EXPEDITIONS
We frequently came across areas of reef that had been affected by blast fishing - a practice that involves blowing up sections in order to kill the fish that live there
Wallacea course included a visit to a local fish market, which opened our eyes to the huge amount of fish that were being caught. There at the market, being sold in their thousands, lay many of the fish we had learned about and seen on the reef, and with them were endangered sharks, rays and sea turtles. This was a poignant reminder of the huge threats that the habitat still faces and the long way we are from securing the protection of this ecosystem. On the final full day, we had the opportunity to visit Snake Island – an island and coral reef about an hour’s boat ride from the Operation Wallacea centre. Upon arriving, we went diving once more and soon encountered turtles, an 8ft reef shark and a reef more pristine with much larger coral than any we had seen closer to the marine site. We spent the remaining three days of our trip on the island of Flores, adjacent to Komodo, where we planned to recover from the intense two weeks we spent with Operation Wallacea. We spent our time sailing around Komodo National Park, often stopping off at islands to explore their beaches and coral reefs. On the morning of the first day, we even had the opportunity to visit Komodo Island itself, where we encountered many of the famous ‘Komodo dragons’. These two days of rest felt thoroughly well-deserved following more than two weeks of leeches, zero wifi and enough rice to put us off for the rest of our lives. However, before we knew it, the time came for us to leave for our journey back home, unlikely to forget the amazing diversity of wildlife we had seen and acutely aware of its fragility.
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