Maumere is the largest city in Flores, even larger than Labuan Bajo at the eastern side of the island. Maumere used to serve as an alternative entry gate for tourists to travel to the Flores Island.

We landed in Maumere to explore the Eastern part of Flores. Maumere is a slow paced city with lot of greenery and beautiful coast line. We explored a bit of the city just to have a feel of Maumere and had lunch at a local Warung.

Our next stop was the Koka Beach – also known locally as the “twin beach.” It is considered one of best beach in East Nusa Tenggara Province.

Koka Beach is formed by two bays, separated by a cliff. The sand is snow-white and the water is slightly different in each of the bays.

The cool thing is that the sea is usually wavy in one bay and calm in the other. A short climb up the hill will give you a heavenly view….

This place isn’t that touristy…. You have a couple of restaurants and handful of tourists visiting it. Hence it’s a nice place to relax, spend sometime and to have a local touch.

Then on we travelled along beautiful villages of Flores towards a place called Moni which is a small tradisional village at the foot of the volcanic Mountain Kelimutu.

Moni I would rate the stay here as one of the best in Flores. The locals were so welcoming and it literally felt home. The village is very scenic and calm with lots of greenery around.

We interacted with the locals and went for some local events as well. In the evening,  we shared our tea and snacks with them sitting along the road side and learning a lot of their culture, daily routine and a lot more about Flores.

The guest house owner was just amazing. It’s called the Tobias bintang guest house and owner’s name is Tobias. There was a local communion and preparations were  going on in full flow and even we were invited for the same.

Later in the evening we went to the communion and met with a lot of people from Moni village. Many came and took pictures with us. Had some authentic Indonesian food for dinner at the event.

Next day we woke up at 3 am and got ready to leave for the Volcano hike and to see the Volcanic lakes.

A natural marvel can be witnessed atop Indonesia’s Mt. Kelimutu on Flores Island. This is an active volcano noted for its three remarkable different shades of crater lakes. Kelimutu is named after the local dialect Keli, which means mountain, and the word Mutu, meaning boiling. So, Kelimutu means the boiling lake. It is believed to be the tomb of the departed souls.

We reached the top around 5 am. But unfortunately it was extremely cloudy and was drizzling a bit. Could not get a good view of sunrise. We waited patiently to first see the (green)lake clearly then the saw the black lake. Finally after couple hours saw the blue and green lake together. Man what a sight it was. It was such a blessing to see this beauty of mother earth.

After sometime we tried exploring the lake from a different side. A French traveller whom we met while diving was descending from one side of the mountain. She suggested is to climb up to the top, hardly anyone would reach there and you will get a very good view of the lakes. We reached that very spot and it was out of the world. Wow! Stunning view it was!

After that we descended and reached the base. On the way back, driver suggested to see a waterfall which is in a slightly secluded place. We trekked a bit and reached the waterfall. It was surrounded by mountains and the water was very chill. When you take a dip it was so refreshing.