Rinca Island-Komodo Dragon

The tiny, sweltering Rinca Island, just off the coast of Flores, Indonesia is a rough and tumble little place full of wildlife, poisonous snakes, and of course – the Komodo Dragon.

Lesser known of the islands in the Komodo National Park, most people head to Komodo Island on tours looking for the dragons.  The crowds make it difficult to spot Komodos in the wild and I’m not a fan of socks-and-sandals tour groups, so I made my own way to Rinca for adventure.

In 2008, a group of scuba divers found themselves stranded on Rinca after they were swept away from the boat by vicious currents.  They survived by eating shellfish but found themselves being circled by hungry Komodo Dragons.

The sun-scorched Rinca Island is the perfect habitat for such a strange animal. Many species of poisonous snakes, including cobras, inhabit the island as well as wild pigs, buffalo, deer, and eagles.

To get there you have to brave some of the most dangerous currents in Indonesia on a boat that barely floats and probably should have sank years ago.  Unless you hire one of the more expensive tour boats, don’t expect there to be any life saving equipment on board.

Once there, I was the only tourist on the island at the time and had a one on one experience with my guide.  We were able to leave the trails and found dozens of dragons out in the bush doing their thing and even slept on the boat deck under stars – something that would have been difficult on Komodo Island.

To reach Rinca, you must first get to the village of Labuanbajo either by a short domestic flight from Bali, Lombok, or take the popular  multi-day boat package.

Once in Labuanbajo, you can book passage to the island either at the sprawling Gardena hostel or by taking your chances down on the waterfront by talking to the boat captains.  Their English is limited to non-existent, but a little patience can save you a lot of money.  The cost can be around US $40 for the 3 hour ride, so it is wise to hook up with some other travelers.

Try to find out up front if there is a “boat docking fee” which is pretty much a way to make some fast Rupiah at the end of the trip.

You will need to buy a 3 day pass to the National Park which costs US $15. The money goes to conservation of the area and a pass is required to visit any of the islands or do some diving.

On the island, there is a small canteen in the camp offering drinks and snacks, but take your own food and water with you.  Leave your food at camp, you don’t want anything that smells edible in your pockets!

It is strictly forbidden to enter the forest without a guide and even though I always prefer to do things my own way, this is one place where you need a guide!  You will be required to pay for an entrance ticket and a guide as soon as you step onto Rinca Island – the total is about US $15.

A normal group tour is only 1 – 2 hours, but in the heat that is about all that you will be able to handle.  Be sure to carry more water than you think you will need, it is unbearably hot in the bush.  If you think a group is too large, wait for the next one or negotiate your own way with a guide, a tip can go a long way.

There are a handful of sluggish dragons that hang around the camp waiting for food or trash, but these hardly count as proper Komodo sightings.  Even still, give them lots of room and never feed them.

Some groups only spot a couple of dragons in the wild but we were lucky enough to find over a dozen, many hidden in tall grass and easy to step on.  At one point, we found ourselves partially surrounded on accident – so pay attention, these things can run down and tear a full grown buffalo to pieces so no doubt could really ruin your day!

The Cobra snakes  are responsible for far more fatalities, but luckily they can’t handle the heat of the day and are only active at night.  Keep an eye out for their shed skins in the forest.

After your trek, find out if you can sleep on the deck of one of the boats.  The stars are magnificent and its a great way to spend some time with the interesting locals.  There is limited bungalow accommodation on the island, but it was empty when I visited in May.

Getting to and finding the Komodo Dragons on Rinca Island is an Indonesian adventure that you will never forget – these protected creatures are one of the most interesting encounters you will have in the wild!

Komodo Dragons Island

Real dragons spurt no fire, have no need to fly and cast no magic spells.

And still, one look from them might render you speechless. These komodos, the real life dragons, are a sight indeed. Gigantic, the lizard-like creatures are about two or three meters in length. They can easily weigh about 165 kilograms. Despite of their sheer size and appearance, they are not active hunters. What makes them intimidating is the fact that they are a patient predator. In the wild, they stalk a victim, usually a weak or injured one.

One bite and that’s what it usually takes. After following the victim for a while, sometimes up to several days’ time, the komodos will devour the dying prey.

The Komodo Dragon (Varanus komodoensis) is an endangered species which can only be found in the Komodo National Park (KNP) in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). Because of the unique and rare nature of this animal, its habitat – KNP – was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986.

