By : Nara Wisesa

During our journey on the northern shores of Alor, it was really clear to me that this island is a geologically active place, which of course is not surprising given that this island is indeed located on the ring of fire, not far from where the Australian (Sahul) continental shelf collides with the Asian (Sunda) continental shelf. The northern shores of Alor is lined with majestic karst (limestone) hills, and although they are overgrown with thick forests, patches of white limestone cliffs can be seen clearly even from quite a distance offshore.

It often boggles my mind when I see the karst mountains in West Java near Bandung where I grew up, thinking that the whole landscape was once underwater. But now as I see this amazing landscape in front of me, it also boggles my mind that in a few thousand years in the future, this area of the Sahul shelf may become an island that may be comparable in size to Java. In that future as well, these seaside karst hills and even the coral reefs under them where our team dived today, may become part of a land-locked system of karst mountains, which I pray would then face a better fate than the overexploited karst mountains of West Java.