Indonesia - Komodo

We had thought we would post all our visits to Indonesian islands in one blog. But we have so many photos to share the app we are using keeps crashing. So we’ll post them individually. So here’s Komodo....

Tues 26 th Feb.

Sunny, 30 degrees plus.Humid.

Today we visit Komodo to dragon spot.

We woke with the beautiful sight of the ship anchored off the coast of a collection of islands including the Komodo Island National Park.

We dressed with care - nothing red in colour was recommended - Carol deciding to take no chances with orange or pink shades either!

Apparently you are not allowed on the island if you have an open wound or if a woman is menstruating.

We joined our group and met our guide from Komodo Tours who was accompanied by 2 National Park rangers each carrying a dragon weapon... a tall forked stick! Apparently they shove it in the dragons nose if it gets aggresive ... not being totally persuaded this would protect us we made sure we were in the centre of the group at all times.

We walked a well worn trail through the park, quite crowded at times, stopping to hear about the local flora and fauna from our guide. The villagers that live here do not have access to health care so rely on use of traditional plant and herb remedies to treat various ailments. One plant has sap which can stop bleeding in a couple of minutes and glue cuts together! Our guide explained that most of the guides live on surrounding islands and only travel here by boat to conduct tours when cruise ships come in. A handful of park rangers only live permanently on the island. 

Sadly for us - not for the guides - there was a steady procession of tourists on various tours pouring all over the dedicated tracks. Therefore when we spotted dragons, their nests, droppings, etc  it was difficult to get a good photo without someone else or their selfie stick in the picture.

People also insisted on being the subject of the photo with the dragons playing understudy - which have to say got on our nerves. “Gee honey, get my picture with the lizard thing in the background”. Why not get your picture with your leg in its mouth you idiot!

Such a rare species of lizard - the largest in the world, around for millions of years should be admired from afar in our opinion. Also we were just a tiny bit scared... These things can move fast if they want to and are full of bacteria - one bite can be fatal. They are wild and are free to roam the island and can (and have) come into the village to take domestic pets and even sadly on one occasion a small child. However, the cynics among us felt that on this occasion they may have been lured into a specific place perhaps with water or food for the tourists to gawp at. Those in the pics that we saw were about 3m long with slithery lime green forked tongues.

The female dragons lay about 15 eggs at a time and hide them in a nest consisting of a mound of earth (which we were duly shown). The Mother then goes off and leaves the eggs until they hatch about 3 months later, at which time she returns .... to eat some of them. Yes, the life of a young dragon is tough. The ones which hatch early must scrabble up a tree and hide, living off insects and smaller reptiles until they are around 5 years old and too heavy to climb the trees any more. The ones which hatch late, well, they’re an easy meal for their Mother.

Wild deer are the food of choice for a dragon. The dragons don’t hunt like a lion or tiger but lie in wait near a waterhole and pounce. Once bitten, the victim is doomed as deadly bacteria assures its slow death whence the dragon will track it down for the meal. The wild deer too were victims of the selfie sticks.

Our group - Carol now a honarary stick guide

After an interesting if crowded tour we ran the gauntlet of souvenir stalls and failing to buy anything went back to the tender point for the ship. We got 2 free postcards from the guide though. We expected a few souvenir stalls but were surprised at how many there were - the shouting and beckoning went on both sides for about 300m. Any currency accepted.

As we waited to return to the ship on the getty we were blown away by the fantastic scenery. The water was so clear  that we could see corals and many tropical fishes with the naked eye - even a small shark (not in the photo unfortunately).

View looking down  from the pontoon 

A few hours later as we sunned ourselves on the pool dack we saw a flotilla of boats leave the bay - presumably the guides and stallholders returning to their own islands.

Boats awaiting the islanders departure home

Tomorrow Bali.