We organised a couple of trips over the 3 day we stayed at Komodo Resort and think we did some of the best things to do in Komodo that are available. Hired a private boat for half day tour of Rinca Island and seeing the flying foxes. Komodo Island is having some issues with poaches at the moment and the government is actually considering stopping all visits in 2020. Anyway, Rinca Island is smaller so there’s more chances of seeing them, at least that’s what I was told.
Booked a slow wooden boat from Komodo Resort leaving at 1:30p.m. The boat is slow but has a cool upper deck where you sit on bean bags and it’s comfy and cool with shade. Nobody else on board except one of the staff and one of his mates. Boat takes just over an hour and there’s some nice views the whole way of Komodo National Park and all the islands in it. When we got to Rinca Island there were a lot of boats there and quite a few people, not hundreds, but around 50.
You get off the boat onto the jetty and walk about 5 minutes to a little village where you get transferred to another guide, who give you a bit of an intro. Basically don’t go too close to them. Apparently you can stay the night in one of the bungalow’s and do a night snake safari, if that’s your thing. Had we known about this before coming we probably would have done that. You don’t need to go far before you see the Komodo Dragons.
About 20 of them are lying around the kitchen area, some moving, most sleeping. You can take photos and the guide tells you not to get closer than 3-5 meters. It’s pretty cool seeing them without being mind blowing. Not quite what I had envisioned (which was Komodo Dragons roaming around the beaches). There are 3 walks you can do, short, medium, long. We got taken on none and must have done the extra quick loop, which took us back to the staring place in about 5 minutes.
I said that was ridiculous so the guide grudgingly took us back to the short track, which is still only about 15 minutes. You walk up a minor hill, takes a few minutes, have a nice view looking down but you don’t see any more Komodo Dragons. It was a bit disappointing to not see any roaming around and it’s all a bit touristy. Still was pretty good to see them at all. Despite that, and the fact it’s a bit touristy, it’s still got to be one of the best things to do in Komodo National Park and you really can’t go all that way and not see them.
After you get back to the starting point of course you get asked if you want to go to the gift shop area. Beware because the will try and rip you off. Wooden models of the Komodo Dragons go for between 150,000 and 350,000. We got one for 150,000, gave the guy 200,000 and he did the no change thing. Had to ask him to give me 50,000 back. 50,000 is fuck all but it really pisses me off when they so blatantly try and literally steal money from you. Had he given me back change I more than likely would have told him to keep it.
The guide didn’t get tipped, wasn’t that impressed he had tried to basically do the shortest trip possible and was essentially about a 100 meter track. Most of the tracks are supposed to be 2-3km so it’s pretty piss poor you go all that way and they try to short change you. Anyway, overall it was a pretty good trip and worth doing but make sure you insist on the medium or long track, it’s not that far. It was pretty hot but still, like I said, you go all that way so might as well make the most of it.
Apparently the best time to see them is in the morning, despite being told at Komodo Resort it was in the afternoon. Not sure who to believe. The staff who came with us said he had been there a few times and said there wasn’t much difference between the short, medium and long track in terms of seeing Komodo Dragons, but I presume the views were better with the long track. The guide said the chances of seeing one on the medium or long tracks were not much, but I didn’t believe anything he said after him trying to cut the trip to basically 15 minutes when it should have been at least 1-2 hours.
One of the reasons we went in the afternoon was so we could see the flying foxes on the way back and they don’t come out until sunset. Because our trip was so short at Rinca we had to wait an hour on the boat for them to come out. Basically they go out to feed and they go come flying out of this island and you watch them from your boat. It’s not what I’d call awesome, but it’s a pretty cool and more a thing of beauty.
They don’t make any noises and I don’t know how many there would have been, but it was non-stop for 15-20 minutes and they were still coming out when we left. Must have been thousands and thousands of them. It’s quite surreal and with the sun setting in the background it really was quite beautiful and whilst again not mind blowing, it’s definitely something worth seeing. The trip back to Komodo Resort was about an hour. Boat goes really slowly especially with even moderate seas.
Despite the rather rip off of a trip to Rinca, all in all it was well worth doing and for all I know the longer tracks could have just been that, longer walks, with no sightings of Komodo Dragons. When we left, we were the last boat there so I presume the chances of seeing them later in the day are actually less. We booked this trip with our resort but there’s loads of tour companies that do it. The Komodo Dragons and Flying Foxes are definitely two of the best things to do in Komodo National Park.
Next day we hired a speed boat and went to Padar Island and a couple of snorkelling spots. Padar Island is where you see all the photos on the web when you’re doing research for Komodo. Speedboat takes almost an hour, Lot of people there so don’t expect to have the place to yourself. We arrived around 9p.m and coincided with a boat full of about 30 people. The walk up is not difficult unless you’re not fit, but it is pretty hot even at 9a.m in the morning.
Takes about 30 minutes to walk to the top. If you were doing it for exercise and didn’t stop along the way, you could probably hurry up in there in about 15 minutes but stopping along the way, whihch you will definitely want to do to take photos, should take you between half an hour and an hour. There’s several view points along the way. If you’re having trouble and have younger kids, there’s no need to go to the very top as the view from there isn’t any better. About half way up there’s some rock outcrops to take some awesome photos.
The views are incredible, equal to and better than any photo I’ve seen of it. I was a bit hesitant to go because there’s not much to do for kids, but it’s definitely worth it and because there are quite a few view points, you shouldn’t have too many problems getting a spot yourself for at least a few minutes to take in the view and/or take some photos. It’s not the most exciting but the views make Padar Island one of the best things to do in Komodo National Park.
Going down is obviously easier. You could probably walk up in jandals but some parts going down can be a bit slippery so better to bring some sneakers, preferably with some grip on. Having said that, I wore some Ultraboost and as long as you’re abit careful you should be fine. Have a swim at the bottom, we saw some fish attack some smaller fish at the shore which was exciting and overall, if you’ve taken the effort to get to Komodo, you should do this.
After that we went to Manta Point. First thing to note here is that it’s seasonal, We went middle of May which is apparently just the end of the season. Takes about 30 minutes to get there from Padar Island. The boat guys will try and spot them then you jump in. Be ready with flippers and snorkels on. We spotted one quite quickly then a few minutes later two massive Manta Rays came by.
This was really good to see, especially since we were told we might not see any because it was the end of the season. The current here is quite strong so you just let yourself be taken by it. The water here is a bit cold and Grobbler wanted to get out aftr 10 minutes or so. I stayed in and saw a Black Tip Reef Shark and a few more Manta Rays. It’s not that clear but they’re awesome to see gliding underneath you. This is an absolute must do presuming you go there during the season and I can imagine would be even better when more of them are around.
Stayed there about 20-45 minutes then headed to another snorkelling spot. Be warned, the water here is even colder, and we were out of the water after 10 minutes, as were the couple of girls who took the boat with us. It’s really cold and you won’t last more than 10 minutes before getting very cold. Even the guide with a wetsuit on was cold. Here you can see loads of Sea Turtles, a Nurse Shark, but there’s not that any fish. The snorkelling at Komodo Resort in terms of number, variety and closeness to fish, was way, way better.
We headed back to the resort which took about 15-20 minutes. Overall, this morning half day tour was awesome and definitely worth doing.
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