The Komodo light calendar

Light in the park comes from two directions, and each has its own stops. East at sunrise. West at sunset.

Padar is the sunrise stop. A short hike leads to a viewpoint over three differently colored bays, and first light reaches the ridge before it reaches the water. Gili Lawa Darat is the second sunrise stop, a hilltop viewpoint over bays on the 4D3N route. Kalong is the sunset stop: a mangrove islet between Komodo and Rinca, where the flying foxes leave their roost at dusk. They go about 15 minutes after sunset, in a long stream over about 30 minutes. It is not a landing stop. You watch from the boat.

The rest are morning and midday stops. Komodo Island, Pink Beach, Manta Point and Taka Makassar sit best in the morning, Kanawa at midday. Their light is high and bright, and the shot comes from the place, not from the sun's angle.

Each line on this page gives the hour a stop works and the side of the sky the sun is on at that hour.

Clouds and haze change every hour on this page. No hour of light is guaranteed, and the captain decides the order of stops on the day.

One line per stop. Hour, light, and one practical note.

Pink Beach needs a word. Its best window is the morning, and on the example route it comes after Komodo and lunch. The light is higher than the stop deserves. If the pink is your frame, ask us to put it earlier, and the captain will say what the day allows.

The year runs from 05:31 to 06:18 for sunrise and from 17:49 to 18:27 for sunset, in local time, WITA. That is less than an hour of movement either way, so the park has no short season of light.

Times are computed with the NOAA solar formula for the Padar and Kalong area and are accurate to about 2 minutes. They are not an official table. A sunrise on this list is the moment the sun meets the horizon. The color you came for starts before it.

Read the table by its extremes. Sunrise is earliest in November, at 05:31, and latest in July, at 06:18. Sunset is earliest in May, at 17:49, and latest in January, at 18:27. Everything else sits between.

Add the walk to the clock. The climb to the main viewpoint takes about 25 to 45 minutes, and you leave the boat about 65 minutes before sunrise. The crew sets the wake-up call the evening before. At Kalong the boat is anchored ahead of the sunset time, because the bats leave about 15 minutes after the sun is down.

The example 3D2N route puts both light hours in two days, in different places.

Day 1: boarding at Labuan Bajo from 10:00, Kelor, lunch on board, Manjarite, then Kalong at dusk and dinner. Day 2: Padar at first light, breakfast, Komodo, lunch, Pink Beach, Manta Point and dinner. Day 3: breakfast, Taka Makassar, Kanawa, lunch, and back at the harbor by 14:00 for check-out.

That is an example route. On the day, the captain chooses the order of stops and the anchorage from the weather and the tide. Where the boat spends the night is the captain's call that day, and the weather shapes it.

The 4D3N route adds Gili Lawa Darat on day 3, a second sunrise stop. The order for days 3 and 4 is an example too.

Between the two light hours the day is long and bright. Lunch on board, Komodo Island with a ranger, Pink Beach in high sun and Manta Point over open water fill it. Photographers use that stretch to rest the eyes, back up the cards and charge the phones.

The 2D1N route keeps the same two hours in a shorter frame: Kalong at dusk on day 1, Padar at first light on day 2, then Komodo, lunch, Pink Beach and Manta Point, and the harbor by 14:00.

If one hour matters more than the rest, tell us before you pay. We ask the crew in writing what the route allows, and we confirm it back. No hour of light is guaranteed, and no sunset is guaranteed either.

Screenshot this. It is the whole page in eight lines.

• Sunrise stops: Padar, and Gili Lawa Darat on the 4D3N route. East, low sun.
• Sunset stop: Kalong, at dusk. West, low sun. Bats leave about 15 minutes after sunset. No drone, with or without a permit.
• Sunrise range: 05:31 to 06:18, WITA, about.
• Sunset range: 17:49 to 18:27, WITA, about.
• Morning stops: Komodo Island, Pink Beach, Taka Makassar, Manta Point.
• Midday stop: Kanawa.
• First stop of day 1: Kelor, after boarding from 10:00.
• On the day: the captain sets the order, and clouds set the color.

Use it with the month table above. If you fly a drone, read the drone rules guide first, and if you want to plan for the climb, read the Padar guide.