Ndao– an Island Paradise?
on Really Out There Experience (Indonesia), 09/Sep/2009 10:44, 34 days ago
4 - 6 September 2009Well normally when I write my blog I can easily select a reasonable number of photographs that sum up the subject; this has not been the case with my weekend in Ndao. I know that words alone (and there are a lot of them) are not going to give you a real feel for the magic of the experience, the beauty of the island and the shear calm– even all the photographs I have selected fail to capture all I want to share with you all. I had the privilege to be invited to join a doctor when she went to visit a colleague on Ndao.The day before our trip we went shopping for vegetables and other perishable goods. The boat ride to the island was amazing. It was a small open decked fishing type boat. It took a long time to load on the beach as everyone seemed to have even more luggage than us, which the crew had to carry out and find somewhere to stow it– this included a generator and a wardrobe. We were then taken out in a very small and unstable dug out canoe. It was then a case of finding somewhere to sit or lye on the bare wooden floor. We stayed very close to the shore so had an excellent view of Rote as we went along. We passed other boats fishing and saw large flocks of birds fishing as well. At one point we saw a small school of dolphins breaking the water and also saw a flying fish. The water was deep blue and bright turquoise, it was so clear and quite shallow, we could often see the coral. We passed by two other islands off the tip of Rote before reaching Ndao just over 4 hours after leaving Baa. No luxury of a canoe to ferry us to the shore this time just jump in and wade ashore.Ndao is asmall island lying of the west tip of Rote and has only 600 residents, one pickup truck and 10 motorbikes on the island. No electricity although a few people have generators; where you can pay to get mobile phones etc recharged. So there are no street lights and just a hurricane lamp in the house. There are only two places where you can get phone signal and this is of a worse standard than in Nembrala; as this is where it is being transmitted from. There are two kiosk style shops. Water is a bit of a problem as the well water is brackish so it is hard to get any form of lather for washing anything and salt residue is left in clothes, hair etc. Access to vegetables is also an issue– either you grow them yourself or go without. On the plus side at this time of year the variety of fish was amazing. Ndao has quite a large fishing fleet and men fish with rod and line from the pier whilst others go out swimming amongst the coral with spears. Part of the pier was washed away a few years ago and has not been repaired. There is now a ladderwhich is a little challenging to climb to get up to negotiate with the fisherman for their catch. One time we agreed a price for 12 with the guy with the mostfish beside him and then his younger brother went round negotiating to borrow another 4 to fulfil our order! We had a BBQed fish on the beach each night using drift wood and coconut husks– the doctors were impressed by my fire making skills. There was a full moon which reflected off the sea but meant we did not get a good view of the stars – sad as there was absolutely no artificial light pollution.Justine and I walked most of the way round the island on the beach taking about 4 hours. For 3.5 hours we did not see another person. Apart from one small rocky outcrop the beach ran all round the island– white sane and turquoise sea. On three sides of the island there were excellent surf breaks the fourth side was where the fishing fleet anchor and the sea was very calm here. The island does get occasional visitors on day trips from Nembrala but there is no where for them to stop on the island so I caused a lot of interest when I was seen evening, night and morning.The trip back to Rote was much shorter as we went into Nembrala– under 2 hours. This was probably a good thing as the sea was quite a bit rougher and I had trouble sitting up and kept toppling onto other passengers. We were travelling into the early morning sun and again the journey was very special. This weekend was a really special privilege and I am grateful to Justine for inviting me and Octo for letting me sleep on his floor– yes even the discomfort ofthat did not distract from an amazing time. I will be back when I need refreshing again but am pleased that I have a little more in the way of facilities for my 2 years out here.