In Search of the Komodo Dragon

On Wednesday morning, we arrived at Komodo Island, the volcanic island of the giant lizards, that lies 320 miles east of Bali. Komodo is home to a small community of some 500 people who make their living primarily from fishing. The island’s centerpiece is Komodo National Park, where one can find some 1,300 dragons in the wild as a tangible legacy to the Jurassic Era.

The fearsome Komodo dragon is the world’s largest living lizard and can take very large prey: wild pigs, deer, water buffalo (and yes, humans!). They are not as large as T-Rex by any means, but they are ancestors of the goanna family dating back more than 100 million years, and manage to rule the island. Just last month a fisherman was killed and eaten by several dragons, and the month before a park ranger was mauled by one that managed to get into his hut. Other attacks took the lives of an eight-year-old boy and a Swiss tourist several years ago.

So we decided to venture out in search of the Komodo dragon (crazy? Yes!). Only 12 people were allowed out with the rangers at a time; with 3 rangers that made the ratio of stupid tourists (bait) to rangers 4:1. We were a bit disturbed to see the rangers armed only with pointed sticks as we approached the path through the reserve...

We knew in advance that the creatures were not caged in or penned in by any means.

We meandered on the path with all defensive guards up and came across several dragons in the wild. Fortunately, since the dragons hunt and eat their prey in the early morning, these were already satisfied and didn’t charge us. They seemed to be basking in the sun and digesting whatever prey that had already found. The islanders used to feed the dragons in years past to preserve the species (and themselves), but they no longer do. These dragons now all survive in the wild.

We were happy to come to the end of the trail and be picked up by boat to get back to the ship. “Check the box, we’ve done that,” and now we don’t ever have to come back.

The voyage leaving Komodo Island past the many islands of Indonesia was quite picturesque, (as the following pictures show) and a relaxing end to a very odd day. Tomorrow we are in the bit more civilized Bali...