Indonesia is home to no less than 167 active volcanoes, far more than any other country. Some of the more accessible for visitors are in the Bromo-Tengger-Semeru National Park and the Ijen Crater in East Java Mount Rinjani in Lombok and Mount Batur in Bali.
Hardly surprisingly in the world’s largest archipelago, beaches are significant attractions. Aside from the obvious like Bali, there are wonderful beaches in off-the-beaten-track locations in Makuku, Nusa Tenggara and Sulawesi. In a nation of more than 18,000 islands, the options are almost endless.
Indonesia has some of the largest remaining tracts of tropical forest anywhere in the world, and these support an incredibly diverse wildlife from Orangutans and other primates to critically endangered Javan Rhinoceros and Tigers, and an extraordinarily wide range of bird species. Forest areas recognised as UNESCO World Heritage Sites are Ujong Kulon National Park in West Java and three huge parks in Sumatra, which together comprise the Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra.
Further east, Komodo Island is the home of the remarkable 3m-long Komodo Dragon monitor lizard, along with a very diverse marine life. Komodo National Park, home to over 4,000 dragons, covers the entire region in rusty-red volcanic hills, savannah and forests. The surrounding seagrass beds, mangrove shrublands and coral reefs are also famous amongst keen divers around the world.
Komodo dragons are the largest extant species of lizard and can weigh up to 70kg. They are endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang and dominate the ecosystems in which they live, hunting on invertebrates, birds, and mammals.
Although Komodo island can be visited year-round, the best time to explore is between April to December, during the dry season when the climate remains pleasant – there are more chances of spotting the Komodo dragons during this period too.
