Island-Hopping in Indonesia Trivia Quiz

Answer: Brunei

To Malaysians and the English-speaking world, this particular island, one of the world's largest, is Borneo; to Indonesians, it's also known as Kalimantan. While the tiny nation of Brunei is found along the northwest coast of Borneo, Malaysia takes up about a quarter of the land, all along the north.

Covered in dense rainforests, Borneo is lush and constantly under the watchful eye of conservation efforts. Banjarmasin, the largest Indonesian city on the island, is a rather notable port on the south of Borneo. The Indonesian city of Pontianak is also found here and it's notable for being located directly on the Equator. It's on the western coast.

Answer: Lombok

Gili Trawangan, a notable tourist destination, is found just off the edge of Lombok and is considered a part of the region along with several other small islands. All of these are a part of the area known as the Lesser Sunda Islands.
Lombok is particularly interesting because, in the west end of the West Nusa Tenggara province, it seems to be split between Asia and Australia-- it contains several aspects of both. In addition, Indonesia's second tallest volcano, Mount Rinjani, can be found in the center of the island. It is very much an active volcano.

Answer: Timor

Kupang is the city depicted-- it happens to be the largest in West Timor. The island is virtually split in half with the eastern side belonging to the nation of East Timor and the west occupied by Indonesia. Timor was once settled by the Dutch, and even before that, it was claimed by Portugal hundreds of years ago. as such, many of its citizens claim Christianity as their major religion while islands closer to mainland Asia are much more varied (and Asian) in their beliefs. Timor is one of the southernmost islands in the country and one of the closest to Australia to the south. Due to its ecosystem and climate, it's ideal for coffee plantations.

Answer: Java

Java is, perhaps, Indonesia's most well-known island. Home to Jakarta, the country's capital city, it's also the island containing Yogyakarta and the heavily-populated city of Bandung. Jakarta contains one of the largest urban areas in the world. As such it's also one of the most heavily-populated cities not only in Southeast Asia, but on the entire globe.

Yogyakarta is regarded by many as a cultural capital of Indonesia. Aside from a strong background in Javanese arts, the region is also home to several famous temples and the active volcano Mount Merapi (which erupted in 2010).
While coffee is one of the many crops grown on the island of Java (natch), rice is actually the most widely-grown.

Answer: New Guinea

After Greenland, New Guinea is regarded as the world's second-largest island and surprisingly it's an island that we know little about. Due to the remoteness of many of its small, rural villages, the relations between Indonesia's neighbour-- Papua New Guinea-- and other countries, and dense forests, many hypothesize that entire ecosystems and thousands of animals and plants may be completely undiscovered.

The left/west side of the island contains the Indonesian cities of Jayapura and Manokwari while the right/east side, possessed by the country of Papua New Guinea, contains the capital city of Port Moresby, one of the least-developed cities in the world.

Answer: The loudest explosion ever heard

Krakatau, also known as Krakatoa, was a large island in the Sunda Strait, but after a series of gigantic explosions and eruptions in the 1880s, it actually split into several fragments, ending up in pieces nearly half a kilometer apart. Not only were tens of thousands of locals killed by the ash, lava, and destruction of Krakatoa, it was felt and heard by people around the world-- its explosions are said to have been heard thousands upon thousands of miles away, making it one of the loudest sounds ever heard on Earth.

The island of Krakatoa has risen several meters every few years, but its effects on the world were long-lasting. For over a year after the initial eruption, the planet cooled its average temperature-- go figure. It was the second deadliest volcanic eruption of all time. The first was Mount Tambora earlier in the century which killed double the people...and it's also in Indonesia.

Answer: Bali

Bali is directly east of Java and while it's not the biggest island, it is perhaps one of the most famous because of its classic beach-side resorts and its Hindu influences. With the capital city of Denpasar, Bali is fast-growing, especially considering its high visitor numbers.

Many visit not only for the all-inclusive hotels, but also for the beautiful temples, some of which (like Taman Ayun Temple) are UNESCO sites. Tanah Lot Temple is found on the edge of the ocean in the region of Tabanan. Tanah Lot is held as an important site to the Balinese people and many years of preservation have ensured that its unique structure are relatively unharmed by water erosion.

Answer: Flores

Flores is the seventh-largest island in Indonesia. Found in the Lesser Sunda Islands, Flores was once operated by the Portuguese (and fought over by the Dutch) before it was absorbed by the rest of Indonesia and, like many other islands in the area, it's a major coffee-growing region. Flores used to be known for its diverse coral reefs but they've been destroyed over the decades. How? By bombs. Bombs used to catch fish. Really.

Mount Kelimutu is a beautiful site though-- this mountain is a complex volcano, particularly because of its different craters. The three lakes at the top are each a different colour. One is blue, one is green, and one is red. Although this interesting locale is often visited by tourists, it's quite remote in the center of the island.

Answer: Komodo

Komodo Dragons are some of the largest lizards in all the world and their population is restricted to Indonesia. Like the local giant tree rats, the Komodos are larger than normal animals of their kind because of a lack of similar creatures in the area-- this is called island gigantism.

The island of Komodo, like Flores and Rincah, is part of Komodo National Park which is not only a UNESCO site, but has been added to a list of New7Wonders of Nature. Komodo's pink sand, clear waters, and giant lizards make it a wonderful place to take a vacation, much like other islands in the Lesser Sunda chain.

Answer: Sumatra

Sumatra is a big place, and as such it contains a lot of creatures-- humans and animals, I mean. Aside from a rather large population, many of whom live in the cities of Medan, Palembang, and Pekanbaru, the island is also the only home of the Sumatran Tiger, Sumatran Orangutan, and Sumatran Rhino. Because of deforestation, however, they've become quite threatened and bordered endangerment. The island is also home to elephants, bears, tapirs, and leopards.

Although Sumatra houses one fifth of the country's large population, it's mostly restricted to the northwest, even though the rest of Indonesia is to the east. Because of Mount Kerinci, Sumatra is the fifth-highest island in the world (the second in Indonesia, after New Guinea). The others in the top five are Hawaii, Malaysian Borneo, and Taiwan.