3 day/2 night tour of Komodo, Rinca and surrounding islands from Labuan Bajo – snorkelling, trekking and boats

After initially booking just a 2 day/1 night tour (750,000IDR per person), we changed our mind last minute to make the most of our time over on Flores and have 3 days/2 nights (1,500,000IDR per person) instead.

Having bagged ourselves a private tour – just one of the many benefits of visiting in low season – we met our captain and crew, our boat was driven by the captain’s father and the rest of the crew consisted of the cook (captain’s wife) and 2 deck hands (the captain’s 2 young sons), and set off for Manta Point. Even before we reached the first stop we’d seen schools of jumping fish (not sure what type of fish they were but they looked a bit like tuna) and a pod of about 20 dolphins!
Having reached Manta Point, on the south eastern tip of Komodo Island, we were shocked by the strength of the current given the seemingly serene surface of the water. After quite a bit of fin kicking we followed our captain (a self-proclaimed expert in manta spotting!) to the see the first of about 6 giant manta rays. Fighting against the current to get closer was tough, a couple of scuba divers had managed to tether themselves to a rock to get close but still seemed to be fighting a losing battle against the sea. Happy to have at least one sighting, we allowed the current to guide us along a coral wall, and we spotted a few cheeky turtles too!

*Sadly, our waterproof camera decided to become not very waterproof..as in, not at all…the camera broke and will no longer accept that there is a memory card inside so there are no more water photos from this trip, just a few others that we managed to take with my iPad!*

Next stop, Pink beach. This stop wasn’t quite as expected, we’d seen pictures and it had indeed looked pink but it wasn’t when we were there, maybe it’s a time of day thing, or a seasonal thing, either way, it wasn’t pink but it was nice all the same.

We made another random snorkel stop, saw loads of fish and a lovely turtle that I managed to swim alongside for quite some time…I think he was an old one because of the detail on his shell (and he was slow enough for me to keep up with!)

At dusk, we stopped off at flying fox island, unsurprisingly, to watch the flying foxes…there were 100′s…

We overnighted at Komodo Village (where our captain and his family are from), we had a quick walk through the village, said hello to the very friendly locals and stopped to watch a group of lads play volleyball. Back at the boat, we watched the sun set from the jetty and waited for dinner. The family (bar the eldest child) decided to sleep in their home (it was offered to us but we didn’t want to put them out and we were happy to sleep on the boat), beds were made and we all settled down at around 9pm, ready for the usual early morning wake-up call from the local mosque.

Day 2, hiking day…the day to see the dragons! On most tours, visiting the Komodo’s would be done on the first day however, as our first day fell on a Sunday, we switched the days around (the entrance fees are 75,000IDR more per person on Sunday’s and holidays).

We paid our entrance, guide and hiking fees (510,000IDR for both of us), the entrance fees are valid for both Komodo and Rinca ON THE SAME DAY (it used to be valid for 3 days but not anymore), the guide fee is per guide and not per person. We met our guide, Rizal, a great, knowledgeable young guy, decided on the medium walk – there’s a choice of 3, the guide will probably suggest which is best and which has the best likelihood of you seeing dragons depending on where the sightings have been on previous days. We immediately saw our first dragon, strolling along the sand in front of the entrance. We saw 8 dragons on Komodo…

We had another snorkel stop after lunch, this time we decide to swim amongst the mangroves. We saw so much, a huge fish (we need to work on our identification skills!), a sea snake, needle fish, trumpet fish, flat fish along the sea bed failing miserable to hide, a carcass of some fish that looked like it had a ‘normal’ skeleton at the back and a long needle nose (about 40cm total), Goby and Pistol Shrimp.

Next up, Rinca. Same situation as Komodo, pay the fees (an additional 110,000IDR for both of us) for the hiking fee and guide (the entrance to the National Park had already been paid on Komodo), our guide this time was Emanuel, an equally knowledgeable young guide, he works 10 days on Rinca and then has 10 days off back at home in Labuan Bajo. We saw a further 6 Komodo’s, 4 grouped up in the shade under the kitchen (due to their long memory, they still think there’s a chance of being fed even though the park stopped feeding them over 20 years ago) and then we saw 2 baby Komodo’s, they are much more energetic than the big guys and were out on the hunt for food.

We sailed to Kanawa Island to watch sunset, have dinner and prepare some fish bait (out of parcel tie) ready for some fishing…

Excitement rose with the possibility of catching squid… The young lad managed to spear one, but it’s body fell back in…then he caught a big ***Kalaputi*** fish.

Excitement over, we all bedded down for the night, as the whole family slept on board this time, we set up camp on a mattress on the floor at the front of the boat, we left the sides open to allow a breeze through and so we could watch the night sky, literally sleeping under the stars.

A 6am rise with the sun lead to some early morning snorkelling off the boat at Kanawa (it’s a 100,000IDR per person fee to set foot on the beach but free to snorkel). A great way to start the day…pristine coral, LOADS of fish, clams and 2 turtles, one virtually swam into my arms as Matt followed him – a happy little turtle, eager to play.

We returned to the boat to be served a breakfast of rice, fried egg and the fish caught last night, supplemented with another fish caught in the morning…delicious, fresh, pure white fish!

More dolphins showed up just as we pulled up for the second snorkel of the day, ***Alum Kul-Kul. We tried to follow a group but we couldn’t catch up with them. We spent an hour investigating, as usual, the area was teeming with life.

Back at Labuan Bajo by 12 noon after a thoroughly enjoyable few days!
I’d highly recommend this type of tour, you get amazing views of the islands, see plenty of sea life, you’re almost guaranteed to see Komodo dragons, see amazing sunrises and sunsets and generally have a great time on a boat! Obviously, we were very lucky to get a private tour, we may have felt differently had we been on a packed boat but I think if you visit in low season you’d be ok, otherwise, try and get your own group together, at least that way, you know your boat won’t be filled with annoying strangers!!

A few facts about Komodo Dragons:

• They can live 50-60 years in the wild (up to 90 years in captivity due to lack of predators and constant feeding)
• On Komodo, the male:female ratio is about 5:1, on Rinca 3:1
• The sex of the Komodo is determined on incubation temperature (much like snakes) – cooler temperature=female, warmer=male
• Incubation period is between 8 and 9 months
• The eggs are only cared for by the mother for the first 3 months, then they are left in the nest (usually monsoon rains mean that mud covers and protects them) – a baby Komodo would not know/recognise it’s own mother
• Females can lay about 30 eggs at a time although only about 15% survive
• The first eggs to hatch usually eat the unhatched ones
• Baby Komodo’s are about 30cm long
• Young Komodo’s tend to climb trees to keep away from predators, until they become too heavy for the tree (around 3 years)
• Adults only eat about once a month (but are greedy and will eat at any opportunity they can)
• They hunt and eat large prey; deer, water buffalo, the odd human…
• Their bite is very infectious due to the 60+ different types of bacteria in their mouth (usually from animal carcus’)
• They eat the whole animal (including bone) until it’s too big such as a deers head complete with antlers, as such, Komodo poo dries white because of all the calcium
• Males have 2 penis’ (don’t know why!)
• Mating season is July/August, Komodo’s are harder to spot as the females go up into the hills to hide and the males try to find them! [take note, this coincides with high season for tourists]

Below is a map of the trip, including the stops we made: