Discovering Flores, Indonesia: 450 Kilometers of Sea Kayaking

About a year and a half before the trip, we were at home, with marine charts shipped from Indonesia spread out on the floor; our first investment into this trip, a purchase that was meant to signify: We’re doing this. We pored over the maps, trying to imagine what it would be like to travel along the coast of Flores Island by kayak. We started researching and prepared a PowerPoint presentation for our friends and family to convince some of them to join us on this expedition.

As the plane touched down on the runway of the small island airport and we looked out the window at the paradise around us, it was still hard to grasp that we had actually arrived in Labuan Bajo, this place that until then seemed so far away but was woven into countless conversations with so much anticipation.

4-day boat tour through Komodo National Park prior to the kayak trip

Although the island of Flores is mostly Catholic, many towns and villages have mixed populations. On our 23-day, 450-kilometer sea kayaking journey from the western tip of Flores to the small village of Kawaliwu in the east, we passed many fishing villages and from a distance, could often hear the muezzin’s call to prayer during Ramadan.

Villagers curiously observed us from the shore and from small fishing boats as we paddled by. Children ran along the beach, greeting us with “Hello Mister!”

As soon as we landed in a village, crowds would gather, calling to others to come see the brightly coloured kayaks and their curious paddlers. Many people would approach and ask to take a selfie with us. We weren’t used to receiving so much attention but did our best to explain in our limited Indonesian who we were, where we had come from, and our destination. People usually reacted with wide eyes and surprised exclamations of ‘Aiiii Maumere!’ upon hearing our planned endpoint.

In our first days, we had many pleasant encounters with locals:

• A fisherman insisted on giving us his biggest catch of the day.

• A man and his two sons, who lived in the jungle behind a remote beach, led us to their well to fill our water sacks. They watched in amazement as we unpacked our kayaks and set up our tents, shaking their heads in disbelief as we proudly exclaimed, “Rumah kami!” (our house).

• A group of coconut farmers, surprised to see us camping on the beach, came over to say hi. One man asked if we liked coconuts, and before we could even answer, his friend had climbed 15 metres up the nearest palm tree, dropping down at least 10 coconuts in quick succession.

• On another beach, we met a teenage girl, the only one in her village who spoke English. She had taught herself by listening to pop songs and was thrilled to discover that three of us were from Canada, just like her idol, Justin Bieber. She hugged us repeatedly, exclaiming how happy she was as if she had just met her favourite singer. 🙃

These joyful encounters were followed by many more, with every quick village visit turning into a big gathering at the beach and often involving a lot of selfies.🤳

In one village towards the beginning of the trip, the attention got a bit too uncomfortable for some of our group, so we decided not to camp directly at the village beachfront anymore. Instead, we would visit a village and interact with the villagers but set up our tent further outside where it would be more private.

Every night, we fell asleep to the sound of crashing waves and woke up with the sunrise and our 5:30 am alarm (to be fair, we were usually in bed by 7 pm). Time moved slower on this trip - although we were on the water for 23 days, it felt like it could have been months.

On our last day of paddling, it was hard to soak it all in: the clear blue water, the lush green hills, and the silhouettes of distant mountains; the sun warming our bodies while a gentle breeze made the heat bearable; the raptors circling above (and us wondering if they minded our drone as we were trying to capture the beautiful scenery); the calm and peacefulness; and, of course, the precious time spent together before we all parted ways back to different continents.

This trip was quite adventurous and worthwhile. In the following sections, we’ve compiled topics that we think will be useful for anyone planning to kayak in Flores or embark on a sea kayaking expedition in general - the guide we wish we had when planning this trip and the reason we started this blog.

Why Flores, Indonesia? 🇮🇩

We considered several factors while deciding where to embark on our kayak expedition. We took into account weather, accessibility, sea conditions and remoteness. Given the time frame we were looking at (between February to April 2024), we focused our search on near the equator or in the southern hemisphere, where weather conditions would be more suitable for kayaking at that time of year.

