Komodo Island

Hi there

I have read that the only way to get off the ship at Komodo island is if you are on a ship's tour or at least on an organised hike with a ranger. I don't want to see the dragons at all (the rest of my family might...) as I have enough of a fear of little lizards, seeing them on steroids is just not for me!!!:eek::eek:

Is there a way to go to Pink Beach without doing the dragon part? I am not sure if the tours come back after the dragons and before pink beach, or if there is something organised that only goes to pink beach. If not, I guess I will be having a chill out day on the ship!:rolleyes:

Thanks.

We are on the Ocean Princess, going to Komodo Island in October. We have booked a private tour. Have not seen anything from Princess restricting us to their tours.

You often see dragons on the beaches and they are excellent swimmers. Because so many cruisers visit Komodo these days the animals have become much more brazen and forage among the rubbish left on the beaches by the trippers.

If you are on the Millenium they had a pink beach and fishing village tour. No trekking to see the dragons but they do come down where the tenders arrive from the ship.

We did a private tour which was supposed to include dragon trekking, snorkelling at pink beach, barbeque lunch and a visit to the fishing village. Ended up being very short walk to see dragons. Some people complained and they did a further steep walk. No snorkelling yet the ships tour did. Lunch consisted of a packed lunch which had been prepared hours earlier which none of us choose to eat. The highlight was meeting the kids at the school in the fishing village.

A cyclone near the week before our arrival was blamed for the lack of snorkelling and barbeque. The ships tour didn't have the same problem with the snorkelling boats. Do the ships tour to pink beach and fishing village. You will see dragons on the beach whether you want to or not.

Jennifer

Ok, after reading all this - decision made! I am staying on the ship. Chicken, I know, what can I say....:o

Thanks for being honest - I didn't realise there are dragons on the beach and near the tender.

You ned to arrange a tour with an tour operator. When going to Pink beach you will depart from the jetty and you will not go to the beach the Komodo Park and you will not have any chance to meet any dragons!

An option is to go to Kampung Komodo and Pink Beach - completely 'Dragon free'

This is a short video from Kampung Komodo:

And you can also watch a video with the dragons:

So some people say the dragons come down to the beach and tender dock, and others say not. Maybe they do sometimes and not others.... Will have to investigate further.

I would love to go to Komodo village, does anyone have any suggestions on finding a private tour, as there are only 2 ship tours on Millennium, both expensive, and both involving dragons?

I have googled Komodo tours, and Komodo village etc, but they all seem to originate on other islands (ie depart from Bali, Lombok etc).

So some people say the dragons come down to the beach and tender dock, and others say not. Maybe they do sometimes and not others.... Will have to investigate further.

I would love to go to Komodo village, does anyone have any suggestions on finding a private tour, as there are only 2 ship tours on Millennium, both expensive, and both involving dragons?

Dragons are coming down to the beach in front of the ranger station - but they will not be at the pier - so a Kampung Komodo / Pink beach tour will be 'dragon free'.

You can not just buy a private tour - you can either buy the ship tour or check the roll-call section for the cruise and check if someone is organizing a private tour - might very well be.

Komodo tours are expensive - only few providers. The Kampung Komodo does include a donation to the school project in the Kampung - and number of participants very limited - will sell out early. Hence more expensive.

When I checked the 2015 schedule no tours available for Komodo at the Celebrity web - this year they did offer a Dragon Adventure Tour and a Kampung Komodo/Pink beach tour - the last one was 'dragon free'.

You will be a Komodo once in your lifetime - suggest that you join the ships Kampung/Pink Beach tour - but book early.

I just checked the celebrity site again - there is a Kampung Komodo and Pink Beach tour (no mention of dragons) but it's $121 per person for 3 hours. We are a family of 4, so that's $500 for 3 hours :eek:

I would really love to do this tour, but will have to see if anyone else is organising anything, as that's just a little too steep.

Thanks again hallasm - you are becoming my 'goldmine' of information!

In all honesty, going to Komodo on a big ship is not the way to go and I hope UNESCO threaten to withdraw the island from their World Heritage List as the Indonesian government have turned it into a circus. It just sounds appalling. I'm going back there on a ship early next year - 100 passengers, having sailed up from Auckland, and we are not bothering with Komodo itself. We are going to the neighbouring island of Rinca to see the dragons there.

