ljturco

a couple photos from Komodo National Park.



From the top of Kelor Island, Flores Sea

on Komodo Island.... we found a dragon!!!

from the top of Padar Island. Each bay has a different color sand: one black, one pink, and one white.

ljturco

Adorable animals of N. Sulawesi



sea turtle in Bunaken Marine Reserve

tarsier baby, Tangkoko NP

tarsier adult. Smallest primate in the world

black crested macaques, Tangkoko

progol

Oh, those are fabulous!!! Absolutely wonderful photos! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

ljturco

Thanks Progol! Here are just a couple more - We balanced our wildlife viewing with some temples and scenery in Bali



rainy day at the Sangeh Monkey Temple

Pura Kawi Gunung

Still raining at Pura Samuan Tiga

beautiful Bali rice paddies and mountains (Sidemen)

progol

Gorgeous, lush, beautiful! Fabulous!

You're definitely making me rethink what we can and can't do. I had planned a trip to Java and Bali many years ago but, thanks to a job change, I couldn't do it. Now I wonder if and when we can!

mlgb

Bali is easy (other than the crazy traffic) and from there you can fly nonstop to LBJ on Flores. I'm sure you'd be able to pickup a Komodo package tour in Bali or LBJ without necessarily booking in advance. LBJ is a big snorkeling center.

If possible, try to fly into DPS without connecting in Jakarta (my suggestion would be to try to get Singapore Airlines with a connection in SIN). Cattle class is like flying Business on other airlines!

ljturco

Thanks so much, Progol. I remember reading some of your posts before our Croatia trip last year and they were very helpful to me! Our trip was fabulous for us, but I honestly wouldn't recommend it to anyone else. We wanted to see very specific wildlife on three different islands, and then we added Bali because we had to fly through anyway and decided we needed to add some culture to our trip. All of the destinations / sights / activities we did were fantastic, but the in-between parts were very much not fun. The driving is bad pretty much everywhere (either due to terrible traffic or terrible road conditions) and the flights are always delayed and a bit chaotic. Between-island travel took us a full day every time. If I were recommending an Indonesia trip to someone else, I might recommend Bali and Flores/Komodo live-aboard, which would be very do-able, or if you are really into wildlife, maybe Borneo + N. Sulawesi or maybe Sumatra + Java, but that would be a lot of driving. Java + Bali would also be very nice. I am going to follow your Japan-planning now! That is another place I would love to go someday...

progol

Thanks so much, ljturco! My interest was and still is primarily cultural with a little wildlife thrown in. I had hoped to travel on one of the traditional boats (name escapes me) but I don't think we'd physically manage that now. I'd love to see Borobudur on Java and to experience some of the traditional culture of Bali. I'm not sure that we'll get there but it's still on the never-ending list! Flores and Komodo sounds like something that could happen, but who knows....we are 70 and 76, with an aging parent and brother with needs, so who knows what will be?!

If you ever consider Egypt and Jordan, you can check out my Fodors TR - LOTS of photos!! That was a fabulous trip! And Japan is around the corner for us - as you see from my planning thread, we're now traveling much more slowly than many folks do, though still trying to cover a range of places.

ljturco

very much agree with mlgb regarding Bali / Komodo.
Progol - I have been to Egypt (and Israel) but not Jordan. I hope to get there some day! It is looking like Greece for us next summer, so I'll be jumping over to that forum now

progol

Well, it looks like we might be in Greece, too! If all goes well, we will be there in the late Spring!

You might enjoy looking at the first half of my TR since I’ve got plenty of pix of Jordan (and a few words, too).

Cherthor

Indeed a fabulous report! You were very brave to encounter the Komodo, and also adapted to the living ‘Cultures’ very graciously. The equatorial climate is not of everyone’s taste, it is just too hot and humid to be handled!

serezha

Hi ljturco Thank you for such a great trip report! We are planning a trip to Bali in June-July. Would you recommend the travel company you used in Bali? Which one was it?

ljturco

Hi Serezha,
In Bali, we used Sidemen Tour and Trekking https://sidementourandtrekking.com. Although based in Sidemen, they will do tours all over Bali. Our guide, Komang, was our favorite of the whole Indonesia trip. We enjoyed talking with him about Balinese culture as much as we enjoyed the sights he showed us.