley.

Driving Through The Green Valley

We drive up to the parking lot from which it is about a kilometre hike to the craters. On the map we see a service road running to the craters, so we just drive straight up. We hear some people calling from afar but pretend not to hear them. We have to get off the motorcycle and walk some steps to see the first two craters.

The Blue and the Green Crater Lake

After taking some pictures we drive up to the third crater. From the viewpoint we can see the three lakes but unfortunately the red one doesn’t look red today. We enjoy the view with a cigarette and a drink, meanwhile we see that it would perhaps be possible to drive close to one of the craters for a memorable photo which was no sooner said than done.

Mickey at a Crater Lake

On the way back to Ende, we are approached by an Indonesian about a waterfall a little further and we decide to go and take a look. It's not really an impressive waterfall but we are all alone and enjoy some peace and quiet. We return to Ende and on the way we see a nice hanging bridge where Kevin would like to ride on. On the other side he has to drive a little further to be able to make a turn and gets invited by a family to come and drink a coconut. From afar he calls Kitty and soon we both enjoy a giant coconut. Once the coconut milk has been drunk, someone from the family cuts the coconuts in two and with the peel he makes a spoon to eat the meat. We thank the family and we continue our way back to our hotel. Here we wait one more day to take the ferry to Kupang.

Driving over a Hanging Bridge

Indonesian Hospitality

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