Astrid Yaaay… finally, my motivation to write about our honeymoon experiences in Labuan Bajo has come! Actually, we went to Labuan Bajo on last August 2018, exactly the same day as the Opening Ceremony of Asian Games 2018. Well, just a week after our wedding day.
So we took a flight from Yogyakarta to Labuan Bajo by NAM Airlines, I still remember clearly it was very early in the morning like around 6 or 6.30 am and then we had transit in Ngurah Rai Airport, Bali for about 1-2 hours. The flight ticket price was around 2 million Rupiah each person. It was a little bit expensive because we bought the ticket probably like 2 weeks prior to departure.
Finally, after 45 minutes flight from Yogyakarta to Ngurah Rai Airport, Bali, then transit for an hour and continued our flight to Labuan Bajo for 45-60 minutes where I was one of few Indonesian among the seas of foreigners in the plane, we finally arrived in one of our dream islands to visit!
We were very excited as we arrived at the airport, moreover my husband! Because to visit Komodo Island is one of his biggest dreams since he was a kid, we really don’t know if its coincidence or fate, but seeing him looked so amazed only by the Komodo big sticker at the airport, I felt beyond happy too.
Once we arrived and got our baggage at the airport, we went directly outside to find transportation to the hotel we booked. You will easily find a lot of taxi drivers who will be waiting for either you want to go to your hotel, harbour, central and other spots in Labuan Bajo. The price will depend on your destination, but the driver will ask where do you want to go and the address. If you want to go to the hotel or cafe or harbour, it is located in the centre so the price will be around 50.000 Rupiah/one way.
We booked a hotel room in Soekarno-Hatta street, which still located in the central part of Labuan Bajo, named Beta Bajo Hotel. First, we booked for a night, because the next day in the morning we lived on board, which was my first experience. The first day in Labuan Bajo, we spent half-day at the hotel and in the afternoon we explore the centre and to see the sunset, had early dinner in Le Pirate cafe and after had our ‘dessert’ in one of Le Creperie in town! Yummmz
Read: Honeymoon Series #2: Le Pirate Restaurant, Labuan Bajo, Flores – Indonesia (Review)
The day after, at 09.00 in the morning our tourist guide picked up us at the hotel then we went directly to the harbour by car.
So this is our private boat, that we booked through Perama tours. We had cabin bedroom with bunkbed. They also have one bathroom, other bunkbed room, deck bedroom, very small kitchen area and a dining place.
We were very happy and very enthusiast to explore some islands in Flores. At the first time, I felt a bit worried because I ever got nausea in a boat a long time ago when I went to the Thousand Islands. But surprisingly I did not really feel that way, but just because it was very windy and I still feel sleepy, so I decided to sleep in our bedroom.
Oh ya, we saw few dolphins swim on our way to Kanawa island before!
When we arrived at our first destination, Kanawa Island, I feel like “OMG, I never saw the sea which very clear, clean and full of beautiful corals and fishes!”. We spent a few hours on this island, that time was a bit crowd already, but more with foreigner tourists than Indonesian people. The waves were not that much, so it was easy to swim around the island. Last time, we found a lot of colourful starfishes, that’s why we have to be more careful to not step on those starfishes.
So far, Kanawa island is one of our favourite spots to do snorkelling in Indonesia!
After we prepared, they brought us to explore Loh Buaya or well-known as Rinca Island. It is the largest Komodo dragon habitat in Indonesia. Last time, it was a little bit confusing when I bought the ticket in the ticket office because they have 8 ticket papers, which for me such a waste and not effective at all. Here are the price lists we paid:
- Entrance ticket at the Komodo National Park (weekend): IDR 7.500
- Entrance ticket to Rinca island (foreigner on weekend): IDR 225.000
- Entrance ticket to Rinca island (Indonesian on weekend): IDR 50.000 + IDR 20.000 = IDR 70.000
- Ranger fee ticket in Rinca island: IDR 80.000
- Activity ticket for trekking on Rinca island: IDR 5.000 x 2 person = IDR 10.000
- Activity ticket for observation the wildlife: IDR 10.000 x 2 person = IDR 20.000
See? In total, we paid for IDR 412.500 for 2 person or equal to EUR 23. If you go there on the weekdays, the price could be cheaper than written above. The ticket price applies to both islands, Rinca and Komodo (in case you go to this two-island on the same day). You definitely can choose whether you want to try the short, the medium or the long track one which will take around 2 hours or more.
In this island, beside Komodo dragons, you also will see a beautiful scenery with big hills, dry grasses, trees, wild reindeer, monkeys and birds. This island located 3 hours by boat from Labuan Bajo. It is better to go there in the morning or afternoon around (3 – 4 pm) to avoid the strong sunny day. From our guide and the ranger information, Rinca island has a lot of Komodo dragons than in the real Komodo island itself. We found around 9 – 12 Komodo dragons in Rinca island. Last time, because it was already in the afternoon around 3 pm, so we chose the medium trek. I was almost lost my breath when we hike the hill because it was very high and steep at the same time. But we glad that we made it to the top of the hills!
After finished our trek in Rinca island, then we went directly to the boat to continue our final destination in Kalong island, where we stopped before evening to see flies kalong or bats above the sunset skies. We feel amazed by all the kalongs which flew above us but it was a wonderful experience to see such beautiful landscape during the sunset with all those flying bats!
Do you want to know where we went on the second days?
The story will be uploaded next week, so stay tuned and ‘follow’ my blog to get the notification!
Very informative post. Thanks for sharing