The Komodo gateway — dragon islands, Pink Beach, Padar Island viewpoint, and fresh tuna grilled on a liveaboard at anchor in a bay with no other boats
Labuan Bajo is the fishing-town-turned-gateway city on the western tip of Flores island, East Nusa Tenggara — the departure point for Komodo National Park, one of the most biodiverse and dramatic marine environments on earth. The Komodo National Park (UNESCO World Heritage since 1991) encompasses 29 islands between Flores and Sumbawa, including Komodo Island and Rinca Island (home to the Komodo dragon — the world's largest lizard, up to 3 metres long, 70 kg, with venomous saliva and a bite that causes blood coagulation failure — observed on guided treks). But the park's marine environment is…
Flores (Portuguese for 'flowers') was named by Portuguese explorers who noted the island's extraordinary floral beauty during their 16th-century East Indian Ocean expeditions. The Portuguese established the first European presence on Flores in the early 1500s; Catholic missionaries followed, which is why Flores remains the most Catholic island in predominantly Muslim Indonesia. Labuan Bajo was a small fishing village until the Komodo dragons were scientifically described in 1912 (by Peter Ouwens, a Dutch zoologist, from specimens sent by Dutch colonial administrators who heard tales from loca…