We hopped on a short flight from Bali to the town of Labuan Bajo on Flores Island, the main town (and only airport) located near Komodo National Park. This national park is comprised of a collection of untouched islands, including the only islands in the entire world where wild Komodo dragons, the largest lizards in the world, live. [Editor’s note: For those who don’t know much about them, it’s also worth noting that Komodo dragons are carnivorous (eating boars, water buffaloes, deer and, yes, even humans). They’re even cannibalistic, which is interesting. They kill their prey by biting them, following them until their venomous saliva kills the individual, then eats them. Super fun, eh?] Ever since before we left for this trip, seeing Komodo dragons in the wild was on my list; in fact, it’s one of the very few sights I insisted on including (Great Wall of China, Angkor Wat, Komodo dragons…the normal list, right?). [Editor’s note: I was always on board for seeing Komodo dragons, but also wasn’t super excited about the possibility of imminent death they present. It’s safe to say I was justifiably wary.] So I’d been waiting for months for this, and after our super relaxing and laid back time in Bali, it was time for some adventure.
In the Bali airport. Note the oversized pack on her back and the daypack across her chest. Glamorous life, right?
We planned four days on Flores, figuring we’d spend three days on a boat trip around the islands with one day for buffer time if scheduling was tricky. As it turns out, though, it’s low season for tourism right now, and there weren’t enough people for any of the tour operators to run the three day tour. Instead, they all offered a two-day, one-night version that still hit all the major sights, so we signed up for one of those. It was even cheaper than we’d been expecting (bonus!) and included accommodation – sleeping on the boat – as well as all meals, snorkel equipment, coffee and water. Our boat had 12 other people on it, including two young French girls aged 4 and 7 with their parents. [Editor’s note: This French family was an awesome source of inspiration. The parents were pretty laidback about everything and the kids were good natured and easy to travel with (in addition to being adorable). Suffice it to say, it planted seeds in our minds for future travel efforts.] There was another group of four from France (what are the chances of eight French speakers?) and three young Brits just out of high school, in addition to one solo Chinese traveler. This was a no-frills operation for sure, and it turned out that the sleeping arrangements were foam mattresses laid out next to each other on a lofted platform, the only toilet was little more than a hole into the water, and of course there was no sink or shower beyond a barrel of water on the front deck. Despite this, the crew (who spoke no English) managed to cook complete meals for us, including deep-fried vegetables, fresh fish they caught during the trip, and several types of noodles, in addition to the critical hot water for instant coffee. [Editor’s note: It was rustic in a way that I love, but most people wouldn’t. Plus, given that it was only for a short period of time, it wasn’t a big deal to rough it for a bit. Note that it helps that everyone was pretty genial and easygoing, making the cramped quarters all the easier to deal with.]
Our home sweet boat for two days.
Hanging out on the bow during our many hours of transit time
We started with a several-hour journey to our first dragon stop on the island of Rinca. Along the way, we were met with gorgeous vistas of pristine green islands and white beaches rising out of the calm, clear water. Hardly any of the islands had any buildings or signs of civilization whatsoever (which I think is largely because many of them are part of the National Park), which led to a serene and beautiful journey. [Editor’s note: This was a component of the trip that we totally overlooked, but that quickly became a highlight. There are 17,000+ islands in Indonesia and most are uninhabited, so it just made for a stunningly picturesque ride. Very much what we expected Halong Bay, Vietnam to be, assuming the weather there had cooperated a bit more.] To make it better, we saw wild dolphins barely an hour into the trip! On Rinca we were matched up with three guides – only form of protective “weapon” was a long stick that branched into two prongs at one end (maybe fine for pushing plants out of the way, but it didn’t seem super effective should a dragon decide to actually attack) – for our first hike to find Komodo dragons.
This sign welcomed us to Rinca. We haven’t even set foot on the island and we have another reptile to worry about?!
We had barely stepped away from the visitors center when we rounded a corner of another building and saw an enormous pile of Komodo dragons just hanging out! I guess they know that people provide food scraps, or something – there were maybe 6-10 giant dragons just sitting there right by the building, mere feet away from us. After we got over our initial shock of seeing so many, so close, our guides started having us take turns getting photos with the dragons. This involved us (the tourists) crouching behind a dragon while the guide would take the camera or smartphone, walk around to the dragon’s head, crouch down, and get the shot. It was terrifying, and I was convinced one of the guides would get bitten. [Editor’s note: The fact that they didn’t get bitten has to be a miracle. There’s no way they get paid enough for that level of risk. They’re either brave, dumb or both.]
Selfie with the initial pile of dragons. I’m thrilled; Rorie, less so.
Our first “crouch behind the dragons photo”!
