Don’t they look like dinosaurs escaped from the Jurassic park? Komodo dragons live only in a few Indonesian islands. We went to Flores island and from Labuan Bajo town took a day tour to Rinca island to see them.

The dragons in the photo are about 1,5 metre long, but big ones can reach even 3 metres. The fat-looking female dragon on the right is pregnant with tiny little dragons. Oh, it sounds like a tale for me. Her belly was touching the ground when she crawled.

While wild dragons are dangerous for people, Rinca island is very touristic and they seem to be very used to see people around. We could come very close. So, on one hand, it is their natural environment living on this island, on the other hand, they seemed chilled with all the people around and that felt pretty much like a Zoo.

In general, I am not fond of any animals without fur, but I admit that these dragons have a very elegant way to walk by alternating left forward and right backward paws, and vice-versa. When they do these movements they do them very slowly, by moving each paw of a full 180° degrees circle. Their body makes a big curve with every step they do.

When they hurry up, dragons can reach 18 km/h speed.

If you are interested in Komodo dragons, here is a link to BBC series about them from the same place which we have visited: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28FzV5OHqMU

Padar island

On the way, our boat stopped at Padar island. While all tourists from our group climbed the hill to see a beautiful view from above, Adriano, the wild soul, tired of all the touristic treats in Bali and guided tour “like ducks in the row” on this island, had an idea to get to the other side of the island and do some snorkelling all by himself. I insisted to ask the guide if it is allowed. The guide said it is not recommended, without any further explanations. Adriano insisted, he was about to go, and I do not remember now how I managed to stop him.  In the end, people said that there were some wild dragons living on that island, therefore it was not allowed to go anywhere else but tourist path with the guide. Well, we are not sure if that is correct or just a story for tourists to scare, but anyway it was funny to hear.

After Padar island, the boat stopped in a tiny island off the coast of Rinca, called Surai, where there is a famouse pink beach: but to be honest, at midday sun it looked maybe a bit more gold, but far from that super pink which I many times saw on Instagram. Maybe it looks pink at certain light, maybe with certain Instagram filters. I have no photos of it because from the boat you needed to swim a bit to get to that beach.

Underwater world

Another important event for us from this trip was a splash (finally!) in the water, which allowed us to start discovering Indonesia’s magnificent underwater world. Maybe you can snorkel also in Bali, we simply did not have enough time to get to the beach there. I remember asking Adriano if he thought it was nice to snorkel in Bali, he ironically responded, “sure, if you like to see lots of feet” :). Anyways, starting with the waters somewhere around Padar and on the way to Flores islands (the boat just stopped somewhere close to Manjarite Beach and let us jump) with the peak in Raja Ampat and many other occasions, we have to admit that Indonesia is perfect for snorkelling and diving lovers.

We travelled many islands in the Pacific afterwards, but usually snorkelling wasn’t so easy as in Indonesia (either strong currents, or dangerous sharks, or too deep); moreover, in Indonesia, there are so many diverse snorkelling spots, with different fauna. Later, in the Pacific, we got a chance to see more of big fish and turtles around us, but nevertheless, underwater experience in Indonesia was the greatest part of the tour.

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Photo album