Labuan Bajo (including Komodo Island), Flores, Indonesia

8th May – 11th May 2018

The journey to our last official Indonesian stop, began at about 10.30am when our flight left Bali. The flight was a short one, and while Joe napped, I sorted out photos on my laptop (something I am very far behind with).

When we landed at 11.20, we were straight off the plane into baggage claim, where we had to wait for my little bag to come off. We had checked it in because it had the sun cream and shampoo in it, but we discovered when we went through security that there isn’t a liquid limit for domestic flights, so we didn’t need to check it in after all. We got the bag and went outside, where we were luckily greeted by someone from the hostel.

After the stress we had when we arrived in Bali, with the taxis, we didn’t want to go through that again, so booked a transfer through the hostel, and it was worth it. We were straight out to him, and straight in the car to the hostel. There’s a good chance that we would have got lost finding the hostel on our own anyway, so it was a double bonus.

When we arrived at the hostel, we checked in and were shown to our room. We dropped our bags off and did a little Labuan Bajo research, before eating some lunch (the food we got on the plane). We sat in the hostel grounds which were very nice and chilled for a little bit, before going out to explore.

As I wanted to find a market, Joe had done some research and we set off in the direction we thought we would find one. We didn’t quite find a market and it was an extremely hot and sweaty walk up a hill, but we got some beautiful views of the harbour and neighbouring islands. I couldn’t believe how blue the water was and how amazing it all looked.

After walking back down, we ended up at the front. We had a little walk along and enjoyed the views. We were trying to get our bearings of the area and see what there was to do. However, other than a lot of tourist shops for trips to other islands, there wasn’t much on offer.

Once we had wandered around the main streets on the front, we made our way back to the hostel, as we were far too hot to do anything else.

When we got back to the hostel, we spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out. In the hostel, there was a common area on the second floor with bean bags and fans, so we went up there and relaxed for a couple of hours.

As the hostel seemed to be the cheapest place to eat, we decided to stay in for dinner. As we went down towards the restaurant, we were stopped by the tour guides for our tour to Komodo Island. They spoke very broken English, but from what they were saying, we had booked a private tour to see the islands, which we didn’t realise but that definitely explains the price! It might be another example of when we should have waited until we got to the place before booking a trip, but with us being on limited time, we don’t want to miss out, so like to book in advance – it’s all a learning curve!

Once the guides had left, we made our way to dinner. We both went for Italian food this time: I had carbonara and Joe had a pizza. Mine didn’t take too long to come out at all, but I had finished my whole meal before Joe had even started his! My pasta was good but the pizza was much nicer.

After dinner, we got ourselves ready for an early night. As it was so early, Joe nipped to the nearby shop to grab some biscuits in case we got hungry later on, while I did some writing. We then got the bag ready for our day trip and chilled out, as we had an early morning the next day.

When the alarm went off at 5.45, it was a struggle and it took me four attempts to wake Joe, but we got there in the end. We got up and dressed, before going out into the kitchen to make breakfast. Breakfast was included in the hostel, but we had to make it ourselves, which was fine, as we were up early. We had a pancake each, before our tour guide arrived early, so rushed to finish getting ready.

We were ready bang on time, at 6.30, so we set off with our guide. We had a short drive to the port, where we were taken to the boat that we had for the day. It wasn’t the most elaborate boat, but we had it to ourselves and we had a sun deck on top. We sat downstairs for a while, while we applied our sun cream, before we went up to sunbathe.

As it was a slow, fishing boat, it took us a few hours to get to Komodo Island, but we just lay down and enjoyed the sunshine and the stunning views along the way. Our guide told us that Labuan Bajo used to be a small fishing village (which explained the boat) but is starting to be built upon (which explained all of the building work which was going on). Since the Komodo National Park got its name, Labuan Bajo has become more of a town (as it contains the closest airport) and it is now a competition between locals to see who can build the best and biggest hotel for tourists. I’m not sure the town has much going for it at the moment but maybe in a few years it will be a different story.

Just before 10, we arrived at Komodo Island. We got off the boat and were taken by our guide, to the local ranger. We were told how important it was to stay close to our ranger as Komodo dragons are really deadly animals and can kill with one bite because of the poison in their saliva. Apparently the latest human death was in 2016 when a Singapore man refused a ranger and went off hiking on his own. He saw a dragon kill some prey, so went up close to take a photo and was surrounded by other dragons and bitten.

