The Komodo Dragons

Komodo Island and the dragons have been linked since the early 1900’s when tales of fire-breathing dragons were told by Dutch seamen. Finally, in 1910 a Dutch Naval Officer lead an expedition to the island and discovered not a fire-breathing dragon, but the Komodo Dragon, which while not breathing fire, is the largest lizard in the world. Adult males can easily reach 12 feet in length and can weigh up to 300 pounds.  They can run up to 18 miles per hour for short sprints and their saliva contains various bacteria that can kill a water buffalo three days after being bitten. In short, one doesn’t want to mess with them.

The island itself is a verdant green with high mountains in its center. There are no roads, telephones, and only one small town is on the island. Dirt trails are the only way to get around except by boat. It is an island with the sole purpose of keeping the dragons from becoming extinct. There are ample herds of deer, wild pigs and water buffalo for the dragons dining pleasure. There are also plenty of fish in the waters surrounding the islands and the dragons are good swimmers. One wonders why anyone would scuba or snorkel in these waters, but they are promoted for their clarity and variety of fish specimens.

Once on the island, one meets their guide and two guards. This intrepid chap was one of our guards.

They are armed only with these sticks and they are supposed to use the fork of the stick to insert it into the sensitive nose of the dragons warding it off.  Hard to believe, but it must work as no tourists have been bitten, but several guards and some unlucky natives have succumbed over the years.

We were thusly briefed on staying together, not straying from the path, no sudden movements or loud noises. On the ship, we were told no red color and no open wounds, as they could smell blood from seven miles away. So off we went through the dense foliage each one of us probably playing out their own fantasies should dragons suddenly appear.

Whatever fantasies were being played out, most of the trek was a botany lesson on the plants we were seeing. Then we arrived at the waterhole and there they were. No walls, no fences, moats, iron bars or anything keeping one from becoming a snack for the dragons except men with forked sticks.

It all seemed staged and the dragons lethargic until a large one quickly got up and started to move.  The sound of air being sucked into everyone’s lungs and the silence from breath holding was instantaneous and then the clicking of shutters took over. It is quite an exciting experience to see one of these behemoths move, hiss and grunt. They are agile and very quick and if they made up their minds to attack, I really doubt the men with sticks would stand much of a chance.

So how close did we get? How's this?

After viewing the dragons, we were lead to the local craft market and were made to run the gauntlet of vendors trying to sell us carved Komodo Dragons. In many ways, that experience was more terrifying than being a few feet away from the dragons.

Only 20,000 people a year visit the island and we were honored tobe part of that group. It was quite an experience.