How to get there:
First, travel by boat and car/motorcycle? from the nearest airport
that has regular flights, this is Larantuka, at the east end of the island Flores.
The town of departure is Lewoleba on the island Lembata. From Lewoleba, one must travel to the
small village Puor. This takes about 1:15 on motorcycle.
The recommended trailhead is actually near the highest point on the road before it descends
to Puor. A small dirt (farm road) forks directly right somewhere near location
S8.52296, E123.39483. We drove (motorcycles) only about 200 meter to location
S8.52503, E123.39392, elevation about 830 meter. This is the recommended trailhead, with only
about 790 meter of elevation gain.
Route description:
In the beginning, the route follows small trails, however it is critical to have
a (GPX) track in order to follow this. Soon, there is really no more trail and the route
ascends mostly grassy slopes with rocks. The terrain is definitely not the easiest sort
of place to hike/walk. The good news is that the distance is fairly short.
As you approach the steeper part
of the peak, ascend to a ridgeline up on (climbers) right. Ascend moderately steep
slopes (grass) then gradually turn more left and ascend steep, but fairly easy slopes to
reach the summit.
A track is posted on Peakbagger.
Comments:
I started from Lewoleba at 0500 by ojek (motorcycle), the drive took 1:15.
We located the "local guide", his name was Dario, in Puor. He informed us
that "the best route" actually started near the pass we had crossed before
descending to Puor. Thus, we drove back there, turn left on a narrow farm path
(motor bikes only), then stopped after only about 200 meter.
From here, we travelled pretty much directly to the peak. The terrain was grassy
with rocks and not a favorite type of surface, however, the distance was short.
We were on the summit
after 2:10, around 0850. A short break and some photos, the
summit was in a cloud so no really good visibility. I was not looking forward to
walking the same way back. I had a track from Rob's ascent many years ago, but I
did not recall what he had written. I therefore asked the "local guide" (using Google
Translate) if the route that Rob had taken from Puor, directly, followed a visible
trail. This was immediately confirmed. I then suggested that I could descend that
route to Puor, while my 2 friends went back down the same way in order to
get back to the motorcycles. This was then quickly agreed.
I was looking forward to a trail descent, despite this being a few hundred more
meter vertical.
However, the clear reply that this route had a trail was flatly wrong! Reading Rob's
report confirms that they did not have a trail. I descended a very steepish slope
where care was absolutely important. Hoping to find the promised trail on the more
gentle ridge below, but no, there simply did not exist a trail. I should of course
have returned the other way if I had known this. Still, navigation was not
very hard and I made it down to the church
in 2:40, a significant part of this time spent on the first 500 meter.
My motorcycle driver Andre did find me (I had sent him a message), now driving back to
Lewoleba. We had done perhaps 45 minute of driving when we got a flat tyre. This was a first
for me with a motorcycle.
Andre needed to carefully get his bike back to the closest
village, that we had just driven through. I got a lift with the first motorcycle
that came our way after this incident. He drove me all the way to my
hotel, nice! I gave him a reasonable tip as thanks for the help. From the look in
his face, the tip was considered generous!
