All of you may already know that to meet the Komodo Dragon we can go to Komodo Island, but some people still do not know there is one more island that is visited by tourists who want to meet directly with Komodo, its name Rinca Island. In the Komodo National Park, there are only two places where it is officially opened where we can meet the Komodo, Komodo Island and Rinca Island.
With an area of 198 square kilometers, Rinca Island is the second largest island in Komodo Islands. Although the island is vast, only in an area called Loh Buaya is permitted for tourists to visit.
In the local language Loh Buaya means bay with crocodiles. Loh means the bay and crocodile itself are of two kinds, namely sea crocodile and land crocodile. The so-called land crocodile itself is none other than the Komodo dragon itself.
To get to Loh Buaya we can use a wooden boat or speedboat from Labuan Bajo. Once we ariive at the wooden pier, we can go directly to the main area where we have to buy the entrance fee for Komodo National Park and the ranger will explain what can and should not be done and also the route that we will go during trekking.
There are 3 route options available on Rinca Island, short tracks, medium tracks and long tracks. For tourists who don’t have much time are usually enough with short tracks but have complete destinations from the forest to the view from the top of the hill.
The journey begins with passing the kitchen used by employees who live on the island of Rinca because this is where we mostly see the Komodos gather because they smell meat or fish from the kitchen. The smell of the Komodo dragon itself is very sharp, especially when there is the smell of blood they can smell up to several kilometers.
After meeting Komodo dragons the journey continues into the forest to see the nests that they use to store eggs. During the trip the ranger will explain everything about the Komodo dragon, from how the habits, what food to how the Komodo dragon is nested, if there is something unclear tourists are welcome to ask directly what you want to know.
The final route we will visit is the top of the hill where we can see a portion of Rinca Island which is hilly and arid, but the meandering savanna scenery is the main attraction of this place. In the south we can see an almost heart-shaped bay where the visitor’s ships lean back while waiting the passengers trekking on Rinca Island. With almost the same height as Kelor Island but the terrain traversed to get to the top is relatively sloping and not as hard as Kelor Island.
After reaching back at the information center again and saying goodbye, we can rest at the cafe or go straight back to the boat. Sometimes at the pier the monkeys give their farewells to tourists who leave Rinca Island.
Happy responsible travel!
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