Apr 4 - About two months ago I booked a day trip to Komodo NP from Labuan Bajo. Since that time, AirAsia messed with our timetable, but I was able to rebook the tour a day earlier. So this morning, at 5:30, we are picked up at our hotel and loaded onto a speedboat with seven other people for our tour.
The first stop is at Padar Island. Here there is a famous viewpoint, where three coves can be seen, all of which have different color sand (white, black, and pink). The white beach looks more gray to me, and the pink one is difficult to confirm from this distance.
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The big excitement here is when we return to the boat. Odette, always eager to spot fish from the pier, sees a manta ray.
From here we go around to the west side of the island, where we swim and snorkel on another pink beach. The pink color comes from a type of coral that washes up. It only attains the color once it dies and is exposed to air.
From here it is only about a 20 minute ride to Komodo Island. Though the island lies fully inside the park, there are two villages, hosting about 2,000 inhabitants. We land at the main entry point, a large pier with a tourist village of souvenir shops and restaurants.
We see a Komodo Dragon straight away upon walking on to the island, it is an adolescent walking down the beach. The beach areas of the island are the only good place to spot them, as the undergrowth they normally live in is dense. They come to the beach to warm up in the sun, and look for carrion that washes up.
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It is not permitted to walk the trails of the park without a ranger. Our tour includes that service, so we take the hour walk with him. Before we take the trail inland, we find a fully grown dragon, laying around under the trees.
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The hike inland goes through thick brush. There is evidence that wild pigs have been rooting around, and we see an old Komodo dragon nest. These nests are used repeatedly, by both the dragons and guinea fowl (the two have different nesting seasons). After taking care of the eggs and then hatchlings for awhile, the parent dragon will leave the nest. If they return, it will be only to eat the young. But by this time, the young know better and run away.
From Komodo Island, we get back on the boat and go to Manta Point. This is a fairly shallow spot between Komodo Island and Palau Tatawa. We were warned this morning that manta ray season has passed, and the shallow water is now too warm for them, so aren’t expecting much. We do a drift snorkel along with the current, in water about five meters deep. Do not see manta rays but do spot a large spotted eagle ray.
Back on the boat after this and move south to a shallower reef surrounding an exposed sand bank called Palau Karangan. Put in just north of this and drift from there to the sandbank. The coral here is excellent, the best we’ve seen since Dahab. Go ashore on the sandbank.
From here, continue on to Turtle Point. It lives up to its name, as we see many green turtles here of many sizes. Some are wedged into the coral, sleeping. Some give all appearances to be playing king of the coral head, hovering above a prominent piece of coral and pushing away others that come near.
Head back to Labuan Bajo in late afternoon and catch a ride back to the hotel. This evening there is a powerful rainstorm that knocks out the internet, but fortunately, not the electricity.
Indonesia