Not only a place for ‘hunting’ the dragon, but these top 10 Komodo Island attractions mentioned below will also drop your jaw and make you repeatedly say WOW. Visiting the East part of Indonesian archipelago will be one of the greatest experiences you’ve ever encountered. If you have planned to step your foot on this East Nusa Tenggara island, do not let your ‘places-to-go’ list has too much space as there are a lot of places you can go during your trip.
1. Loh Liang
Loh Liang is the main tourism site in Komodo Island. Most popular activities for tourists are visiting the Komodo’s conservation site and another animal such as deer, boars, and birds, hiking the Ara mountain and trekking. It will be safer and more informative if you are guided by a ranger to ‘hunt’ the dragons.
2. Loh Buaya
Loh Buaya is located on Rinca Island. Not only in Komodo Island, but you can also barely see the dragons' activity on Rinca Island. You can enjoy the refreshing air from the mangrove, capturing the landscape scene of savanna, and the wildlife, such as Komodo, long-tailed monkey, buffalo, horses, and numerous species of birds.
3. Padar Island
Padar Island is a tiny island located between the Komodo and Rinca Island. The best things to do while on this island are trekking the hill, sunbathing, diving, and snorkeling. Unlike Komodo and Rinca Island, Padar Island has no dragons due to the discontinued food chain.
4. Kelor Island
Here is another heaven on earth. It may sound too much, but you will say so after you visit this island. Relaxing under the sun which will beautifully tan your skin and dip yourself underwater into the shallow sea will be an amazing experience.
5. Kanawa Island
Located 15 km from the fisherman’s town, Labuan Bajo, Flores, the beautiful and colorful coral reefs along with various fishes in the crystal water make Kanawa Island an exceptional place to be explored trough diving and snorkeling. It has fantastic panorama from the hilltop as well. You can spend time feeling the wind blows and capturing the whole side of the scenery. If you are a backpacker, you would love this island since it has many low-fare guesthouses that will be perfect for you.
6. Batu Cermin Cave
Batu Cermin is a cave in a dark stone hills located east of Labuan Bajo harbor. The name Mirror Rock or Batu Cermin comes from the sunlight that coming into the cave through the front hole of the tunnel. Then, it reflects into the stone walls inside which make the reflected light bounce to the whole sides of the cave and creates a spectacular show. Moreover, it is surrounded by a beautiful natural environment where you can meet many long-tailed monkeys and wild boars.
7. Kelimutu Volcano
Kelimutu Volcano has three beautiful and majestic lakes that have three different colors of water which are closed by each other. They are red (Tiwu Ata Polo), green (Tiwa Nua Muri) and blue (Tiwu Ata mBupu). Trekking to the peak of the volcano to reach the lake with the beautiful landscape scene on its sides is an engaging and marvelous activity here. Located in an outlying area and 12 km from the lake site, Moni Village has numerous resorts to ease tourists reaching the area.
8. Pink Beach
The name of the beach totally pictures the actual look of this popularly amazing beach; the pinks colored sand will be seen more clearly when the wave sweeps it out and in. The pink sand comes from the red coral reef which broke into tiny pieces of fraction and carried on to the sand and mixed up. There are many ways to relish the crystal clear water, warm sunlight, and rolling current, such as diving, snorkeling and sunbathing. Some water sports, such as kayak will be an additional option to explore the marine environment from the surface without worrying to get wet. Located nearby the dragon’s habitat, Pink Beach give you an opportunity to see the Komodo relaxing and swimming at the beach. Thus, make sure a ranger accompany you during the beach trip.
9. Cunca Wulang Waterfall
Cunca Wulang waterfall is located in Mbeliling forest aside from Labuan Bajo. ‘Cunca’ means waterfall and ‘Wulang’ mean the moon. It is called so because if you see the waterfall from the bottom side, it would obviously look as if the water is falling from the moon. Also, it takes 30km from Labuan Bajo or around 1-hour trip by motorcycle or car.
10. Kalong Island
It is the best place to end your day; by witnessing the beautiful ocean sucking the sun in and the purplish sky instantly turns darker in front you. Another stunning thing here is nature will not let you enjoy this all alone, but many flying bats (or kalong, as its local name) are ready to accompany you. Ooh, what a stunning closing of the day!
Those are the Komodo Island attractions which are fully recommended to fill in your list while meeting the dragon. Are you still able to overlook them? A little tip: you need to walk in most of the sites, so wear a pair of hiking shoes to avoid minor injuries.
