Labuan Bajo was supposed to be spelled ‘labuhan’ which means a port. In daily speaking the letter ‘h’ mostly doesn’t really have a clear sound so then people omit the ‘h’ and becomes labuan.
And Bajo is a one of famous tribe from Sulawesi Indonesia known as ocean tribe (tribe that depend their life in the ocean). This tribe was believed to be sailing from Sulawesi down to southern part of the island and somehow found the bay as a perfect place to settle down. Then they began to settle in from generation to generation.
Meanwhile, in Flores itself (called Manggarai) there has been already another earlier settlers but they were more found in deeper part of the island for the needs of land farming. In the old time these two settlers had a great relationship. People from the inland used to travel long way to Labuan Bajo brought their plantation products such as rice, potatoes, corns and exchange them with fish. The fishermen then get their food supply by bartering with fish. This kind of relationship had been going on for decades, even until today.
is a small town located in the most western tip of Flores Island. It was once a fishermen village with an estimate of a couple of hundreds people live here. I remember there used to have many rigger boats called ‘bagan’ tied up behind houses. And you can almost see them all around the sea coat. Behind every houses of the villagers. In the night you can see a view of lights line up on the horizon. They catch fish.
Now everything has changed! Labuan Bajo has become a touristic town. It grows very rapidly since 2012. It is the main entry gate to visit Komodo National Park, where the legend Komodo Dragon existed.
The population of the town has been increasing. In the old time, this town was more populated by fisherman who originally from Sulawesi (known as Bajo tribe) who used to travel by boat long way down to Flores for fishing. Along with the tourism development with the komodo dragon is the icon, more population today many people seem more rely on tourism by serving tourists to see the dragon, diving into the Komodo National Park and also taking to visit land objects such as water fall, trekking, and other services.
Travelling to Flores will be best through here as there are daily flights, ferries and buses. Accommodations are also varied from budget up to star hotels. In East Nusa Tenggara province Labuan Bajo has become the busiest touristic place, though she is still not as the same as Bali. Trips of all kind in Flores are normally best started from Labuan Bajo.
