24th to 26th of November 2019
We arrived at the small Komodo airport roaring with excitement. Only having researched into, and booking, this trip while we were in Lembongan we were excited for our upcoming adventure on a boat. But first things first, we had a night layover at a local hotel we found for a bargain price.
We left the airport to be greeted by the usual crowd of people all vying for our business as taxi drivers. On this occasion, our hotel had a transfer included, and for the first time, we felt like VIPs. Names printed on a piece of paper a driver met us at the exit, took our bags and drove us….2 minutes up the road. It was a grand and very welcome gesture from the hotel. Still, I’m relatively sure that Ryanair has put me on a bus for a greater distance to get to one of their cheaper departure gates usually situated at the extreme other end of the airport terminal.
The hotel itself was okay. It was unusual because the staff were all lovely people, amiable and accommodating. However, the business side of the hotel had the feeling like it had given up. A few good licks of paint and some better organisation of rooms and this place could easily charge more for a room than it currently does.
We dropped bags and headed into town for some dinner. Not sure what there was, we headed to the nearest warung for some rice and tasty treats for a very reasonable price. I really enjoy the Warung restaurants of Indonesia, and it would be good to see if we could find one back in the UK.
The premise works as follows. There generally is no menu, and the food is all pre-prepared. To order you make your way to the counter and the server gets a plate and puts a medium-sized mound of rice on the middle of it. It is then up to you to choose what else you would like on the plate by selecting things from the display. Whatever is on display is available, and each item has a price (for example, a piece of chicken carries a cost of ~20,000 Rupiah). You pay for all the food and then sit down to eat. It’s effortless but gives a fun make-your-own-plate dynamic that always attracts me to Subway back at home. Perhaps some sort of control thing where I like to set out precisely what I want in my sandwich.
We woke up early the next day to meet our driver for the boat tour. The hotel, as another great feature, allowed us to the leave our big backpacks at the reception while we would be on the boat, meaning we only had to carry our small day bags for our trip. We got into the car and made a stop along on the way to pick up another couple who would be joining us on the boat. We had a quick hello to the new members of the parts and drove to the dock. When we arrived, we were helped onto what would be our boat for the next two days, ferrying us to different areas inside the Komodo national park. We also then met our energetic and charismatic captain, Ekha.
One by one, each member of the boat tour came aboard the small vessel. We all introduced ourselves to each other as we would be a boating family for the next 48 hours. Thankfully everyone was really friendly, and we all got on right off the bat. This was great because it meant that no one had their guard up, and we all jumped straight in with fun stories and talking about what we were looking forward to seeing.
One by one, each member of the boat tour came aboard the small vessel. We all introduced ourselves to each other as we would be a boating family for the next 48 hours. Thankfully everyone was really friendly, and we all got on right off the bat. This was great because it meant that no one had their guard up, and we all jumped straight in with fun stories and talking about what we were looking forward to seeing.
Our second stop was for a cheeky bit of snorkelling. We swam around the nearby corral and saw some fishes. It was entertaining, but given my rather pale complexion, it didn’t take much sea time for my skin to start turning into its sun-kissed red hue of burn.
Our final stop for the day was on Rinca island. This is one of the larger islands in the Komodo National park and is home to many Komodo dragons, as well as snakes and buffalo. We got off of the boat and made our way around to the base camp (or more a bar than a camp really) where the local guides showed us what path we would walk. They also dispensed some useful safety advice given that the bite of a Komodo can be fatal due to the bacteria they carry in their mouths.
It didn’t take long for us to find a Komodo, as they were scattered around the man-made structure in the shade, in an attempt to hide from the midday sun. It says something about the ridiculous nature of tourism that humans will stroll about in midday heat to see reptiles who are actively doing their best to escape it. Despite a few sleepy Komodos, we did see a few with more energy running around which provided some reassurance that this (hopefully) wasn’t a place that was drugging wildlife for touristic spectators. We then also came across this one who used the water to cool down:
In the evening, we set up anchor near some mangroves as the sun started to set. We went to the top deck of the boat and sat with beers in hand as the sun began to hide behind the horizon. Slowly, above the groves, small black animals could be seen to be circling into the evening sky. What we were witnessing was the residents, the flying foxes, start their daily ritual of evening hunting. They would circle up high above the mangrove before flying across the waters, and above our boat, to the main islands to hunt for their food. There were thousands of the creatures, and it was a fantastic sight, made all the more impressive by the orange lit sky. The flying foxes can be seen in the cover photo of this blog entry.
It was finally time to bed down for the night. At this point, Katy and I were still unsure as to where we were going to be sleeping. Our impression was that our Boat Sleep would still be on the deck sleeping under the stars. However, at this point, we were no longer sure this was the case given that the crew were unconscious on the covered part of the deck, and there was no bedding around.
Our captain looked a bit confused and said that there were beds in the rooms. Seeing that this was one of those situations where it looked like no-one was sure what the right outcome should be, we knocked on the door of Alejandro and Sydney to take them up on their earlier offer of sleeping on the bed below. Thankfully they were very welcoming, and we crashed in the same cabin as theirs.
