Prehistoric Island: Labuan Bajo and Rinca Island, Komodo National Park

I’m fairly sure it has been one of my nightmares to be wandering through an unfenced Jurassic Park with nothing but a man carrying a long, two-pronged stick to protect me. Yet I still found myself traveling for two straight days to get to Labuan Bajo on the island of Flores in Indonesia, a jumping-off point to do this very thing. Call me crazy, but you’d have to call 30,000 other people who visit Komodo National Park each year crazy as well.

There are currently only three islands where komodo dragons can be found in their natural habitat, and they are all part of Komodo National Park off the coast of Flores, Indonesia. These giant lizards, reaching up to ten feet and over 300 pounds in size, are an endangered species with only a few thousand remaining in the wild. Their size, speed, serrated teeth, and septic jaws are at once a cause for fear and a draw for thousands of tourists who come to see these prehistoric beasts lounging around on the islands of Komodo and Rinca each year.

Getting there: Kim and I traveled overland from Lombok to Flores, a trip that can be booked directly or split up into several days, like we did (read about our trip here). From Sape, the port in East Sumbawa, a ferry leaves every day at 8 am for Labuan Bajo, Flores. The guide books say the 8 am ferry is the only one, but this isn’t necessarily true. If you get to Sape after 8, wait around until 4 before you book a hotel room. We found out after arriving that a ferry came at 4 pm and left late that night for an overnight trip to Labuan Bajo. We were initially told that no ferry would arrive, but alas, it did, and we arrived in Labuan Bajo the next morning (the ferry ride is around 7 hours and cost 46,000 rupiah).

Labuan Bajo

Labuan Bajo was a great place to rest and recuperate after several days of traveling overland. We stayed at Matihara Inn, a decent hotel with wifi and free breakfast for 100,000 rp/night, and frequented The Corner, a quaint restaurant near the harbor with wifi and excellent club sandwiches and ice cream floats. From Labuan, diving trips and trips to Komodo and attractions farther north on the island can be arranged at a number of shops. We found the best deal for a Komodo trip on a street corner from a man trying to find extra people to fill spots on his boat.

If you want to see the dragons there are several options. One option is to buy a two day/one night or three day/two night tour, wherein you’ll stay in a hotel or on the deck of your boat and see Komodo, Rinca, and the surrounding islands (meals and snorkeling are included). Another option is to do a day trip to either Komodo or Rinca and stop for snorkeling on the way back. It all depends on what your goals are. If you want to see it all and do it all, you may want to opt for the longer tour. However, we’ve heard from several people that these tours may not be worth it. Our main concerns were seeing the dragons and getting our money’s worth (and besides, we had just traveled for several days and were exhausted!). So we opted for a day trip to Rinca Island.

Dragons at the Kitchen

If you visit Rinca you're are virtually guaranteed to see dragons (partly because they know where the kitchen is). Our trip was 200,000 (<$25 USD) each and included lunch and a snorkeling stop on the way back that was beautiful, and made for a wonderful and full day. (Make sure when negotiating a ticket price to insist that it include lunch and snorkeling gear. Gear isn’t expensive to rent, but it’s more convenient to have it provided for you.) We shared the boat with 3 lovely girls from the Chzek Republic; the more people on the boat, the lower you can get the ticket price, but many boats will limit you to 5 or 6 people.

Once at Rinca, we were charged a park admission fee (40,000 rp/person) and government taxes (50,000 rp/person). If you are only going to Rinca and not Komodo, tell them and you might get a break on the taxes. Since we were only visiting one of the islands we were charged 30,000 per person instead of 50. Just look really shocked when they tell you it’s 50 each, and say something like “Just for Rinca?”

Rinca's Stunning Scenery!

You’ll then get a choice for a short, medium, or long tour. We chose the medium and were happy we did. Much of the scenery is lost on the short tour, and we spoke with some friends who did the long tour and wished they hadn’t. Most of the wildlife will be seen in the first half, and it was hot. Many of the dragons we saw were in the first few minutes of the tour, lounging by the kitchen. We saw a few more out in the wild, including one that was preparing a nest to lay eggs in. You might be able to get pretty close to them, but listen to your guide’s advice on how close to get! They seemed pretty docile laying there and staring at us as we took pictures, but those suckers can run 11 mph, so we weren’t taking any chances.

A sobering reminder of the speed and skill of the dragons came at the end of the trip when we noticed a sign listing the number of komodo attacks in the park. One attack occurred on Rinca this year, but the victim (and a large number of previous victims) survived. In all the number was very small, but still made us feel like quite the badasses. This feeling alone, if it had not been a fun and breathtakingly beautiful trip, would have been worth the ticket price. A highly recommended adventure indeed!

Note: while in Labuan Bajo we also arranged for one night on Seraya Island, an hour from Flores. The price is reasonable (150/night) and includes transportation. We recommend it if you’re looking for simplicity, quiet, and a great night sky. It’s sort of like being on Gilligan’s island with 40 other people and a restaurant. However, if you don’t have several days to spend, the hour-long boat ride and mediocre food are not worth the trip! For a romantic getaway, Gili Meno may be a better option.

To learn more about the dragons: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/komodo-dragon/

Also be sure to check out our general travel tips for Indonesia!