This is our first shore excursion, since leaving Sydney 10 days ago. We were excited & a little apprehensive as the preview session on the ship pointed out how dangerous the native giant dragon lizards can be.
Komodo Island is one of 17,508 islands that make up the Republic of Indonesia. It is almost dead-centre in the Lesser Sunda Archipelago, at the very south of the chain of islands and 320 km east of Bali. Komodo Island lies within the "Ring of Fire" region of Indonesia where 90 % ofour planet's volcanic and earthquake activity occurs. Whilst Komodo does not have an active volcano like Bali and other islands, the unusually shaped landscape and crater seascape provides evidence of previous volcanic history.
The island is named after it's native inhabitant: the Komodo dragon which is the largest lizard on earth that looks like a distant cousin to the extinct dinosaurs.
Komodo Island is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site where the dragons are protected by National Park guides. Indonesia created the Komodo National Park in 1980 to protect the diverse ecology in the waters and on land.
We left the ship by tender boat and arrived on the island via a new cement wharf-walkway: immediately we were bombarded by kids with crudely carved dragons, postcards and pearls - obviously when a cruise ship is in the bay, school attendance is abandoned for hawking unwary tourists. Needless to say we resisted 'cos we're in decluttering mode.
It was extremely warm even at 8am so after meeting our tour guide ( tourist are not allowed to visit Komodo Island unless they have a guide: for safety / heritage reasons) we set off on a walking tour of the island with 2 National Parks guides/guards. One took the front of our group, whilst the other covered the rear of the group . They each carried a long pronged stick to protect their party of "intrepid adventurers", be they " brave" or " scared". The view was a making and wellworththehike uphill. We could see down onto ocean below where our ship, the Pacific Princess was moored. We saw a variety of local craft as well as some luxury yachts.
We walked through the tiny village area, past some tourist-type shelters and up onto a hilly viewing area. The island only receives rain in Dec and Jan so everything; grasses, low bushes and some trees were a dried brown colour and scrunch you to touch or brush against. Some branches of these dried plants snagged our clothing as we passed by and echoes of " it's got me again" reverberated along our single-lined tour group. We did come across taller trees and green leafed palms and tamarin trees later on the trail but got a tropical island we were surprised at how few flowers and " rainforest trees" are on Komodo Island. Maybe there are valleys of lush vegetation further inland but there is no way that we'd be allowed to explore it due to the dragon population which is still increasing as they are the top of the food chain on this island and are protected from human slaughter too.
Before we tell you about our sightings of the dragons - a bit of historical background.
Nomadic fishermen have come and gone for thousands of years but there is little known about it's history. However it was used as a prisoner drop off point when the sultan used it to banish enemies or the worst criminals and they spent the rest of their lives learning to survive on this barren island with the ferrous flesh eating dragons. The fellons who survived married into the Bugis and Banjs tribes, living in wooden and thatched huts built on stilts to keep out the man-eating reptiles. The ancestors of natives and convicts live on the island today. Tourism is their main industry.
In 1911, an American pilot flew, at low altitude, over the island and became the first Westerner to see these creatures. In 1930 less than 300 people were living on the island. By 2000, approximately 1,200 people are inhabit aging Komodo - due to the rise of tourism of people wanting to see the dragons.
Dragon facts:
Dragons can grow to 3 metres in length and weigh up to 130 kilos. They can sprint at 10 km per hour. They can also swim and can dive to a depth of 6 metres , and climb trees. As meat eaters they hide and pounce on their prey, be it deer, wild boar, goats or tourists. Several people have been attacked and a few killed in recent years. Why people live here is beyond our understanding.
Komodo dragons eat 80% of their body weight and they eat, on average 12 times a year. We were convincing ourselves that the dragons would have already eaten this month. Komodo dragons feed on carrion which they can smell 10 miles kilometres away, smaller lizards, their own babies if needs be- the babies run up tree trunks at birth and hide inside hollow trees eating frogs, lizards and snakes living inside thehollowtrees. Dragons also dig pits or hide in bushes, to pounce on their prey, attacking from underneath. Komoto dragons can live 30 years in the wild.
