Padar Island, Indonesia
The next day came by, and we woke up early. As I woke up, I looked out the window, pitch black. I woke my two roommates up, and we got ready. After about a solid 15minutes the 20 of us gathered in the dining room as we prepared to go up Padar island. It was about 4:30am if I’m not mistaken. Due to the water levels, we couldn’t be posted up by the island directly, so we took a speed boat to the harbor at Padar Island.
So through the darkness we went to the harbor, and for sure due to the time of the year the Island was crowded, there was a line to the entry point. The hike to the top actually isn’t hard, moreover there are steps leading towards it. But the catch was, get to the top before the sun peaked over the horizon. So I started to move faster, pouncing over steps, skipping steps at times and occasional one minute stops to get a few shots in.
By the time I got to the tippy top, the sun has risen, which meant, I missed the “golden” light I was aiming for. Yet all I could do was admire the majestic view this Island had to offer. As I lifted my camera from my hip, the whole scene just didn’t fit in the frame. If I pointed my camera to the middle, the sides wouldn’t be in frame, yet if I tried to pan my camera to the left or right, the other side would not even be seen.
So then I remembered a technique a mentor of mine told me about, take portrait orientation photos and then stitch them in photoshop later when you get back home. So I did so, from the most left to the most right parts of the island. Later in post I stitched the five photos I took, cleaned up the dirt and got what I can consider, one of my best and favorite shots so far.
With a 1:3 ratio, I truly believe this photo captures the majesty and vast landscape of this special island. I like this photo so much I got a 180x60cm print and framed it in my house.
The photo on the left is the initial photo I took, the OG and the one on the right is a recent panorama that I re-edited, a bit of a different perspective, the view a bit from the left, yet still a really good photo in my opinion. We spent maybe about an hour around the summit, soaking in the beautiful view and taking photos left and right as all angles really had good views.
Maybe I actually got a little of that golden light, in the first two images. Also the light AND the boats parked in the water, what a sight. Third photo is a photo of some deer I saw on the island looking for food, so that was pretty cool to see, wild deer in the wild.
Once we were satisfied we went back to the boat the same way we got up and got served our breakfast. While we made our way to one of the pink beaches in Indonesia, I spotted an eagle soaring over the waters hunting its breakfast. A rare sight to see for one who lives in the city where seeing birds alone is pretty rare(shows how bad the air is in my city Jakarta).
I didn’t take many shots here as we also didn’t stay for long, so right after this we went to the actual Komodo Island to “hunt” for the only living dinosaurs in present times. As we made our way to the island, the guide told us that there would be a possibility to not even lay our eyes on one as they are living in their natural habitat and roam the island freely, so even seeing one can already be considered a lucky spot.
So we hopped off the boat and onto the island and went to meet the local ranger to start our search. Not long after the start of our search we started to see wildlife, wild boars. wild deer yet no Komodo dragon yet. The ranger did say we might be lucky as it is time for lunch, so they would be on the move.
Then the ranger asked us to join him further into the foliage, so deeper into the trees we went, and suddenly, “HALT don’t make sudden movements and loud noise” the ranger said as he laid eyes on one lizard. It was resting, sleeping on the ground. The size of its limbs, head and most of all, its tail. Right there in front of me I saw the present dinosaur of todays times, The Komodo Dragon for the first time.
The scales as its skin, the claws or nails in obsidian color was just a surreal feeling. Because as a child I really liked dinosaurs and grew up with them in a sense so looking at an animal that is the closest to that is a pretty surreal feeling. We took several photos with this one Komodo before more walking. Feeling lucky after that encounter, we started walking to a different direction looking for more dragons.
And from a distance we saw movement. The ranger also told us to follow up behind him, as we did we saw a Komodo dragon walking, very active. From the bay, to the bridge it walked for a while.
Seeing one is considered lucky, and on that day we saw two different dragons, super lucky if you asked me.
Once we got back on deck we were taken to a small island, were then we were brough to a cave which had a lake with stalagmites(?) coming down from the ceiling of the cave.
So like a starfish I floated in the salt water in the glow of the cave’s water. Enjoying the moment with friends and family.
The rest of the day was chill, spent the remaining time on deck where we then got rewarded with an amazing sunset.
That was the end of day2 at sea, the next is the last before we touch mainland. Up next is going to an invisible island.