Author: Marc

Stunning Beauty

Gili Lawa

A un-inhabitant small island in Komodo Archipelago, in Northern part of Komodo Island and directly facing the Flores Sea. The name Gili means ‘small/little/tiny’ in locals. Gili Lawa divided into two island, Gili Lawa Darat and Gili Lawa Laut. Fascinating savanna hills dominate the Gili Lawa islands. If its dry season, the savanna will have a yellowish look. If you go to the island in rainy season then you will see a green savanna.

Trekking is the main activity for tourist on this island to see the whole amazing view from the top of the hill. Looking over this stunning beauty of Komodo and its nature and enjoying life at its fullest is a memory that will last forever. Imagine feeling the sun on your skin by taking a deap breath of the fresh seawind. This will surely give you overwhelming feelings. After enjoying this stunning beauty of Komodo, you can go back to Samara. There you can also go swimming, sunbathing, snorkeling or even diving with mantas to see the beauty of its underwater world. The waves are quite and calm in this beautiful island, therefore at night it is a good places for boats to leaned.

White sand beaches surround the Gili Lawa Islands. The islands are known for both, its beautiful landscapes and its stunning underwater world. So why don`t have a look? Travelling with Samara thru the Komodo national park will bring you to many other, but of course also stunning places full of beauty. After you ended your daily trips and got back to Samara, you can enjoy your life by getting served from our crew. When the sun goes down you can enjoy the stunning view of the sunset by drinking an icecold drink and talk to your loved ones.

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The Flying Foxes of Komodo

Kalong Island

This is the place where you can watch the Flying Foxes of Komodo. Based on its name, this island is surrounded by mangroves, where thousands bats and flying foxes live. The locals call Bats or Flying foxes Kalong. Kalong Island is located in a row of small islands inside Komodo National Park area.

The best time to visit Kalong Island is at late afternoon to evening for sunset time. This is program for many tourists travelling with boats. Of course you can watch this spectacle by sailing with Samara, too. In the beginning some bats start flying in circle over the trees. They then continue to fly across the mangroves and many other big groups of bats will follow them and fly thru the sunset. It is like they want to welcome every tourist who watches them from the boat. The combination of these unique sunsets and the flying Foxes of Komodo will be a memory lasting forever. You can enjoy the view over this unique Kalong Island by sitting in a lounge on Samara, talking to each other, drinking a nice cocktail and just enjoy life. Is this not worth a try?

Some of the tourists sometimes want to see the bats near the mangroves or even want to explore inside the mangroves. However, it is not recommended for safety reason . The mangrove where the bats live, is also inhabitant by snakes and other dangerous animals, and it is untouchable by human. However, this island condition makes the Kalong island remain sustainable and safe from those who will destroy the island’s ecosystem. This makes it even more unique, because this untouched nature is not seen very often today.

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A Piece Of Heaven

Taka Makassar

Some people know Taka Makassar also as Pulau Gusung. The name comes from ‘Taka’ which means shallow. ‘Makassar’ comes from the sailor who found the island who comes from Makassar, an area in Sulawesi island. According to the name, this island is actually a sand bank which is only visible when low tide. The high tide submerges almost the entire surface of the island in sea water. It is more a sandbar than an island, maybe only 300ft from end to end. Taka Makassar is a tiny piece of heaven. Turquoise water surrounds the beach of this small island where the mix of white sand and pink sand makes the view even more beatiful.

Like other destinations in Komodo Archipelago, this spots is also loved by our guests. There is such less on this island but even more it can give to you. When standing on this piece of heaven and feeling the smooth beach under your feet, you will be simply happy. Beacause of its characteristic of a sandbar, the water is not very deep here. Therefore you can walk in the clear sea very easily and watch the beauty of the underwaterworld. This amazing view over the flat ocean with its clean water and the islands in the background is just amazing. Visitors love this place, whether it’s because of their experience strolling around the island or sunbathing or capturing beautiful moments with their loved ones.

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Diving with Majestic Mantas

Manta Point

Diving with these majestic Mantas is such incredible. One of the perfect spots for those who love nature and specially the underwater life is Manta Point in Labuan Bajo. The name of these majestic animals is spanish and means “blanket”. Not really complicated, right? Manta is quite a gentle giant, because they are not dangerous and have shown a curious behavior at human approach. Most of them accept divers right next to them. They love to swim elegantly in a sea currents with a big group.

How to explore the majestic Mantas

The best way to explore manta point is surely swimming, snorkeling or diving with Mantas. Please also keep accompanied with the guide to keep you safe. Mantas will not really hurt you, but they can also give you a little tips. Chilling out with these incredible animals will always put you a smile on your face. The Mantas will float thru the underwater world like they cannot see you and this will give you feelings of pure nature. But there are other opportunieties than diving with Mantas. If you want to watch them from one of our boats, we can recomment this as a good choice, too. You can chill out onboard while having a exclusive afternoon view. Of course, there is always a good choice on whichever you choose! We will ensure that you have everything you need to be happy when sailing with Samara!

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The Stunning Pink Beach at Komodo National Park

Pink Beach

Pink beach has become famous destination and a must-visited icon when you are in Labuan Bajo. It has a pink / light reddish sand color and turquoise crystal clear water. A perfect combination for swimming, sunbathing and of course instagram-able! The pink sand come from the microscopic organism. They produce a red pigment on the coral. When the ocean erodes and carries it to the coast, it leads to what we call this stunning Pink Beach. Interesting, right? The red coral combined with the white sand created a pinkish sand beach. It might be one of the best pink sand beach in the world. In Labuan Bajo itself, there are some beaches that have pink sand, such as pink beach or long beach and sometimes a hidden beach also have it.

