East
Nusa Tenggara (NTT) is one of Provinces in the eastern part of
Indonesia which is getting more and more popular nowadays. Consists of ±
550 islands with 3 main islands which are Flores, Sumba & Timor. I
once went to Flores specifically Labuan Bajo. Labuan Bajo itself is the
gate of Flores which is also the launching point going to Komodo, Rinca
or any other islands around.
From
my island, Sumbawa, the only public transportation we have to get there
is by Ferry which takes like 8 hours. Another alternative to save time
is fly to Bali 1st and then continue to Labuan Bajo and that’s what i
did. From Sumbawa to Bali is like 45 minutes by flight and cost us Rp.
571.000 for one way ticket and from Bali to Labuan Bajo is around Rp.
700.000 for 1,5 hour flight.
In
Labuan Bajo we can find many hotels and restaurants from the cheap one
to the expensives one. 1st night we stayed at LaPrima Hotel located in
La Pede Beach which is not that far from city center, we could walk, at
least that’w what i did. The rate was Rp. 800.000 at that time, the sea
view from the room is georgous and sunset was amazing too. The awkward
moment for me was whenever i entered restaurant, most of the time i was
the only Indonesian (besides restaurant staff).
On
our 2nd day in Labuan Bajo we bought one way tour package to Rinca
Island, we actually wanted to go to Komodo Island but the weather was
not that good that day so we chose the closer one, Rinca Island and it
cost Rp. 900.000 include round trip boat, lunch, soft drinks, snorkel
gears for snorkeling in Kelor Island. We gotta pay pay around Rp.
175.000 too for Entrance fee, camera fee & Ranger fee in the island.
When
we arrived in Rinca we gotta wait a lil bit longer for the Ranger cause
it was pretty busy day for them, many visitors. But we already could
see some Komodos near our waiting area, they said it’s because the food
smell from the kitchen attracted them to come around and those Komodos
around kitchen were the ones the Ranger guarantee we could see. He
couldn’t promise that we would see other Komodos during our 1 hour
trekking, but we seen some tho. In fact there were around 2.000 Komodos
all over the island. The view from the top was so amazing,, for a moment
i forget that the island is actually surrounded by thousands of
dangerous dragons.
After
trekking and meeting my buddies Komodos, we went back but we stopped in
Kelor Island. So many people there already from the cruise ship or
other tours. It is a small island with hill on it surrounded by nice
blue water with stunning white sands. I didn’t clim up the hill nor
snorkeling like everyone there did, i was just walking around taking
pictures and enjoying the view. Btw the pictures i took were not that
good due to my bad camera but in real the island view was just so
amazing. Based on my friend’s opinion who went snorkeling, the
underwater is pretty good. Too bad i couldn’t prove it.
Done
with Kelor Island we went back to Labuan Bajo which is only 30 minutes
boat ride left. After staying 1 more night in La Prima Hotel, we moved
to Gardenia hotel (as i remember it was around Rp. 200.000) which is in
the city center and the port view from the room is incredible. Spent our
last day there by visiting some islands but let’s not talk about this
one, it was pretty bad memory that i lost all pictures, phones and a
camera that day.
But
btw it gives me more reasons to go back to NTT one day, i need more
pictures with Komodos! I always think about it all this time, waiting
for the right time,,,and enough money.
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