Ende district

Regency capital
Ende

Popuation
241 929

The district of Ende is located between Ngada to the west and Sikka to the east. The harbour city of Ende on the south coast is also the district capital. The ethnic group and the language of Lio are the most dominating within the district.

The economy is still dominated by traditional agriculture and slash-and-burn farming of rice, corn and vegetables. Many scattered villages are still composed of traditional houses, inhabited by people who maintain animist beliefs and ceremonies, merged with the more modern impulses from the Roman Catholic faith and rituals. Extensive and costly sacrifices among the Lio people, still prevalent, have been studied in depth by the Norwegian social anthropologist Signe Howell.

The famous volcano of Keli Mutu, the mountain of the three coloured lakes, is within the district’s borders, near the village of Moni. In May 1974 a volcanic eruption on nearby Mount Iya caused one of the lakes—the blue-white one—to change to a reddish colour. The mountain, together with the scenery, traditions, and handicraft of the whole district makes Ende an important potential for developing the tourist industry.

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