Blogs from Komodo, Indonesia, Asia
April 28th 2012
Hello dear friends, readers and travelmates!! After leaving Perhentians, I went to see Anne in Kuala Lumpur again, and not to forget, the reunion with Achim took place also. After visiting the butterfly garden and birdpark, we took a plane to Bali with Airasia, my definetly favourite airline in Asia. Because it was very near to the airport, we decided to stay in Kuta - what a shithole, but it doesn't matter, it was just for one night, so we went early in the morning to the airport, bought a ticket with Skyaviation, went to the check-in and flew to Labuanbajo, Westflores - gateway to the Komodo-Nationalpark. There we met Achim again, he had a flight 2 days earlier. After a fantastic Pizza in Madeinitaly, we strolled arround and booked a trip to the park on ... read more
#12: Visiting Dragons in the Year of the Dragon...
Published: April 11th 2012Asia » Indonesia » Komodo
April 11th 2012
Dragons in the Year of the Dragon…. For many years I’ve tried to plan a trip to Komodo National Park. After several attempts, I discovered that traveling in less developed parts of Indonesia means old style travel. I don’t mean horse-and-buggy-old-style, but I do mean the kind of old style where you can’t rely on the internet, trip advisor, or google searches. Somewhere, deep in my memory, there is a hazy vision of buying a plane ticket and landing in a foreign place with no hotel reservations, no tours booked, no transportation planned out. The only information I had to guide my arrival was what I could find in an out-of-date Lonely Planet (or more likely, Let’s Go!) book. After that, it was all adventure. Sadly, the easy availability of travel reviews and booking options have ... read more
March 11th 2012
Irgendwo in den Weiten des Meeres, zwischen vielen kleinen Inseln haben wir uns auf einem kleinen Boot zu einer kleinen illustren Gruppe zusammengefunden, um ein paar Tage gemeinsam zu reisen. Fischend, essend, schlafend, schnorchelnd verbringen wir unsere Tage. Das satte Brummen der Maschinen schiebt das Boot über das spiegelglatte Meer. Fliegende Fische begleiten uns. Sie springen aus dem Wasser, fitschen ein paar Mal auf und tänzeln anschließend senkrecht auf ihrer Schwanzflosse stehend über das Meer. Sie tauchen wieder unter, um gleich darauf erneut zu erscheinen, ihre Flossen auszubreiten und viele Meter durch die Luft zu fliegen, bevor sie wieder eintauchen und mit dem Spiel erneut beginnen. Die untergehende Sonne lässt unsere Welt langsam verdunkeln, ein Regenschleier verdeckt den Horizont genau dort, wo unser Ziel liegt. Im letzten Abendlicht sitzen wir Passagiere wie an... read more
December 24th 2011
So, for the final installment of our Indonesian blogs the theme is dragons. Komodo Dragons to be precise, a prehistoric throwback that bears a passing resemblance to a crocodile on a bad hair day, at least until they move that is, when the Naomi Campbell hips come into play. They are one of the deadliest predators known to man, dominant in their natural habitat to such an extent that animals (food) are bred in the national park to provide enough sustinance. In a single sitting a fully grown adult dragon can eat up to 80% of its bodyweight, around 50kg. Thankfully, I am a shade under 80kg myself and as a result off the menu, but that didn't stop me keeping my distance when we encountered them in the wild. The dragons are spread over a ... read more
Boat trip – Lombok to Flores, via Sumbawa and Komodo
Published: October 18th 2011Asia » Indonesia » Komodo
October 17th 2011
Awaking in Lombok for the last time, we avoided the damage caused by the Bali earthquake, and felt a mild but nevertheless disconcerting tremor. There was a small aftershock, moments after we, and the Senggigi locals, ran out onto the relative safety of the street. We then spent a very interesting and exciting four days and three nights aboard a small boat, with a crew of five Lombok locals and a motley menagerie mainly from some of Europe’s smaller nations and South America. This included an amusingly unhinged Swiss, Ephraim, whose mission it seemed to be to keep everyone entertained, with animal impressions, particularly that of the cockerel, and with general tomfoolery. On the last day he even persuaded the captain to let him pilot the boat. Every day, he wore a different makeshift earring in ... read more
