26 hours to Flores:
Flores is 2 islands away from Lombok and just before you get there, that's where Komodo island is. This is where the last remaining dinosaurs on earth live. Giant lizards, measuring 2 or 3 metres in length. And yes, we did tell Ruben they eat naughty children!
The journey to Flores had its different stages of excitement and exhaustion. It was the anticipation of seeing an island which was so remote and further away from anything that we had ever been to, which kept us fresh on our journey. The public bus after the 2 hr taxi ride was to take us across Lombok, onto the boat to the next island Sumbawa, and drive for another 12 hours almost to the other side of the island. This started off quite well, with the constant flow of biscuits, bananas, apples and peanuts we had bought. It was when we got to the other port after 7 hours of travelling, that we realized that the bus driver was in fact a crazy maniac, trying to kill everyone on the bus by steaming down the roads, not even slowing down to turn round the hairpin bends going up and down mountains, all the while it was supposed to be sleep time for the passengers. As you can imagine, Jeje and I didn't get an ounce of sleep in.
There were bottles of water rolling madly around the floor and bags falling from the overhead shelves. We did shout out to him to slow down. After a while we noticed that he had slowed down, but realized that it was because he had been wanting to overtake all the other buses to be the first to pick up the passengers hailing down the buses on the roadsides every half hour or so. Now he had filled up his bus, he didn't have room for any more people so he could go back to normal speed.
But it was like that for about 10 hours. When we were about 3 hours from the boat taking us to Flores, the bus suddenly stopped and we had to get off to get on another minivan. The kids were fast asleep and it was not easy.
To make things worse, the other bus was tiny and looking at the floor, and judging by the smell, it had been recently used as a public toilet. It was infested with mozzies and that's when jeje announced that there was a high risk of malaria here and on Flores. We were still taking our pills everyday and still no side effects, but the pills aren't 100% effective and there are other diseases you can catch at night and in the day from mosquitos. So we had to wait in this bus for about 2 hours at about 3 am, the kids by now were wide awake, until setting off for the final 3 hours before getting to the last leg of our journey. The boat was packed full of Indonesians. We were among the very few tourists travelling to Flores.
We wondered if it was all going to be worth it, especially when we arrived in a rain storm and looking at the weather forecast, it said storms for the next hundred days or so...we later understood, it just says that because it is the rainy season. Nobody really knows what the weather is gonna be like. Next day, bright and sunny like nothing happened and we set off on our scooters to explore a tiny tip of this huge island. Stumbled on a hilltop restaurant overlooking a long pier with a little hut at the end. No one in sight, we had the place to ourselves and the restaurant was open. Pure paradise. After a gorgeous meal, we made our way to the end of the long pier and took turns jumping into in the warm, wavy water. Ruben perfecting his newly acquired swimming skills. Alana swam from one island to another and proved that she really can swim quite strongly, even with a bit of current.
We went to the harbour to book a 2 day tour on a boat to see some islands around and the Komodo dragons. We packed what we needed for the trip and left the rest behind in the hotel. Early breakfast and off we went on our island adventure. We hired a private boat, with 2 locals, the skipper and his captain! Both from Komodo island. First stop a tiny atoll where we went snorkeling at about 9am, seeing clown and parrot fish, but also large, brightly coloured prawns and even a squid. Just around the island, where it was shallow, the water was turquoise, but it quickly turned a dark deep blue, and when you stuck your head under the water you could clearly see how the ground dramatically sloped down into the depths.
a Next stop was Rinca Island where we saw our first Komodo dragons, snoozing lazily beside the park rangers' kitchen hut. Apparently they only become active in the early morning and early evening, when they get hungry. They feed on deer, buffalo and wild boar. There are about 1500 of them on 2 islands. Nowhere else in the world! They control their own population by eating their young. A recent discovery shows that females can produce eggs without being fertilized by a male! They didn't move much, but this is a clever hunting tactic which they use to trick their prey. Just when you feel safe...vram! they nip you. This puts bacteria into you and then you slowly die. They follow the prey and wait until in a few hours or days it dies and they eat it!
They are solitary, cold blooded creatures.
