Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine November 2016 | Page 117

Travel | Flores to Alor

Occasionally lunch –
the freshest fish you will ever
eat – is simply hauled in over
the stern deck.
Production of seaweed in
Indonesia, the world’s biggest
producer, is now believed to
reach over 10 million tons
per year.
The village of Lamalera,
the largest island of the
stunning Solor archipelago.

Sailing is the only way for
most people even to access
remote spots like these,”
Mark Robba pointed out.

along the reef edge. Feathers of spray drifted
off its curling lip in the offshore breeze.
Mixed with the anticipation was a feeling of
frustration: we’d known beforehand that most
of our route would be along leeward northern
shores and none of us had even brought
surfboards. The 3m stand-up paddleboards that
were on board were seriously over-length for a
wave of this calibre, but Akoni pointed out that
the ancient Hawaiians had surfed much more
fearsome waves on heavier planks.
I dropped over the ledge and angled the board
along the silvery wall, which peeled with a speed

and hollowness that reminded me of a lefthand version of Nias’s world-class Lagundri.
On these heavy boards, all but two or three
of our waves ended in barrelling wipe-outs,
but we were thrilled to have been the first
people ever to surf this point.
Only in Indonesia could a wave this perfect
have remained undiscovered. Among the
twisting islands of the world’s greatest
archipelago, there must be countless other
mysteries waiting to be pioneered.
“Sailing is the only way for most people
even to access remote spots like these,”
Mark Robba pointed out. “This is world-class
adventure – true.”
I know exactly what he means. I’ve travelled
widely throughout Indonesia and have counted
myself lucky to have visited islands and
communities that have never been marked
by a foreign footprint.
It had been almost a week since we’d
weighed anchor in Maumere and rounded the
western edge of the island that the Portuguese

115

5 Senses – Sound
MOKO DRUMS
Be thrilled by the sound of
the sacred moko drums as the Abui
people perform their warrior dances.
The music is strangely hypnotic,
with the drums playing a rhythmic
counterpoint to the jingle of the
thick metal anklets that the Abui
women wear. The Abui were
once feared headhunters, and the
challenging dance of the warriors
as you enter the village of Takpala
remains unnerving even today.
Bersenang-senanglah saat
mendengar gendang moko yang
keramat dimainkan untuk mengiringi
tari pejuang warga Abui. Musiknya
terasa menghipnotis, suara
gendangnya seirama dengan suara
hentakan gelang besi yang dikenakan
di kaki perempuan Abui. Suku Abui
dahulu adalah pemburu yang disegani
dan tarian pejuang yang ditampilkan
saat Anda memasuki Desa Takpala
tetap terasa dapat membuat ciut
nyali lawan, bahkan hingga kini.