Dragons, manta rays, rare critters and Hobbit Men's remains await the scuba diver visiting Komodo National Park, a magical reserve but one that also has its challenges to overcome. PIERRE CONSTANT provides his overview in words and pictures
The Indonesian archipelago lies at the crossroads of three major tectonic plates: the Indo-Australian, Eurasian and Pacific. The Lesser Sunda Islands are part of the Western Banda Arc, between Java and the Banda Islands, the origin of which is Tertiary volcanic.
Flores Island is part of this inner arc of young volcanic islands, comprising from west to east Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Komodo and Rinca, then continuing to Solor, Pantar, Alor, Kambing and Wetar.
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The initial volcanism that formed Flores was submarine. During the mid-Miocene period, sandstone and limestone were deposited under water within basins that surround the volcanic spine of Flores.
Sixteen fossil sites have been discovered on the island, displaying giant tortoises and the 900,000-year-old pygmy elephant Stegodon sondaari. Vertebrate fossils include the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), crocodile and the elephantoid Stegodon floresensis. This highly endemic fauna was eradicated by a major eruption.
In 2003 Theodore Verhoeven unearthed stone artefacts and the bones of Flo, a 25-year-old female just over 1m tall from 18,000 years ago. She represented a new species, Homo floresensis, known as Hobbit Man, her kind thought to have inhabited the cave where she was found for 100,000 years.
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Fossils of 47 individual stegodons were also found at the site. The young of the species would have been a primary food source for Homo floresensis.
In 2014 other, much older human remains were discovered on Flores, closer to those of our ancestor Homo erectus and arriving from Africa about a million years ago. Over time, the evolutionary process had led to island dwarfism.
The Red Boat
Italian-born electronic engineer Cinzia Mariolini became a dedicated diver in 1990. A dive instructor in Australia and the Maldives, she eventually started managing diving operations, buying 75% of Flores Diving Centre in 2015.
Cinzia operates day-trips out of Labuan Bajo, the western tip of Flores, to the islands of the Komodo National Park on a traditional Indonesian wooden kapal kayu.
Named Mutiara Permata or Shining Pearl the “Red Boat”, as it is also known, is 21m long, 3.6m wide and has a six-cylinder 180hp Mitsubishi diesel engine. It has a crew of seven and capacity for 13 divers.
Komodo National Park covers 2,200sq km, comprising a coastal section of western Flores, the three larger islands of Komodo, Rinca and Padar, as well as 26 smaller islands and the surrounding waters of the Sape Strait.
It was created in 1980 initially to protect the world’s largest lizard, the Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), and was declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site, then a Man & Biosphere Reserve.
This part of the Coral Triangle contains some of the richest marine biodiversity on Earth, with 1,000 species of fish, 385 of hard corals, 70 sponges, 10 dolphins, seven whales as well as manta rays, turtles and dugongs.
A population of 1,200 resident reef mantas has been identified in the park. Manta fisheries were officially banned in Indonesia in 2014.
The dive day starts early. Divers meet at Flores Diving Centre at 7am. A five-minute walk along the busy main street of Labuan Bajo leads to the Pelabuhan, the town’s harbour which has the appearance of a very active marina of fishing and tourist boats. In dry season Labuan Bajo is a dusty, noisy place, where temperatures rise quickly during the day.
Sea breezes bring welcoming relief during the 90-minute cruise to the islands, which are mostly barren, yellow and grey, with grassy savannah burnt and bleached under the scorching sun. Hardly surprising, where temperatures reach an average of 40°C during the day.
A very detailed briefing is given on deck by Darmin, the 30-year-old Indonesian dive-guide, about our first site, Siaba Besar, in the northern part of the park above Rinca and Komodo.
There are particles in the water but the coral garden is impressive and fish-life plentiful. We see schools of striped fusiliers, bigeyes in red or silver depending on their mood, diagonal sweetlips (Plectothinchus lineatus), yellow masked angelfish (Pomacanthus xanthometopon), six-banded angels and clouds of anthias.
Tame green turtles
With delight, I notice a bonanza of tame green turtles resting lazily on top of table corals. Unusually, one of them had no objection to my zooming in for a close-up shot and a portrait. Dozing on the seabed, another large individual measured up to 1.5m long.
Shy by nature, a school of humpback unicorns (Naso bachycentron) made for a pleasant encounter. A rock-mover wrasse (Novacullichthys taeniourous) was at work on the coral rubble.
Excellent Indian dive-guide Navneet, an instructor in the Andaman Islands, gave the briefing for the Mawan site. It was promoted as a cleaning station for mantas, making us eager, but no rays were to be seen. “Last Saturday, we had an encounter with a whale shark!” beamed a German guest. Lucky you.
