Labuan Bajo and Komodo National Park
View on the harbor of Labuan Bajo |
Reunited
after some time apart, we headed for another divers paradise, where
we finally both could enjoy an awesome day of diving. Labuan Bajo,
the port on the very western tip of Flores consists pretty much of
one street, where one can find dive shops, tour operators, hotels,
international restaurants and whatever else a traveler might need.
Compared to most other destinations in Indonesia – except Bali and
the Gili Islands - is Labuan Bajo very western. The atmosphere is
quite cosmopolitan and European, Australian and American travelers clearly dominate the main street and night life in town. Most of the
locals can speak English, European bread, muesli, pizza, pasta,
cocktails and many other European things are easily available and the
town is growing extremely fast.
Liveaboard in Labuan Bajo |
The
special thing Labuan Bajo has to offer is a huge variety of islands
to go to; day trips for divers or boats to remote little islands to
get the “Robinson Crusoe experience”. Whether you’re a low
budget traveler or you want an exclusive beach resort, you can
access it all through Labuan Bajo, a great home base. And it is the
starting point for expeditions to see the Komodo Dragons on Komodo or
Rinca.
A tiny paradise just off Komodo |
We
originally wanted to go to Kanawa island first, already had a
reservation on the island for several bungalows, as we agreed to
change rooms every night. High season really is high season here, but
we wanted to get our little cottage on the beach and were ready to
get it with a little compromise. We extra booked it all Swiss style
with consideration of local circumstances, so we planned to fly to
Labuan Bajo, stay there one night to make sure that we would catch
the boat the next day at 12pm. But the flight from Bali got canceled,
and Trans Nusa, the airline, booked us for the flight the next day,
which was supposed to fly at 10am, so that we would be in Labuan Bajo
at 11am. We called the Kanawa island resort to make sure that we
would get on the boat, in case our flight would be a little late, you
never know in Indonesia. But they promised to wait for us. We took
the flight, which was one hour delayed, so that we arrived at 12pm in
Labuan Bajo, we called the resort again, they said they’d wait, we
hopped on the next ojek as soon as we got our luggage, arrived at the
port, but the boat was gone. No explanation, no solution, and no boss
to talk to, he was taking his nap and nobody dared to wake him up.
Clearly a resort that has no idea about hospitality.
Our cottage in Labuan Bajo |
Stuck
in the port, we were quite disappointed and unhappy. We looked for
the closest hotel, which turned out to be the Gardena Hotel that we
originally wanted to book for the first night, but they don’t take
reservations. A little pissed off we gave it a shot anyway, and did
not get disappointed. Little cottages all over the hill with an
amazing view, 220’000 IDR (15 EUR) per night, clean, simple, with
fan and mosquito net and so on. Somehow we were quite happy to find
probably better cottages and more comfort in a hotel close to the
port than the pricy, badly maintained cottages on the island. Good
for the budget, good for our mood.
On the way to the next diving spot |
Once
settled, we checked out our diving options. We checked with about
six dive shops along the “main” street (there is only one).
Prices are everywhere pretty much the same (1.1 to 1.3 million IDR (80
EUR), the people were friendly and left a competent impression. We
decided to book in an Austrian owned shop, the closest one to our
hotel. Later on we found out that they had difficulties in the past,
but they did everything they could to improve service and safety. As
Fabian got sick (high fever and headaches), we could dive one day
only, but it was an amazing experience and we got to see everything
we wished for: sharks, sea snakes, mantas and thousands of fishes we
don’t know yet. A wonderful day with a great crew.
We're still wondering what's in the "jungle survival kit" |
And
they even organized a home visit of a doctor for Fabs, as he got very
high fever within a few hours on our second day on Flores. Not that
you could do a lot, as there is no hospital in Labuan Bajo, there
isn't yet a decompression chamber for divers. We did not investigate
further on health care facilities as Fabs’ fever disappeared again
soon, but be prepared not to expect any serious facilities when you
go there. Bali with its good health care services (for Indonesian
standards) is close, but still a few days’ boat trip away, and the
airport has connections, but the flights are not really predictable
as we found out ourselves. Lucky nothing serious happened to us.We
can highly recommend diving in the Komodo National Park from Flores,
maybe we will go back there as we did not see the Komodo dragons
this time. But make sure you are healthy and up for adventures with
plenty of time and a good mood.
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