Next, on a brighter note, lunch! Mie Gareng à la capitaine stylee.
With a motor sounding like a pneumatic drill but ten times louder.
As we passed by every island, they all seemed to have their own personality. Different colours, different shapes. Some with posh resorts lining the beaches, some with shanty floating shacks; some with thick mangroves, some just a rock with a single tree sitting on the top, or a small stretch of yellow sand with a few birds resting.
We spotted a couple of giant turtles on the move in the clearer waters and some tiny flying fish which looked like huge dragon flies! They actually glided across the water, without touching!
That night we stayed in Komodo village in the captain's house. They have 4 boys. Here, having a big family is considered as bringing luck and happiness.
There is only one village on the whole island (which is quite big). They have their own dialect there! The village consisted of one street which ran parallel to the beach and had one school and one mosque. One generator provided electricity for around ten houses at a time and was automatically switched off at 11pm. We were invited to eat and sat on the floor in a circle. Conversation was limited, as we couldn't speak each others languages. The toilet was round the back of the house, but the torch light batteries had gone flat, so we were warmly welcomed into their rich neighbours house. They had an in house toilet! We slept on mattresses in the sitting room, along with hundreds of mosquitos. It rained hard that night on the corrugated roof and in between sporadic mozzie repellent spraying, we worried about not being able to leave the island the next day, but felt lucky that we hadn't slept in the boat!
Next morning, again, bright and sunny and after a few banana fritters we set off on the boat again. We met a Spanish couple who had slept in the boat and got completely drenched that night. We also learned that the rainy night we had arrived in Flores, the 4 day boat trip we had hesitated on taking, had turned into a disaster when the boat actually capsized and the 8 tourists aboard had to be rescued!
The captain announced that we were going to Manta Point, but I cannot quite explain the emotion or elation of what we were about to see. He pointed out some pointy fin type things in the water far off and we thought at first they were sharks but he said "no, Manta!". He waved to the driver to slow down and then turn off the engine and we all huddled together at the front of the boat to see what it was. All of a sudden, an immense black, graceful shadow gently glided right towards us and swam under the boat. Then another, and another followed. These creatures were about 4 metres wide. The sight was breath-taking and made me actually cry with amazement it was so beautiful to watch.
"Ok, snorkeling! No problem!" Me and jeje looked at each other in amazement. What? You don't seriously think we're gonna jump in there with those monsters? Well needless to say, it didn't take jeje long to weigh up the pros and cons (I don't think he even had time to do that), before he was rushing off to get his mask and fins and dived into the water. I wanted to but I felt so small and insignificant, i couldn't pluck up the courage. I don't know anything about these beasts. What if something goes wrong? Jeje got back on the boat and said it was amazing and I started thinking I would regret it if I didn't get in there and experience this. This is a lifetime thing. I might never get to do this again! So in i jumped and clang on to the side of the boat, hoping secretly that I wouldn't bump into one. Jeje jumped in beside me and we then swam off together in search of the fleet of Mantas! I can't describe the feeling when out of the blue you see one gliding towards you. I held my breath and jeje's arm perhaps a little too tight! All I could say was "wow, wow, wow!". Then another came along underneath us, following the same path. I kept looking out of the water to keep an eye on where the boat was. We were swimming further away. At one point we were surrounded by about 7 Mantas. One of them seared upwards to another one and did a kind of elegant marine sumo move. Another started swimming upwards towards us and that's when we said "ok, I think it's time to start swimming back!". We did feel a bit out of our depths and because we don't know these creatures well enough, we didn't know how to behave around them. Also there were little jelly fish stinging us everywhere! We got safely back and raved about what we had just experienced!
Next stop, a paradise island called Kanawa where you go up one side of the beach and get into the water and the current drifts you down to the other side, while you admire the schools of colourful fish, giant star fish and coral roses beneath!
Then it was time to head back to the harbour. What an adventure! We had come all this way to what seemed like the end of the world to see the Komodo dragons, but the unforgettable stars of the scene were the Manta Rays.
The next morning we got a flight to Bali, where we were to chill for the next 5 days. Amazing to think that it took us 26 hours to get to Flores, but only 1 to get back!