Labuanbajo to Rinca and Komodo Islands...
The next morning Henrik, Smeeta, John and I had just ordered our "with the room" breakfast- a banana pancake and tea. Smeeta saw a friend at a table further away, but at the same restaurant and went over and sat with her. The waitress came back with our orders and we explained that Sweeta was now at a different table. Our waitress said, "maybe she come back" and set her food on our table. That was classic!
We boarded the boat about 8am and started the journey to Rinca. The engine was so slow you could count the individual firings of the engine. It reminded me of the sound of the engine I remember hearing on the movie "African Queen" (Humprey Bogart, Katherine Hepburn). I am quite confident I can kayak faster than this boat was going. It did not make a bow wave and perpetually produced a no-wake zone.
It took about four hours to get to Rinca. At the end of the dock we were "greeted" by a Komodo dragon lying amongst the rocks, which none of us saw except for our boat crewman. He led us to the ranger station where we paid our park and guide fees and were assigned a guide for the trek further into the island. A few buildings up I noticed a wild boar a little ways back. What I didn't notice was the three Komodo dragons quite a bit closer to us than the boar. They really blend in well with the background! Our guide pointed out a small Komodo in the bushes. He was probably about 2-years old. The big Komodos were probably about 35-40 years old. Komodos can live to about 50-years old.
On our trek we saw a band of macaques monkeys crossing a stream bed and a water buffalo cooling itself off in a mud pit. We climbed hills and got some great views of Rinca and surrounding islands. It was quite hot.
We walked back to the boat, looking for the Komodo dragon we had seen near the dock ealier. We saw him again, and then, after quite a while, noticed there was another one very close by as well. Sneeky little buggas!
We headed to Red Beach and did some snorkeling. The coral was very colorful and varied. There was a current that caused us to drift quite a bit, but it seemed to reverse itself at one point and helped us back towards the boat when we decided to turn around. Hopefully John can describe the fish we saw in his blog.
At dusk we ended up offshore of a flying fox bat colony. Once it turned dark they were supposed to fly enmass out to forage for food. We saw one or two fly by, but no mass exodus. I guess nature just isn't all that predictable!
We slept on something-like gym mats on the cover deck of the boat. We had no sheets or blankets and it chilled down a bit that evening. I think we were all pretty cold during the night.
Side Note: All the meals for the trip were vegetarian, not because they didn't like meat, but because they didn't have any refrigeration and they weren't successful at catching fish by a hand line left over the side during that day. The food was pretty good still. Noodles, rice, veges and eggs with spicy sauces. Drinks were water, tea or coffee.
The next morning Henrik, Smeeta, John and I had just ordered our "with the room" breakfast- a banana pancake and tea. Smeeta saw a friend at a table further away, but at the same restaurant and went over and sat with her. The waitress came back with our orders and we explained that Sweeta was now at a different table. Our waitress said, "maybe she come back" and set her food on our table. That was classic!
We boarded the boat about 8am and started the journey to Rinca. The engine was so slow you could count the individual firings of the engine. It reminded me of the sound of the engine I remember hearing on the movie "African Queen" (Humprey Bogart, Katherine Hepburn). I am quite confident I can kayak faster than this boat was going. It did not make a bow wave and perpetually produced a no-wake zone.
It took about four hours to get to Rinca. At the end of the dock we were "greeted" by a Komodo dragon lying amongst the rocks, which none of us saw except for our boat crewman. He led us to the ranger station where we paid our park and guide fees and were assigned a guide for the trek further into the island. A few buildings up I noticed a wild boar a little ways back. What I didn't notice was the three Komodo dragons quite a bit closer to us than the boar. They really blend in well with the background! Our guide pointed out a small Komodo in the bushes. He was probably about 2-years old. The big Komodos were probably about 35-40 years old. Komodos can live to about 50-years old.
On our trek we saw a band of macaques monkeys crossing a stream bed and a water buffalo cooling itself off in a mud pit. We climbed hills and got some great views of Rinca and surrounding islands. It was quite hot.
We walked back to the boat, looking for the Komodo dragon we had seen near the dock ealier. We saw him again, and then, after quite a while, noticed there was another one very close by as well. Sneeky little buggas!
We headed to Red Beach and did some snorkeling. The coral was very colorful and varied. There was a current that caused us to drift quite a bit, but it seemed to reverse itself at one point and helped us back towards the boat when we decided to turn around. Hopefully John can describe the fish we saw in his blog.
At dusk we ended up offshore of a flying fox bat colony. Once it turned dark they were supposed to fly enmass out to forage for food. We saw one or two fly by, but no mass exodus. I guess nature just isn't all that predictable!
We slept on something-like gym mats on the cover deck of the boat. We had no sheets or blankets and it chilled down a bit that evening. I think we were all pretty cold during the night.
Side Note: All the meals for the trip were vegetarian, not because they didn't like meat, but because they didn't have any refrigeration and they weren't successful at catching fish by a hand line left over the side during that day. The food was pretty good still. Noodles, rice, veges and eggs with spicy sauces. Drinks were water, tea or coffee.
posted by Chris at 10:00 PM
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