The park includes three major islands, Komodo, Rinca and Padar, and numerous smaller islands together totaling 603 km2 of land. The total size of Komodo National Park is presently 1,817 km2. Proposed extensions of 25 km2 of land (Banta Island) and 479 km2 of marine waters would bring the total surface area up to 2,321 km2.At least 2500 Komodos live in this area. Large dragons are usually three meters long and weigh up to 90 kg. Their habitat has beautiful panoramic views of savannas, rain forests, white beaches, beautiful corals, and clean blue seas. In this area, you can also find horses, wild buffalo, deer, wild boar, snakes, monkeys, and various types of birds.

KNP has a rich and amazing underwater sea biotica. Divers claim that Komodo waters are one of the best diving sites in the world. It has fascinating underwater scenery. You can find 385 species of beautiful corals, mangrove forests, and seaweeds as a home for thousands of fish species, 70 types of sponges, 10 types of dolphins, 6 types of whales, green turtles and various types of sharks and stingrays.

Komodo National Park is currently voted as one of the finalists for the New 7 Wonders of Nature campaign held by the New 7 Wonders Foundation. Please support Komodo National Park to become the New 7 Wonders of Nature by voting here.

Getting There
Labuan Bajo is your entry point to the Komodo National Park. From Komodo airport in Labuan Bajo, you can take a rented car, bemo public transportation, or motor taxi to Labuan Bajo seaport. or you can call this number (+62 381 22117) Bina Karya for good public transportation

From there, you can take a motorboat to KNP (you can choose to go to Rinca or Komodo Island). When the weather is good, it will take two to three hours to travel to Loh Buaya on Rinca Island and about four hours to Loh Liang in Komodo Island.

Getting Around
Your feet will be your trusted companion on this island. Good thing most people never leave home without them. When you wish to see these animals in their natural habitat, you have to walk to the hills nearby (paths have been designated). On Komodo Island, you have to climb Mount Ara (538 meters above sea level) for three to four hours. On Rinca island, you have to trek for about one and a half hours. If you are lucky, you can see Komodos attacking prey, fighting, or even employing their mojoes along the way, as illustrated by this picture on the left. If that’s too wild for you, you can try to spot a group of deers, buffaloes or wild horses.

To Do
You can see and do many things here. It is amazing to see Komodo dragons up close in their native habitat. On Rinca Island, you can see Komodos lying down outside the homes of national park rangers, or “parking” near the officials’ homes. Previously, to find one, you had to “offer” a goat to attract the Komodo, but now this practice is no longer allowed.

If you don’t see a dragon, Rinca and Komodo have beautiful sceneries with white beaches, mangroves, savannas and blue waters. During the dry season, these savannas and hills have dried grasses.

You can also egage in other activities such as diving and snorkeling. You can take a cruise ship or fishermen’s boat in the persuit of these activities. There are diving points highly recommended to visit which include Merah Beach, and Batu Bolong and Tatawa islands. If you want to see thousands of bats, you can stay overnight in a motorboat on Kalong Island waters (near Rinca Island).

To Stay
Similar with those available in Loh Liang (Komodo Island), Loh Buaya (Rinca Island) also has simple guest houses offering few rooms. A luxurious hotel with limited capacity is currently being built in Loh Liang. Most tourists visiting Rinca Island don’t stay overnight (they come from Labuan Bajo and stay in the hotels in Labuan), while those coming to Komodo Island usually stay in their rented motorboats. Nearly all motorboats have cabins and bed rooms. Large motorboats usually have good bed rooms.

To Eat
In Loh Liang, the KNP management (PT Putri Naga Komodo) owns a restaurant. No restaurant is available in Rinca Island, though. There is only one kiosk selling drinks and snacks. If you stay in a guest house, you will have food available with your stay. If you take a rented motorboat, your rental usually includes meals (but you have to confirm it when negotiating the rental price).


To Buy
At the reception in Loh Buaya and Loh Liang, there are souvenir shops selling t-shirts with komodo pictures on them and wooden komodo statues. There’s not yet a shop selling a t-shirt saying, “I went to see the Komodo Dragons and all I got is this lousy T-shirt.” So that’s a potential market for you.

Tips

* Don’t walk alone. It is best to walk around with a ranger or guide.
* Don’t disturb or feed komodos. Despite slow and lazy movement, this animal can suddenly turn aggresive and move fast.
* When trekking, please take a stick with you. Komodos are usually afraid when threatened with a stick.
* Please wear shoes. Komodo, Rinca, and Padar islands have 12 types of snakes and three of them are poisonous, namely green snakes living on trees, cobras and russel’s viper who live on the ground in holes on the savannas.
* Women having their menstruation must report to a guide or ranger for special attention. Komodos have a very strong sense of smell and may turn agresive when they smell blood.
* Please bring along your insect repellant because this area has many mosquitoes who’ll be excited at the prospects of having fresh blood.
* Most lands on Komodo and Rinca islands are savannas which are prone to fire during the dry season so smoking and making fires are prohibited.