The current went back and forth annoyingly. Not much was happening except for a lovely tomato anemonefish (Amphiprion frenatus) hovering above its anemone.
A lunch box on the sundeck, under the shade of the canvas, was the norm. For the afternoon dive we headed to Loh Buaya on the north-west coast of Rinca, the location of the Komodo National Park ranger station. This would offer a chance for a close encounter with a Komodo dragon.
We disembarked on a wooden pontoon and a cemented walkway led to the park station, where we were met by the ranger who would guide us around. In early afternoon, the heat was intense. Six good-sized Komodo dragons were snoozing placidly in the shade of the barracks, passively awaiting their visitors with a cool stare.
Armed with a long wooden stick, the guide made sure we did not get too close to the lizards. This was followed by a hike to the top of the hill for a panoramic view of the bay and surrounding hills, and a 45-minute return stroll on which we met no dragons. The perfect booby trap for tourists.
Back in 2005, I had enjoyed an authentic encounter in the south of Rinca. The boat had dropped anchor off a deserted beach in Horseshoe Bay and the golden late-afternoon light was fabulous. It was perfect timing for photos of the yacht, so I had asked the captain for permission to go on land.
“Not without a crew-member, for security,” he warned. No problem. I had not been on the beach for five minutes when a 2.5m Komodo dragon emerged from the bushes about 40m away.
Head low, it moved with a cat-like gait, the bifid tongue sticking in and out of the snout to get a decent scent of me, it approached, swinging its powerful arms forward from left to right. It was a fascinating yet fearsome sight.
Suddenly it paused 20m from me as I was framing it with my telephoto lens, one knee on the ground. With a red devilish eye, it stared at me for a while, its head on the side. The world stood still. Then, as if its curiosity had been satisfied, it had gone back into the bushes.
Northern Komodo sites
Many dive-sites are best suited for beginners, with calm waters and little fish action. Diving in Komodo distinguishes between “falling tide”, when the Pacific waters flow south into the Indian Ocean, and “rising tide”, when Indian Ocean waters flow north into the Pacific.
There is a conspicuous drop of 2-3° in water temperatures from the usual 28°C on a rising ride, due to the upwelling of the southern trench. You could manage without a wetsuit but most people wear a 3mm anyway and some even fancy a 5mm!
Because they are exposed to these temperatures daily, divemasters always wear a wetsuit including a hood. To dive the southern shores of Komodo and Rinca, a 5mm wetsuit is compulsory.
Mantas, the iconic highlight of Komodo, are seen at Mawan, Manta Point and Cauldron on the east and north of Komodo Island. On day three, the plan was to dive northern Komodo sites: “It’s the best there is in Komodo in terms of fish action,” confirmed Cinzia. I would not be disappointed.
Dived on a falling tide, Castle Rock is a rocky outcrop jutting out of the sea. The current runs from west to east, and we saw schooling yellowfin surgeonfish (Acanthurus xanthopterus), giant and bigeye jack, whitetip and grey reef sharks, schooling Teira batfish, red snapper and very tame Napoleon wrasse. A large spotted eagle ray advanced, full frame, at the end of the dive.
Cauldron is a clearwater channel between Gili Lawa Laut and Gili Lawa Darat, with only a slight current. Guest Katrina from England, working on a research project for the Marine Megafauna Foundation, came onboard to give a little talk about mantas before the dive.
The organisation, which started in 2008 in Mozambique with Drs Simon Pierce and Andrea Marshall, opened a base at Nusa Lebongan on Bali in 2011 and later set up in Labuan Bajo, where Katrina offered weekly talks about the latest research.
During the dive a juvenile resident black and white reef manta, inquisitive about the divers, turned out to be a co-operative model, circling us a few times over the white sandy bottom.
Cauldron narrows into a funnel and a channel called the Shotgun, where the current picked up. Schools of red and black snapper and bigeye jack gather at the entrance. The safety stop was done on the other side of Shotgun, where a colony of garden eels carpeted the sandy bottom.
Mantas are 5 million years old but have an elasmobranch ancestor that goes back 415 million years. These bottom-feeders are also filter-feeders with five gills, and the diamond shape is made for speed.
There is no more Manta genus now – it has been replaced by Mobula, and two distinct species are recognised: the pelagic giant manta (Mobula birostris) and the resident reef manta (Mobula alfredi). Melanistic mantas are not a separate species, but there is a possible third species in the Caribbean.
