Komodo National Park
Today was an early riser. We got up at 5:30am in order to chop on some very stale chicken and rice before being picked up by our driver. We were swiftly taken to the harbour to meet our boat guide.
We had booked a day trip around Komodo National park. It consists of multiple islands, nature reserves and coral reefs.
Our first stop was Palau Padar island, this has the best viewpoint in the whole park. We climbed 800 or so steps in humid 32° weather to reach the top. By the time we made it up we were both mere puddles of Sweat. sitting down for a drink of water left a sweaty imprint of my bum on the hot stones.
After descending, we were speedboated to our next stop, Pink beach. Due to a vibrant pink species of coral being broken up in this area, the sand in this bay is pink The water was so clear that from the shore we watched a baby black tip reef shark zooming around the feet of paddlers.
Once time was up here, we traveled to the Komodo nature reserve. Here we walked for 45 minutes in search of Komodo dragons. As the islands name suggests we found them everywhere we looked. Being huge (2m long and 1/2 m tall), smelly and fast, they weren’t hard to spot. They can run up to 20km an hour and only feed once a month. Luckily today was not a feeding day.
On the way to the next stop we ate an airplane style meal lunch of chicken and rice. Before long we had reached the sand bank, a snorkeling spot of shallow blue water. More sharks and turtles were spotted.
A five minute boat ride took us to Manta point. We quickly jumped in the water to see five or six huge Manta Rays circling below us. They have fin spans of 2m minimum. My trusty £1 waterproof phone case came in handy once again for recording these gentile giants. This was my highlight.
On the way back to the harbour we stopped at one last snorkeling point. The sea was alive with colourfull fish and corals and a very strong currant making swimming hungry work.
Returning to the harbour we quickly showered and packed rushing out for a lovely Italian meal as our last in Indonesia. This boat trip was the best end to this part of our travels
-M