Just get your swim-wear or your favorite beach outfit, grap your camera and let us show you around! Posing for pictures to upload them and make your friends jealous is surely one point from the check-list of the tourists we brought there. This stunning Pink Beach is simply a tourist-magnet. But of course watch out for the sun, near the equator the sun is very deep and therfore you will get sunburned very fast. With Samara we will anchor near Pink Beach and will then bring you there with the boat. Even this ride will excite you! When arrived at Pink Beach, you can just enjoy your life, our crew will be there to serve you with anything you want.

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Swimming, strolling or chilling around Pink Beach! Such a stunning moment!

The Magic Padar

Marc
July 7, 2021
11:02 am

Padar Island

Padar island is the third largest island part of Komodo National Park. It is administratively under the West Manggarai Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, located between Komodo and Rinca islands within Komodo archipelago. There is no Komodo Dragon in Padar Island.

Like mostly island in Indonesia, Padar has a dry climate, with bushes and grassland make it into Savana hills. With a rugged topography combine with steep volcanic mountains and hills set against deep bays with beaches in different colors, most of them are white sands, while some beaches have grey and pink sands. If you going to visit Padar island, you need to prepare yourself for trekking. It is also popular within the travelers for scuba diving and snorkeling in the sea around the island. Sometime you will also can meet island’s deer by sudden jump happily through the savanna to greets you! A cute morning greeting to start your day!

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Chasing the Magnificent Sunrise at Padar Island!

Embracing Sustainable Tourism: Samara Liveaboard’s Commitment to Preserving Nature

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Exploring Nature’s Kingdom: Wildlife Photography in Komodo National Park

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Captivating Sunsets: Best Sunset Spots in Komodo National Park

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Discovering Rare and Exotic Underwater Species in Komodo National Park

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The Komodo National Park

Visit the Komodo Dragon!

Komodo National Park

Komodo National Park has been selected as one of the New 7 wonders of Nature. It contains three main island: Komodo Island, Rinca Island and Padar Island, with also other small islands. The Komodo Dragon is the last and the biggest lizard in the world. It has a shark-like tooth, poisonous venom and amazing strength. Therefore you need to hire a ranger to keep you safe from this dragon. There is an entrance fee for traveling around Komodo National Park. You can settle the entrance fee on the spot or pre-paid to your agent before your trip. This will make it more simple. Among this three islands, only Padar island is not a inhabitant of Komodo dragons or Komodo Warans. On the other two, Komodo Island and Rinca Island, you can go and visit the Komodo Dragon.

Komodo National Park is also well-known for its rich marine biodiversity, therefore it is also a part of the Coral Triangle. When you visit Labuan Bajo, meet the Komodo dragon is the spotlight of the Island. You maybe never seen a Komodo Dragon from your previous trips.

Discover a tropical paradise

When you explore the Komodo archipelago more deeper, there are still a lot of hidden paradises waiting to be discovered. Some of the places you may never heard about before, it must be a unique and adventurous experience. Un-inhabitant islands with their very own charm in this tropical Archipelago. Meet magnificent creatures onshore and offshore, also amazing clear sky both in the noon and night. Just tell us what kind of places you dream about to visit, we will find it for you, or even better spots. Contact us to start embody your very own voyages!

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Reopening of the Komodo National Park

The Reopening of the Komodo National Park is here!

Come and visit these beautiful landscapes. The wild life and the nature is such unique. With Samara Liveaboard, you can visit many of the islands located here. You can climb to the top of Padar Island, Gili Lawa or many other islands and watch the view you will not see anywhere else.You will see incredible animals like the Komodo Dragon or the Mantas. You can also see the stunning nature of the Komodo National Park. Here are Pink Beaches, cristal clear water and unique sunsets. Watch the Flying Foxes flying through the sunset by chilling on one of our boats and enjoy life at its fullest. Our ships are the best maintained boats you can find in Komodo and our crew is such amazing, too! They will serve you with everything you want and make your time on our boat to an experience you will never forget.

You can charter a Private Trip with your friends and family, but you can also travel here with a shared trip. There you will meet new people and make friends lasting forever. If you want to have an unique celebration, we will organize it for you. Honeymoon, birthday, Christmas or something else? Just contact us and we help you to make your dreams come true!

How it went

The reopening officially was planed on the 15th of June 2020 at first, but was then canceled in the last minute. Then the National Park says the Park will open for Local People on 9th of July 2020. The Local Government agrees so far but had add some limitations. Only People from Flores itself should be allowed to come here. This was the first Phase. Then, in a second Phase they will allow all Local Indonesians to visit the Park again. How long it takes until foreign tourist will come back remained unclear.

But now the reopening of the Komodo National Park is here and we are happy to welcome you soon!

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Swimming with manta rays in Komodo!

Swimming with Manta Rays in Komodo

Everything you need to know about them

There are two species of manta rays: the reef manta ray (mobula alfredi) and the oceanic manta ray (mobula birostris). Oceanic manta rays are huge, reaching up to seven metres in width and weighing up to two tonnes.
Manta Rays are not dangerous. They are even harmless and can’t hurt any diver or swimmer.
Manta Ray just like their sting ray cousins have a long whip like tail, but there’s nothing to worry about. They DON’T HAVE a poisonous tail stinger that many of their relatives have. Manta rays do NOT hurt you.

When going out to swim or dive with the majestic Manta Rays, usually there is guide who shows you how to act. We do not want them to swim away, right?