Our best pose with a dragon! This one almost looks fake but I assure you, it’s not.
This is one of those photos I wasn’t supposed to take. Oops.
After leaving the group of dragons by the building, we hiked through the scrubby, dry forest and saw a few more dragons, and climbed a hill with a pretty overlook to a harbor before heading back to our boat. The whole time we’re walking single file through the dusty bushes, I was thinking about how well camouflaged the dragons were and how there could definitely be one just inches away that I probably would never see. Personally, I was thrilled to finally see these animals in the wild, as they’ve always been on my list of fascinating and amazing creatures. Rorie was slightly further on the “why are we voluntarily putting ourselves on the home turf of these known man-eaters” side of the spectrum, and though I know he was nervous, I’m glad he made the journey with me to see them! [Editor’s note: My concern was justified. I have zero shame about that. I’m a man.]
Our even better pose with a dragon! This one almost looks fake but I assure you, it’s not.
Less peaceful, but way more awesome.
Hi there! So glad you’re looking straight at me. I’ll just back away now.
Following Rinca, we returned to our boat and headed toward Komodo Island, the other main place where dragons live. We stopped to snorkel first at Pink Beach, which true to its name is white sand with tiny red flecks of coral, giving it a pretty pink color when you look up close. The snorkeling was just ok, but it’s a beautiful setting and a perfect beach.
Difficult to tell the pink color in photos, but I promise it’s a pink beach.
Then we headed for the dragons of Komodo for our second death-defying hike. It was late enough in the evening by this time that instead of the required three guides (given the number of people in our group), one had already gone home so we went with just two. The guides seemed a little too flippant about this given the potential danger, but hey, they do this every day right? [Editor’s note: How did we know he was too flippant, which was probably against the rules? He sketchily checked our phones to make sure we didn’t get pictures of him doing the absurdly dangerous stunt that Jess describes in the next sentence so that he wouldn’t get in trouble with his boss.] We did a short hike and saw several more dragons, and got an even closer photo with the guide holding Rorie’s phone in the dragon’s face making kissy noises at it like it was a puppy to get it to look straight at the camera. (Guide: “You’re too far away! <draws line in the sand immediately behind the dragon’s tail with his weapon/stick.> Stand here!” Us, nervously eyeing the dragon: “Ummm…we’re ok back here, thanks.”) We also saw our first dragon actually walking, as we found one in the grass watching some deer (that we promptly scared away by traipsing across the field for a look at the dragon). While they don’t tend to move particularly quickly, it’s creepy to see them walk, and it seems like at any second they could speed up and make an unexpected run at you. [Editor’s note: They don’t walk so much as they strut, which makes sense given that they have no natural predators on the island. They are the top of the food chain. We’re somewhere in the middle – not where you want to be.]
We survived Jurassic Park aka Komodo Island!
This is the above dragon from a different angle. Somehow it’s even scarier when it’s hidden in the bushes, I think.
Komodo Island at sunset – deceptively calm.
By the time we got back to the boat, the sun was setting, so we headed to our anchor spot for the night and watched the amazing stars before falling asleep early on our thin mattresses. It’s a good thing we fell asleep early, because the crew started up the engines right under our heads at precisely 6AM (though I did manage to wake up a few minutes earlier to groggily catch a gorgeous sunrise). We headed for Padar Island, the site of a steep hike up to an iconic vista out over the island. This is the view that’s on every postcard that doesn’t have a dragon on it, and for good reason. From the vantage point, which we reached after a very hot and sweaty trudge up a ton of stairs and rocky path (we were grateful we’d started so early, because the day was only going to get hotter), you can see out over the island with three distinct beaches. If you look closely, you can see that they’re actually three different colors! One is a white sand beach, one is black sand (volcanic rock), and one is another pink beach with the red coral flecks! Such an awesome and unlikely combination of sights on the same island.
Sunrise from the boat, around 5:45am.
The incredible view from the top of Padar Island. Right is white sand, front left is black sand, and back left is pink sand.
Enjoying the view we earned on our sweaty hike.
A good wide angle gopro shot to get all three beaches
After our hike, we headed for a couple of snorkeling spots to finish out our day. The first was to “Manta Point”, and after Rorie’s failure to see manta rays back at Nusa Lemonbongan in Indonesia, we were ready. As we pulled up in the boat, we were treated to the sight of a whole group of manta rays right at the surface! You could see them through the clear water from above, so we hastily threw on our snorkel gear and hopped in the water. It was beautiful and a treat once again, so I’m really glad Rorie got to see them this time. [Editor’s note: It as definitely cool to see them for the first time. It really showed me what I missed out on. Also, I love the frantic moments where wildlife shows up “off schedule” and we’re all left to hurry to throw our gear on to get in the water in time. There’s a pureness to the excitement and joy that makes travel really fun.]
