Mawan, Komodo

Mawan is a remarkable manta ray hotspot – it was so good we dived it twice over a couple of days, and both times we had some fantastic manta ray encounters.

Two manta rays up clos, Mawan, Komodo, Indonesia
Two manta rays up close, Mawan, Komodo, Indonesia, June 2025 © [email protected]

I’ve written previously that Manta Alley is my favourite manta spot in Indonesia, but Mawan is certainly right up there as well.

Three manta rays, Mawan, Komodo, Indonesia, June 2025 © [email protected]

We had two spectacular encounters at Mawan separated by a couple of days. On both dives, we had at least four manta rays circling around the cleaning station and around us and they simply didn’t care we were there.

Two manta rays, Mawan, Komodo, Indonesia, June 2025 © [email protected]

It’s hard to describe the speed at which they can move, and the energy that fills the reef they glide in and then go into a circling pattern.

Four Manta Rays circling, Mawan, Komodo, Indonesia, June 2025 © [email protected]

Topographically, the site is a long steep slope going down into a sandy channel, bottoming out around 20 to 25 metres. There is one particular bit of the reef where there is a big cut out of the slope, and it’s this area where the mantas like to congregate. On the slope there are some big prominent coral bommies which act as the cleaning stations.

Three Manta Rays circling, Mawan, Komodo, Indonesia, June 2025 © [email protected]

On both dives here we’d seen a solitary manta as soon as we entered the water and spent some time with it before drifting down to the cleaning stations. At first there was no sign of them – and then one by one they came cruising in until we had four mantas circling around one of the bommies.

Manta ray being cleaned by fish, Mawan, Komodo, Indonesia, June 2025 © [email protected]

All of us stayed still and they were completely unbothered by our presence, getting really close to us and passing overhead and sailing out into the blue only to wheel and come back in again. The mantas went from languidly circling to speeding off and then coming in hot back onto the station before resuming some lazy loops.

Two Manta Rays in train, Mawan, Komodo, Indonesia, June 2025 © [email protected]

Over the course of the two encounters, we saw one black manta, a couple of the bigger oceanic mantas and a couple of reef mantas too. To be honest, it was hard to keep track of just how many manta rays were with us.

Two Manta Rays in train, Mawan, Komodo, Indonesia, June 2025 © [email protected]

Two Manta Rays in train really quite close, Mawan, Komodo, Indonesia, June 2025 © [email protected]

One of the cool things about having several chances to see the mantas up close was to see all the reef fish gather together on the belly of the manta to clean – they looked like black confetti scattered across the whiteness of the manta’s underside.

Two manta rays with trevally companion, Mawan, Komodo, Indonesia, June 2025 © [email protected]

Black manta ray, Mawan, Komodo, Indonesia, June 2025 © [email protected]

Earlier we’d seen a couple of mantas speed past us at around 5 metres going in the opposite direction – they seemed excited and one of them even shot up out of the water and did a bellyflop back in before effortlessly resuming its chase after its companion. In short, it seemed like the mantas were feeling super playful.

Manta rays, Mawan, Komodo, Indonesia, June 2025 © [email protected]

As Mawan is one of the central Komodo sites, it’s popular with divers and snorkellers alike. There’s a limited window to drop in before the current gets too much to stay by the cleaning stations, so that means it can get a little busy. The shallowness of the cleaning stations around the cut in the reef means it’s also ideal for snorkellers.

Manta rays, Mawan, Komodo, Indonesia, June 2025 © [email protected]

However, the problem is if 20 snorkellers jump in at the same time right over the cleaning station, they’re going to scare off even the most chilled out manta, which means no one gets to see anything. Sure enough, within a couple of minutes of the snorkellers exiting the water, the mantas came back.

Manta ray, Mawan, Komodo, Indonesia, June 2025 © [email protected]

Despite being busy, or perhaps because of it, Mawan is an amazing manta hotspot because the mantas seem used to seeing divers and therefore willing to carry on about their spa day without feeling threatened. The ease the mantas seem to feel around divers here also shows in their playfulness, which is obviously just awesome to see for yourself.

I put together a page on where to see manta rays in Indonesia, but for sure if you come to Komodo and get the chance to dive Mawan, don’t pass it up.

I visited Mawan as part of a Komodo liveaboard on Damai II in June 2025 – as it’s in central Komodo, lots of other liveaboards will be able to visit it too.