It’s 5 days later, and we’re in Indonesia. Transferring from Bali, we caught a domestic flight to Labuan Bajo, a small fishing town on west of the Island of Flores, in the Nusa Tenggara region of Indonesia. This would be our base for the next few days as we explore Komodo National Park, the land of the dragons.
Disembarking our flight, we hopped in a local taxi (you literally hail anybody with a car and they cheekily try and charge you 50,000 PHP… which you agree to as it’s about £2.72), and headed straight for a dive outfit in the little ramshackle town. Scuba Republic had reviewed well and seemed a professional bunch. We asked them as we were checking in whether they knew anywhere we could get laundry done. Turns out, the receptionist does laundry.
The next day, we joined them at 7am for a full day’s diving. We did three dives, the first a turtle extravaganza, many green turtles dotted around a slightly patchy reef – unfortunately anchor-damage had taken its toll. The second dive was with Manta Rays – a spectacular dive in some fairly crazy currents, amongst the most graceful creatures of the sea. Further reef damage here, as we swim over dynamite damage from pre-patrolled fishing days. Our final dive was a drift dive along a spectacular reef; aglow with soft and hard technicolour corals and vast fish populations. It’s little wonder that Komodo is such a draw for divers.
The little town of Labuan Bajo has maybe 2 or 3 sort-of restaurants, but at least 20 dive shops. It’s definitely not ready for mainstream tourism, but it’s coming anyway. A big new hotel is under construction, and depressingly, there’s a Starbucks; the only retailer we found with aircon in the 37ºc heat.
Whilst there is a spectacular underwater world in Komodo, the scenery above water is magnificent. Komodo National Park is an archipelago of 29 islands, declared a World Heritage Site in 1991.
We had booked on a liveaboard wooden ‘Phinisi’ boat through TopKomodoTours. Made locally, these are attractive if fairly basic wooden boats, powered by loud Diesel engines and on-board generators for power/cooking.
We were collected from our hotel the next morning and taken to the boat. On arrival we discovered that this was a private tour (explaining the price 😳). We had the boat to ourselves. Us, the tour guide, his trainee (who couldn’t speak English and after her 3 months in training seemed mainly qualified to pour cups of tea), and 4 boat crew, including the captain. This wasn’t a tour, this was a charter!
The first day, we snorkelled off a couple of islands, enjoying more amazing reef life; then visited Rinca Island, one of the few islands in the regions where you can find actual Komodo dragons. Joined by a local ranger in the burning heat of the day, we went on a trek around the island, spotting dragons hiding in the shade, or nesting on their eggs. Varying in size from about a metre to 3 metres long, they are truly prehistoric looking beasts. I was surprised at how close we were getting to them – far closer than everything I’d read before coming here. Our only protection was a little ranger with a long, forked stick.
That evening, we moored up near Kalong island to witness thousands of giant fruit bats emerge at the breathtaking sunset from their mangrove forest to fly to Rinca to feast on fruits. We bedded down for the night in the thankfully air conditioned but slightly odorous room. I awoke feeling a bit worse for wear at 4am, but put it down to the aircon and got back to sleep.
The next morning, Ben wasn’t feeling at all well. In fact, all of the next day, things weren’t good – headache, stomach cramps, sickness, fatigue, pulse racing, etc. After breakfast (I couldn’t eat), we left the boat first thing to hike up to the top of Padar Island, a spectacular looking island, currently bleached in the dry season. Despite kicking off at 7am, it was still extremely hot and we were baked. I ducked out of snorkelling after returning to the boat, electing to try and get some more sleep to get over the malaise.
After lunch (also uneaten), we sailed to Komodo island for our second bite at dragons. The rangers had set up an artificial watering hole for the dragons who are suffering in the intense dry period the islands are currently experiencing. This caused a congregation of the normally solitary reptiles. Seven of them were roaming around, including one giant, at least 30 years old. As it started to move, others would let out a deep hiss, warning it away. The ranger told us to quickly move around behind it, while he braved ridiculous proximity and took a photo of us with the beast.
Link to hissy-fit (sound on): https://youtu.be/WhvGqDe3nmk
It was adrenaline-fuelled, those 10 minutes around the dragons; watching every angle as they prowled around us. After a hike around the island in the midday heat, I was drained and retreated back to the boat, where I slept on deck. We moved on, to snorkel where we’d dived with the Manta’s a couple of days before. Seeing them from above was a completely different experience. Far easier to spot and and excellent opportunity for free diving with the majestic rays.
We were due to moor up nearby for the night after the snorkelling, but it had struck me that the symptoms I’d been experiencing had a striking resemblance to CO poisoning. I discussed this with our guide, who I’m not sure understood, but suggested not using the aircon and opening a window that night. I declined and erring on the side of caution, agreed with him that we’d head back to Labuan Bajo – the following day was just another couple of snorkels anyway. We’d kept on our hotel room, which had been particularly cheap, so it wasn’t a problem to stay there.
My fatigue, headache, stomach pains, etc lifted fairly swiftly, and two days later, I’m feeling like normal. Dunno if it was Carbon Monoxide poisoning, but I’m glad we returned early. We’ve had two days of rest and it’s been great – I feel guilty for saying it, but it has been like a holiday from our holiday. These are the first days we’ve not had an alarm waking us for a full day of [fun] exertion in a month.
Travels with Sklaroffs 