The prelude
October 31st. We are on a cruise line. It is a sea day. A pumpkin carving competition took place with much aplomb in the morning. The evening dinner has the Halloween theme with guests outdoing each other with their costumes and face painting. Gruesome or not, all in all, it was a fun day!
The warm up
The morning of Nov 1st we anchor at the Komodo islands. In my childhood I had read about komodo dragons and seen pictures in Life Magazine of beaches teeming with these creatures. I can't wait to see them. I do not feel intimidated because I would be in a group tour with forest rangers guiding us. As we are tendering towards the shore I expect to see lots of these fearsome creatures but I see only one slinking away into the mangrove. The beautiful sandy beaches are bare of beach lovers. Little boats float in the near distance waiting to take other adventurous tourists to the various islands in the archipelago.
Real life encounter
We meet our guide who runs us through the dos and don'ts. There are several rangers around us. Some of them wield sturdy forked sticks. They are armed, albeit with a harmless defensive weapon. As we leave the platform and start walking the trail I spy a giant-sized lizard gingerly moving its bulk underneath the building raised on stilts. We steer clear of the beast, of course. Who would want to invite a bite that is highly venomous?
We are walking through a dry forest. The landscape of trunks and rocks and dirtpaths are all the colours of the lizards. Wonderful camouflage. These reptiles climb trees too.The wild orchids and fruit trees draw our eyes but it will not do to be distracted. I should neither lose sight of the park rangers nor take their instructions lightly. After all, this island has the world's largest population of komodo dragons in their natural habitat.
When a ranger stops to illustrate the characteristics of a plant, tree, flower or fruit I become the go-to interpreter for I speak the local language.
No dragons to slay: thanks to the guides
We arrive at a large group of the 3 meter long Komodo dragons. Monitored by the rangers we stand all around these reptiles in their various poses and their activities. The rangers are monitoring their activities closely. Then we are safely shepherded back to the pier where the cursory souvenir shops are. There might be more komodos under those raised structures too. However, they are no threat as long as they are not famished. I did see a cow in the woods. Was it domesticated, or was it bait?
As we leave the island we get a glimpse of coral pink beaches and the rugged landscapes of the volcanic islands.
Can the scary monster be defeated? The following website tells you more:
https://komododiscoverytour.com/the-animal-that-can-defeat-komodo-dragons/
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