Initially eyeing Patagonia, Chile, we were deterred by unpredictable weather, extreme remoteness and difficult to obtain coast guard requirements and permits, so we turned our gaze towards milder and more populated archipelagoes like the Philippines and Indonesia.

The island of Flores emerged as an enticing option with its combination of calm seas (on the North coast anyway), drier climate (and so not as jungly), beautiful coastline and prevalence of fishing villages. It seemed ideal for an easy kayaking trip with plenty of access and resupply options along our route. Our main challenges would not be ocean related but instead communication with locals and finding campsites and fresh water. 

The presence of fishing villages dotted along our path added a nice opportunity to connect with local communities and experience their way of life amidst the stunning natural backdrop.

Kayaks 🛶

Labuan Bajo, located at the western end of Flores, is the starting point for many boat trips into Komodo National Park. This park has become an increasingly popular destination for leisure and adventure tourism, renowned especially for scuba diving opportunities and the Komodo 'Dragons', the largest lizards in the world.

As there are many tour agencies in Labuan Bajo and two offering guided kayak trips, we were pleasantly surprised when one of the companies said we could rent their kayaks for our month-long trip. However, they stopped replying to Liam’s emails and when he finally got in touch with them again six weeks before our planned departure date, they informed us that the kayaks we were going to rent were currently waiting on parts to be repaired and wouldn't be available. Panic set in as we had no idea if we could find new kayaks in time, or if there were even any other touring kayaks in Flores available to rent. We were determined to find a solution though and got to work.

We reached out to the kayak guides we could find info for in Labuan Bajo to see if any of them had any ideas of where we could rent some kayaks. We had no luck there and eventually decided to order four new Seabee touring kayaks from Tokopedia, a major Indonesian e-commerce platform. They would be lower quality kayaks made out of plastic and we anticipated that they wouldn’t be very comfortable or storage space would be limited but they were brand new and would probably make it through our month-long trip without incident.

Remarkably, the kayaks that were shipped from Jakarta arrived in Labuan Bajo within two weeks and were delivered to Flori, one of the kayak guides we had been in touch with and who agreed that we could use his address and store the kayaks in his yard until we arrived. We paid approximately 11 million rupiah per kayak including the shipping (about €630), which was roughly what we had anticipated paying for the rental anyway.

We were incredibly relieved and happy that everything worked out so well and that our trip could start as planned. After our 23 days on the water, we shipped the kayaks back from Larantuka to Labuan Bajo with J&T Cargo. Now, the kayaks belong to Flori, and he is renting them out, so if you're planning a kayak adventure in Flores, be sure to contact him (+62 821 4574 0544).

Campsites ⛺️

Beaches, beaches everywhere 🏝️

First of all: You can practically find a good spot to pitch your tent anywhere along the coast where it is sandy. There are stretches of mangroves that last for kilometers sometimes but we were always able to find plenty of campable beaches. Before our trip, we did quite a bit of research though, checking out the spots where DJN (a group of Indonesian sea kayak guides who had circumnavigated the entire island a few months before us) had camped. We also found Google Maps’ satellite view surprisingly useful for scouting potential campsites and saved all the promising locations to our map. 

Whenever we encountered people, we’d ask, “Boleh tidur di sini?” (May we sleep here?). Their response was always a warm, “Boleh, boleh” in a tone of voice indicating that of course we may, there was no need to ask.

Most evenings on the trip, we’d plan our next paddling day, aiming for a beach 20-25 km further along the coast. This usually worked out, although sometimes we’d paddle further than planned, because if the water was very calm we could cut across the bays, skipping a few kilometers each time. Here are some of our favorite camp spots:

Sebabi Island, Day 1

Coordinates: -8.363709, 120.031761

Our first night’s camp was on Sebabi Island. We had the whole place to ourselves and it was the perfect introduction to the trip after a windy first day of paddling. Liam spotted a whole troop of monkeys!

