A Komodo Adventure

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In May of 2004 I was given the opportunity to travel with Andrew Aitken of No Roads Expeditions on a trial expedition to see the Dragon's of Komodo. The following is an account of our trip, one that I would thoroughly recommend and certainly never forget.

Early on a warm morning in the town of Labuan Bajo (Port Bajo) on the Indonesian island of Flores , we waited patiently for our guide to collect us for our expedition to see the biggest member of the Varanus family. Our guide, Bona Ventura, just like "Ace" he said, collected us after a visit to the local markets to stock the boat for our impending trip. Our journey to their island home began with a short dugout canoe trip to the boat that would be our home for the next three days. The 'Alba' was a clean looking boat that had plenty of room for both Andrew and myself and appeared it would provide us with a relaxed environment for our journey. Once on board we stowed our gear and met the crew, twenty one year old Noval, our captain for the trip, and his two deck hands John and Jos, both who were only fifteen.

The waters around Labuan Bajo were tranquil with hardly a ripple until Noval started the two diesel engines of the Alba. We quickly discovered our home for the next three days had no mufflers! With the loud throng of our boat reverberating off the other boats in the harbour and probably the hills in the distance we set off for our first destination, the Island of Rinca , pronounced 'Rincha'. Soon after setting off, Bona served our first meal, a range of tropical fruits washed down with bottled water and black tea. After a surprisingly relaxing three hour trip past numerous small Islands and the remnants of the Western end of Flores we motored into a secluded bay. Tying up to a small pier we were about to come face to face with our first Komodo dragon. At the end of the pier was a small shelter providing shade to a couple of Indonesian locals. Underneath the small platform they were sitting on was a two meter dragon looking as relaxed as the two men sitting above it. Bona produced a small bag of fish and proceeded to offer it to the dragon. With out hesitation it scoffed the lot including the plastic bag! Initially Andrew and I were a little disappointed as it felt like this dragon was staged and was only hanging around because of people like Bona feeding it. That may have been true of this individual but we were soon to see many more dragons away from obvious human habitation and influence.

It was only a couple of years ago that Komodo 'feeding' shows were stopped. These shows were put on for tourists who could witness a 'pack' of dragon's tearing a goat to pieces. With an increased understanding of the dragon's ecology, it was realised that this was putting undue pressure on the population and could be one of the reasons for the increasing difference between the male and female population. Offerings of large animals by humans are now only done by rangers and researchers when they want to attract animals for research requirements.

The walk on Rinca takes about two hours starting with a short section from the pier to the ranger station where you can pay your entrance fees and collect your special forked stick. The Rangers indicated that if you are attacked by a dragon while on the walk you should thrust the stick into its mouth this should make it drop to the ground and go to sleep? I was not sure how poking a forked stick into the mouth of a three meter lizard was going to make it go to sleep but I didn't really care as I wasn't going to get into a position to have to try it!

The walk was interesting with our small group coming across numerous animals including water buffalo, large centipedes, flying lizards and of course dragons. We walked through thick forest and scrub and out into open grasslands which appeared to include many species that were familiar to me from Australia . The island was very dry however the plant species we saw showed that it can be quite wet. Stag horn ferns and orchids covered the trunks and filled the forks of many trees and provided a welcome contrast to the dry brown surrounds. Many of the orchids were in flower and were quite beautiful. What a contrast, the delicate beauty of the orchids just above the lumbering bodies of the prehistoric dragons.

On returning to the Alba we motored away from the pier and onto our next destination, a small island off the coast of Komodo Island . Bona said that we were soon to see many flying foxes leaving their daytime roost for an evening of foraging on the surrounding islands. When Bona said many we were not prepared for the numbers we were going to experience. We arrived at the island just on dusk, a little later than Bona had anticipated, as we had taken too long on Rinca looking around for animals. The island was unlike most others we had past; it was low, only one to two meters high and covered in mangroves. As we approached we could already see a stream of flying foxes leaving the island. We had already experienced the Indonesian habit of underestimation of time, distance, etc. and Bona's description of many was just one more. For the short time we were anchored off the island we witnessed tens of thousands of flying foxes flying off to feed. It was an awesome sight.

Just before we set off for our mooring for the night we were visited by a small boat load of villagers selling carvings of dragons and other locally produced souvenirs. It seems no place is exempt from the pressures of needing to make a living, even out on a boat in the middle of this isolated part of the world. After a short round of haggling we set off in the dark for the pier on Komodo Island . On arriving we weighed anchor ate our dinner and settled down for bed.

The next morning we rose around 5am and set out to find more dragons. This time however it would actually be on the Island that gave them their name. Only a short walk from the pier through the ranger station we discovered over a dozen large dragons lumbering out of the scrub to start the days foraging. The day was perfect, the temperature was around 25C with not a breath of wind and the light of the rising sun made for an awesome sight. We were able to get quite close to the dragons with many that we saw wandering past less than a metre away. You could almost smell their breath.

Seeing the dragons on Komodo heralded the end of our adventure and we boarded the Alba for the trip west across the Sape Straight to the island of Sumbawa . The small port town of Sape on Sumbawa is where we would catch the overnight bus and ferry that would get me back to Mataram in Lombok for my flight back to Bali and then home to Australia .

While this trip provided so many opportunities to experience the island culture and see animals and plants that I had only ever seen in books, Andrew decided future trips will be increased from three to six days and include the North Coast of Sumbawa and not just the Islands of Komodo and Rinca. This would provide an opportunity to experience the wildlife, culture and scenery of Sumbawa as well as more chances to relax and do some snorkeling and fishing on the reefs along the way.

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Published on 3/1/05