We hosted a traveler from Kuwait, Middle East, who traveled solo to Indonesia for about three weeks including Flores and Komodo Island for a week from August 8 to 14 2024. His name is Mohammad Lotfi and he likes to be called as Moe.

Moe found us online from his research through an e-commerce platform getyourguide and from that platform; he had started to “dig” more about us till he could get our contact and booked this tour two months before making his footprint in Flores with me as his guide and Tony behind the steering wheel.

Moe chose to do the 4d3n tour in Flores. His original plan was to start the trip from Maumere, east part of Flores in order that he could experience more of the island but due to the closure of Frans Seda Airport in Maumere because of the ash of Lewotobi eruption, 85 km to eastern part of Flores, most flights had to change their route to Ende, central part of Flores.

His main agenda for touring in Flores was simply to see majestic Kelimutu three cratered lakes but at the end of the story, after exploring it, he realized that there’s more to see in the Island which used to be called “Nusa Nipa”, island of snake.

Moe loves nature especially volcanoes. Before coming to Flores, he has been to Ijen, East Java, Indonesia to see a blue fire coming out from a very acid cratered lake on the peak of a volcano 2,769 mbl.  That’s probably the reason he wanted to see Kelimutu.

After knowing about his interest on day one when we firstly met each other at the airport in Ende, I proposed Moe an additional tourist spot into his bucket list. This place should be related to what Moe loved to see and that’s Avatar Hill, a new fascinating tourist spot in Bajawa that I myself haven’t been before.

I was so excited to show Moe this place even more so after being motivated by a great morning spirit of perfect blue sky from the peak of the mountain Kelimutu that we could see the view of colored lakes which I barely experienced for last three attempts due to the unfriendly weather.

 Sunset Tour to Avatar Hill

Alfredo was our tour guide for touring around Bajawa. He helped me to assist a few information about the best time for getting to Avatar Hill. We actually had this plan on our agenda long before but it never happened due to an unmatched schedule. Somehow, all of a sudden, when it happened, it happened very spontaneously.

Alfredo recommended us to trek to Avatar Hill during sunset and he convinced me to do it by the fact that it has been about a week, the weather around the city of Bajawa was sunny and clear blue sky till dawn.

Before trekking to Avatar Hill, Alfredo guided us to see Bena traditional village, 30 minute-drive to the south part of Bajawa. We visited Bena after lunch. It was good enough to provide us good energy for noon activity on the countryside of Bajawa which is famous for its number of caldera or death craters, hot springs, and number of traditional villages.

Alfredo (right) and Moe (left) during the village tour in Bena

We walked around Bena fulfilled with lots of information from Alfredo who is original to Bajawa. His knowledge and passion on delivering amount of information about his local wisdom was very rich that we fell deep into the heart of the life of Ngada people belongs to Bajawa. He shared a lot about the culture, the agriculture, plants, traditional buildings, symbols found on the carving of the traditional house in Bena and much more that I felt like being in the master lecture from an experienced tour guide.

After sometimes in Bena, we traveled to the starting point of Avatar Hill at Langa Village, on the same road to Bena with a travel time of 20 minutes or 12 km from Bajawa city.

The trek is 1 km from the starting point up to the peak of the hill with most of the trek is uphill through well-trodden track for the first 20 minutes and then ended with walking on top of the hill for the last ten minutes facilitated with strong chains for holding on its sidewalk that help visitors to climb reaching the peak of the hill where the great view is seen from 360 angle.

Moe was seen a bit exhausted, he struggled because he had a cold & severe headaches which made it harder on him to hike but it didn’t stop him from moving. His phone was no longer kept on his pocket. He started making videos and taking pictures as soon as we arrived at the savannah on the edge of the cliff.

I was a bit scared because of the height but at the end I tried to calm myself as I had no reason to be afraid because all of the trails were made with a safety concern.

Pyramid shaped-like Mount Inerie was seen right when we started to walk and the Avatar Hill was not for the view of Mount Inerie only but from the two peaks of the hill where we trekked, we could witness breathtaking view of green canyon combined with amazing panorama during sunset that blew our mind away.

“The reason why it is called avatar hill is basically because of the shape of the mountains surrounded by lots of canyon just like in the avatar movie the last airbender, the original name is Watunariwowo Hill but it named Avatar in order that it would be easier for visitors to recognize”. Alfredo explained after being asked about why naming it Avatar Hill.

As soon as it turned dark, we made our way down to the parking area and drove back to hotel in Bajawa. Moe asked a few questions to Alfredo regarding what else to see in Flores. Alfredo named some places that Moe might be interested including waterfall, the spider web field, and traditional villages on the west part of Flores that Moe could not visit during this holiday in Flores, he ended in Bajawa as he flew from there to Labuan Bajo for his Komodo boat trip that we had organized.

“Flores – experience seclusion serenity nature & beautiful friendly people. It’s a place very little tourists have explored. I definitely will come back”, Mo concluded his tour in Flores. 

Tony (left) also joined the group for his first time reaching the peak of Avatar Hill

Yulianus Irwan