Ketebe Beach, Day 4

Coordinates: -8.265698, 120.413969

This beach had everything we needed: fresh drinking water, friendly and curious villagers, and cows grazing nearby. There were benches and tables too, which made for a comfortable cooking station.

Pasir Putih Beach, Day 6

Coordinates: -8.267619, 120.624821

This was a beautiful, secluded spot between Reo and Pota. The white sands and clear waters made it one of the most picturesque campsites on our journey.

17 Islands National Park, Nunsa Rutong, Day 11

Coordinates: -8.389527, 121.059529

Paddling across to that island was fun, despite the abundance of rats and trash. We went snorkeling in the morning before departure, and saw lots of corals and fish.

Kotajogo Beach, Day 12

Coordinates: -8.577210, 121.411255

Plenty of trees providing shade and wooden pavilions ideal for setting up your tent.

HIA Beach, Day 21

Coordinates: -8.386394, 122.646214

This was another nice beach close to a village, again with a lot of pavilions to hang out in.

Accommodations Along the Way

Apart from sleeping in our tents, we did stay in a few guesthouses along the way to rest, shower and recharge our literal and metaphorical batteries. 🔋

Reo: Khalifa Inn

We paddled 2 km up the Reo River and left our kayaks on the riverbank near this basic homestay, alongside other local boats docked there. The people living along the river were incredibly friendly; they called up their neighbors to come look at us, took many photos with us, and offered us some food. We had heard that there might be a saltwater crocodile living in the Reo River, but we neither saw nor heard of it from the locals.

Between Pota and Riung: 4 Pohon Ecolodge (“Les 4 Arbres”)

Run by a French-Indonesian family, this eco-lodge was a perfect retreat. We even extended our stay for one extra night to have our one and only full rest day and enjoyed the tranquility of the place.

Maurole: Penginapan NaVaS

A fairly nice guesthouse in a small town with friendly villagers. Power seemed to be typically out during the day (at least when we were there), so after sunset, the streets were illuminated by candlelight from the food stalls for a while, creating a cozy atmosphere, before the electricity returned some time later.

Maumere: Rindu Lokaria Homestay & Pantai Paris

We stayed at Rindu Lokaria when passing through Maumere and carried our kayaks up to the homestay. After finishing our kayaking, we came back to Maumere by bus from Larantuka and stayed at Pantai Paris.

Wind & Weather ☀️

Temperatures during the day were generally above 30 degrees Celsius, and it often felt even hotter due to humidity and a lack of shade. On the first night, we were surprised by how hot it got inside the tent and were very glad that we had left behind our sleeping bag with our other extra luggage in Labuan Bajo. We had decided to bring only thin sleeping bag liners and they were more than sufficient. After that first sweaty night in the tent, we would attach our tent fly to one side but keep it bundled up beside the tent to allow for some airflow through the tent. If it started to rain or there was a chance of curious villagers coming by at night, we would quickly flop it over the tent and attach it on the other side.

April in Flores is the tail end of the rainy season, so we got to experience occasional rain showers that were always a welcome respite. They cooled us down and, at least for a little while, washed away the sweat and salt sticking to our bodies. The rainstorms could come in quickly, often bringing strong winds and reducing visibility. However, they wouldn’t last for very long.

Most days, the water was remarkably calm, often mirror-like with minimal waves. Wind speeds were generally mild, usually between 1 to 3 knots, making for calm and easy paddling. The first day was an exception with 10-knot winds and was a bit of a rough start. On just a few other days, we faced 5-6 knot winds and had only one day with larger waves that Annika found scary kayaking through. Wind direction also played a crucial role and we checked the weather forecast each morning on our Garmin inReach to stay somewhat prepared.

