After three days of exhausting travel across some notorious Indonesian seas on a boat which looked like a shed I'm finally face to face with a dragon. We are on the legendary Komodo Island, a world Heritage site and a unique place. The savage beast which has struck fear into the hearts of man for generations is only a few feet away from me. It's about 2 meters long and I can see it breathing. I can almost smell the power of this ferocious reptile. And do you know where this harbinger of doom was when we came across it? Next to the bloody visitors cafe! Probably wondering if it should order the cappuccino or the latte. They really do not know any fear and a bunch of gringos fresh off a boat was not going to scare it.
If my first encounter with the fearsome dragon was not exactly what I expected, it certainly wasn't the last. Komodo national park covers three islands are are the only home to this endangered species. Across two days we hiked on Komodo and Rinca Islands which sit just off the coast of Flores. I counted about 15 dragons in total (which conveniently made the park entrance fee 1 dollar = 1 dragon, which is probably a fair price..). Also on the islands were, buffalo, deer, monkeys, wild boar and some fearsome looking cobras.
All the time I was walking through this amazing landscape all I could think when we spotted another animal was 'Dragon food!'. The Komodo Dragon has no predators and so it sits impressively on top of the food chain on these islands. Even so there are only just around 3000 of the dragons left in the wild, and a extensive conservation program is being undertaken to keep these unique creatures alive.
A guide shows you around and carries a big stick to whack a dragon on the nose if it gets too close. A few tourists have ended up dragon meat whilst visiting. Even the late Steve Irwin (see No More Jam passim) almost got bitten by a dragon and had to quickly climb a tree to escape. We met the guide who showed Irwin around when he made his TV show. By the expression on his face when he told us about the incident you could tell he thought Irwin was a bit of a fool for going so close to these unpredictable killers. "You never know when they are going to attack, even if they are resting, they always have one eye on the prey".
If my first encounter with the fearsome dragon was not exactly what I expected, it certainly wasn't the last. Komodo national park covers three islands are are the only home to this endangered species. Across two days we hiked on Komodo and Rinca Islands which sit just off the coast of Flores. I counted about 15 dragons in total (which conveniently made the park entrance fee 1 dollar = 1 dragon, which is probably a fair price..). Also on the islands were, buffalo, deer, monkeys, wild boar and some fearsome looking cobras.
All the time I was walking through this amazing landscape all I could think when we spotted another animal was 'Dragon food!'. The Komodo Dragon has no predators and so it sits impressively on top of the food chain on these islands. Even so there are only just around 3000 of the dragons left in the wild, and a extensive conservation program is being undertaken to keep these unique creatures alive.A guide shows you around and carries a big stick to whack a dragon on the nose if it gets too close. A few tourists have ended up dragon meat whilst visiting. Even the late Steve Irwin (see No More Jam passim) almost got bitten by a dragon and had to quickly climb a tree to escape. We met the guide who showed Irwin around when he made his TV show. By the expression on his face when he told us about the incident you could tell he thought Irwin was a bit of a fool for going so close to these unpredictable killers. "You never know when they are going to attack, even if they are resting, they always have one eye on the prey".
2 comments:
I was just wondering where you saw these cobras... must have missed them since Daniel was talking quite loud... ;)
See you, Chris
if you want to see some more pictures of komodo and what you missed afterwards, check out...
http://saitenmitspaetzle.blog.de
take care!
chris
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