Islands and Beaches in Komodo Island

Part of the Komodo Island travel guide — see every topic in All Komodo Island Guides.

Komodo National Park contains three large islands — Komodo, Rinca and Padar — and dozens of small ones, most uninhabited, scattered across water that ranges from milky turquoise over sand to deep blue over drop-offs. The standard day-trip circuit hits four or five of them. A private boat or a longer liveaboard opens up a great many more, and the difference between a stop shared with fifteen boats and one shared with nobody is largely a matter of how far you are prepared to go.

The standard stops

Kelor is a small conical island twenty minutes from Labuan Bajo with a short steep climb and a good beach — usually the first or last stop of a trip. Kanawa has a long jetty over shallow reef and is the classic swimming stop. Siaba Besar is the turtle bay: shallow seagrass where green turtles feed, and sightings are close to reliable. Taka Makassar is the one everybody photographs — a crescent of white sand sitting in open water with no vegetation at all, which appears and shrinks with the tide, right beside Manta Point.

Further out

Gili Lawa Darat in the far north has a ridge walk with a view over a deep blue bay that rivals Padar and takes half the effort; it is a standard overnight anchorage for liveaboards and a common sunrise stop. Sebayur and Sabolo are quieter reef islands closer to town. Long Beach on Komodo's north coast is a genuinely empty white-sand stretch. And Seraya, an hour from Labuan Bajo, has a small resort and is the easiest place to spend a night on an island without booking a boat trip.

The water

Visibility in the dry season is routinely twenty to thirty metres. The shallows over sand read as an implausible pale turquoise. What is not obvious from a photograph is how much water moves: the strait between Komodo and Flores carries serious tidal flow, and the calm bay you are swimming in can develop a two-knot current within half an hour of the tide turning. Swim where the crew tells you, keep the boat in sight, and be aware that saltwater crocodiles are present in some mangrove areas of Rinca — hence Loh Buaya, "crocodile bay".

Choosing a trip

One-day trips cover Padar, Pink Beach, Manta Point and one dragon island, which is a lot of engine time for one day. Two nights lets you do the same at a human pace and catch Padar at sunrise, which is the single biggest upgrade available. Private boat charters for a small group run 3.5–8 million rupiah a day and let you choose the stops and the timing, which is what separates a good Komodo trip from a queue. Whatever you book, check whether park and ranger fees are included.

Islands and Beaches at a glance

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