Welcome to the Komodos

29.12.2018

Bye bye Lombok, Hello Flores

With a little nostalgia, anticipation for something new, and excitement, we said goodbye to Sri and Kuta. In the last few days, we felt at home with Sri.

We flew to Flores with a small propeller plane. After some "minor turbulence"😉 and a slightly hard landing, we arrived safely in Labuan Bajo, located in the westernmost part of the island. Just outside Labuan Bajo, we were warmly greeted by a nice family in our new "home". Paul immediately got along with Davit (8 years old), despite the language barriers.

The first impression of Labuan Bajo: noisy, stressful, unattractive, and dirty. Labuan Bajo used to be a fishing village, which has now exploded into a tourist town. In 2005/2006, I (Kris) spent a few days here. The place is barely recognizable today.

Labuan Bajo is mainly a starting point for diving trips and tours to see the Komodo dragons. The Komodos live on both the Komodo Island and the slightly smaller Rinca Island. Tours to see the dragons (including snorkeling, hiking, relaxing, etc.) are offered in abundance here, in various price ranges, and in small or large groups. It's not easy to find the right one🤔. In the end, the three of us, as a family, embarked on a day trip by boat. The weather seemed to be good, but we encountered a rain wall and spent an hour in pouring rain. Thank God the sea was calm 🤞. When we arrived on Rinca, the rain stopped so we could visit the dragons on dry land, accompanied by a guide. The animals were peaceful, but we still had respect... Luise and Paul felt a bit nervous when the cute creatures suddenly moved 😉.

After visiting the dragons, we made a stop for snorkeling and on another small island where we could climb a small mountain. Of course, we were not the only boat making these stops 🤨.

This whole rush of many tourists can be viewed from two sides. On the one hand, it creates jobs for locals here, but on the other hand, it obviously destroys the environment. A few years ago, everything here was much more original. There were hardly any excursions to the nearby islands; you could only see them from a distance. When you arrived on Rinca, you were immediately greeted by dragons at the boat dock, and only a small group of tourists moved around the island. Today, the animals are deep inside the island, and only a few are visible to tourists.

Currently, it is the low season here. We can't imagine what it's like during the high season. And whether the islands Rinca and Komodo will remain accessible for tourism forever is questionable unless a lot of money is paid for it.

All in all, it was a beautiful day for us. The weather had calmed down again, and we were able to enjoy some sun.

Tomorrow, we will continue our journey westward on the island. And the day after tomorrow, 7 hours earlier than in Germany, we will enter the new year.

Have a good celebration, wherever you are 🎆🎉.