September 5th 2011
To recap a little from the last post: in Ruteng I met a French birder called Marc travelling with his girlfriend and her sister, Peggy and Nathalie. They were coincidentally going to Labuanbajo on the same day I was so we decided to team up, especially for the trip to Komodo thereby making it more affordable for us all. First however we went to Golo Lusang for a morning birding session (this was back on the 2nd of September), they after shortwings and myself after parrots. Neither of us found what we were looking for, but we did discover that while the passenger vehicles were constant in the morning they dried up around ten. To cut a long story short, we had a little trouble getting back to Ruteng and didn't make it back to the ... read more
July 21st 2011
A notre arrivée à Labuanbajo, Catherine et moi sommes fatiguées, sales et je suis enrhumée. Au lever du jour, on arpente les rues en reconstruction. Sur les hauteurs, on admire le panorama: on est face au parc national de Komodo, un ensemble d'îles célèbre pour les varengs qui y habitent. Les gros lézards, ça me plait bien, mais moi ce qui me démange, c'est de tremper mes palmes dans ces eaux à la fois cristallines et agitées. Sur le ferry, on a rencontré un couple de polonais et une anglaise et coup de chance, ils plongent tous. Je les convainc que la meilleure façon de plonger dans le parc, c'est de prendre une croisière. Ca tombe bien, un centre de plongée nous propose de nous en organiser une, sur un petit bateau, juste nous 5, à ... read more
July 3rd 2011
Ganske enkelt fantastisk. Mindre kan ikke beskrive vores tur ude og se Komodo-varaner. Vi startede dog med nogle udfordringer. Vi er gået i total feriestemning, hvilket betyder at også hjernen åbenbart er slået fra. Og det blev den måske også inden afrejse, da vores søde genboer SMS’ede efter et par dage, at vi havde efterladt bilen ulåst og i øvrigt også med åbentstående vindue! Det har de heldigvis fikset nu. Men tilbage til vores afrejse mod Flores – en ø, hvorfra man sejler ud for at besøge de to øer, hvorpå Komodo-varanerne lever. Vi boede på Bali en ½ times kørsel fra lufthavnen, og med sidste indcheckning ½ time før afgang, måtte det være fint, at vi tog afsted fra hotellet 2 timer før afgang. Vi regnede os derfor frem til, at det var passende at ... read more
April 7th 2011
When arrive in Indonesia a little tired of fighting for the poor service we decided to pay more for better things and no more, but we were wrong. Finally we took a tour from the island of Lombock to the island of Flores stopping on the way in Komodo to see the famous dragons. PERAMA, the company offering the tours was supposedly the most secure and reliable, at least their ads say so, but turned out to be the worst of all with inflated prices and no insurance, we finally feel cheated. We left on March 26, 2011, 17 passengers, a family with a baby of 10 months and others. After a few stops on the island of Lombock, we headed to the first island to snorkel, and from there straight over night to another ... read more
February 22nd 2011
Started the day with a walk to the closest ATM, at 7am it is already hot and we both perspire all the way there and back again then it was a traditional Mie Goreng for breakfast in the hotel dining area. It is nice to relax and do nothing this morning but enjoy the outdoor shower and watch an old movie. At 12pm we were delivered to the airport domestic terminal where we gorged ourselves on Dunkin Donuts before checking in for our Wings Air flight at 1pm. It was a smallish prop plane and it was quite full, lucky we werent hungry or thirsty because there was nothing available on this flight. At 3pm we descended into Labuanbajo and I swear it was the most scary landing I have ever endured, we slid all over ... read more
