Dear English-speaking readers, this page is an automatic Google translation from a post originally written in French. My apologies for the weird sentences and the funny mistakes that could have been generated during the process. If you can read French, the original and correct version can be found here:
Français Indonesia: Komodo + Raja Ampat - July 2016
The drones are the new gadget fashionable travelers ... On the boat that takes me to Komodo, Indonesia, two of my little dive friends have one!
Komodo filmed by a drone
So I have these beautiful images of Komodo seen from the sky at Christoph Würbel, a German expatriate in Asia, based in Singapore, who was like me on vacation in Indonesia in this month of July 2016. (He post other aerial photos here.)
Two months after my return from this new dive trip to Indonesia, I tinkered a little editing for the blog from his drone videos. I rediscover them on the screen of my computer ... How beautiful! ! ! 😮
It must be said that this volcanic archipelago of Indonesia is really the place dreamed to turn beautiful spectacular aerial images, in fifty shades of blue ...
It is composed of three main islands (Komodo, Rinca and Padar) and a number of smaller ones. To help you locate, this is it:
This is my second time in Komodo. I had already dived during a previous trip in 2011.
The pretty little red and white two-masted on the video is my new princess boat, the Duyung Baru. I chose, like six years ago, for a small pinisi (a traditional Indonesian boat), all comfort ... I boarded with five other divers, for a cruise of a week (again a solo trip where I have never missed a company). Super boat, great international atmosphere (Germans, Finns, Indonesians, Australian and me, the little French), I came back delighted ...
In the incredibly fish-filled waters of the Komodo Archipelago, you can see manta rays very closely, whether you're a snorkel-mask or snorkel-diving or snorkel-diving (more pictures under water coming in a future post special mantas) ... We see them well in the video of the drone: these are the black diamonds that are flush with the surface, around the annex!
See also on the blog → In the midst of manta rays in Komodo
The images taken from above show the typical landscape of the archipelago: steep hills covered with savannah, tumbling down to white sand beaches and azure waters, where the coral outcrops. The vegetation shows that the climate here is much drier than in other parts of Indonesia.
Even if the archipelago has become quite touristy, we really have a very exhilarating sensation at the end of the world when we sail in this sea of intense blue dotted with desert islands and wild, rather preserved. Komodo is a national park, registered on the list of World Heritage and UNESCO Biosphere Reserves.
How to get to Komodo? The region is very easy to reach from Bali: there are many daily flights to Labuan Bajo, the port located on the western end of the island of Flores, just in front of the archipelago. The duration of the flight is approximately one hour. I prefer for companies Garuda and Lion Air / Wings (schedules and rates are on their websites). Update (October 2016): Since Jakarta, there is now a direct flight Garuda for Labuan Bajo !
Jurassic Park
Komodo belongs to another world, almost a lost world. Located at the junction of two continental plates, the archipelago is on a volcanic "belt of fire" between Asia and Australia. Unique terrestrial and marine ecosystems have developed, and there are species that do not exist anywhere else!
The most famous, you may know it: it's the Komodo dragon, a very large lizard (a lizard) looking like a dinosaur ... The tourists are allowed to land on the islands of Rinca and Komodo to observe them, accompanied by rangers now wearing a jacket flocked with the words "Naturalist Guide" in the back.
Rinca (pronounced "rine-cha") really has a small side Jurassic Park. Listening only to my courage, I fought company with the mantas and sharks for a few hours to return to see the dragons - old friends, I had already been to say hello in 2011... 😆
The Komodo dragons are very impressive, especially if you have the chance to meet them during the trek on the island (and not sleep near the bins of rangers). But I admit, it's still the creatures that live in the sea that I prefer to admire and photograph ...
The adventurers of the lost path
To conclude this little overview above the surface (while waiting for the underwater images), I leave you on some images of another island, the very photogenic Gili Lawa Darat. This is the one we see at the end of the drone video, with our small group of divers atop the high hill overlooking the bay.
What the video does not show is more ... Playing drone pilots in beautiful landscapes in broad daylight is one thing. To orient oneself overnight on a desert island is another.
With the two other girls and one of the guys, we left the other boys at the top of the hill with their equipment, because they wanted to stay photograph the night sky, sumptuous (I put you above a photo posted on Facebook by Christoph).
Because of the poor choice of trail, our panoramic climb has transformed, during the descent back, into an interminable expedition junglesque ... Yes, Indiana Jones way, in a brush impassable - in shorts, sneakers and flip flops, of course - by the light of two headlamps and an iPhone loupiotte!
I renamed "The Adventurers of the Lost Path" ... 😂
We eventually managed to reach the beach without breaking. Fortunately there were no dragons on this island ... We would probably have been less fearless.
Indonesia: Komodo + Raja Ampat - July 2016