The Komodo National Park

Located some 500 kilometers east of Bali, the Komodo National Park is an archipelago of about eighty islands set between Flores to the east and Sumbawa to the west, in the general area known as the Lesser Sunda Islands. Born out of volcanic activity as well as the tectonic uplifting of coral rocks, the islands offer spectacular sights of rugged mountains, peninsulas and promontories, quiet coves fringed by white sand beaches, narrow channels with swift currents, and a vegetation of open grassland, scrubs and monsoon forest.

Most islands of the National Park are uninhabited, except for just four villages of predominantly Bajo people, ‘the sea gypsies’ whose livelihood depends entirely on the sea. One of the highlights of the cruise is to see the famed Komodo “dragons” in their native habitat, on the island of Komodo itself as well as on nearby Rinca. Here the fauna also includes deer, buffaloes, boars, monkeys, wild horses, sea eagles, sulfur crested cockatoos, flying foxes etc…