Pulau Rinca Island Indonesia (East Nusa Tenggara)

Pulau Rinca Island (aka Rinca, Rincah, Rindja), is located close to Flores island and Komodo Island, East Nusa Tenggara province (Indonesia, West Manggarai Regency). The island covers a total area of approx 198 km2 (76 mi2) and is one of the 3 largest islands part of Komodo National Park famous for the Komodo dragons - huge lizards with length up to 3 m (10 ft).

Rinca is also populated by buffalos, wild pigs, many birds.

Being less visited than Komodo Island, Rinca is a good choice to see the giant Komodo dragons in their natural environment. Day tours (by small boats) are arranged from Labuan Bajo.

Komodo and Rinca bracket a north-south passage between the Flores Sea and the Indian Ocean. Because of the narrow gap and large bodies of water, the waters between Komodo and Rinca are subject to whirlpools and strong currents exceeding 20 kph (12 mph).

In June 2008, a group of 5 scuba divers (3 British, 1 French, 1 Swedish) were discovered alive on the Pulau Rinca's southern coast after being missing for 2 days. They had drifted 32 km (20 mi) from where their boat abandoned them. The group survived on oysters and shellfish.

Pulau Rinca Island Indonesia cruise terminal