Big stuff

Both reef and oceanic mantas. Reef mantas year-round at Karang Makassar — feeding when the plankton’s in, cleaning the rest of the year. Oceanic mantas in the south. Sightings: 80%+ on day trips, near-guaranteed on multi-day.

White-tip and black-tip reef sharks at most sites; grey reefs in the north. Castle Rock and Crystal Rock are the dependable spots.

Green and hawksbill turtles, daily, almost everywhere. Siaba Kecil — Turtle City — has resident populations.

Tuna, barracuda walls, giant trevally, eagle rays, occasional mola mola in the south (June to September). Whale sharks are rare but happen.

Big, curious, almost tame at the northern sites. Easily a metre and a half across.

Hard corals

Acropora, Porites, Favia, Montipora — table corals the size of cars,
boulder coral colonies, branching gardens.

Soft corals

a riot of pink, orange and purple,
especially at Tatawa Besar.

Macro

Komodo’s macro is underrated. Nudibranchs are everywhere — Nembrothas, chromodorids, glossodorids. Frogfish at Cannibal Rock, pygmy seahorses on fans, harlequin shrimp on starfish, mantis shrimp in the sand, ghost pipefish drifting near crinoids.

Where to see what — quick guide

Manta rays

Karang Makassar (central)
Manta Alley (south)

Reef sharks

Castle Rock,
Crystal Rock (north)

Turtles

Siaba Kecil,
Siaba Besar (central)

Macro

Cannibal Rock, Wainilu,
Nusa Kode (south)

Schooling pelagics

Batu Bolong, Castle Rock,
The Cauldron (north)

Big soft coral

Tatawa Besar
(central)

Some of the species reference shots on this page come from Corals of the World and Starfish.ch.
Underwater dive photos are by Amare Divers Team.