Females always appear followed by the smaller males in hot pursuit during the mating season. The male uses his teeth to hold on to the female’s pectoral fin. Facing each other ventrally, the copulation lasts from 30 seconds to two minutes.
After a 12-month pregnancy, a baby manta is wrapped inside the female before birth, like a corn-cob. When born it unfolds to reveal a 2m wingspan.
Mantas have the largest brain of any fish, and a life expectancy of 40-70 years. They eat plankton, plastic maybe, barrel roll, and can dive to depths of 1,400m to feed. Manta migration has been observed from Komodo to Bali.
Mantas are on the IUCN Red List as Vulnerable to extinction and their world population is decreasing, but they are now protected in Indonesia, where they are reckoned to bring in 15 million tourist dollars yearly.
Hole in the Rock
Another worthwhile dive-site is Batu Bolong or “Hole in the Rock”. Found north of Manta Point to the north-west of Komodo Island, this isolated rock emerges barely and horizontally, with a conspicuous arch on top.
Under water, it is a sheer drop-off. On the falling tide, the current rushes wildly from north to south on both sides of the rock, and divers have to zigzag from side to side in the protected area.
Lots of fish life congregates there, from sleek unicorns, Vlaminck unicorns and bluefin jack to giant sweetlips (Plectorhinchus albovittatus), with hawksbill turtles feeding on the coral. Large table corals in the shallows host clouds of anthias, damsels, parrotfish and wrasse.
Napoleon wrasse are a common sighting, and one gets the occasional surprise of a large banded sea snake on a hunt. On the rising tide, when the flow of current reverses, temperatures will drop from 28°C to 25°C.
North Tatawa was a welcome change. The island was dry, hilly and brownish with white volcanic cliffs and deserted white-sand beaches.
The underwater scenery was that of a colourful slope and coral garden, with rocks and bommies covered in orange and white soft corals, Dendronephthya purple and Tubastrea green corals and large brown tube sponges.
With plenty of reef fish, the odd hawksbill grazing on the reef and opportunities for wide-angle photos against the sun, the stimulating environment was an enchantment.
Awe and magic
Just like Galapagos, Komodo has a name wrapped in an aura of awe and magic. However, Komodo National Park (KNP) might be a victim of fame that could eventually lead to its downfall.
On my last dives at Castle Rock and Crystal Rock in the north, I was shocked by the presence of 15 dive-boats on site, translating into a crowd of divers under water. Not what you would define as an authentic pristine experience.
In the late 1990s, 30,000 people visited Komodo National Park. This rose to 36,000 in 2009, by 2015 was 95,410 and in 2018, 176,000, with huge projections for the years to follow.
The situation was getting out of control and several dive operators in Labuan Bajo, including Flores Diving Centre, were raising their voices in disapproval. Considering the high fees being levied on visitors and divers, was the KNP management being rather irresponsible?
The IUCN 2017 World Heritage Conservation Outlook Assessment for the KNP had denounced abusive and illegal fishing practices and unregulated increases in tourist numbers. Serious threats also came from the human population in terms of pollution and trash, and the KNP’s World Heritage Site listing became a “significant concern”.
Fishers did not respect the no-take zones and shark takes were rising; park rangers did not enforce or sanction wrongdoers effectively, dive-boat trips were rising exponentially – all this demanded regulation of boat access to dive-sites.
Mooring facilities needed to be implemented to avoid anchor damage to coral reefs. Zoning was required in which specific activities were permitted or forbidden.
Then came the Covid pandemic, and by 2022 tourism had dropped back to about 50,000 per year. In 2023 the park welcomed 300,488 visitors, a substantial increase from the previous year. While visitors to Labuan Bajo quadrupled between 2019-2024, they are predicted to reach a million this year.
A previous study indicated that the number of visitors to Komodo annually should be limited to a maximum of 219,000 because of the impact of large crowds on the behaviour of Komodo dragons. Authorities have long sought ways to limit numbers by increasing park fees.
Consequently the park management, the BTNK, now plans to close it on certain days of the week to regenerate the ecosystem, and redirect tourists to other attractions in the region. This policy is expected to be implemented from 2025. Residents of Komodo Island are against the plan, because their income and livelihood depend on tourism.
The daily entrance fee for Padar Island is currently 150,000 rupiah (£7.40) on weekdays and 250,000 rupiah (£12.40) at weekends. For people going on a cruise, the entry fee to the KNP was updated in April 2024 to 400,000 rupiah for nationals and 700,000 rupiah (£34.70) for foreigners.
