Rinca
Indonesia

personal experience...

I have visited Rinca about half a dozen times with expedition ships. It is the alternative landing for small ships to look for Komodo dragons, as the larger cruise ships go to Komodo Island.

Don't get too close to the human-consuming lizards!

birds..

There are some nice birds to be seen here. It is slightly easier birding here in the drier parts of Indonesia than in the majority of the country, as one is looking through seasonal woodlands and monsoon forest rather than thick rainforest. 

orange-footed scrub-fowl have overlapping nests with Komodo Dragons (Damon Ramsey)

There are also introduced Long-tailed Macaques here. They are also called 'Crab-eating Macaques', and in the mangroves near the landing jetty, you can actually see this behaviour.

Komodo dragons....

Of course, the main feature here is the Komodo Dragon.

In 2016, I was lucky enough to watch two males have a fight. These fights can go for many hours. They grapple for a few minutes, then rest for about ten minutes, and then fight again. 

To the page on Indonesia

To the page on Wallacean tropical dry woodlands

About the author

me-lake-kingthe author isolating during covid in the chenopod shrublands of arid Australia

Written by Damon Ramsey. All photographs by author (unless credited otherwise). This is not AI written. Images and information are added to this website continuously as of 2026. Feel free to copy photographs for educational purposes, but please acknowledge with: www.ecosystem-guides.com.  Ecosystem Guides posts pretty shots on Instagram and some sillier photos on Facebook.  Contact Email: damon@ecosystem-guides.com

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