When I first went to Komodo in 1990, we had an incredible 'up close and personal' experience - you had to buy a goat from the village and feed it to the dragons - and I thought then that I didn't want to see another dragon ever again. They are impressive, yes, but also disgusting things. We could smell their breath. In fact, there was the stench of death everywhere. And the snakes! More snakes than anywhere on Earth we were told.

Anyway, I going back and I'm greatly looking forward to it. The landscape around these islands is dramatically beautiful and the snorkelling world class.

Komodo definitely would not be a place I would choose to visit - it just happens to be one of the ports on our Asian cruise itinerary. I agree with you whole heartedly Fletcher - This place should be left alone for true nature lovers who go to this island specifically for the dragon experience.

The only upside is that the village is hopefully benefitting from the money and supplies brought in from the mega ships.

Considering that I have no interest in the dragons (or an active interest in avoiding seeing them :rolleyes:) and the ship excursion to the village is outrageously expensive, I will most likely be remaining on the ship and viewing the beauty of the island from a distance.

Your description in your post above :eek: reinforces that for me at least, this is a very wise decision!

Thanks for that, Cassicruiser!

When we went to Komodo first-time round we stayed at a little hotel in Labuanbajo on the island of Flores. We went over to Komodo on the local police launch - just the two of us plus two Japanese photographers. We were the only tourists on the island.

At the Flores hotel was a BBC group which included the author Douglas Adams. They had just come back from a 3 or 4-day stay on Komodo itself and had some hair-raising tales about rats and snakes. They took their own food which included a number of live chickens and these birds were in a sort of basket which they lifted out of their boat and placed on the jetty. Within seconds a dragon appeared from nowhere, grabbed a chicken and vanished.

It seems so tame today!

I've located this shot of my visit to Komodo with our poor goat walking to its doom:

I've located this shot of my visit to Komodo with our poor goat walking to its doom:

 

:eek::eek::eek:

Does anyone know of any reputable tour companies who offer trips for cruise passengers to Komodo. We hope to see the dragons + anything else possible during our visit to the island next year with HAL. I have done some internet searching for tours on the island for cruise ship passengers but had limited success. I am aware that you can only visit the island with a pre booked tour. Is a ship tour the only option available to us?

Thank you

Does anyone know of any reputable tour companies who offer trips for cruise passengers to Komodo. We hope to see the dragons + anything else possible during our visit to the island next year with HAL. I have done some internet searching for tours on the island for cruise ship passengers but had limited success. I am aware that you can only visit the island with a pre booked tour. Is a ship tour the only option available to us?

Thank you

I have found a couple. If you would like to email me, I can send you the info. jlspray@comcast.net. What cruise are you on? We will be on HAL on January 6th

I have found a couple. If you would like to email me, I can send you the info. jlspray@comcast.net. What cruise are you on? We will be on HAL on January 6th

Thanks

I have E mailed you. We are on the HAL cruise leaving Singapore on Feb 28th.

From Last January

Thanks

 

I have E mailed you. We are on the HAL cruise leaving Singapore on Feb 28th.

Singapore January 20, 2013

Sorry about the music, but you tube through out my one with good music so had to go to the one they said I could post.

Click on email to your HTML guide for specific questions. I can send attachments

Hi Larry and Julie - I have emailed you as well if that's ok. Thanks heaps

I have found a couple. If you would like to email me, I can send you the info. jlspray@comcast.net. What cruise are you on? We will be on HAL on January 6th

Hi Larry and Julie

I emailed you a couple of weeks ago for some Komodo info, but have had no reply... Did you receive my email?

Thanks

Caron

Just wondering why someone would offer information via email, but then not reply to the email and never come back to the thread. :confused:

Just wondering why someone would offer information via email, but then not reply to the email and never come back to the thread. :confused:

Hi

I havent had any reply either but did get some good info from another traveller who took part in a trip organised with "Komodo Tours". This company arranged a tour with a ranger but unless you can get quite a large group together the ship tour seems to be the only option. I dont think that you are on the same sailing as us. We are on HAL Feb 28th.

Hi Busybean - It seems quite difficult to organise anything on Komodo, and the ships tours are hugely expensive. I'll check whats happening on my sailing's roll call closer to the time. I'm happy to stay on the ship in Komodo but my family will want to do a tour.

We are on Celebrity Millennium 5 January.