February 23, 2018 – Komodo Island, Indonesia

At just 150 square miles, the island of Komodo is one of the world’s most unique and prehistoric-feeling national parks, a magnificent menagerie of wildlife. There are 1370 inhabitants of the island. Its most famous denizen is the legendary Komodo dragon. Gentler-looking animals also roam, including the island’s graceful Timor deer, beautiful wild horses and stout little boars. Resident giant fruit bats, also known as flying foxes, have a wingspan of four feet and are a sight to behold with their jet-black capes. Offshore, Komodo boasts a rich marine world of dolphins, whales and 1,000 species of fish. 

This National Park (which actually covers 26 islands) is home to about 5,700 of these legendary creatures that exist nowhere else on earth. Relatives of the dinosaur, they are the world’s largest reptiles and can reach lengths over 10 feet, and can weigh over 275 pounds.

Today we took a tour of the Tamarind woods, which are part of the national park. We had to tender to the island and then took a two-hour guided tour (walk) of the island. And, it was very warm.

Each group of 25 has a guide, a forest ranger and someone with a reindeer. A reindeer is a stick that has a fork at the end (looks like antlers) who can push the dragons away if they come to close. They are cannibals and will eat anything. If they bite you, the bite will be fatal. If you have any open wound on you, you cannot go on the island. They can smell it from 5 miles away.

Before we left the ranger station we encountered our first dragon. It was a female, as it was smaller in size.

We then continued into the forest. Our guide told us that in 1971 they stopped hunting the dragons and in 1994, the National Park was established. At that time they stopped feeding them.

These animals are not family type animals. They mate between May and August, and sit on the eggs for nine months. The eggs are about the size of an ostrich egg. They have two types of dens. One where they sleep in.

And one where the female sits on the eggs for nine months.

There will be 20-30 eggs, but only 5-6 will actually hatch. The baby is about 25cm in length when born. Once they are born, the mother will eat them, if they do not escape. They have the instinct to climb into a tree, where they live for two years. They eat insects and geckos.

We saw a lot of folia and hiked up to the top of the hill where it was also beautiful.

Then we hiked to the watering hole. This was put in by the rangers to give them a place to get water. However, there was no water, but there we a lot of dragons.

Then we hiked to the watering hole. This was put in by the rangers to give them a place to get water. However, there was no water, but there we a lot of dragons.

Then we went through a small market on to the tender and back to the ship. A few people fell as it was very uneven in the forest and on the pier. We also had some who had heat exhaustion, but we fared well.

Tomorrow we will be in Bali, where we will have to start covering our knees and our shoulders to show respect to the gods.