There were three kinds of walks available: a short walk, a medium walk and a long walked (and that’s what they were named). We were told we would get to choose which walk we did, so at first we thought we would do the long one, as we would have a better chance of seeing a dragon. When we got there and felt the heat and realised the long one was over two hours, we changed our minds to do the medium one, but in the end we didn’t even get a choice and I’m sure we did the short one, even though we were told it wouldn’t be.

On the walk, we saw lots of wild animals: lots of chickens, deer and boar. As we were walking along, a female dragon crossed our path ahead of us. She was too far in the distance to get a decent photo, but we were so happy to see it, and apparently very lucky, as it’s rare.

Further along the path, we saw a female dragon nest, and it was huge! I couldn’t believe the size of it. Apparently Komodo dragons take their nests from birds who live on the island. Mating season for the dragons is between June and July and when it comes time to lay their eggs in August to September, the females will fight each other for the best nest.

Once the have a nest, they dig themselves a hole two metres down and one metre across and then lay fifteen to thirty oval shaped eggs into it. The eggs are apparently quite round but flat and are about three times bigger than a chicken’s egg. Once they are buried, the female will cover them over and then put multiple holes in the surface of the nest to deter prey.

The mother dragons will protect their eggs for two to three months, until rainy season begins. Once the rain comes, the holes are covered with mud and water, so it’s hard to know where to look. At this point, the mother leaves her eggs and now becomes a predator to her babies. Komodo dragons are cannibals, so are a threat to each other too.

Seven to nine months after they were laid (from March to May), the eggs begin to hatch. Only 15-20% of the eggs survive though, so very few hatch. When they do, and make it to the surface, they run directly for the trees and climb them. This is their survival instinct, as they know their mother will be back to try and eat them, as she knows they will be hatching.

Baby dragons live in the trees for the first few years of their life. They feed off geckos and other small lizards until they are big enough to protect themselves on the ground. Not all babies survive this process though, as older dragons who hatched the previous years are also predators, and they still live in the trees, so sometimes eat the younger ones. As cruel as it sounds, their cannibalism is a way of natural selection (survival of the fittest), to control the numbers in the wild, so it doesn’t get out of control (and so that they don’t kill off other animals which they use as prey).

On Komodo Island, there are 1300 dragons, with a ratio of three male to one female. The gender of the dragons is determined by the temperature, hence why there are more males. There are twenty three islands making up Komodo National Park, but only five of them have the dragons, with Komodo Island having the most. Even though the dragons can swim, there isn’t the prey on other islands for them to survive, so they only usually go in the water to cool off.

The Komodo dragon is believed to be a pre-historic animal, and the first fossil found was in Australia. It is believed that the group of islands used to be part of Australia. This belief comes from the fact that the other animals found on the islands, such as deer, cockatoo and snakes are all very similar or the same as those found in Australia.

Carrying on, on the walk, we went to the watering hole, where the animals come to drink during this time of year (the dry season). The dry season is from May until October and then the wet season is the other half of the year. According to our ranger, the temperatures differ from hot to hotter throughout the year, and we could tell! The ranger took us to the watering hole, as he said it was our best chance to see dragons as they go there to catch their prey whilst they drink water.

To our surprise, there was a dragon there! It was a male and it was huge, just sat by the water, waiting. With the ranger’s guidance, we got quite close and were able to crouch next to it for some photos. The ranger was fantastic with us and got loads of really good shots. There were a few groups there, all with rangers, who all had big sticks to keep the dragon at a distance, so it felt safe. At one point the dragon got up and had a little walk forward, sticking its tongue out, before settling back down again.

After watching the dragon for a while, we carried on our walk. We saw another female in the trees, and then Joe spotted a baby one! It was scuttling across the ground but then stopped for us. Apparently this is extremely rare, as the babies usually spend their first few years up in the trees, but this one was less than a year and on the ground! Apparently their bites aren’t fatal, they are more like a bee sting, so it was even safer.

I think all of the excitement and the fact that we saw four dragons is the reason we only did the short walk, because after seeing the baby one, we ended up back at the ranger’s station. We were fine with this because we had seen so much more than we had imagined! We said thank you and goodbye to our ranger, before getting back to our boat with Sony (our tour guide) just after 11.

We momentarily lost our boat, as it had moved piers to wait for us, but this worked out well, as we passed through a little market, where I found a patch – something I didn’t expect to find in such a new area for tourists.

Once we were back on the boat, we carried on for about thiry minutes to Pink Beach. It apparently gets its name from the red coral mixing with the sand on the beach but when we got there, it wasn’t very pink, sadly. We got in the water and had a snorkel, seeing lots of beautiful coloured coral and fish. The GoPro packed in, once again, even though it had half the battery left, but we managed to get some footage.

