DISCOVER
OUR PROJECT
Seen from the "terrasse" of our cottages and restaurant, the Wolokoro Village offers one of the most breathtaking view overlooking the volcano "Inerie" and the surrounding wild mountains so typical of Flores.
Our Ecolodge, cottages and restaurant, has been built and is owned by the community. The local Ecotourism cooperative gathering some 40 families welcomes you to stay in our peacefull environment. Different activities are offered, such as trecking and discovery of the Ngada traditional culture. Wolokoro village is considered on Flores Island as a model of local sustainable development based on the involvement and commitment of the population.
On behalf of the people of Wolokoro, I, as a canadian (Quebec) citizen living in this village since 2000, invite you to share our lifestyle.
Gilles Raymond and Wolokoro Ecotourism Team
OUR HISTORY
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I first came in Wolokoro in 2001. I was appaled to see that they had nsupply access and still had to walk to a quite far away small spring to get the precious water so essential for their basic needs. So, we worked together and install a water supply sistem – filter, pipeline and Reservoir – bringing water by gravity to each house from a water source located up the mountain.
After that, because they had no elementary school and had to send their children at the age of 6 years old to stay with parents in other villages, well, we just built a school (in bamboo for class first and second grade, built two very simple houses to accomodate the teachers whose salary was paid with the monthly financial contribution of each family… After 6 months operating like that, the Director of the Department of Education came to meet us. We were afraid he was coming to shut our "illegal" school. But the guy from the Government started his "pitch" by saying : "You are extraordinary ! Excuse us. We will build a brand new school for you."
In the period of the last three years, in Wolokoro, the community of 45 families working together has built a new chapel, a Municipal Hall, a health clinic, two cottages to host ecotourists and a restaurant with the financial support of Canadian citizens combined wiith the help offered by the Ngada district Government… Ah, yes, we have also, during those 3 years, built 17 new houses.
You are very welcome to visit our villageand Ecolodge, hoping to have the occaion to share your experience and ideas with a very open minded community of Flores people who, amongst other cultural habits, love to laugh and have fun.
OUR FUTURE
The water access project started in Wolokoro in 2000 and has expanded with the creation of "Program Otonomi" mainly composed of Wolokoro citizens. Since our first model of water project in Wolokoro, "Program Otonomi" has already been involved to bring water access to more than 40 Flores villages… and we have 3 other local water projects on the agenda to achieve before the beginning of 2020.
On the Ecotourism site, in the middle of our village, we plan to erect an observation site at the summit of a tower and to acquire a telescop in order to provide a unique sightseeing opportunity facing the surrounding mountains and the volcano "Inerie".
We also have some other projects to expand our trecking paths in the coming months, like the initiative (we want the local committee gathering our teenagers to implement this project) to develop a camping site on the banks of a waterfall where swimming in the clear water of the pond is a gift of the gods.
Come and discover the real Flores!