READERS WRITE

While everyone is justly celebrating Charles Darwin’s centenary, give some thought to his rival Arthur Russell Wallace and his inspiration, Indonesia. After all, the theory of the survival of the fittest also came to Wallace one feverish night in his hammock, prompting both of the men’s theories to be announced simultaneously.

My favourite island is Flores, a spectacularly beautiful but ecologically mysterious island two hours east of Bali. The island is wildly beautiful, with lush mountains, a turquoise ocean pierced by volcanic pinnacles and peopled by friendly Catholic tribes.

Dragons, rats, elephants, spiders, humans: lots of species seem to have drunk a magic elixir and morphed to unpredictable sizes.

There are no organised tours but someone will always be willing to take you to the famous Liangbua cave, where the controversial three-foot-tall ‘Little Lady of Flores’ skull was discovered. Found buried beside her was a dwarf stegodon, an elephant the size of a dog.

The locals tell me legends of a race of little cave dwellers, the Ebu Gogo, who lived in secret in the forest beside their homo sapiens cousins and were last sighted as recently as the 19th century.

Climbing up to the Little Lady’s sleeping chamber, I touch the smooth womb-like wall and think of my tiny three-foot-high ancestors curled up here in their rocky palace, sheltering rats the size of cats and komodo dragons with a taste for human flesh. They may not have won the survival of the fittest but they were a brave little people in a strange Alice in Wonderland world.

On the 200th anniversary of his birth, follow in Darwin's footsteps here.

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