Kelimutu Lakes, Flores Indonesia

Flores Island's most-visited natural wonder and one of Indonesia's most mysterious and dramatic sights, is found on top of mount Kelimutu, some 66 km from Ende, or 83 km from Maumere. The spectacular view of its three crater lakes, each with a distinct color, is not only a major tourist attraction, but the stuff of mith and legends. The lakes have continuously changed their colors over the years since the eruption of mount Iya in Ende in 1969


Today the largest is light turquoise, the next olive green and the third black. The local people believe that the souls of young people go to the first when they die, the old to the second, and the black lake is reserved for thieves and murderers.

The mount of Kelimutu is located at the back of mount Kelibara, in the Wolowaru District in Ende, in the Central of Flores Island. Keli means mountain and Mutu means boiling. In short, it means volcano. To the local people of Lio Ende, this mountain is holy, a token of God's blessings. It provides fertility to the surrounding lands. It is both heaven and the hell.