Komodo Island, Indonesia

Thursday, June 14

Komodo Island is home to over 4000 Komodo dragons.... the largest lizards on Earth. Komodo National Park is proclaimed as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Population: Approx. 2,000

Climate: Dry and hot (90F to 110F) with some rain falling in January.

Language: Indonesian

Currency: Rupiah (Rp)

Region: Komodo is almost dead-centre in the Lesser Sunda Archipelago and is 200 miles east of Bali

Komodos can reach lengths of 10 feet and weigh 300 pounds. They can sprint around 30kms per hour and are venomous.

Our day started early.... before sunrise. We anchored off Komodo Island and were tendered ashore. It was a beautiful day but the sun had some bite in it.

Our group of about 12 had a private tour organised. We met our guide Martin who gave us a safety briefing of what not to do when approaching the Komodos and introduced us to our Ranger who would be escort us through the National Park. We climbed to the top of a hill which gave us a great view over the bay and of our ship. Next we made our way down through the bush to the watering hole (with no water) where there were a number of Komodos stalking around. It is the mating season and the males are very frisky and feisty. There were two males that had a stand up fight which was pretty scary for the people close by especially when the female walked past and the male charged at her! There were a number of screams and people running everywhere.... apparently the guides ran for the hills and left their groups to cope by themselves!! We were still making our way through the bush so missed the action but we have seen the video and it is impressive.

After viewing the dragons we made our way back to the wharf where we boarded an old wooden boat to take us on a 20 minute ride to Pink Beach.

Photos:

1. Approaching our anchor point just before sunrise

2. Sunrise over the spectacular mountains

3. Waiting for our guide

4. The official Komodo NP World Heritage Site sign

5. The view from the top of the hill

6. Walking through the bush

7. An old palm tree

8. The aftermath (mouth!) of the fight

9. Stocked up for the Aussies

10. The local market