Indonesia Komodo Island Diving and Trekking

Komodo National Park, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia · Indonesia

Moderate7 daysAsia~£1,200 est.

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Overview

Komodo National Park pairs two experiences that have no business being a boat ride apart: tracking Komodo dragons — 3 m long, 70 kg, the world's largest lizard — on ranger-led walks through the dry savanna of Komodo and Rinca islands, and diving some of the fiercest, richest current sites in Asia. At Batu Bolong a coral pinnacle rises through a channel where the tide runs like a river; you hold the lee among clouds of anthias while giant trevally and whitetip reef sharks patrol the edge. At Manta Point, reef mantas stack up over the cleaning stations — on a good drift you lose count. Current is the variable that catches people out: sites are timed to slack windows, operators will rightly pull marginal dives for novices, and a surface marker buoy and reef hook are not optional extras. Labuan Bajo on Flores is the gateway, an hour's flight from Bali. A week's liveaboard from around £1,200 reaches Crystal Rock and Castle Rock in the north; land-based day boats cost less. Climb Padar's viewpoint at dawn between dives for the three-bay panorama, and budget for the park's daily entry and diver fees on top.