Flores island, pronounced flôr ' es and is Portuguese for flower, is a large island inhabited by almost two million people and it belongs to the island nation of Indonesia. Flores Island was named so because of a showy flowery shrub named the Poinciana regia that dominates the Flores Island landscape. Indonesia, as a nation, is a vast collection of seventeen thousand oceanic islands. many of which are small volcanic islands that remain uninhabited and unnamed to this day. Yet the Indonesian islands are home to over 230 million people and is the fourth most populous country in the world. Flores, island, is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands and is heavily wooded, rugged, and mountainous, with peaks rising to 7,872 ft (2,399 m). Unlike Muslim Indonesia, the Flores Island inhabitants are predominantly Christian, mainly Roman Catholic; those in the west are chiefly Malayans, and those in the east are Papuans. Corn and coconuts are grown as staples. Ende is the chief town and port with a population in excess of 50,000. The climate on Flores Island varies considerably due to the mountainous terrain and is subject to both drought and monsoons. Flores Island is now enjoying a bit of a tourist boom and can even boast the addition of a four star hotel. So accommodations on Flores Island are no longer as stark as depicted in Flores Girl: The Children God Forgot.

Download this free fictional account of the discovery of the Ebu Gogo on Flores Island by two American Scientists!

There are many languages spoken on the island of Flores, all of them belonging to the Austronesian family. There are at least six separate languages that are identifiable. These are from west to east: Ngadha, Nage, Keo, Ende, Lio and Palu'e , which is spoken on the island with the same name of the north coast of Flores . Locals would probably also add So'a and Bajawa to this list, which anthropologists have labeled dialects of Ngadha. Modern humans, Homo sapiens, have occupied Flores Island for thousands of years. As for the western world, the island was originally discovered by the Portuguese and was named Flores . Much later under the rule of the princes of Sulawesi, Flores Island came under Dutch influence about the year 1618. The Dutch gradually gained control of the island, although Portugal held the eastern end until 1851 and the natives were not completely subjugated until 1907.

As to fauna the west coast of Flores is one of the few places, aside from the island of Komodo itself, where the Komodo dragon can be found in the wild. The Flores giant rat is also endemic to Flores Island Island . The rat's head and body length is 41–45 cm and tail length is 33–70 cm, making the Flores giant rat at least twice the size of an average Brown Rat ( Rattus norvegicus ). The rats has small, round ears, a chunky body and a small tail, and that the giant rat of Flores appears to be adapted for life on the ground and refuge in burrows. The Flores Island rat has dense dark hair and subsists on a diet of leaves, buds, fruit, and certain kinds of insect. Their large size is seen as an important adaptation to their island home.

In case you didn't know... The Ebu Gogo (pronounced abu, rhymes with Paula Abdul) are the main characters in a traditional folk story told by the Nage, a people on Flores Island. As the main characters in the island legends the Ebu Gogo are described as a small, nasty people with a voracious appetite that sometimes included the devouring of the occasional human baby. The Ebu Gogo were said to walk awkwardly and could be heard to murmuring in their own language and were said to be capable of parroting human speech.  When they could tolerate the Ebu Gogo no more the Flores islanders drove the small people in the direction of the caves, perhaps near Liang Bau or perhaps they burned the survivors alive. In any case, these stories were probably told to keep truculent Flores children in line in much the same fashion as some western fairy tales are told.

Flores Island is also the starting point for the Flores Girl Adventure novel as our two intrepid scientists go in search for a long lost people. Download the free eBook novel today and join the Flores Island adventure!

Excerpt from the Flores Girl Novel Regarding Flores Island

“Richard, when you are right, you are right, and I’m dead tired.  That’s it for today, and I’m going to bed early.  I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow.  Thanks everyone.  Have a good night!” Sarah said as she turned away to leave the dock.
Richard was having none of that from Sarah, and he grabbed her by her arm to stop her. 

“Hey, not so fast young lady.  This is our last day in the big city.  Let’s get dressed up and grab a few drinks before we disappear into the wilderness for a few months.  We deserve, no I might add, we need a night on the town,” he pleaded.
They both knew that was a joke.  Flores Island was not exactly a premiere travel destination for the discriminating western tourist.  In some of the smaller towns you didn’t ask about air conditioning, you were more concerned about whether or not your room had mosquito netting.  Overall, conditions were somewhat primitive, and transportation was painfully slow; actually, everything on Flores Island was slow.  Flores Island was a different world from what Sarah and Richard were used to, a world where it was more important to be polite than it was to be punctual. 

For a westerner, the Flores Island food was sometimes very bizarre and often challenging.  The word ‘challenging’ is almost desirable when used to describe a novel or a game, maybe even a sexual conquest, but not when it’s used to describe food!  To a western observer, it sometimes looked as though anything that moved was fair game for the cooking pot.  In reality, the staple diet for the local population consisted of rice, fish and vegetables.  The local delicacies that the natives loved inevitably entailed the head of some small animal or dog meat.  For a treat, entire chickens would be roasted with the feathers left on the hapless bird.  Other than some meals consisting of chicken, fish and rice, the two westerners found it difficult to find enough edible food to eat, and maintain their weight.  In the week they spent preparing for the expedition, they both had lost over ten pounds, and they spent much of their time racing each other to a toilet.  However, the tropical sun, combined with their illness gave the two a distinctive leaner, almost healthier look.  Sarah and Richard kidded one another about the possibility of forgoing the Ebu altogether, and promoting a new “Flores Island Diet Book” instead.