As you might remember, I had come back to Labuan Bajo after going diving in Komodo National Park. I spent a whole day with the Somer Dive crew and other lucky passengers. The dives at Batu Bolong, Tatawa Kecil and specially at Manta Point were pretty astonishing. So much that, as we speak, they had been the best dives of my life. During those dives we focused mostly on the underwater world. But I knew there was much more to see. Thus, I walked to Ciao Hostel and booked my 2D1N tour in Komodo National Park with Floresia. I booked it together with Adreina, a girl I had spoken with on Facebook who decided to join me. We paid 900 K for the tour and we would pay around 500 K on fees, as the trip evolved.
Day 1 in Komodo National Park
We left Centro Hostel and walked to the port, where we met the crew and the other guests. We were 16 people in total. The boat was nice and big. There was an American family, a couple from Spain, two guys from Spain, a family from Indonesia, two girls from Germany, a guy from Holland, a guy from France, Andreina and “Sandra”… Sometimes fate is kind of funny.
Meeting and “old” friend
So, when I decided to go on a 2D1N trek in the jungle of Ketambe, I did it mostly because my first plan didn’t succeeded. Originally I wanted to go to Borneo but, it turned out that it was off season and the rental of the boat was kind of expensive. I wrote a post on Facebook asking if anyone would be interested in joining me. There was a woman from Argentina who texted me saying she might me interested. Unfortunately, since I was short on time, I had already started to check on Ketambe. Thus, I told her in the end I wasn’t going to Borneo.
Well, that woman’s name was “Sandra” and, as I was wandering around the boat, Andreina asked me to come by. She asked me again if my name was Balta. When I said that was indeed my name, Sandra, who was sitting next to Andreina said: “I know you”. I was like what? When she told me she was the one who had written on Facebook… I couldn’t believe it. How crazy is that?!
About Komodo dragons
The largest living species of lizards are pretty peculiar, both interesting and dangerous. They are found on the islands of Rinca, Komodo, Flores and Gili Motang. They can grow up to 3 meters and weigh up to 70 Kilos.
When you look at them they look like really harmless. They seem to be sleeping the whole time. Nothing further from the truth. That is in fact their way of predating. They pretend to be drowsy and so animals approach them. When they enter in their radius of action they are as good as dead. The Komodo dragons are really fast creatures: they can run at up to 20 Km/h. They can climb trees and their saliva (some said is poisonous and some said is not) can be dangerous.
When they are still inside the eggs they are already exposed to danger. Thus, due to all the predators around, as soon as they are born, they climb up to the trees. They spend their first few years up in the trees, where they feel safer. After that, they will make their lives on the ground and on the trees, depending on their predating choices. They take up to 8 years to mature and they can live up to 30 years.
Rinca Island: my first-ever encounter with Komodo dragons
The first stop of the day was Rinca Island. There are a few places in the world where you can see Komodo dragons. Most of these places are within the Komodo National Park. These places are islands such as Rinca, Komodo, Padar and a few smaller islands. Thus, as per our itinerary, we would be starting with Rinca Island, where, hopefully, we would be able to spot some of these astonishing creatures.
We made it to Rinca Island kind of late. Apparently, there was a problem with the boat’s engine and we were going pretty slow. We came out of the boat, walked for 5 minutes and made it to the checkpoint. There was a local girl on the boat with us. She was our guide and translator. Thus, she spoke with the people at the checkpoint, told them how many we were in total and asked us to pay 290 K each. That price was for the entrance fees and for the rangers.
As we were a big group, we had more than a ranger with us. They were bringing a stick with them which said it was used as a way to protect us against the Komodo dragons. Neither the sticks nor the rangers look very powerful, to be honest. As we started walking towards the entrance of the park, one of the rangers told us that, a few days ago, a Komodo dragon had eaten a tourist from Singapur. We thought it was a joke but it wasn’t. He came too close to the dragon and, when he realised, the dragon was already biting his leg…
So, in Rinca, there is some sort of restaurant as you enter the park. The dragons smell the food’s leftovers and the stay close to the restaurant. Thus, we saw the first dragons laying on the ground, waiting for their food. There were like 8 dragons, some of them pretty big. They looked pretty powerful and astonishing from the moment I saw them.