Muck-diving
No trip to Flores would be complete without some diving in Maumere, on the eastern side of the island. Maumere was dramatically destroyed in 1992 by a 6.8 earthquake with its epicentre in the Flores Sea, followed by a devastating tsunami that killed 2500 people.
Coral reefs suffered consequent damage and although there has been some regeneration since, the area cannot match the diving in Komodo National Park.
Having said that, one should consider the very good muck-diving on offer. It mixes both coral rubble and patches of volcanic sand, fine silt and even beds of seagrass, that host the Flores seahorse among others.
Nudibranch encounters were delightful and included species such as: Halgerda batangas, Cheilinodura inornata, Trinchesia yamasui with blue cerata and orange tips, Glossodoris atromarginata, Glossodoris hikuerensis, Thuridilla lineolata, Thuridilla bayeri, Jorunna funebris, Ceratosoma sinuatum and several Phyllodesmium species including P magnum.
The jaw-dropping highlight of them all for me was the gigantic Niamira alleni ex-Ceratosma sp nudibranch, a very rare sighting and my first ever! Pearly white, it is covered in knobs and displays an amazing cross of appendages on its back, with the pearly silvery gills like a flower in the middle.
Even more striking was the probe-like appendage extension rising high from the top of its head, also covered in knobs. A breathtaking creature, that left me panting as if having a hallucinogenic vision…
Why are Komodo dragons so big?
The gigantic size of the Komodo dragon is explained by it being a “relict population” of large varanid lizards that once lived across Indonesia and Australia in the Pleistocene era. Fossils found in Australia were dated to 3.8 million years old.
900,000 years ago on Flores Island, Komodo dragons fed on dwarf elephants (Stegodon sondaari). Today, their food is mostly Timor deer, although they also eat carrion, invertebrates, birds and even fish.
It was once thought that their venomous bite was due to potent bacteria in the mouth, but it now turns out that there are venom glands in the lower jaw that secrete several toxic proteins and an anticoagulant among others. This induces lowering blood pressure, muscle paralysis and a loss of consciousness.
The dragons kill by using their dentition to cause shock and trauma. Surprisingly, they have good mouth hygiene. After feeding, they spend up to 15 minutes lip-licking and rubbing their head in the leaves.
Mating occurs between May and August and eggs are laid in September. Males fight over females.
Dragons may be monogamous and form “pair bonds“, a rare behaviour for lizards. Sixty per cent of the eggs are deposited in the nest of the orange-footed megapode, 20% at ground level and 20% in hilly areas. They lay clutches of up to 20 eggs on average, with an incubation period of 7-8 months.
Newly hatched dragons break the egg with an egg tooth. Vulnerable at birth, they measure 46cm and seek refuge in the trees for the first few years of existence to avoid predation by cannibalistic adults. It takes 8-9 years for a dragon to mature, and it can live for up to 30 years.
One amazing phenomenon was observed at Chester Zoo in England in 2005. A captive female named Flora, who had not had contact with a male for more than two years, had a clutch of 11 eggs. Seven hatched and all were males.
Scientists at first assumed that Flora might have stored sperm from a previous encounter with a male, but this was proved incorrect. It was the first example of parthenogenesis in Komodo dragons.
A second case was observed at Sedgwick County Zoo in Kansas in 2008 when two unfertilised eggs also gave male hatchlings. This reproductive adaptation allows a female in isolation – that is, an island niche – to produce male offspring by parthenogenesis, and mate with those to insure a sexually reproducing population of both male and female offspring.
Twenty-four attacks on humans were reported between 1974 and 2012. In 2008, a group of five scuba divers stranded on the beach of Rinca Island were attacked by Komodo dragons. They were picked up two days later by an Indonesian rescue boat.
In 2009, a national park guide stationed on Rinca was ambushed and mauled by a dragon that had hidden under his desk. In May 2017, a 50-year-old Singaporean tourist walking alone on Komodo island despite all advice, survived an attack but for a severely injured leg.
In 2015, the declining population of dragons was assessed to be 3,014 individuals. The Komodo dragon had became extinct on Padar Island in 1975. A vulnerable species on the IUCN list, the Komodo dragon has been officially protected since 1980.
PIERRE CONSTANT runs Calao Life Experience. Other features by the author on Divernet include HELL’S BELLS AND OTHER YUCATAN CAVE SPECIALS, VANUATU BEYOND THE COOLIDGE and DIVE-TRIP: MUSANDAM TO MUSCAT
Also on Divernet: KOMODO ON A SHOESTRING, ALOR UNTO ITSELF, ALOR FISH SOUP – IT’S QUITE A RECIPE!, ALOR AQUAMEN
