Rinca Island, Komodo National Park

Posted On March 7, 2021

Rinca island is an island located in Komodo National Park. It is a large island besides Komodo and Padar Island and is a savannah landscape. Rinca Island is famous for Komodo dragons, the world’s largest lizard with a length of approximately 3 meters.

Rinca is the place where you can find more than 200 species of Komodo Dragons. Not only Komodo Dragons, but you will also find other species of wildlife, such as deer, birds, and snakes.

The people on the island are mostly working as fishermen, some of them are also working in tourism. Not so much population on the island, few houses have been found. Education facilities and public health are quite limited on the island. People are taking care to avoid the Komodo Dragons because Komodo in the area occasionally attacks humans.

Getting to Rinca Island

Here are the ways to get to Rinca:

• Flight from Bali or Jakarta to Labuan Bajo. Then join a boat tour from Labuan Bajo, you can book a day trip or liveaboard. Private and shared trips are available
• Ferry from Sape to Labuan Bajo for approximately 6 hours, depending on the weather.
• 4-day 3-night boat trip from Lombok

For the best tour arrangement to Rinca, you can visit Komodo tour packages for details. There you can find a variety of Komodo tour packages.

Best Time to Visit:

In Indonesia, there are two seasons in a year; the rainy season and the dry season. The rainy season is coming from October to April, while the dry season is coming from May to September.

Our recommendation to visit is during the dry season (from May to September). Otherwise, you can also visit the island during the rainy season, it is the best time to see the green view of the island.

Hiking in Rinca can take approximately 2 hours to get to the top. You will enjoy a beautiful view from the top of the island.

Accommodation and Restaurants

Accommodations and restaurants are not available at the moment on the island. The only thing you can see is a small village with an entrance office for Komodo Dragons.

There are some Kios and warung available for small shopping. Things you can find like mineral waters, Nasi Bungkus (Indonesian foods).

If you join the boat tour, you will be staying overnight on the boat. Phinisi Liveaboards offer comfortable cabin rooms and also your other travel facilities.

The Komodo trip to Rinca normally covers a visit to the other islands. You can go on a 2-day tour, 3-day tour, and 4-day tour. These types of tours will visit more than 5 destinations in Komodo National Park.

People and Culture on the Island

Most of the people who live in Rinca are fishermen from Labuan Bajo and Bima. They used to live in a nomad, but then they found a place to build a small hut on the island. By the times, the people can stand the situation, so a lot of them try to build a small hut as well on the island.

People’s culture is mostly impacted by the Bimanes and Bugisnese cultures. Bimanese are people from the Bima tribe in West Nusa Tenggara. Buginese comes from the Sulawesi tribe. So when you find people are having a ceremonial from both tribes.

Join our Command Guides to get information about the people and cultures of Rinca. They will let you know well about the history of the island.