Padar, also known as Pada, is a small

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

located between

Komodo Komodo may refer to: Computers * Komodo Edit, a free text editor for dynamic programming languages * Komodo IDE an integrated development environment (IDE) for dynamic programming languages * Komodo (chess), a chess engine People * Komodo ...

and Rinca islands within Komodo archipelago, administrated under the

West Manggarai Regency West Manggarai Regency ( id, Kabupaten Manggarai Barat) is one of the eight Regency (Indonesia), regencies which comprise the List of islands of Indonesia, island of Flores, located in the provinces of Indonesia, province of East Nusa Tenggara (''N ...

, East Nusa Tenggara,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It is the third largest island part of Komodo National Park. The Komodo archipelago is famous for

Komodo dragon The Komodo dragon (''Varanus komodoensis''), also known as the Komodo monitor, is a member of the monitor lizard family Varanidae that is endemic to the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, and Gili Motang. It is the largest extant ...

s, giant lizards that can measure up to long. However, unlike neighboring islands of Komodo and Rinca that are teeming with the ferocious lizards, on Padar island the Komodo dragon was considered extinct. As of 2004 the Komodo Survival Agency has reported at least 12 individuals including one hatchling Komodo Dragon, showing that the dragons hold on the island of Padar is not over yet.UNESCO: Advisory Body Evaluation
retrieved 2 February 2010 The topography of the island is rugged, with steep volcanic mountains and hills set against deep bays. Padar has a dry climate, with only bushes and grassland vegetation covering the island, creating savanna hills. Padar island has four deep bays with beaches in different colors. Most of them are white sands, while some beaches have grey and pink sands. The sea surrounding the island has several sites popular for

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...

and snorkelling.

Gallery

File:Padar panorama.jpg, Padar Island, harbour panorama File:Padar beach.jpg, Sunset, Padar Island

References

{{Commonscat, Padar Lesser Sunda Islands Landforms of East Nusa Tenggara Komodo National Park