Chasing Komodo Dragons, Indonesia

I have pre-booked a three days trip for Komodo at XP Flores 
The plan looked very promising and I had huge expectations of these three days….

We got picked up in the morning from our homestay and made ourselves comfortable on the boat. it was quite an international group with Australians, English couples, French brother-sister and an Italian couple and of course the two of us. First there was a stop with snorkelling and chilling on the beach of Kanawa Island. We already saw some starfishes, black-tip-sharks and even a blue-dotted-sting-ray. The water was very clear and we had a great visibility. The next stop was another snorkelling spot at Sebayur Island. Near by was also our Campsite. If you have followed my blog, you read that we are now experts in camping. And this time it was also warm enough to sleep a bit more than just a few hours. We also had a great dinner there and at night a bonfire which made it a romantic atmosphere.

we were all very excited about the 2nd day. This is the day where we supposed to see Komodo Dragons. We made our 2 hours boatride to Komodo Island. During the boatride we saw dolphins jumping around our boat. wow!
On the island itself we had two rangers who accompanied us on the 1,5 hours hike. And there they were… lying on the ground and looking around: the Komodo dragons. Some of them were up to meters big but most of them not very active. Maybe better that way 🙂

One excitment after the other. Next stop is Manta Point and Batu Bolong again, snorkelling time. Unfortuntely, we did not spot any Mantas, but appearently the Snorkelling point of Batu Bolong was amazing. (For me it was a bit too cold though) The underwater life in Flores was something which cannot be written in words. it is so much more colorful, much more fishes and the visibility way better than any other place I have been.

The third and last day was again hiking and get chased by komodo dragons. This time we were in Rinca, which was a bit better. The dragons were quite active and there was much more action. We even got blocked by one of the komodo dragons when we want to go back to our boat. Afterwards our guide brought us back to Manta point. This time we saw two very big Mantas directly from the boat. I think than there were again few more spots for swimming and snorkelling. It was a bit too much for me then…. and I still felt freezing (27 degrees is too cold for me.haha) Before we went back we also saw many many Flying Foxes who travelled to Flores at night. It was a spectacular skyshow.

Summary for Komodo:
+ Definitely book with FloresXP
+ Beautiful Underwater-Life //if you have the chance: go diving
+ Camping is a good option if you don’t like sleeping on the boat (also much cheaper)

– There is not much to do in Labuan Bajo
– Consider surchage for Nationalpark, Fees, Rangers etc. 600’000 IDR per person.

By the way: Fly to Labuan Bajo with Wings Air. Although they have a limitation of  10kg per person don’t worry. You can book additional kilos very cheap.