Lembata
To the west lie the other islands in the archipelago, most notably Solor and Adonara, and then the larger island of Flores. To the east is the Alor Strait, which separates this archipelago from the Alor Archipelago. To the south across the Savu Sea lies the island of Timor, while to the north the western branch of the Banda Sea separates it from Buton and the other islands of Southeast Sulawesi.
The capital city Lewoleba is found on the Western part of the island alongside a huge bay facing the Ilx Ape volcano in the North. Ships frequently connect the coastal towns and surrounding islands, but the only bigger harbour exists at Lewoleba in the North of the island. From Lewoleba there are daily connections to Larantuka, Flores, and Waiwerang on the neighbouring island of Adonara.
Like the other Lesser Sunda Islands, and indeed much of Indonesia, Lembata is volcanically active. It has three volcanoes, Ililabalekan, Iliwerung, and Lewotolo.
| The south part of of Labala. | Lembata was the site of the state - |
The people of Lembata are, like many other inhabitants of Eastern Indonesia, famous for their handmade ikat weavings.
The national language, Indonesian, is known by many people of all ages, but like on other islands the national language coexists with many local languages. The most widespread of these is probably Lamaholot. Lamaholot is spoken as a native language on Eastern Flores and Western Solor, and is itself divided into ten or more sublanguages (and many more dialects). It is spoken by 150.000 or more people in the region.
On the South coast of Lembata, the village of Lamalera is known for its whale hunting. Lamalera and Lamakera (on the neighbouring island of Solor) are the last two remaining Indonesian whaling communities.
In 2011, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences found 2 rare coral reef fish in the sea of Lamalera, they were Yellow-fin fairy wrasse (Cirrhilabrus flavidorsalis) and Swallowtail hawkfish (Cyprinocirrhites polyactis), which only exist in waters surrounding Indonesia and the Philippines. The 2 species were the 1st to be found in Lamalera Sea, but the similar types of fishes has been found in Bali before. The fishes could only be found in seas with good coral reefs, although the traces of bombing activities had been found around the coral reefs in the Lamalera Sea, but it's not serious yet.
Related Sites for Lembata
- Alor and Lembata Islands, NTT - Official Tourism Website read Lembata
- BERITA TIMOR LESTE NEWS read Lembata
