The peninsula formed by the Ile Ape volcano is the bastion of the remaining animistic Lembatanese.  The villagers here maintain contact with the ancestral spirits in small temple-huts called koker on the volcano’s slopes.  Small offerings of food, cigarettes and betel nuts are left at the koker to gain the favor of the supernatural world, and occasionally an animal is sacrificed.

’s best known for the whaling village of Lamalera, for the volcano Ile Ape which towers over the main town of Lewoleba and for beautiful ikat weaving made from home grown cotton—spun and

dyed into natural colors.  Lamalera itself is a tiny, fascinating, poor yet extremely welcoming little village that rises up steeply from a small volcanic sand cove.  There’s no escaping how people live here—huge bones sit atop the shore side boat shelters, giant ribs are lettered in gardens, and if there’s  been a recent kill bits of whale meat hang from houses.

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