Our Research Methodology
Answer: Every factual claim on this site is sourced to a named origin — a government regulator, an aviation or maritime database, or a named cluster of operator sources — and dated to when we last checked it. Where sources disagree, we publish the range and name every source rather than picking the most convenient single number. This page explains exactly how that process works, and where our own limits are.
Source check, 26 August 2026: “Our Research Methodology” draws on the KSDAE Komodo National Park profile and Komodo Luxury’s published rates, and any conflict between those sources is shown to you rather than resolved silently.
Where do our numbers actually come from?
For park fees, quotas, and visiting hours, our primary source is the Komodo National Park authority (Balai Taman Nasional Komodo) itself, specifically its published fee and visiting-hours page.1 For crossing times, distances, and vessel speeds, no single government hydrographic figure is publicly available for every route, so we aggregate named tour-operator and charter-industry sources, cite each one, and show the resulting range rather than inventing false precision.2 For weather, climate, and marine-health claims, we rely on named scientific and governmental bodies — NOAA, the International Coral Reef Initiative, and equivalent official monitoring bodies — and we are explicit when Komodo-specific peer-reviewed data does not yet exist for a claim, rather than extrapolating without saying so.3
What do you do when sources disagree?
We publish the disagreement. If one operator says a crossing takes 2 hours and another says 3.5 hours, both figures appear with their source, and we state the practical range rather than averaging them into a false middle number or picking whichever sounds better for booking a trip. This is the opposite of how most travel content handles conflicting data, where a single “clean” number is usually chosen for readability at the cost of accuracy. You will see phrases like “sources give a range of X to Y hours” throughout this site precisely because that is what the underlying research actually shows.
How do you verify park fees and regulations?
Park entrance fees, quota rules, and visiting-hour windows are checked directly against the park authority’s own published fee schedule, which sets the PNBP tariff under Government Regulation PP 36/2024.1 We do not rely on third-party blog restatements of the fee schedule as our primary source, precisely because outdated or incorrect fee figures (including a widely-repeated but incorrect IDR 700,000 figure that traces back to a withdrawn 2022 premium-membership proposal) have circulated online for years. Our entrance fees page shows this history explicitly rather than silently correcting it.
How often is this content updated?
Every guide page carries a visible “Last updated” date, and pages tied to regulation, pricing, or seasonal conditions are reviewed on a rolling basis, at minimum whenever the park authority publishes a fee or policy change, or when an aviation/operator data source we cite updates its figures. A visible date is not a formality here — if a page’s information has not been checked against its source recently, that page is due for review before it should be trusted for trip planning.
What counts as “desk research” versus verified data on this site?
Desk research means aggregating and cross-checking named public sources — regulator pages, aviation databases, published operator guides, and scientific bodies — and citing each one plainly. It does not mean in-person field verification of every claim, and we do not claim otherwise. Where a claim rests on operator consensus rather than a government or scientific source, we say so explicitly (for example, boat crossing times, which come from named charter operators rather than a hydrographic authority). We consider this an honest boundary rather than a weakness to hide: a travel guide that claims field-verified precision for every single figure on a site this size would not be telling the truth.
Why do you sometimes say “we could not verify this”?
Because it is more useful to a traveller than a confident guess. Several pages on this site — on Komodo-specific climate research, on exact official GPS coordinates, on a formal legal list of every island inside the park boundary — explicitly state where authoritative public data was not available in our research, rather than filling the gap with a plausible-sounding but unverified number. If you have access to a primary source we have missed, particularly an official park authority document, we would rather correct the page than leave a stronger-sounding but unverifiable claim in place.
Commercial relationship
This guide does not operate boats. Bookings are fulfilled by Komodo Luxury, and this site may earn a referral commission.
Do you accept advertiser influence over factual claims?
No. This site is part of the Juara Holding Group network and links to Komodo Luxury as its recommended booking partner, disclosed plainly throughout the site rather than hidden in fine print. That commercial relationship does not change a park fee, a crossing time, or a safety recommendation — those are sourced the same way regardless of which operator a reader ultimately books with. Where a page points to a specific product, it points to Komodo Luxury, the group’s own operator, and this site may earn a referral commission on that booking — a disclosed commercial relationship, not an independent recommendation.
How do you handle content about future travel periods (2026-2027)?
Where a page discusses upcoming seasons, quotas, or planning windows, we distinguish clearly between confirmed regulation (for example, the park’s existing 2026 quota and fee structure) and reasonable forward planning guidance, and we do not invent specific future price points or policy changes that have not been officially announced. If a claimed “2027 change” has no cited source, treat it as unverified, and check our cost guide and the park authority’s own page directly before finalising a booking based on projected figures.
Who writes and reviews this content?
Content is produced and reviewed by the Labuan Bajo Komodo editorial team as part of the Juara Holding Group network, working from the sources named throughout this page and cited individually on each article. We do not attribute pages to invented named “experts” or fabricated credentials; where a claim needs professional authority beyond desk research, we point to a real named external source (a regulator, an aviation database, a scientific body) rather than manufacturing an in-house persona to sound more authoritative than the underlying research supports.
What should you do if you find an error?
Contact us with the specific page and claim, and reference the source you believe is more current — ideally an official regulator, aviation, or scientific source rather than another travel blog. We would rather correct a page quickly than leave an inaccurate figure live because it was inconvenient to change.
See our sourcing in practice
For the operator this guide routes bookings to, and its own disclosed company details, see the Komodo Luxury company facts page.
Related Komodo Luxury pages: FAQ · Fleet and vessels · Komodo boat tour.
Sources: [1] Balai Taman Nasional Komodo official fee and visiting-hours page, ksdae.kehutanan.go.id. [2] Named Komodo charter and dive operator guides, cited individually on the relevant page (e.g., distances, dive conditions). [3] NOAA Coral Reef Watch and International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) global bleaching assessments, 2023-2025.