After about half an hour, we decided to get back on the boat, as the water was so cold! Sony didn’t believe us at first, but got in for a bit himself and lasted less time than we did! We sat on the sun deck and dried off for a little bit, before we carried on, on our journey.

As we set off again, Sony invited us back downstairs for lunch. We had fish, rice and salad, but the fish came as a whole one. As someone who only ate fish fingers before leaving England, this was a bit daunting for me, but I got stuck in and it was so tasty. Neither of us really knew how to eat it, so we kind of just pulled at it with our spoon – I got a few bones but I managed to pick them out eventually.

Once we had finished, I had a mess around with the GoPro, as we were heading to Manta Point, to hopefully see some manta rays and I didn’t want to miss out on getting a photo! I managed to take the SD card out and reset it, and it seemed to be working again, so we just had to hope!

When we arrived at Manta Point, we were told to be ready, and when the crew spotted one, they would just tell us to jump. We were ready, while they looked and then all of a sudden, there were loads of them! This again, is apparently another rare thing to spot, but I don’t know if they were just trying to make us feel special.

At first, I was a little sceptical to jump in because they were huge! So much bigger than I expected them to be. I braced myself and went for it though because they’re apparently not dangerous, although they most certainly look the part! We got in with them and had a swim, while a few of them came swimming around us. I wanted to stay in with them for longer, but there were loads of tiny jellyfish on the surface of the water, stinging us. It was so uncomfortable and the sting lasted a while, so we decided to get out, once we had lost sightings of them all. They were sometimes easier to see from the surface, so I asked the crew if they could see any, before I got out, but they couldn’t, so I gave in.

 

Back on the boat, my stings had calmed down, but Joe had one in between his fingers, so the crew gave him some gel, which seemed to work. We stood, looking for more, for a while, but couldn’t see any, so we made our way back to Labuan Bajo.

During the ride back, we had three hours to kill, so we went on the sun deck again, and I alternated between the sun and the shade, while Joe slept the whole way. It was quite a rocky ride home, but if we lay down, it wasn’t too bad – we just had to keep hold of all of our things.

We arrived back at the port, at around 4.45. Our driver was waiting for us, so we got in the car and were taken back to our hostel. We said goodbye to Sony and went back to the room.

Back in the room, we chilled out for about half an hour, before getting ready to head back out for dinner. On our way out, we checked with the hostel that we had a lift to the airport in the morning, and they said that as long as our name was on the board, it would be sorted.

For dinner, we wanted to check out the night fish market, so were intending to head there. However, it got dark quite quickly and the streets were busy with cars and we were both tired (although Joe had just had a three hour nap), so we didn’t quite make it that far. We stopped in Warung Mama, a top rated restaurant, but when we went in, it was all food in cabinets that you had to choose and we just weren’t feeling that adventurous yet.

Instead, we crossed the road and started to head back to the hostel. We found another restaurant, where we went in and sat down. The staff didn’t seem bothered about us, so I questioned whether we should stay. We sat with pretty views over the harbour and waited for a little bit. After about ten minutes, as we hadn’t been approached by anyone, and I had a weird feeling about it, we decided to leave. There was only one other table, of two people, in, so the service shouldn’t have been that slow.

We walked back along the road and ended up in Burger Time, a very average but expensive place, we soon learnt. We shared a burger and a hot dog, with some chips. The burger was nice, but I wasn’t keen on the hot dog – I never am though, so I don’t know why I ordered it!

After we had eaten, we went back to the hostel to pack and get ready to leave, we had another early start, so wanted to be prepared before we fell asleep. We looked at our photos and videos for the day, before we went to bed.

The next morning, the alarm was set for 6. We got up and dressed, before leaving the sauna of a room. The annoying thing about dorms is that you will never please everyone and when one girl came in the night before, she turned the air con off! It was so much cooler outside, it was comforting.

We had pancakes for breakfast again, which I made, while Joe put the last bits in the bags. We were ready and waiting for our lift at 7, but no one turned up. Eventually, the staff sorted it out and a taxi arrived. However, we were expecting the hostel car to take us, like it picked us up, and weren’t happy that they didn’t tell us it would be extra. In the end, the hostel said that they would pay the extra towards the taxi, which was good of them as we had been messed around a little.

