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  • Tag: komodo national park

    • komodo

      Posted at 3:41 pm by jasminedesirees, on September 24, 2014

      I pretty much had my heart set on seeing Komodo Island from the time we decided to go to Indonesia, even though it wasn’t really that close to Bali, and even though I had a really hard time finding information about how to get there, where to stay, etc.

      I blame the constant showings of Komodo dragon documentaries on Animal Planet.

      komodo national park
      komodo national park
      komodo national park

      We ended up booking a cheap flight from Denpasar to Labuan Bajo, and then taking a boat from there. We decided to go to Rinca Island instead because it’s smaller, so it’s a lot more likely that you’ll get to see Komodo dragons there.

      You can also see monkeys, wild boars, deer, and wild horses on Rinca. I would have done unspeakable things to see a wild horse, but alas, it was not in the cards.

      komodo national park
      komodo national park
      komodo national park

      It’s about 2 hours by boat from Labuan Bajo, but it was a gorgeous day, and the view is so beautiful that it goes by really fast. We paid about $20 per person, plus a few dollars for the entry fee into the National Park. You also have to pay a small fee to bring in a camera.

      komodo national park
      komodo national park

      Once you get to the island, you get off your boat, and are assigned a guide, and you set off on a hike in a loop to the top of the hill to see the view, stopping to see any dragons along the way, and to see the nests where the Komodo dragons lay their eggs.

      Luckily for us, the day we were there a lot of dragons had decided to come out, and were wandering around and sunbathing, so we saw about 10 of them before we even started up the hill.

      komodo national park
      komodo national park
      komodo national park
      komodo national park

      Unfortunately, we’d climbed Pura Lempuyang two days earlier, and my legs were still too sore to walk properly, so I was basically resigned to the fact that if any of the Komodo dragons decided to chase me I was probably going to be eaten.

      komodo national park
      komodo national park
      komodo national park

      Our guides were really friendly and knowledgeable, and carried big sticks to defend us, just in case. There were about eight other people in our group, from all over the world. One of the guys in our group was from France, and instead of bringing a camera, he brought a sketch book and made drawings of everything we saw.

      It was probably the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen anyone do, ever.

      komodo national park
      komodo national park
      komodo national park
      komodo national park

      The hike wasn’t very strenuous, but the view from the top was amazing. It actually weirdly reminded me of walking up the hills in the valley near my house in Saskatchewan when I was little, probably because of the dead, brown grass.

      Indonesia and Saskatchewan are really quite similar, it’s a little known fact.

      komodo national park
      komodo national park

      Out of everything we have done so far on our trip, I think this was probably the coolest. I felt very lucky to be able to go trekking for Komodo dragons in their natural habitat, it was an unforgettable experience.

      komodo national park

      Posted in Indonesia, travel | 2 Comments | Tagged dragons, Flores, Indonesia, Komodo dragon, komodo dragons, Komodo Island, komodo national park, Labuan Bajo
    • flores

      Posted at 8:00 am by jasminedesirees, on September 22, 2014

      There is really no reason for this post, other than to make all of us, me included, jealous that we aren’t there right now.

      I actually cried when we left Indonesia, and now I remember why.

      DCIM100GOPRO
      DCIM100GOPRO
      DCIM100GOPRO
      DCIM100GOPRO
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      DSC_2370

      Posted in Indonesia, travel | 2 Comments | Tagged Flores, Indonesia, komodo, komodo national park, Labuan Bajo, travel
    • scuba diving: komodo national park

      Posted at 8:00 am by jasminedesirees, on September 18, 2014

      The absolute best part about Indonesia for me was the diving. We’d heard over and over again that the diving there was amazing, and it couldn’t have been more true.

      These pictures don’t really do it justice, since they were taken on a go-pro with no flash, but I wanted to share some anyway. In reality, the water was crystal clear, and the colours of the fish and the coral were vibrant.

      DCIM100GOPRO

      DCIM100GOPRO

      DCIM100GOPRO

      DCIM100GOPRO

      We stayed on the island of Flores, in Labuan Bajo, for 5 days, and we were diving 3 dives per day for 3 of those days. When we first signed up to do it, I was worried that it might be a lot, considering the boy had only been diving once before, in Thailand.

      DCIM100GOPRO

      DCIM100GOPRO

      DCIM100GOPRO

      It turned out that my worry was completely unfounded, he loved it, and by the end of the third day, I was so sad that it was over that I wished we would have done at least one more day.

      DCIM100GOPRO

      DCIM100GOPRO

      DCIM100GOPRO

      I tried to explain to him how spoiled he was, that some of us got certified in Zihuatanejo, Mexico where you couldn’t see 10 feet in front of you. He got clear turquoise waters, thousands of different kind of fish, sharks, turtles, and manta rays.

      DCIM100GOPRO

      DCIM100GOPRO

      DCIM100GOPRO

      We dove with Komodo Dive Center, out of Labuan Bajo, and I would absolutely recommend them. They were very professional, their food was great, and their staff were very knowledgable and fun.

      My favourite dive sites were Batu Bolong, and Crystal Rock, but we did nine different dives at different sites around Komodo National Park, and all of them were pretty amazing.

      DCIM100GOPRO

      Screen Shot 2014-07-27 at 8.16.02 PM

      Screen Shot 2014-07-27 at 8.16.18 PM

      We are already planning our next trip to dive in more of Indonesia’s gorgeous reefs, and I seriously can’t wait.

      Screen Shot 2014-07-27 at 8.16.56 PM

      Screen Shot 2014-07-27 at 8.17.35 PM

      Posted in Indonesia, travel | 6 Comments | Tagged diving, fish, Indonesia, komodo, komodo national park, manta ray, padi, scuba, shark, travel
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