Falling asleep on this journey was surprising easily. Luckily I have never been one to suffer from any motion sickness so the gentle rocking of the boat was actually quite soothing to fall asleep to. Katy has informed me that she too slept well, not to only sing praises from my direction on this new experience.
Falling asleep on this journey was surprisingly easy. Luckily I have never been one to suffer from any motion sickness, so the gentle rocking of the boat was quite soothing to fall asleep to. Katy has informed me that she too slept well, not only to sing praises from my direction on this new experience.
True to his word, Ekha woke up the boat in a very cheery tone of voice shortly after 5:30 am (just after sunrise). The ship had sailed in the early hours, and we had arrived at the destination for our morning hike. Quickly getting dressed, we all jumped into the tug boat that brought us to shore.
The walk was nothing out of the ordinary, although it is bizarre on reflection that this island had a fully built staircase that led to three-quarters of the way up the climb with no buildings, vegetation or wildlife to be found. It did give itself the feeling of the pointless infrastructure projects mentioned at the end of a great Simpsons episode on the monorail (thinking along the lines of the escalator to nowhere).
The heat of the day started to crank up again on the walk back down, and by the time we got to the boat, it was fair to say we had earned our breakfasts; a delicious banana pancake and fruit. Next stop on our journey of the seas would be snorkelling around the island.
Mooring up near a pink beach (some of the coral leaks its pigment into the water and colours the sand of the shore a unique hue), we put on our flippers and snorkels and went for a swim. I decided at this point that my Irish skin probably had too much sun from the day before and stuck to wearing a long-sleeved sports shirt to avoid further reddening of my back.
There were lots of colourful fish swimming around, just like before and, out of nowhere, it looked like a rock had moved. Maybe I was going a bit mad, and yesterdays sun excess had produced some form of madness. I looked around again and, yes, the rock is moving! OHHH, it isn’t a rock (nor a rock lobster), but in fact a turtle!!! Seeing this creature go about a morning swim was fantastic. I popped my head up and saw most of the boat were snorkelling nearby, so I called them over to have a look too. A few more moments of watching the Blue Planet live and I looked around for Katy. In the distance, I saw her filming something else on her GoPro, so I swam over to tell her about my great find as my new self declared status of King of Sea Creatures.
On our way back, I found ANOTHER TURTLE! I quickly pointed it out to Katy, and we chilled for a while watching her (assuming gender here, no idea how you tell) munching on some nearby coral and coming up for air. Unfortunately, another group who were in the area though it would be a good idea to try and touch the turtle, Katy put them in their place, and they stopped arsing about
Another boat journey and lunch was served, this time freshly caught fish from the crew on the boat! It tasted so good!!! We carried on boating about until, all of a sudden, a yell from Ekha. The madman has just leapt overboard. He frantically yells for all of us to get snorkelling gear on and come into the water now. Not quite sure what is going on, we all jump up and get our fins on lightning-fast. We leapt in, and Ekha pointed for us to look under the water. Straight away two manta Rays were seen. We found another larger one a bit further away, but the creatures were so quick that it was hard it keep up. After a little while of searching, we gave up and decided it was time to head to our final stop of the tour, on a beach nearby the last port.
We stopped just off an island and asked if we could jump from the top of the boat. Great fun and we caught some great clips and pics of all of us messing around! Playtime over, we jumped into the little tug boat and headed to shore.
This private beach had a relaxed vibe to it, the sort you would expect from mental images when flicking through a travel agents booklet on island destinations. Its beach had villas to rent, a cute little bar and rope sing overlooking the clear blue waters. The small sand and we were able to snorkel just off from the sand. Lots of little fish could be seen as well as starfish, adding to wildlife seen bingo cards! Our time swiftly came to an end, and we headed back to the boat for our final journey. We decided we all got on so well we would meet for dinner that evening.
We all met up at a hostel where a few a group were staying, Seaesta. We recalled fun memories from the last two days and also talked about what all our different future travel plans were. Ekha and the lads from Singapore joined us after dinner for a few drinks, and we were introduced to some homemade Arrack. This drink is a distilled spirit from the coconut and had a sharp initial taste, followed by an intense sweetness. It got a very marmite reception from the group, whereas I loved the stuff and indulged in one too many shots of it!
Most of the group said their goodbyes, but a few of us headed over to a local bar with Ekha and got involved in some music, dancing and singing. While there we bumped into a lad travelling from the US who invited us to his swanky pad on the hillside, complete with private mini-pool. A few more drinks while enjoying the view, and it was time to call an end to the night.
The next morning we both woke up feeling worse for wear. We missed our free breakfast and even managed to be late for our check out (though unsurprisingly the hotel didn’t seem to notice, let alone care) as we slowly strolled about, packing and getting ready for our journey to Ubud. Our time at the Komodo islands was unplanned and added quite a bit of expense (financial tracking abound, at some point, ill provide some musing on to what our spends have been) to our overall travel. However, we couldn’t have asked for anything better. This ranks alongside the experience we had in the jungle with the Orangutans (see Bukit Luwang) for seeing nature.
Stay tuned for our final chapter (again, this is not in order, but our last place in Indonesia is Ubud – which can be found here). Also, I will be putting together videos from the places we have been to. Entirely when I get to this is another question (finding time out to get this all done while travelling is a lot harder than I first thought).