Here There Be Dragons (1 of 3)

Komodo and Rinca Islands, Indonesia

There are places in this world where there are still wild things and more often than not, those places are islands. Sometimes we are privileged to visit them and their unfettered inhabitants and the island gives us a gift of raw, exuberant purity: uncaged, unsanitized, clawed, and fanged.

I went to Indonesia for the spectacular SCUBA diving and unexpectedly found as much wild beauty on the forested shoulders of the islands as I did among the colorful folds of their coral skirts. There are, after all, dragons on Komodo Island!

Our plans were to sail systematically down the chain of islands from Bali to Alor, diving at each likely spot along the way. Since Komodo lay right in our path, and is a favored dive location in its own right, it seemed logical to pay our respects to the island’s famous inhabitants. Komodo Island, along with its immediate neighbors, is an Indonesian national park and known as part of one of the world’s greatest wildlife regions. Like the Galapagos of Ecuador, Komodo is visited expressly for the purpose of seeing the wildlife that exists only there.

I was an "expert", having seen a small Komodo dragon at the Fort Worth zoo a couple of years ago when it passed through on exhibition. I knew that the dragons are in reality the world’s largest and fiercest monitor lizards. My "expertise" did not extend to the real size and ferocity of these antique reptiles, nor for that matter, to much else regarding the amazing creatures.

Known to the natives as "ora", Komodo dragons have been extinct except in fossilized form for 130 million years, with the sole exception of this tiny archipelago where unpredictable and treacherous currents protected the remote location until 1912 when a Dutch scientist brought them to the attention of the world. Hmmmmm…can you say "Jurassic Park"? Ignorance is blissful, and I set off with my shipmates to see the ora.

We anchored in Loh Liang Bay and our inflatable dinghies ferried us to the island’s sole pier. I studied the island’s jagged, cloud wreathed early morning profile as we approached, and could not escape the image of King Kong in his remote island refuge. The terrain is mountainous with dormant volcanoes and rugged, precipitous black ravines. This is a very dry climate, and the slopes of the hillsides are covered with thorny thickets and tall palms. The foliage is dense enough to be impenetrable in many places.

It is unwise to venture off alone in dragon country, and guidebooks warn that it is forbidden for menstruating women to trek here. The dragon’s sense of smell is superb, and he can track prey or locate a ripe carcass as readily as a canine. The island belongs to the dragon; he reigns here and is in no way restricted or confined. Ora have been known to reach more than three meters, and 150 kg in weight, and can sprint 18 km per hour. He can kill with either end, having razor sharp teeth on one end and a deadly bludgeon of a tail at the other extreme.

Therefore, we were assigned a knowledgeable guide who wielded a long forked stick which, he assured us, was adequate to repel most dragon advances, unless the smell of blood is in the air. Then, advised the guide, nothing would deter the voracious lizards.

We met our guide just inside the arched portal at the end of the pier, and he was gracious enough to give us a brief introduction to the island and its inhabitants. The natives who share Komodo with such fierce neighbors are descended from convicts who were banished there from neighboring Flores Island in the 16th century. Imagine how they must have felt when they discovered they were no longer top of the food chain! No wonder they built, and continue to build, their homes elevated on stilts and on the open beach. One only wonders why, modern navigation being what it is, they continue to stay!

Read Part 2