Bajawa
A lovely hill town set in splendid scenery and popular tourist stopover on the Trans-Flores Highway. The birding is better at other sites, but the fascinating traditional villages of Bene and Luba, 12 km south of Bajawa, are well worth the diversion. The road down to these villages has good, open country birding.
Ruing
A small coastal town and delightful hang-out, due north of Bajawa. Best known for the excellent snorkeling on reefs around a group of islands just offshore in the bay and an immense fruit-bat colony in the mangroves surrounding one of the islands. For birders the main attraction is Great-billed Heron, which is easy to find along the shore. The dry monsoon forest on the hills immediately behind the town, as yet unexplored, is definitely worth checking out.
Getting there
There are 3-4 buses a day from Bajawa to Riung. The journey takes about 3 hrs and cost IDR 12,000.
General information
The villagers have got themselves organized into a cooperative, himpunan pramuwisata Indonesia, which provides guides and manages trips out to the reefs. Expect to pay $7-10 for guide and $25 for boat charter.
One or two small trading boats leave from Riung each week for Ujung Pandang via Tanahjampea (which has an endemic flycatcher). An adeventurous (and cheap) way to link Nusa Tenggara and Sulawesi itineraries.