Rangko Cave — Attraction in East Nusa Tenggara

Larger than it looks in photos here, maybe 30 m by 20 m, w/ maximum depth of 4 m. Nice steps were added since the early photos here. We entered ~1 pm on Thurs July 21, 2022 and could see fairly well the front half of the lake. The sun was angled best around 3 pm but clouds came so never saw the water glowing bright blue, though could see the far wall. Salt water so you don't have to be able to swim, especially if some body fat, but must be comfortable to trust the water and not panic like most non-swimmers when water gets in their ears. I almost took a nap floating on my back. Probably 75 F water, so can stay in for hours. It is connected to the nearby sea via small passages thru the limestone. Not very crowded when we visited and people from all over the world.

If you drive, stop at Rangko Village and take a boat from there maybe 3 miles, around a point. Boat cost 400K rupiah ($30 USD) for our group (seats ~12). You must wade in 2 ft water to board off the beach. The boatman waited the several hours we were in the cave. Can also take a speedboat all the way from Lubuan Bajo. The drive was interesting, especially noting how the land changed from volcanic soil with mostly dry grass to limestone with green forests after crossing a ridge. I don't know if from soil difference, farming, or winds from the north (Flores Sea) vs south (Australian desert). Bring a change of clothes since Rangko Village has fresh water bathing and toilets. Friendly villagers with little kids playing, which gives a quick view...

Beware! This is a scam. Unfortunately we didn't read the reviews before on google maps. We were driving to the boat to get to the caves by ourselves with the motorbike but the road was blocked after 10 minutes because of a construction site. Just "out of nowhere", a young indonesian guy appeared and offered us to drive us to the boat. We followed him but checked the road on google maps during the ride, which seemed fine. At the port, immediately called the captain, before even telling us a price. Only after we asked several times, he told us the price is 250.000 per Person for a 5 (!)minutes boat ride (just FYI: we paid 350.000 for a 3 hour car ride on Bali...). This is when we looked up the reviews here on maps and read a lot of other bad reviews, it seems to be an organised scam to take tourists to this spot and talk them aggresively into the trip. We got a bad feeling about the whole situation and went home, the guy told us to "go and never come back" and even followed us until the village. This is really sad because for now, we had only friendly and nice encounters with locals here in Indonesia. We don't know about the caves, they are surely beautiful but with this context, it doesn't feel good to go there. Maybe there are other ways to get to the caves, ask at your hotel...

Rangko Cave is one of the leading tourist attractions besides Komodo National Park that we can visit when we travel to Labuan Bajo.

The uniqueness of Rangko Cave lies in its seawater pool inside surrounded by stalagmite and stalactite cave-formations naturally made from the limestone rocks above and below it.

This seawater pool is very clear and has a turquoise blue color that sparkles when sunlight enters the cave hole during the day, so exotic that every tourist who visits Rangko Cave looks forward to experience it.

Accessibility: Rangko Cave is located in Rangko Village of Tanjung Boleng, Boleng District, West Manggarai Regency, Flores Island - East Nusa Tenggara Province. Rangko Village can be accessed using a motorbike or car with a distance of about 10 km / travel time of about 30 minutes from the city center of Labuan Bajo. Rangko Cave can be accessed using a motorboat rented by the local community with a distance of about 3 km / travel time of about 30 minutes from Rangko Village.

Amenities: There are amenities such as homestay, snacks and drinks provided by some of the local communities of Rangko Village. Infrastructures and facilities in Rangko Village such as electricity, water, and waste management are quite good, but the telecommunications signal here is...