Two huge manta rays below some snorkelers at Manta Point
After a stop at another white sand beach for a bit more snorkeling, we headed back to Labuan Bajo tired, sandy, and happy. Just our luck, as we walked from the boat dock with all of our gear the skies opened up and started pouring rain on us (Pro: We were already wet and wearing our swimsuits and waterproof shoes from the boat. Con: We did not have any rain covers on our bags) so we ducked into a restaurant for gelato (I mean, c’mon!) and waited out the storm.
A photo of a Polaroid photo of our boat group for the two days.
The next day we had nothing planned, so we took a quiet day at coffee shops, working on the blog (which was made harder by the frequent power outages that also knocked out WiFi in the entire town, but hey), and looked for an outing for the following day, our last before leaving the country. We had originally thought to find an overland day trip, maybe to see some waterfalls, caves, or rice terraces, but the more we spoke to travel agents the less enthused we got. Because of the low tourist volume, we’d need a private car, which was getting pretty expensive for sights that didn’t seem all that unique. In the end, we decided that the dragons, island views, and manta rays were the entire reason we were here, and signed up for another day trip to revisit basically all the same sights we’d already seen! We, and especially Rorie, absolutely hate inefficiency and ordinarily would never voluntarily re-tread ground, but the promise of more dragon time and the lack of better alternatives made too much sense. [Editor’s note: Given that the day trip to see Komodo dragons and the like – stuff that we knew was awesome and would be totally worthwhile – cost the same as a (probably) much lamer trip to do other stuff on the island, it was a weird instance where inefficiency and duplication was the right move. Further, the two separate trips to see Komodo dragons cost the same amount that we planned on spending for a single three-day, two-night outing (which was our original plan), so it all lined up in an ideal manner.]
The sunset from a restaurant in Labuan Baja out over the harbor.
So, incredibly early the next morning, we walked in the dark back to the dock for a day trip. This time, we had a boat full of English-speaking backpackers from Argentina, New Zealand, Austria, America, France, and Germany, and we quickly became friends and had a great day with them. We hiked Padar Island again, visited the dragons on Komodo again, and snorkeled with manta rays again! I’m so glad we decided to do another day trip. The boat was more comfortable (it had an open air deck with beanbag chairs where we could lay around and relax), we related better to the people, and we even got crazier and closer dragon encounters. [Editor’s note: It was absolutely worthwhile! Each of the activities we did the second time ended up being better than on our first outing, which is kinda nuts. When can you ever say that? Stuff never seems to be as good the second time around!]
Rorie and I took a slightly different path on Padar Island this time around, which meant we had it to ourselves.
As I mentioned, on the first trip we had seen plenty of dragons but only one walking around at all, so we were expecting basically the same thing the second time. No no. Twice, as we walked down the path through the forest, the guide at the front of our group suddenly stopped and gestured us all to the side of the path. Up ahead, coming towards us in the middle of the footpath, was a huge Komodo dragon. [Editor’s note: Komodo dragons only eat one time per month and completely gorge themselves on food, then spend the remaining days laying around to digest their food. Therefore, it wasn’t too scary to come upon dragons laying around in the jungle. However, if they’re walking around, that means they’re hungry and on the prowl for food. No f**king bueno!] Even though we stepped to the side just off the path, the brush and trees were thick enough that we couldn’t get more than a foot or two to the side. There was no barrier between us and this dragon whatsoever, and it nonchalantly walked past us, flicking its tongue, while our guides made some symbolic gestures with their sticks as if to indicate to the dragon not to turn our way. Twice this happened, and both times it was a frightening moment for me. These dragons were already on their feet and already moving – it seemed like such a small step away from turning or lunging at one of us, but neither dragon seemed to care. It’s their island and their path; we’re just passing through. This somewhat terrifying encounter did result in one of the coolest videos I think we’ll ever get, however. As the second dragon walked towards us, one of the guides grabbed Rorie’s iPhone out of his hand as he was recording video of the dragon walking and placed it in the middle of the path propped up against a rock. The dragon walked straight up to it and walked over the phone, resulting in an iPhone video that I think basically deserves to be on National Geographic. Check it out below – how crazy is this?! [Editor’s note: Simply amazing. I mean, are you effing kidding me?! An added bonus is that the dragon didn’t step on my phone and destroy it, so this was a big win in every imaginable way.]
After another snorkel with manta rays, we headed back to shore for our last evening in Indonesia, happy and exhausted after our successful day trip. That’s all for Indonesia – next we’re on to Penang Island in Malaysia for a few days for some legendary street food!
A giant dragon on the path walking towards us. We’re not exactly far back from the path are we?
