Friday, January 29 we woke to the sight of islands outside our window. This time the sun was shining. It was a hazy but beautiful morning. I hurried up on deck to watch the sail in to Komodo. Michael and I were able to have breakfast on the deck behind the Terrace Café while we watched the approach. We were assigned to the first group ashore. Komodo is mostly a national park run by Indonesian park rangers. There is a fishing village of several hundred people there, around a bend from the beach where we landed. The villagers were out in force. They had constructed a shopping mall of tents.
The hike through the dry forest wasn't all that long but with 60 of us broken up into groups of twenty per guide and couple of dragon wranglers with pointed sticks, the walk took more than an hour. At first the guide talked about the vegetation and the mostly dry climate. There are only two rainy weeks per year. Last week was one of them. We walked along a gravel path that had game trails of some sort criss crossing it. The guide told us that some were wild boar tracks and others were lizard tracks. Twenty minutes into the walk I was beginning to think that lizard tracks were all I was going to see of the famous Komodo Dragons. Then we passed a water hole and soon after some log like shapes resolved into three Dragons as we approached.
The Dragons waited almost patiently as our group stopped for a lengthy picture taking session. People were well enough behaved not to try and approach the lizards too closely. They only pushed and shoved each other for a good view. The danger is not so much that the lizards will eat you alive as that their bite is toxic. The guide mentioned that medical care is at least twelve hours away by boat. As we continued our jungle walk we spotted at least two more Komodo Dragons just going about their business. They appeared to be reasonably used to humans. Since they are no longer fed but exist in an ecological balance with the other local wild life, they no longer flock around when people show up to view them. I did learn that they have all been micro chipped. The park rangers can be sure of finding Dragons as they can locate them electronically. I guess that takes some of the mystery out of the jungle experience. Nevertheless seeing these prehistoric beasts was an awesome experience.
As we made our way back toward the shore, Michael murmured "Watch out for Dragon poop!" There, in the middle of the path was a fragrant heap of Komodo Dragon dung. I gather they eat berries and fruit as well as meat. I didn't think fast enough to take a picture. We returned to shore near the shopping tents of the locals. After a look around at some tame deer and another laid back Komodo Dragon resting under the restaurant building, we headed back to the ship. In order to get pack to the pier and our tender we had to go down the middle of the tent city the locals had set up. They were hawking hundreds of tee shirts, probably made in China. There were some nice wood carvings, post cards and other Dragon related trinkets. We managed to make it through without purchasing anything but it was certainly not for the local's lack of trying. Even toddlers were calling out, "buy picture, only a dolla." It was sad to see their poverty. We hiked down the beautiful beach to the pier and came back to our ship by tender. The 90 plus degree temperatures and almost 100 percent humidity notwithstanding, it had been a wonderfully worthwhile adventure.
Later as we were watching the ship's preparations to sail we noted that all the colorful tents had been removed, all the little boats had left and the Dragon preserve's beach looked entirely deserted. The locals had all gone back to their village where they will presumably fish for a living until the next cruise ship visits.
Michael has been doing a somewhat satirical blog of our trip. To view his version of events, check out
http://cbu-sin.blogspot.com
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