REVIEW OF A PERAMA TOUR: HUNTING KOMODO BY CAMERA

When I went to Bali for the first time, one of the things on my bucket list was to see the Komodo Dragons in their natural habitat. So it was awesome to see that there was a tour on the List that allowed me such an experience. There were actually two different tours that were recommended in the book, and since I was on a budget, I chose the cheaper of the two. I plan to save the pricier one for a future visit to this wonderful country (I better save up until then). One thing you should know about me is that I'm very much a planner. So I booked this Hunting Komodo by Camera tour way in advance, and it cost me approximately $300~/pp that I had to pay via Paypal. My suggestion would be to go on their website to pick the dates that work best for you, and then to email them for a spot on the tour. Here's the thing though. If you are more of a spontaneous adventurer, you might get a much better deal if you checked for any vacancy while you were in Lombok, which is the starting location of the tour I took. Like with anything last minute, however, you won’t know if you have a spot on the boat until the day of. So I would leave this decision at your discretion. There are two sleeping options you can choose from on this Perama Tour: the deck (which is sleeping on a mat on the boat deck) or the cabin (which are bunk beds in a tight space with a lockable door that come with a few amenities like water, snacks, and a can of beer). I'd highly recommend paying a little more to get yourself a cabin, especially if you're traveling as a couple. It’ll allow you to have some privacy and you’ll feel more secure leaving your belongings behind since it is a lockable room. Tip: Top bunk has a fan and gets colder at night whereas the bottom bunk stays on the warmer side.

Now, the boat itself is sturdy and stable so I didn't feel any motion sickness while being on it for 3 days. But it's also definitely not a cruise ship. You should go in with the mindset of traveling in a Balinese fisherman's boat. The bathroom, for example, has a small toilet (no cover) with an adjoining shower head. And there are only two of these bathrooms on the boat, located next to the cabins. And even though I'm a germophobe, my bathroom experience wasn’t that horrible. I just had to mentally prepare myself that this experience won't be a clean one and that it was all about the journey to Komodo Island.

And since I knew that I would be stuck on this less-than-luxurious boat, I decided to splurge and stay at the Sheraton Senggigi Resort the night before our tour. It also was convenient to stay there because the Perama Tour office (also the pickup spot) was right across the street. Once all guests are settled in at the office, you hop on a bus and head to the boat. But before you actually get to the boat, you make a few stops along the way. The first was some King's summer palace in Lombok Barat, which was quite beautiful. You have about an hour to explore the palace grounds with an optional guided tour at your disposal. The next attraction after the palace was a Geopark, where we got to walk along some rice paddies. Then, it’s time for lunch at some random guy’s house! This old man greets us and takes us around his small garden where different types of fruits and vegetables were being grown. And at the end of the trail, there’s a small buffet line of food available for us to partake in. I don’t really think it was someone’s house because I did see other foreign guests roaming around. But at the very most it could have been a bed and breakfast spot, even though our tour guide told us it was a self-sustaining hotel. And around sunset, as our last stop of the day before boarding the boat, we visited a fishing village that had traditional Bugis Phinisi boats and historical boat equipment and tools used for boat making. We got a short history lesson on the fishing life and tools used in the community throughout the years and were then allowed to roam around. At this point, I think a lot of people were wondering if we ever were going to step onto the boat. But shortly after, we were finally guided into our boat to settle in.

Our first stop off the boat, the next morning, was Satonda Island. This was one of the more memorable stops on my trip because I got to swim in a salt water lake formed inside of this extinct volcano. The guide takes the group up to the lake and offers guests the option to take a swim inside the lake. I would highly recommend doing so because it was surreal and so beautiful! Another option you had after that got boring was to snorkel on the reefs on the beach side. Basically a relaxing beach day! There isn’t any other attractions on the island and there isn’t anything further to explore, so if you think you’ll get bored like I did towards the end, bring other forms of entertainment.

The next island stop was Komodo Island! A few warnings they give you before stepping on the island: (1) you should avoid wearing white cause it entices the dragons and (2) cover up your body because the saliva from the komodo dragons are deadly and that we should avoid any contact with them whatsoever. We came across a lot of dragons on our guided walking tour through the island, so we were not disappointed. It was just so incredible to walk around this creature's natural habitat without restrictions or having a glass screen separating us from them. And these dragons were BIG, like the size of crocodiles or alligators. No wonder their main source of food were the deer that ran around. Seeing Komodo dragons in real life was amazing and unforgettable, and I would highly recommend you visiting them on their island.

To top the tour off, the guides had one more beautiful place to take us before our trip ended. Pink Beach. It was going to be another relaxing beach day for us and I didn’t mind it this time. How can you be mad at pink sand? Apparently, the pinkness in color comes from the eroding red coral reefs nearby. I mean, it was just so beautiful. I spent the two hours allotted to us to relax on the beach and soak in the sun. And it was just our group on the beach, no one else. So it felt like our own private island.

Overall, it was a great trip with just the right amount of time for you to be on this boat. I was very surprised I had such a great time after seeing where I was going to be spending my nights. But I did, which accounts a lot to the sites I saw, experiences I made, and surprisingly good food I ate. Plus, you can't beat the value of what you get for such little money.