Stretching out east from Flores is a chain of small volcanic mountainous islands. Solor, Adonara and Lembata are the three main islands that form the Solor group. Along from these lie the Alor group made up of the two main islands of Pantar and Alor.

Solor, Adonara and Lembata have many cultural links with the Larantuka area of Flores. The people of this wider region make up the Lamaholot ethnic group and speak the Lamaholot language. Hundreds of years ago this area was divided into two by warring factions: the Demon and the Paji. The Demon followed the Raja of Larantuka and the Paji were loyal to the Raja of Adonara.  These days there is no more fighting, but the island of Adonara has been left with the name ‘Island of Murderers’.

Slash and burn farming is practised on these islands. Forest is chopped down and burned to become fertiliser. After a few years the field is left and a new one is found. This leaves the soil depleted and open to erosion. Over the years this has negatively affected the environment of these islands.

Pulau Solor

Solor Island lies between Flores and Lembata.  The volcanic soil is stony and few crops are grown. Whaling provides a major source of income in the Muslim village of Lamakera. It is one of only two whaling villages in Indonesia. The other village is found on Lembata.

For many years Solor was a rendezvous point for Portuguese sandalwood traders coming from Timor. In fact this area of Indonesia was one of the first to attract European interest. A stone fort, built in 1566 by Dominican monks, still stands overlooking the sea near the village of Lohajong. Friar Antonio Taveira used Solor as a base to spread Catholicism to Flores. The fort was built to protect the people who became Christians from Muslim attacks. The walls, some as thick as two metres and four metres high, surrounded a rectangular interior with an arch entrance. Rusting Portuguese canons also remain to remind of the past.

Pulau Adonara

Adonara is separated from Flores by a narrow strait. The people are Catholic, although in the rugged interior there are villages that continue to practise animism.

Many coastal villagers are involved in pearl diving. Pearl diving is a very dangerous occupation. Men dive up to 40 metres down to collect the oyster shells with very basic equipment. The shells are then sold to Japanese pearl farms. They insert an irritant into the shell and the oysters create a pearl.

Pulau Lembata

Lembata Island has beautiful rugged scenery including an active volcano.  Most rice is imported and other crops of corn, coconuts, bananas and papayas are locally grown. Lembata,  formerly known as Lomblen, is well known because of the whale-hunting practised by the villagers of Lamalera.

The Ombai straight between Lembata and Timor is one of the sperm whale’s natural breeding grounds.  Every day except Sunday (Catholic day of rest), between the months of May to October, the villagers drag their wooden boats out onto the sea in search of whales.  The whales are still hunted without modern tools in boats (pelendang) that are constructed without any nails.

Pelendang  are  owned  by  a  clan. They are painted  and  named,  decorated and carved with pictures of animals and religious symbols. They are considered sacred. About 12  pelendang with crews of at least nine  men  paddle  the  seas off Lamalera.  Only  whales with teeth are hunted as there is a legend that one of the Lamalera clans came from Sulawesi on the back of a blue whale. 

Once a whale or manta-ray, dolphin or shark are spotted the hand made harpoon blades are fitted onto a bamboo  pole,  and  the  harpooner  stands  ready to leap onto the whales back with the harpoon. All men carry knives in case there is need to jump in and finish the animal off.  If it was a whale that was sighted the sail is lowered to let the other boats know.   

The whale meat is divided up according to traditions that ensure fair distribution. The crew,  headman of the clan who owns the boat, the boat builder, sail maker, rope keeper and harpoon maker all receive a portion.  Only the men go out on the boats. The women  stay  at  home to mind the children and prepare the food. Most of the whale meat is dried, and the blubber is melted to make oil for lamps.

These days not as many whales are being caught, maybe 20 a year, in comparison to about 55 in 1969. The work is hard and many of the young men are leaving the village to find jobs or pursue education in larger towns like Kupang. To give an indication of how much the whale hunting has decreased, the boat sheds of Lamalera contain 29 pelendang, but only 12  are still sailing.

Activities and Questions

1. Draw the fort as described above. Why are the walls so thick?  2. Compare the methods used to make salt on the islands of Solor, Rote and Semau. (Look at the pictures for help) 3. Does Lembata whaling pose an ecological risk?  4. What percentage of NTT’s islands are unoccupied? Why are these islands unoccupied? 5. What is a pelendang? 6. Which island has the name Island of Murderers? How did it get this name? 7. What language do the people of Solor, Adonara and Lembata speak?

Extra Activities, Discussion and Research Questions

1. If you have some bush land, burn off a section (make sure you have proper permits) and make a slash and burn vegetable patch. Try sweet potato, cassava and taro. How does it compare to an ordinary cleared patch?

2. Write a story about a hunt for whales. Look up the Geo magazine story for an example.

3. Using the numbers and sizes chart, and a good atlas, try to find some of the uninhabited islands of NTT.

4. What are whales hunted for in industrialised countries?  What products are made from whales?

5. What kinds of whales can be found off the coast of Australia? Are these endangered?

6. Why do countries like Japan continue to insist on whaling?

7. What are organisations such as Green peace doing to stop whaling? Look up Green Peace’s site and find out their latest news.

8. Why are people leaving the smaller islands? What would it be like for a young person? How does the flow in and out of people to the big cities erode traditional values?

9. Why did the monks build a fort to protect themselves from Muslims? What verses from the Al-Koran can be used to justify their actions? (Eg Sura 5:3, 8:65, 9:5,29-35.)