Mount Kelimutu-Flores Island

Kelimutu Lake on Mount Kelimutu, Ende, Flores has three smaller lakes located next to it. 

The lakes appear to have different colors that change over time due to volcanic activity which started million years ago. In the entire world, this color changing phenomenon only occurs at Kelimutu.

Presently, these three lakes have black-green color in the far east lake, green in the middle lake, and black in the west lake. Previously, the far east lake was red and the middle lake was blue.

The local community considers these lakes a sacred place, where the souls of the dead lie. The name Kelimutu itself was derived from the word ‘keli’, means ‘mountain’, and ‘mutu’, means ‘boil’. The East lake is also called “tiwu ata polo” or lake for evil spirits, while the middle one is called “tiwu nua muri koo fai” or lake for young souls, and the west lake is called “tiwu ata mbupu” or lake for elderly and wise peoples souls. Lake Kelimutu and its spectacular panorama are now a very popular tourist attraction.

Getting There

Kelimutu is situated in Koanara village, Wolowaru sub-district, Ende Regency, about 66 kilometers from Ende city and 83 kilometer from Maumere City. Moni is a village at the foot of Mount Kelimutu. It is the gate to Lake Kelimutu. The distance between Moni and Kelimutu is 15 kilometers.

You can take a motor taxi, car or public transportation to take you to a parking lot before Kelimutu peak. Buses plying the Ende-Maumere route will pass Moni. From there, you must walk 30 minutes along the mountain side.

Or you can call this number +62 381 22117 (Bina Karya) for good public transportation.

Every day, there are flights from Denpasar and Kupang to Maumere. To Ende, daily flights only come from Kupang. If you are interested in making a long trip in Flores, you can start from Maumere in the west and visit Kelimutu, Ende, Bajawa, Ruteng and lastly Labuan Bajo (Komodo) or vice versa if starting from the east.

Getting Around

Kelimutu area is surrounded with forest containing floras that are scarcely found in Flores area. Other than pines, there are also casuarinas, red wood and edelweiss. Pine forest grows well in this side of Kelimutu Mountain. The other side of the mountain is dried land with highly unstable sand and soil. Local community believes that Kelimutu Mountain is sacred and donates fertility to the nature nearby.

Visitors can only walk around Lake Kelimutu but not all areas can be explored because some are dangerous and therefore restricted. From Moni to Kelimutu, if you like to go trekking, there is a path which is shorter than the car access route.

Distance from Moni to the top is about 12 kilometer (km). The distance to the parking lot by motor vehicle is 11 kilometer, and then visitors will climb on foot through the pathway for 30 minutes.

To Do

Morning is the best time to witness the beauty of Kelimutu Lake. Close to the midday and at evening the scenery of Kelimutu Lake is blocked with thick mist.

Other than the scenery of Kelimutu Lake, visitors can enjoy Flores’s hilly topography from the peak of Mount Kelimutu, during a sunny day. Or the beauty panorama at Kelimutu National Park. There’s the Conservation, containing pines and casuarinas trees which are sights for sore eyes.

Tired of hearing car horns? Listen to the chirp of birds inhabiting Kelimutu National Park. Or feed the many long-tail monkeys in the forest to the south.

Kelimutu area’s also adorned with cultural wealth like traditional houses, traditional dances and woven clothes of Flores. In addition, there are hot water sources, waterfall, and tradition settlements that you can visit along the way.

The best time to visit is July to September. But if you missed that period, you can witness a local tradition in mid-October when the community offers livestocks for paa loka (religious offerings).

To Stay

The nearest hotels are located in Moni. Hotel Flores Sare , Arwanti Homestay, Hidayah, and Sao Ria Wisata are favorite hotels for tourists. You can also stay at Moni settlement managed by locals with overnight staying tariff 250.000-Rp 400.000 per night or local government cottage with tariff Rp 5.0000-Rp 650.000. Those who cannot get any lodgings in Moni usually sleep in their cars.

To Eat

There are no restaurants in Kelimutu. The nearest restaurants are in Moni. So bring along enough food and drinks, preferrably in containers you can bring back home. That way, you can fit any resulting litters in the container as well.

To Buy

Local inhabitants usually sell local woven fabrics in the parking lot at the mountain side of Kelimutu.

Tips

* Lake Kelimutu is often covered in fog. When the sun rises, fog seldom comes making it the best moment to see this lake.

* The best time to visit is July and August. Hence these are also the peak months for visiting. Usually, hotels in Moni are booked two months in advance for this period. So make sure you book earlier.

* If you come during the rainy season or late afternoon, you should pray that nature will be on your side.

* The temperature here is very cold and sometimes windy, therefore, it is best to bring along your jackets.