They have an amazing camouflage, so good that sometimes it was really had to distinguish them from the soil. It was a funny situation because on the one hand it felt like they were there, doing nothing, but on the other hand we knew what they were capable of…
After seeing the first Komodo dragons and taking some pictures, we started walking. There were 3 different treks (low, middle and high) and we chose the middle one. As we were walking, the guide told us that, even before being born, when they are still inside the eggs, the Komodo dragons are exposed to danger. Other predators and even their own parents will try to eat them. What? Yes, you heard right. Komodo dragons are cannibal. And we complaint about our lives…
The trek wasn’t hard but it was super hot. Pretty much most of the island was full of hills, without trees and shades. That made it even hotter. The trek went on without any incidents. We were walking kind of staring at the ground, making sure there were no Komodo dragons around lol.
Towards the end of the trek the landscape started to change. We could see strips of sea and small islands. It was really beautiful and it looked like this:
We made it back to the boat safe and sound and we started to have lunch. The menu consisted of rice, noodles, vegetables, chicken and tofu. Before the proper lunch the crew also provided us with some snacks. After lunch, taking into account we still had a long way to cover, I went to my bed downstairs and took a nap. I needed some rest after all the adrenaline 🙂
Komodo Island: wilder Komodo dragons
We were going extremely slow. Not sure if it was due to a boat’s engine problem or to something else. After three hours or so we passed by Pink Beach. According to our itinerary we were supposed to stop there but our guide told us that the beach wasn’t pink anymore. She said (and I wouldn’t be too surprised) that the reason why it wasn’t pink anymore was due to… human beings. Really? You must be kidding (irony ON). So, when people started to find out about this beach, they went there and… instead of just enjoying it, they started to “collect” some of this sand to take it back home as a present. If this is done by thousands of people, I guess the result won’t surprise anyone.
Thus, we kept on sailing and left “Pink” Beach behind. Our guide promised us we will go to a “pinker” one next day. By the time we made it to Komodo Island it was really late. On this island we didn’t pay much fees, just the ones for the rangers (20 K each). I think it was because we had already paid for the ones on Rinca. Anyway, as we were late, we couldn’t choose any trek other than the short one.
The trek was pretty short. After walking for 5 minutes we had already seen 4 dragons. They were laying down, but, unlike the ones on Rinca, they looked way fiercer. Here, there wasn’t a kitchen where they could go eat so you could find them really anywhere. That made the trek way more “interesting”.
During this trek, other than Komodo dragons, we also saw deers, monkeys, water buffalos and wild boars. It was my first time seeing a water buffalo. They were really cool! I guess by now you have understood what the menu of the day was for Komodo dragons… Yes, all the animals that I had just mentioned…
A night on a boat in Komodo National Park
We left Komodo Island in one piece. I was really happy to having had the chance to see such powerful creatures. My time in Indonesia was almost up but, looking back, I was really grateful, specially with all the amazing fauna I had seen. Many times it was a matter of “luck”, “karma”, “fate” or however you want to call it and I succeeded. I saw plenty of amazing animals 🙂
As the night was falling we made it back to the boat. After taking a shower I got ready for dinner, which was kind of similar to lunch. Nonetheless I’m not picky at all with food so I enjoyed it. We started sharing the experiences and feelings of the day but also talked about why we were there, what we had been up to, etc. It turned out that the American family was kind of travelling the world. Both parents worked as teachers and they had taken a gap year. When I told them I had just left Australia they asked me plenty of questions, since they would be going there next.
Andreina and Sandra shared some similarities. Both from South America and both with enough trips on their backs already. They had an apartment back home which they rented monthly. Thanks to that and other small businesses they could pay their trips. Sandra had been travelling for a long time and she had almost covered the world. She had even taken the Trans-Siberian railway. How cool is that?
