Komodo Island on the Dawn Princess in August 16

[greykangaroo]

Could someone who really knows about what happens at Komodo Island please tell me if I can go ashore without having booked an expensive Princess shore tour?

I have read two versions on this forum.

a] No one is allowed off the ship unless they have a booked tour.

b] One can go ashore without a tour and make their way to the ranger's office, pay $35 and go walk over and look at lizards.

 

Which is it please?

[Fletch1]

Yes you can go ashore without having booked a tour. We were there last there. But, you are limited to where you can go. We were "escorted" by one of the locals about 100 metres along a path to where there was a little local craft market. And that was it......we weren't allowed to go anywhere else. But that was enough for us. We weren't really that interested in the lizards, however, there was one at the information centre at the end of the pier!!!! It was huge (at least 2.5 metes long), just walking towards the people, dribbling saliva everywhere and was revolting (sorry if you are a lizard lover).

 

I did not see the option of paying $35 and walking over to the lizards, but it may have been available. If it was, it wasn't well advertised. There were plenty of guides at the information centre who were taking the ship tours.

 

Nice looking island though.....pity there are more of these prehistoric human eating beasts on the island than there are people!!

 

Hope this helps.

[Orlando Vic]

I have read that the Komodo dragons run pretty fast and also climb trees. I wouldn't want to get caught outside by one. They are serious predators.

[bronte2]

Firstly, you can't go wandering around the island by yourself as it's simply not safe to do so.

Part of the reason the tours are expensive is because this is a national park and the Indonesian Government charges an entry fee. In addition, all the rangers have to travel over to Komodo Is from nearby Flores in order to conduct the tours so this would incur some further costs.

If you do a tour, apart from the guide, there will be another couple of guys who watch out for the dragons and carry large sticks to prevent the dragons getting too close.

The guide also points out various plants as you walk through as well as information about the lifecycle of the dragons. We were told it was actually the young ones who live in the trees for the first couple of years in order to avoid getting eaten by the adults :eek:

 

We found it quite interesting and enjoyed our time there and found it fascinating watching these pre-historic looking lizards but if you are not interested in dragons or don't want to buy a T-shirt or other souvenir at the little market near the tender stop then you are better off staying on the ship.

 

There are some other tours that go to Pink Beach after the dragon trek. I'm not sure if there are tours that just go to the beach in isolation.

 

BTW you don't have to do a ship's tour, there are private operators who conduct tours that include the dragons and Pink Beach but I don't have the details. Check out the Asian Ports of Call forum as I'm sure there are some posts there detailing tour operators.

[greykangaroo]

Thank you everyone. Between you, I have a very comprehensive explanation of the situation there. Great help.Thanks.

[tiqittaq foo]

There are no shore excursions just going to Pink Beach ( good snorkelling).

The entire island is a national park. The $35 is for access to the Komodo National Park. Unless you are with a licensed guide, be it Princess or private, you will be limited to a short walk to the craft market ( T shirts, wood carvings of the Komodo dragons and other local crafts) $35 admission is not for viewing of the dragons.

 

For a group of about 15 people, there are 3 staff escorting the trek, one guide, one helper in the front and another at the back.

 

The Komodo dragons which we saw were not fast. They "strolled" slowly in front of us. At no time did we feel unsafe.

 

 

 

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[Goodison78]

Hi,

 

I'm a former video guy for Princess and did this tour a few years back however as crew I'm not 100% what the rules were for going ashore independently for guests. We had a fairly large group that did a 3-4 hour walkaround in a big figure of 8 and saw only two dragons, admittedly you can't guarantee wildlife to co-operate and it was very hard to shoot with so many people. On my way back the guide asked me how it went and I said I could have done with a lot more footage and he told me I should have done a private tour, which was something that wasn't offered onboard.

 

I asked him how much and for how long and I could see the guy making up the price in his head!! but he quoted me $40 for as long as I needed. It seemed a fair deal and it was just me and him, we walked about half a mile to the left of where we got off the tenders and there was loads Dragons near by. Probably spent about 2 hours getting some great shots and the best being a 2 year old Komodo dragon climbing down from a tree stopping infront of us then climbing up another tree.

 

Like I said I think you have to book a tour just to get off as you cannot wnader around by yourself on the island and bar the tour there are a few small stalls as you get off the ship and thats it. But do ask the locals about a private tour if you get a chance, of course I might have just been lucky as they knew I worked for Princess and it would be good promotion for them.

[paul929207]

We were there in October 2014 on the Ocean Princess.

 

Only passengers booked on a tour could get off the ship. I believe there were 400 booked on ship tours which were sold out. There were about 20 of us booked on a private tour. We had written confirmation from the island personnel that we were on a tour. After some back and forth with Princess, they let us off.

[hillslife]

We did a private tour booked by someone in cruise critic...so I don't remember he name of the company, but did Komodo Island, pink beach for a swim ( they had lookouts in the boats as we were swimming) and went to a school where the kids did a performance for us..It was about $40/pp. great tour...

 

We were broken into groups of about 20, walked along a predetermined path, taken to a big open area and saw 5-6 dragons resting there. They did move around, we're not pinned down, but very sluggish. We were told they were fed before passengers arrived and there were men with sticks in each group to ward off any aggressive dragons. We were warned that they can smell blood for a long distance...so if anyone had an open wound or was menstrating, to NOT go on the tour.

 

One of the Dragons kept approaching our group, was very insistent, the stick holders kept pushing him off and after a few aggressive attempts, our guide said we had to leave quickly....something in our group was drawing the dragons attention and we were rushed out and led to the shopping area.

 

This was a scary event for many, including me. I would never go back there. Once was enough for me...they are wild animals and can run very fast if provoked....that was a close enough encounter for me.....

Edited March 31, 2016 by hillslife