Flores, the Komodo National Park, is something I urge everyone to explore. And soon, before it turns into another Bali.
Bajo is the centre of the tourist action. It’s set on a slope facing west, with a couple of islands offshore. The sunsets are beyond amazing. It has a real backpacker feel – young, vibrant, relaxed, calm… Cheap as… I spent a month there.
I stress this as Flores currently has no direct international flights, but that changes early next year. So, it will become a Bali soon…
My boy Rory flew up for 10 days. How good was that. We spent 5 days odd in Bajo, but went diving and did a couple of nights on a boat.
Bajo is wonderful and unwinding and relaxing and easy like I said. But the joy of Flores is the Komodo National Park. The diving is world class. The water is clear, the wildlife plentiful and conditions pristine and unspoiled and untouched. So much to see! Rory saw a manta ray, sadly I did not. We did three dives of 40-45 minutes each. Fantastic.
The boat tour was so ‘Indonesian’. An old wooden thing that puttered around. We did 2 nights/three days, just pottering around the place. We explored the dragons (a little underwhelming, but has to be done), a sunrise (Rory got the shits – he only does sunrises when he’s still up) and just generally lazed around onboard. Excluding me, the average age on board was maybe 28. Credit to them and to Rors for not being put out by this fat old 60-something. And I think I said… the energy I personally drew from these young people is sooooo good.
When we weren’t you in the park we stayed on a beach – I think we paid A$40/night. I think I spent 3 weeks at this place. I was spoilt. We both were.
We ate at the seafood market. You choose your fish and they cook it for you. I went there 3-4 times. So fresh. Lots of choice. So healthy.
So…. I loved Flores. It was good to me. Having my boy there was fabulous.