A large adult Komodo dragon turns and looks my way.
Welcome to the land of the dragons. There is only one place in the world you can go to see Komodo dragons (Varanus komodoensis), the largest lizards on earth, and that is in Komodo National Park. These guys are big! The largest wild specimen on record was 10 ft 3 in long and weighed 166 kilograms or 370 lb, including undigested food. There are only a few islands in the National Park where the dragons live. We went to Rinca Island where around 1,300 dragons live in the wild.
They look just like modern day dinosaurs.
There are small villages on the island as well, and just a week before we were there a villager was ambushed from behind and bitten by a dragon. This is a very serious concern. Not only do they contain close to 60 kinds of bacteria in their saliva which causes sepsis in the prey, but there is also new evidence that they may be venomous as well. In the wild they are able to take down huge water buffalo just by sneaking up on it at the watering hole, biting it once, and letting infection take down the massive mammal over the next two weeks. Needless to say this is a big worry for anyone bitten by a dragon. The villager was rushed to the mainland hospital as the antibiotic was flown over from Bali. Our guide told us that a pretty high percentage of people bitten end up dying.
After meeting up with our ranger we encountered three big Komodo dragons right next to the kitchen. The kitchen is built up on stilts as a deterrent and they never feed the dragons but whenever they cook meat they know the smell will draw the dragons near. We passed fairly close to these three and luckily they were content with laying in the shade under the sweet smelling chicken. Then we encountered a big male, pictured above. This guy was a bit more active showing us the 'high walk' that I've seen in so many crocodilian species. He would snake his long tongue out smelling these new additions to the neighborhood....us!
As we took some pictures of this living dinosaur our guide excitedly pointed to a female dragon coming out of the woods. I thought maybe the male and female would meet up but they steered clear of each other. Apparently seeing the dragons move is a big treat. As we continued our trek we passed by several large nests. Mamma dragons lounged nearby huge holes in which they lay their eggs in one. The other holes all serve as camouflage for the real one. We also came across some dragon scat which was very white from all the calcium in their diet. It reminded me of hyena scat in Africa. Both animals eat the bones of their prey.
One of the funniest things about walking through the dry forest that dragons call their home is how sensitive you are to every sound. When you know that dragons have bitten people and they usually do this by ambushing from behind it seems that every sound makes you jump. And there are a million tiny lizard species as well as birds rooting around in the leaves so there are lots of sounds. It is nice to know that they don't eat that often. Our guide said we were too late to see them eat since they just ate two weeks ago!
If you ever find yourself in Indonesia and you enjoy wildlife, Komodo should be first on your list. It is very easy to access unlike a lot of the other rare animals spread across the island nation. Even the boat ride out from Flores is an adventure in itself. And the dragons aren't the only big animals here. To see the others though you have to look underwater. Stay tuned for a look at scuba diving Komodo next.
A traditional ship sails past during the sunset.
It may take a bit of effort to get all the way out to the Komodo Islands, but I guarantee it will be worth it. And to put it in perspective, sixty years ago it took the famed Sir David Attenborough 17 days to get here. Now you can get here in a day and a half.
The world is at your fingertips, so keep traveling!
- Dai Mar