Our first sighting of evidence of a dragon's presence on the island was at the lookout area where we'd taken heaps of photoes of the ship, wharf area and other sea vessels. There was a white patch of digested bones and other liquid deposited by a dragon earlier at dawn when the dragons being cold blooded , climb the hills to catch the first rays of sunrise to warm their bodies.
We kept trekking through the sparse dried jungle in single file,for safety and when we arrived at the water-hole area we saw our first dragons. Surprisingly the water hole looks almost empty as only a trickle of water fills this area from a drip pipe organised by the island authorities so that 
dragons will congregate for the tourists. ( this water hole fills in January when he rains come but by April it is dry Sotheby's piped trickle at least keeps the hole damp for the dragons.) Apparently they get most of their water needs from the blood of their prey . There were several tourist groups standing quietly around the water hole area, with about 8 prong-stocked-guards when we arrived. In the dry water hole area were 2 large dragons and 3 junior dragons. They all blended well with the earth and tree bark colourings - varying brownish shades. The dragons all seem fairly subdued and content but their appearance is nor endearing - they're quite ugly and their flicking forked tongues and their wide, firm feet with powerful-looking long claws is intimidating.
We'd been warned to move slowly, not to make loud noises or run but when a huge dragon suddenly came thundering into the water hole area, one tourist panicked and began to run so the "docile dragons" all began to scatter and or chase after the fleeing tourist. We stood our ground, remained calm but we're ready to move if instructed to. The 8 guards responded quickly, lifting their pronged sticks to ward off the dragons. The huge dragon suddenly attacked a slightly smaller dragon and a third one joined in- there was a cufuffle and a murmured instructions from the guards, "to stay calm & will". The fighting dragons took off into the scrub but no one moved or spoke because the guards remained in defence mode and we didn't move a hair.
Next the two smallest dragons began to look around at the tourist groups - they were restless but not sure what to do when just as tsuddenly the 3 fighting dragons returned to the water hole area with the winner rumbling in with bloodied jaws and much tongue flicking. The other 2 were also blooded but they deferred to their nemases and finally settled themselves on ground.
Our guide suggested we move on slowly to a safer area where there was less chance of us being mixed up in any other disputes. We took lots of phones and headed to safer area. Ken got some good shots of the dragons returning. The rest of the island walk was uneventful and our guide suggested we leave any village market shopping until after phase 2 of our Kodo Island tour.
We headed back along the cement wharf, managing to resist the kid-hawkers again before reaching one of the local wooden fishing boats which was to take us for a trip to the Pink Beach for a 2 hour snorkelling session. It was interesting climbing onto the wooden boat by the safest means we could manage. The deck had a low covered sun shelter but most of us banged our heads several times on the wooden frame of the canopy which was no higher than 1.5 metres. However the boat trip was pure magic as we sped around the island to a little cove where we were told no dragons ever ventured -???? Yes we had questions re this "information" but we're assured that being cold blooded the dragons only entered the water to hunt during low prey seasons which rarely happen because deer and wild boar have been placed on the island ( they breed rapidly) as a food source. Plus we were told this beach is surrounded by grasslands and Komodo dragons prefer forest areas to hunt in.
There were at least 60 tourists swimming, sunbathing and snorkelling when we arrived so we joined them confidently. The water was clean, cool and ever so refreshing. Pink Beach has pink sand which is a combination of white calcium carbonate and bright red seashells formed from trillions of tiny organisms . We really enjoyed snorkelling though the currents were strong and the tide was high we saw many types of corals of varying colours , tropical fish and stingrays. This area is renowned for cuttle fish and dolphins but we didn't see any today. Our Great Barrier Reef corals are much more vivid in colour, far more extensive in size and with a greater variety of sea life but Pink Beach is a beautiful snorkelling area and we were so pleased that we included it on our bucket list.
had a truely memorable Dayan Komoto Island today. Enjoy the photographs.
We slept well after such an exciting and relaxing day.