We wore the same long-sleeved, sun-protective clothes every day while kayaking which led to a feeling of near constant griminess. The only bits of skin continuously exposed to the sun were our hands (some of us wore gloves) and our faces, particularly our lips. We brought along a full month’s supply of sunscreen from the start because we didn’t expect to be able to find it in the smaller towns along the way, which turned out to be true. We happily recommend bringing a Vietnamese-style conical hat as they very effectively shield you from the sun and rain. Attach a strap to it to prevent losing it in the wind, and you’re ready to go!

Staying hydrated was a constant priority as well and we would go through 2 litres of water per day. Annika was sure to always have some electrolytes in her water to replenish the minerals she was sweating out.

Food & Water 🍛

Before departing Labuan Bajo we stocked up on essentials including rice, noodles, beans, lentils, sugar, flour, oats, oil and various powders (cow milk, coconut milk, soup, and baking). We also brought along a variety of spices, sauces, and dried goods like mushrooms, tamarind, and dates. Our protein sources included dried legumes, nuts, tempeh, and securely packed eggs (transported in a plastic egg carton-shaped container from home). Delia's dried hummus, homemade in Canada, was a convenient lunch option that just needed a bit of water to turn back into delicious hummus.

We also bought fresh vegetables (like chayote, carrots, cabbage, cucumber, onions), fruits (bananas, papayas, snake fruits) and extras (garlic, hot peppers, limes) which usually stayed fresh for 3-5 days. In larger towns such as Reo, Riung, and Maurole, we could restock most of our supplies, although finding fresh vegetables could sometimes be a challenge if we arrived too late for the morning market.

Local market in Labuan Bajo - Pasar Rakyat Batu Cermin

Our breakfast typically consisted of overnight oats - a mix of oats, milk powder, cinnamon, dates, tamarind, palm sugar, seeds or nuts, and water. This meal was simple and sustaining, though we grew pretty tired of it, especially Delia. We usually started preparing dinner after arriving at camp around 4 PM (it would get dark around 6PM), cooking over a fire or on our MSR Dragonfly camping stove, which runs on gasoline easily found in towns.

Initially, we ate leftovers for lunch, but the heat quickly spoiled the food. We switched to baking / steaming bread each evening for the next day's meal, with Denzil’s cinnamon buns being a highlight. It wasn’t always easy to find things to put on the bread, and apart from rehydrated hummus, we had chutney, Biscoff spread, Nutella, and we were very excited to find unsweetened peanut butter in Riung. Occasionally, we treated ourselves to lunch at a local warung (small eatery) for a taste of Indonesian cuisine if it wasn’t too big a detour and were happy if the warung offered our favourite dish, gado-gado (mixed vegetables and rice with peanut sauce) and a cold lemonade, which we tried to order "sedikit manis" (just a little sweet).

For drinking water, we used an MSR Guardian™ Gravity Purifier that is able to remove viruses, bacteria, protozoa, sediment, and microplastics. It is a bit fancier than a typical ceramic filter but we wanted to be sure to remove any waterborne viruses and it seemed like the best option (compared to alternatives of chemically treating water or using UV). We had two 10L MSR Dromedary® Bags, marked from one another so we wouldn’t get the dirty (unfiltered) bag mixed up with the clean one. During the day, we filled the dirty bag from rivers, wells, or tap water, and used the clean bag to refill our personal water bottles. We needed to find a fresh water source at most every second day  to keep up with our water needs.

Money money money 💸

"How much did it cost?" was one of the most commonly asked questions we regularly encountered, alongside "Was it dangerous?", "What was the biggest challenge?" and “How do you pee out of a kayak?” 

Here's a detailed breakdown of our expenses for our self-guided sea kayaking trip:

Sea Kayaks: Our biggest expense was purchasing four sea kayaks from Tokopedia (an Indonesian online marketplace) for a total of 3,075 EUR including shipping. We considered offsetting some of this cost by selling them after the trip but ultimately ¾ of us decided to just give them away instead. One of the kayaks was sold for around 200 EUR.

