The Komodo National Park in Eastern Indonesia consists of three larger islands -and several smaller ones- containing hundreds of unique endemic species of flora and fauna, including the world famous Komodo Dragons.
The park is one of the new 7 wonders of nature, a World Heritage Site, a UNESCO reserve and lies in the Coral Triangle, which contains one of the richest marine biodiversity on earth.
I could easily add more jaw-dropping facts, but this should give you an idea why I eagerly want to spend my last weeks in Indonesia right here.
To get to the Komodo’s I spend 4 days on a boat from Wanua Adventures, offering a ‘special tour’ from Lombok (Bangsal harbour) to Flores (Labuan Bajo). Here you can read my full review on this tour.
Once we leave, we have several hours delay as paperwork wasn’t signed off by the harbour master, as he simply decided to take the day off, but the cr
ew solves it elsewhere on Lombok. Nobody complains.
Our wooden beauty has a capacity for 35 people, we’re only around 15 guests which makes for plenty of space. The group consists of a few nationalities only; Dutch, Brits and Canadians, the staff is from Sumbawa, the island east of Lombok, the direction we’re headed. We stop for a refreshing plunge before sailing a long night through big swells, reminding me of rough days on East Point Curaçao. It reminds others of the dinner they just had…
It’s 04:00 in the morning and we’re moored up north of Sumbawa at a small island, or so says google maps. I doze off and when we stop again, it’s pancakes and snorkelling for breakfast, so sweet to start the day this way. I can look straight to the bottom, viz must be over 30m. The reef at Moyo island is exceptionally healthy 🙂 Once on shore we do a small hike through a natural freshwater spring in lush tropical forest to get to a waterfall flowing into white multi-level terraced limestone baths. It’s one of those places where I would expect to find hobbits and elves. Instead we find a rope, so some proper tarzan-style plunges later, we snorkel back to the boat, spotting morays, lionfish, a blue spotted stingray and hundreds of garden eels on the way.
We visit an island called Satonda which holds a saltwater lake that’s a wee bit too warm to enjoy so I stay out on the gorgeous reef.
After a drowsy red sunset and tasty floor-buffet dinner, night falls and the ocean is lit by the full moon. While the others indulge on cold Bintang beers, I space out in a corner enjoying my music and happily staring into the massive big blue with the occasional dolphin jumping up to check us out.
Sleeping on a boat is so nice, whether you’re in your private cabin, the open upper deck, lower deck or in the enclosed sleeping area, you’re rocked to sleep to be woken by the sunrise.
Today I see the sun rising over Komodo National park. We swim out to an island for a small hike, it must be around 07:00 and the sun is scorching already. We go up to the highest point of the island and get an incredible view over the C-shaped bays laying with their backs to each other. The white sand beaches turn into aqua blue bays which turn into dark blue deep sea. Eagles with a big wing span circle above us, it could very well be the setting of a documentary.
From here we head to manta point, where the crew stares down into the blue till shouting some Bahasa at the captain who then kills the engine. We quickly jump in and the reef manta’s don’t scare, they simply hover above the bottom, enjoying the cleaning stations and filter-feeding on the krill in these cold currents. Although the current is strong, it’s possible to stay on top of them and free-dive a few times for a close up. I love these gentle giants, they seem so otherworldly with their stealth wings and classy black & white coating.
To keep the supernatural feeling, we stop at ‘pink beach.’ Komodo contains a beach with “pink” sand, one of only seven in the world. We spend 2 hours on the beach creating a more white than pink sandcastle, then continue to Kalong island where a large colony of big brown flying foxes lives. We can clearly hear the screeches from the mangrove and as the sun sets they start coming out in large numbers, heading for their feeding grounds mostly consisting of fruit-trees.
A fresh breeze wakes me and I smile, as it’s another exciting day, we’ll be visiting the highlight; Komodo & Rinca islands to see the famous and venomous big Komodo dragons.
On Komodo island, we learn that there are about 2.500 dragons on this 390km2 island and only 2.000 humans. As if having the worlds largest carnivorous dragon isn’t badass enough, the people of the island are descendants of former convicts who were exiled to the island. Bad place for a castaway…
It was only in 2009 that researchers published final proof that the Komodo possesses a venomous bite. They feed on the abundant deer, boar and small mammals on the island. We see white excrements, that show us that they even digest bones.
At the end of the walk we find our path is blocked by a big male Komodo dragon, sitting so still I hardly believe it’s real, but then I see that typical snake-tongue coming out, that he uses to smell us, hopefully he’s had a good breakfast already! We see another big male and a smaller female. While Usman, our ranger tells us the females are more aggressive, I coward behind him to get some shots of this big fierce reptile.
Hot and barren Rinca shows us more Komodo dragons while we do a short trek across the island at the heat of day. We jump across boats to get back onto ours and get a last chance to backflip off the boat and swim in the clear blue waters before we set for Labuan Bajo, the ending point of this trip and the beginning of some spectacular scuba diving.
Our big cold beers cling one last time over group dinner in a restaurant while the sun sets over the bay creating a gloomy and romantic pink light. This tour was an amazing experience, one of those trips where everything’s simply right and you feel fortunate to be part of it.
Planet Bubbles 