TIME VISITED: March BUSY ? Weekends and Holidays
WEATHER: 85 🌤 EXPENSIVE?: $$
I’m sure the last time most of you saw a Komodo Dragon was in a zoo or when you were watching the Discovery channel. I know before visiting this park, the last time I saw one was watching a Steve Irwin movie with my brother when I was little. The Komodo Dragon, the worlds largest lizard, is typically only seen on television or in a zoo because there are only five islands in the world you can see them in their natural habitat. These five islands are in Indonesia and the most common island to see them is Komodo Island home to Komodo National Park.
KOMODO NATIONAL PARK
When you arrive at the dock someone will meet you to welcome you to the park and walk you to the visitor center. The visitor center is very organized and the staff and tour guides extremely friendly and helpful. Fee’s to get into the park range from $10-20 USD depending on the day and time of year-fees will be higher in peak season and on Sundays and holidays.
I have to be honest when you first arrive it feels a bit “zoo-ish” there are multiple Komodo Dragons hanging out around the visitor center and it seemed a bit staged. I soon learned they are here because this is where the staff live and most importantly eat. These lizards are simply hungry and hoping for some scraps.
When walking through the park you need to go with a guide, this is because the Komodo Dragon’s will bite humans and their bite can be deadly. A tourist was actually bit just last year so this is not something to take lightly. We were told we wouldn’t see any active Komodo Dragons this time of year due to mating. They said we definitely wouldn’t see any females because they are underground protecting their eggs. But we got lucky and happened to see a female heading back to her nest!
You’ll go on a 1-2 hour walk through the park, it will be very hot so bring water. Not only is it cool to see a Komodo Dragon the views from this park are stunning.
We were here on a Saturday but arrived before it got too busy so there were only a few other boats here at the same time. Definitely try and come during the week if you can and you may have the park to yourselves.
While I was taking the picture above, the guide came up to me and warned me to be careful and to look to my right. There was a large male Komodo Dragon just 10 feet from me, I swear they sneak up on you so fast! If he didn’t see it who knows what could have happened so I was very thankful I was with him.
After walking through the park you will arrive back at the visitor center.
After seeing how monstrous these beasts can be and hearing the horror stories I was a bit nervous to get a picture but my guide encouraged me to. You can see how nervous I am at first! He just kept saying, “Get closer, it’s ok!”
BUT HOW DID YOU GET THERE?
There are many boats that will get to Komodo National Park but the most popular tours leave from Labuan Bajo. Labuan Bajo is on the island of Flores and you can fly cheap from Bali.
You can book a boat online or with a tour agent but I chose a different route. I had a friend in Indonesia that encouraged me to go with a local but warned me I’d have to find one down by the docks myself. I walked around for hours looking for a tour guide to take me. It was a lot of work talking to over 20 guides and boat owners in broken Indonesian but I am so glad I did. This ended up being such a special experience for me.
It got even more special when my guide Rosden told me we’d be staying with his family in a village just 30 minutes from Komodo National Park. Look at the smile on Rosden’s face when his friends and family welcomed us. That is his little boy in the orange shirt he hadn’t seen him in over a month!
I stayed in Rosden’s home and his wife cooked us a traditional meal with fresh fish caught that morning. I learned Rosden was one of two people who could speak English in his village so he spent the evening translating my stories for his friends and family. 
Keep in mind there was no bathroom in their home, you had to walk to the one shared with neighbors. This type of accommodation isn’t for everyone but I loved the local experience.
I even got lucky with a beautiful sunset the night we were there.
The next morning the entire village saw me off on the dock and we were on our way! If you want more information on the tour I did comment below I can try and contact Rosden on Facebook.
Look for my posts later this week for my trips to Pink Beach and Padar Island! Until then check out my other posts HERE!
