In March 2008 I travelled to Indonesia for a short vacation. I spent one week in Bali Island, a very touristic place. After that I went to Flores, Komodo and Rinca islands for 11 days. I did some diving and – as you may well imagine –, I could not resist collecting some shells.

Indonesia is located in Southeast Asia. The country consists of more of 17.000 islands, in the Indian Ocean, but “only” 6.000 of them are inhabited.

One of its largest islands is Flores named by Portuguese explorers in 1512. Komodo and Rinca are two smaller and almost uninhabited islands located off the West coast of Flores. Several even smaller islands and islets are also to be found in the same area.

 

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Like many other Indonesian islands, Flores is incredible as far as biodiversity and natural history in general are concerned. Some endemic species such as the Komodo Dragon (the largest lizard in the World) and Flores Giant Rat are alive in these islands. Several natural beauties – such as the three adjacent multicoloured volcanic crater lakes Keli Mutu or really fantastic coral reefs – are a delight for anybody who loves wildlife.

Komodo, Rinca and SW Flores islands are part of The Komodo National Park. I spent several days diving and taking photos in the National Park, where unfortunately it is forbidden to collect shells. The incredible variety of corals, anemones, gorgonians and fishes allowed for several interesting photograph shots. It is a world of colours and bizarre forms!!!

To collect shells I snorkelled in NW Flores. I travelled in a very small fishing boat. Since my experience is essentially in Atlantic Ocean waters, it was a very pleasant and distinct adventure. I was also quite excited photographing Tridacna and Hippopus specimens (not possible to collect any… do not forget they are protected species)!  

In Flores, there is an amazing diversity of shell species and it is quite easy to collect lots of nice specimens. At the end of each day I had hundreds of shells from many, many species belonging to several families. I must confess that many of the collected shells in fact represent common and widespread species… however, if you are not used to shelling in Indian Ocean this is indeed a fantastic adventure!

António Monteiro, thanks for the text revision!