Medical Supplies and Vaccinations: The contents of our first aid kit cost approximately 50 EUR plus we brought some medical supplies and over the counter medications that we already had at home. Some of us got various vaccines (Dengue, Typhoid, Rabies) and we all had preventative malaria medication. Some of the vaccines and malaria medication costs were covered by health insurance but we had different types of medication and different insurance coverage. We spent 220 EUR in total on malaria medication.

Food: We ate at warungs when we were in towns and stocked up on a mix of fresh and non-perishable food at markets and stores to cook the rest of the time. In total, we spent 520 EUR on food.

Stove Fuel: Our stove runs on gasoline which is very cheap. We spent approximately 4 EUR on fuel.

Machete, Sharpening Stone, and Hardware: We bought a machete (very useful for anything coconut related!) and a sharpening stone from an outdoor market in Labuan Bajo, along with various hardware supplies for our repair kit, totaling 25 EUR. 

Boat Transport and Shipping Kayaks: Transporting our kayaks within Labuan Bajo (on the back of a pickup truck) cost 20 EUR and shipping them back from Larantuka to Labuan Bajo cost 175 EUR (we bargained though).

Communication: Staying connected was crucial and we sent daily check-in messages. Our Garmin inReach subscription cost 40 EUR, and a prepaid satellite SIM card cost 80 EUR (we didn’t end up having to use the satellite phone but it was nice to have for security).

Water Purification: We purchased an MSR Guardian gravity water filter specifically for this trip for 200 EUR, ensuring we had safe drinking water throughout the journey.

Accommodation: Accommodation expenses along the way, including stays at 4 Pohon, Reo, Maurole, Maumere, and Larantuka, totaled EUR 245 (usually about 350,000 rupiah for a double room).

Transportation: Additional travel expenses included a bus ride from Larantuka to Maumere for 25 EUR and four flight tickets from Maumere to Labuan Bajo for 360 EUR.

Existing Gear: Most of the other equipment we used, such as our tents, sleeping pads, stove and pots, we already owned, so those costs are not included here.

Total Cost: Summing up all these expenses, the total cost for our trip came to approximately 4,800 EUR, or around 1,200 EUR each.

Health & Safety ⛑️

When we started researching for the trip, we had many initial apprehensions that we had to learn more about and hopefully overcome: pirates, sharks, saltwater crocodiles, Komodo dragons, malaria, and dengue. Most of these fears turned out to be largely unreasonable.

We did find out pretty quickly (if we didn’t already know this) that sharks are possibly the most misunderstood animal on the planet. There is no reason to be afraid of most sharks in the ocean and the risk of an encounter while kayaking around Flores is minimal. Annika did actually become very close to a blacktip shark while scuba diving in Komodo National Park before the kayak trip! The vast majority of shark species are generally timid and avoid human interaction.

Saltwater crocodiles are still found in remote parts of Indonesia, but they are rare on Flores Island as they were nearly hunted to extinction worldwide by humans in the 1970s. Sentiment is slowly changing but their recovery is slow in Indonesia where there is still a lot of fear of them. Between 2006 and 2016, there were only three documented crocodile attacks, indicating that encounters are uncommon. One of the best ways to stay safe is to rely on local knowledge, as locals are well aware of where crocodiles are present and can provide valuable guidance on safe areas to camp and travel.

We had heard from DJN about a possible saltwater crocodile at the mouth of the river leading into Reo so we made sure to stay on the lookout. During our trip to 4 Pohon Ecolodge, we saw a crocodilian reptile briefly before it dove while we were kayaking up the river. It was pretty small though so we think it was an estuarine crocodile. The owner of the Ecolodge assured us that no crocodiles live in that area. 

Komodo dragons (the largest lizards in the world) do inhabit parts of the North coast of the main island of Flores, but they are mostly concentrated in specific areas. We were careful to avoid these areas and camped in locations where Komodo dragons were not known to roam. At a pee break, Liam spotted some remains of nests that were most likely from Komodo Dragons but that was the only trace of them we saw.