The two guys from Spain (Pepe and Alex) had known each other ever since they were kids. Pepe was living in Madrid but Alex had moved to Chicago long time ago. Nonetheless they kept their friendship and now and then they travelled together. Pepe gave me some advice about the Philippines, a country I would be visiting next. Thanks for that!
The couple from Spain was just on holidays. They had the typical situation back home: a job they didn’t like much but which they needed in order to have a “normal” life. Listening to them made me feel really lucky.
After listening to all these cool stories, I eventually walked downstairs to get ready to sleep. I slept a little bit in a way, but it was really hot. Andreina and Sandra decided to sleep on the open deck and apparently it was way better. Thus, if you ever find yourself sleeping on a boat in Komodo National Park, you might want to sleep on the open deck. And, just like that, half of my 2D1N tour in Komodo National Park was over.
Day 2 in Komodo National Park
I heard the faulty boat’s engine at five in the morning. I hadn’t slept much. It was too hot. Nonetheless I stayed on bed trying to catch some sleep. The boat started to move that early to try to make up for the time lost the day before. After waking up, some of the passengers started to complain about the delays. Most of the complaints came from the Spaniards. I didn’t complain. I felt like the trip was helping me growing up.
Padar Island: the best views of the 2D1N tour in Komodo National Park
We made it to Padar Island at 07:00. The sun was already out, waiting to hit us (and heat us) yet once again. The guy at the checkpoint wasn’t very kind. When I asked him if we didn’t get a discount being a group, he told me that wasn’t a supermarket. We had to pay 165 K (per person) on fees. According to them the fees were going to the national park, the trek, etc. I just said above I didn’t complain about the boat or the time we lost. But I kind of felt the fees were not right. I got the feeling that we were paying just because they wanted to charge tourists. And, I also felt like the money wasn’t being spent on the park but on some other stuff…
We paid 165 K while locals paid 5 K. I understand we have way more money than them. I understand many of them are poor. But, is it really necessary such a difference on fees between us and them? We were paying 33 times more… It would be like if to visit the Alhambra I would pay 1 euro and people from other countries would pay 33 euros…
Anyway, the trek up to the viewpoint was full of stairs. Regardless, it was the toughest of all. There were many many stairs. I was wearing running shoes and I didn’t have a problem. That being said, I felt like it could have been done with flip-flops, although it wouldn’t be probably the best footwear. There were some tourists but not too many. I guess being there so early was and advantage.
The whole way there was beautiful. The more we were up, the wider the views. There was plenty of sea surrounded islands of different sizes. We stopped now and then to take some pictures. When we made it to the top we had to stop for a while due to two reasons: we were exhausted and the views were just too beautiful. They were breathtaking, speechless, astonishing. It looked like this:
I just said you could see plenty of different islands. But there was an image that got my attention and everybody’s. From the viewpoint, among many beautiful things, we could distinguish three beaches. One had the sand slightly white, the other one slightly black and the other one slightly pink. It was truly spectacular. I sat down there for a while, enjoying such a gift from mother nature. I had to move though now and then to let people take their photos. Once again, human beings at their best. I understand you want to take some pictures but some people were really overdoing it lol.
Once everybody felt almost happy with their pictures, we started to walk downwards, back to the boat. The trek took a while but the time people spent taking pictures took even longer. Thus, we were once again kind of late 🙂
Serai Beach: I hope it is still the Pink Beach
As I mentioned earlier, according to our 2D1N tour in Komodo National Park, we would be checking Pink Beach out. As I also mentioned earlier, we didn’t stop at what it was known as Pink Beach because it wasn’t pink anymore. Our guide told us we would be going to another one which was really pink. Thus, after some time sailing through Komodo National Park, we made it to Serai Beach.
From the moment we stepped on it we realized it was pretty beautiful. It was unreal. Up till that moment I had never seen a pink beach before. The mix of the sand the water and the foam from the waves was so pretty that it seemed like a painting. It looked like this:
And you might be thinking, why is the sand pink? Well, the reason behind this beautiful color is to be found at “foraminifera”. These are single-celled organisms with shells. They are abundant as fossils for the last 540 million years. They are found in all marine environments, some abundant in the deep ocean and some on coral reefs. Thus, the color of Serai Beach comes from pink to red-coloured shells of foraminiferas.
