Komodo National Park
The only place on earth where the Komodo dragon lives wild.
Duration
2 hrs – 4 hrs
Difficulty
●●○○○
Best time
Early morning
Open
Every day
Entry price
To confirm
The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard: up to three metres and seventy kilos, with a venomous bite. It survives on only five Indonesian islands, and science only described it in 1912 — sailors' accounts of land crocodiles were taken for invention.
You see it walking on Rinca or Komodo, accompanied by a ranger carrying a forked stick, the only tool used in a century. Routes run from thirty minutes to two hours. The park also protects one of the richest reefs on the planet, and half the point of a trip is underwater.
Getting there
Rinca is an hour by boat from Labuan Bajo, Komodo three. Every trip leaves from Labuan Bajo harbour.
What the price covers
park entry fee, plus a trekking fee and a compulsory ranger; rates to be checked and paid in cash
Rules on site
Never leave the ranger's side and never run: a dragon reaches twenty kilometres an hour over a short distance. Women who are menstruating must tell the ranger — the animal detects blood from kilometres away, and the instruction is official.