We took malaria medication and tried to wear long sleeves and pants during peak mosquito activity times. Our sleeping bag liners were impregnated with insecticide but the mosquitos weren’t allowed in our tent anyway, so that probably didn’t make a difference.

Overall, we did quite well health-wise, making sure to stay hydrated all the time and taking each challenge in stride! One time, we mildly poisoned ourselves with some undercooked kambiri nuts but they only gave us indigestion. Towards the end of the trip, while we were already back in Maumere, Denzil might have contracted dengue fever because he had a fever and was low on energy. But his symptoms weren’t severe enough to find a doctor so it remains a mystery. Delia was feeling seasick for the first 5 days while kayaking, and then, surprisingly, landsickness kicked in when back on solid ground. Who knew that was a thing? She could combat it by taking GRAVOL®. Luckily, her body got used to it after that.

Liam sliced a deep cut into his palm with his pocket knife while processing a coconut. But it was a simple stab wound and we had plenty of first aid supplies. Annika was worried about getting tendinitis and had quite sore hands and fingers throughout the whole trip, definitely from holding the paddle with a death grip but it never developed into full-blown tendinitis.

Other than that, we did pretty well!

Our Garmin Inreach Mini was an invaluable tool for maintaining safety and communication. Every morning, we used it to get weather and wind forecasts, and every evening, we shared our location and a short poem with friends and family. Some poem examples: “In our camp arrived some curious guest, when we set up our tents they were quite impressed”, “Feeling queasy so we’re taking it easy”, “The village crowd watching us continued to grow, until Denzil felt like he was in cooking show!” or “Continued right past our original goal, our paddling skills are out of control” 🙃.

The Inreach works through the Iridium satellite network, enabling us to send and receive messages even without cell service. In case of an emergency, the SOS button would notify the local coast guard of our location and that we needed help. #BetterSafeThanSorry

Surprisingly, we also had fairly good cell service around 60% of the time, which was probably better than cell coverage in Germany. This allowed us to download podcasts, do more research along the way, browse Instagram and video call family members for their birthdays.

We felt extremely safe and welcome everywhere we went. When we stayed in accommodations in towns, we didn't mind leaving our kayaks and other belongings unattended on the beach overnight, as the locals were incredibly friendly and all they wanted from us were selfies together. Only in Maumere, the biggest town in Flores, we decided to carry the kayaks to our accommodation and not leave them at the beach unattended.

And last but not least:

Visa requirements & Language 🛂

It was easy for us to obtain and enter Indonesia with a 60-day eVisa, which we highly recommend. The other option would have been to receive a 30-day visa on arrival, which we could have extended for another 30 days but that would have been more difficult due to our remote locations.

Single-entry eVisa B211: Valid for 60 days and can be extended twice, for 60 days each time. The day of arrival is the first day of validity of the visa. Once the eVisa is issued, you have 90 days to enter Indonesia with this visa (our information is from January 2024 - more information here). You can apply for single-entry visitor visas for 60 or 180 days through the Online Visa Approval application.

Required Documents:

• A passport valid for at least six months for a single-entry visitor visa application with a 60-day stay duration.

• Proof of funds of at least US$2000 or equivalent to support the cost of living for foreign nationals and/or their family in Indonesia.

• A return ticket or connecting ticket to continue the journey to another country.

The processing time for a visitor visa is four working days after the immigration fee payment. Sponsors or applicants can check their visas in the Online Visa Approval application account and via email.

Language: 

Indonesian (“Bahasa Indonesia”) is spoken by over 94% of the population, but it is the primary language for only 20% of the population. Indonesia is home to around 700-800 different languages. Bahasa Indonesia is a fairly simple language to learn, using the same alphabet as English. A bit of preparation with language apps like Babbel or Duolingo was very helpful.

English is not widely spoken, and very few people spoke English on our journey. Google Translate is a great help - you can use it offline as well.

________

Terima kasih Flores - for this unforgettable journey.

Fisherman near Pota, Flores