Day 113, Year 3: A Walk on Komodo Island
Date: Hari Sabtu (Saturday), Bulan Agustus 30, Pada Tahan 2008
Weather: Rain Overnight, but Beautiful Day
Latitude: 08 degrees 36.352 minutes S
Longitude: 119 degrees 31.479 minutes E
Location: Pantai Merah (Pink Beach), Komodo Island, Indonesia
It is the dry season here and the locals tell us they never have rain this time of year, but we have had rain every day since we arrived in Labuan Bajo. We thought we were not going to have rain yesterday, but during the night we had a nice little down pour. We woke up this morning to low clouds hanging in the mountains surrounding us, but by the time we picked up anchor and headed north, the clouds dissipated and it was another stellar day. We arrived in Telok Slawi on the northeast side of Komodo Island by 9 am and worked our way behind the island of Punja. This anchorage is called Pink Beach or Pantai Merah, but so far we have failed to see the ‘pink’ in Pink Beach. Safina was already here and Shirena came in with us. Shortly after we arrived we got in our dinghies and headed into Soro Lia Bay to the Komodo National Park ranger station at Loh Liang. It was a long dinghy ride but the views of Komodo Island from Soro Lia Bay are striking and our walk on the island more than compensated for the long ride. We were connected with a ranger when we arrived and we set off on the “medium level” hike. We were immediately struck with the difference between Rinca and Komodo. Where we hiked on Rinca the land looked like African savanna. On Komodo, we were immediately in forest land teeming with Timor deer and lots of birds. There are no monkeys on Komodo, so the bird population thrives here. And although dragons are bigger here, there are not as many as on Rinca, so there are more deer.
At the same time, the abundance of ‘food’ is why the dragons are bigger here. As we walked we saw lots of deer and wild boar, but no dragons. Iefan was our main guide and Usman was the guide that followed us. They never let you walk here without one guide in front and one in the back. They carry the big sticks to deal with the dragons should there be a problem. But we had no problems, just a delightful walk with lots of animal sightings.
By the time we returned to Windbird, it was too far into a rising tide to be able to snorkel off Pink Beach. Actually there was quite a rip tide there as we passed in the dinghy, so we are going to try an early morning snorkel here before heading further north. For the next four days, our daily objective will be to find the best snorkeling spots in which to anchor. We read today why the fish life here is so abundant. The Komodo islands lie in the pass between Flores and Sumbawa. The north to south currents are strong here and bring in sea water that is very nutrient rich. Therefore, we are finding abundant sea life. Unfortunately the information about where to find the sea life is not as abundant, so we have to search. Hopefully tomorrow’s search will be successful.
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| 080830 Day 113 Komodos, Indonesia–Komodo National Park Walk |
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| 080830 Day 113 Komodos, Indonesia–Lehok Uwada Dasami to Pink Beach, Komodo Island |