Just before 7.30, we arrived at the airport. We had to show our booking and go through security to get into the airport again. We checked in and went through a second security before going up to the gate. It was only a tiny airport, so there wasn’t much to do but sit and wait, so we did.

About fifteen minutes prior to departure, we boarded the plane. As we walked along the tarmac, we were heading for a tiny plane with propellers. We climbed up the planes own steps, as it was so low down it didn’t need the airport ones. There were only eighteen rows and each row had two sets of two seats!

We set off only a few minutes late, to head back towards Denpasar, where we were having a quick 20-hour stopover. We landed at around 10ish, and after collecting my little bag, which we had checked in, we went to the luggage storage office to collect our big backpacks.

From here, we walked to our airport hotel, which was about twenty minutes from the airport. We got a little lost on the way, but it was down a load of back streets, and the map did take us to the back of the hotel instead of the front.

When we arrived, we were allowed to check in early, which was great! That was only because the people in our room had checked out early, but it still worked well for us. We were hot, sweaty anf very smelly by this point, so we were very grateful. We dropped our bags off in the room and gathered all of our laundry together, as that was the first job of the day.

Despite the hotel advertising that it did laundry, it didn’t, so we had to walk the streets to find somewhere. Luckily, there was one not very far, which was really cheap and said they would have it done for us by the end of the day.

Once we had dropped our laundry off, we went looking for some lunch. We hadn’t researched it, so had no idea where we were going, so just wandered. We didn’t like the look of much we saw, so we ended up in a supermarket, just buying snacks to keep us going.

After the supermarket, we walked back to the hotel to chill out, research more of our trip, caught up on bits and pieces and had a nice dip in the pool. The afternoon went by quite quickly. As we had had a busy few days, I took myself up to the room for an hour’s nap, while Joe sorted some things out. It was quite a peaceful day.

Just before 6, Joe wandered back to the laundry place to see if it was ready. Luckily, it was, so he paid up and brought it back, meaning that we could go out for dinner.

For dinner, we had looked up places on Trip Advisor and found somewhere quite close. We walked around, although the maps.me app took us a very strange way through the back streets, so we got a little lost. When we finally arrived, we checked out the menu, and although it was a little pricier than we were used to, it looked so good, so we decided to sit.

As it was our last night in Indonesia, we pushed the boat out a little bit. I had a beer, even if it was the lemon flavoured one that Joe had tried earlier in the week! For food, we ordered a sharing platter which was delicious! We got so much food, including sate sticks, ribs, rice, salads and sauces. It was the most full we had felt in ages. To top it all off, one of the men who worked there (maybe the owner) was really friendly. He chatted to us all night, checked on us regularly and even gave us a free sample of a new smoothie to try, and a free dessert! It might have been more expensive than usual but the experience was worth it, and we were very full!

After our meal, we walked back, which was a nice way of letting the food settle. When we got back, we had to shower and unpack the laundry to repack our bags. It didn’t take too long, but it was a squeeze to get everything back into place again.

Once we were packed and ready for leaving, we got into bed to try and get some sleep. As we were up very early for our flight, we knew we would only have a few hours, but it was better than nothing.

The 4.15 alarm was very difficult to wake up to. We had to snooze it a couple of times, before I finally got up and put the light on. As we were mostly packed, it didn’t take long to get the last few bits together before going downstairs.

Included in the booking was a one way free transfer to the airport, and fortunately we had chosen to be dropped off. We sat in reception for five minutes before the owner took us. The airport was only down the road, but it was nice to not have to walk with all of our bags.

At the airport, we checked in and went through immigration and security, before finding a seat and waiting for time to pass before we could board the plane.

Labuan Bajo itself was nothing special – I didn’t get any kind of vibe from it. I guess it isn’t quite ready for tourists yet, but I’m not sure if the new complex it looks like they’re building will ruin the little town. Komodo Island, on the other hand, was something else! The island was beautiful, the water was clear, and the dragons were fascinating. The tour we did with Sony (and Save Komodo Tour) to the island and the snorkel sights was one of the best tours I’ve done, seeing some amazing things – it was well worth every penny!

After a chilled day back on Bali to organise ourselves, it’s time to say goodbye to Indonesia, as we head over to Malaysia. Being pestered by the locals with transport offers, haggling with market stall owners, trying new foods and meeting new animals has all been part of the fun. There have been multiple questions of whether we are on our honeymoon, or brother and sister (by different people) and we’re not sure how to take that, but the locals have been so welcoming. It’s been a quick but great few weeks in Indonesia, and I’m sure we will be back!

To travel is to live, Katie x