We spent a while there, enjoying such a beautiful landscape. But we also went snorkelling! The bottom was pretty astonishing as well. It wasn’t like my diving in Komodo National Park but it was still pretty cool. It looked like this:
I would have gladly spent the whole day there. Unfortunately (or fortunately) we had to keep on going. We still had a few more places to check in Komodo National Park. Thus, we set sail and made it to Manta Point, a place I already knew 🙂
Manta Point: nothing like the first time
We made it to what they said it was Manta Point but, I’m not sure we were really there. Of course, one thing is diving and one other thing is snorkelling. When I went diving there I experienced the best dive of my life. This time though, I didn’t feel the same way at all. We spent a long time moving around. The crew told us they were trying to spot some mantas but none of us felt like that. Who knows?
After an hour or so, they finally let us jumped in the water. The water was beautiful blue. We didn’t see any mantas like the ones I had seen the day before. But we spotted a small dotted one and some other big fishes.
It wasn’t the best snorkelling of my life but the views from there were nice. It looked like this:
After snorkelling for a while we went back to the boat and got ready for lunch. Once my stomach felt satisfied I went downstairs to take a nap. The boat kept on sailing. We were going to make it to the last stop of our 2D1N tour in Komodo National Park. We were sailing to Kanawa Island.
Kanawa Island: appearances do fool
When we were close enough to the island, we decided to not wait for the small boat and go swimming. The water was kind of too shallow already so we couldn’t do much snorkelling. Nonetheless, as we were arriving to the port and we were getting ready to climb the stairs, we saw a beautiful black lion fish.
The island didn’t look very spectacular. We paid 5 K for the entrance, nothing to do with the prices they had been asking us before. There was a restaurant and some resorts where you could spend the night. I guess some people go there to relax and get away from everything. We walked to a beach on the east side of the island but it didn’t look very promising, so we didn’t even try to snorkel there.
The guide told us we would have to wait 20 minutes before the small boats could come pick us up. Thus, we decided to give a try to the beach and went snorkelling. There were some people already doing it so I guess that also pushed us further. It turned out we were fooled by appearances. The snorkel was nice. The water was super shallow but there was some current, so we needed to watch out. We saw plenty of sea stars, an octopus and other beautiful fishes. Unfortunately I didn’t capture any of these with my camera 😅.
Back to Labuan Bajo
Kanawa Island was the last stop of our 2D1N tour in Komodo National Park. After that, we set sail back to Labuan Bajo. We still had some time before being back on firm land so I went out to the open deck. I realised it was October the 19th, 2018. It was exactly a year since I had arrived in Australia. I left my life in Barcelona, my friends and my job. Taking that decision wasn’t easy, but I hadn’t regretted for a single second.
I was there, in one of the most beautiful national parks in the world. The sun was setting and the views were amazing. I felt like since I had arrived in Australia, up till that moment, I had grown up a lot. I felt both happy and proud about what I had done and achieved.
In 2 days I would be leaving Indonesia. On the one hand it felt I had been there for ages. On the other hand it felt I had been there for just some hours. I had visited amazing places, seen incredible creatures and met nice people. I felt pretty happy with the way things had worked out for me during my time in such a vast and beautiful country.
Back at Labuan Bajo I thanked the crew and shook hands with all the people I had met. They were all pretty nice and had very interesting stories behind them. I hope you guys are all good! After saying goodbye to all of them, Andreina and I walked back to Centro Hostel. We took a shower, arranged some stuff and went to the Night Market to have dinner. If you look for a place with nice ambience, good prices and fresh food, that’s your place. Andreina and I agreed that while the tour hadn’t been the best (we had some problems with the boat) it wasn’t that bad either. Thus, it’s on you whether to go with Floresia or with another agency. After dinner we went to the hostel to sleep. Next day I would be leaving Flores.
