Dragons of Indonesia

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On a hot and steamy afternoon in late October we arrived on the island of Flores in the small port town of Labuan Bajo. Renault a French web designer, Lyndal an Australian Paramedic and myself, a self professed jack of all trades and master of none had travelled to the eastern end of Indonesia in search of one of the world's most awesome animals, the Komodo dragon. In Labuan Bajo we met Aleksander, a pleasant young man who was our contact and the man that had our boat organised to take us to the island home of the Komodo dragon.

As it was already getting late and we had an early start in the morning, Aleksander dropped us off at the Hotel where we had a quick wash and then set off to have dinner at one of the many restaurants along the main street. With so many to choose from we had trouble first deciding where to eat but soon decided on one that had a great view of the bay that Labuan Bajo was built on. After a very filling and cheap dinner of local culinary delights we set off back to our hotel for a good night sleep.

Rising at 6:00 the next morning we packed our bags and set off with Aleksander to meet the crew that would be looking after us for the next three days. Our boat, the Alba was captained by a young Indonesian by the name of Noval, a fully licensed seafarer operating his Uncle's boat. Novals crew consisted of 2 younger boys; John and Jos both about fifteen. I wasn't sure and I don't think they knew either. On board was everything we needed for our trip, food, water, snorkelling equipment and ice for the beer we had bought (the only thing other than soft drink that wasn't supplied). Settling in we stowed our gear on the deck and Noval set off, motoring out of the harbour towards our first destination, Bidadari Island.

Earlier that month I had been snorkelling off the Gilli island on the North east coast of Lombok and what we saw there was no comparison to the underwater life in the waters around Bidadari. Anchoring on a small patch of sand so as not to damage the coral we stripped off to our swimming attire, donned our snorkelling gear and jumped in to the crystal clear waters. Fish of all types, clams of every colour imaginable and coral of all shapes and sizes greeted us as we floated around the boat. After an hour or so we paddled back over to the boat where we boarded for a light refreshment of fresh fruit, tea and coffee. While we settled down Noval set off to our next stop, Rinca Island, and our first opportunity to see the legendary Komodo dragon.

On arriving at Rinca the build up of some ominous looking clouds were starting to appear over the island. We ignored them, as you would when you were about to see the world's largest lizard for the first time. Mooring at the harbour we gathered our camera gear and some water in a small pack and set off to the ranger station. At the end of the pier we saw our first dragon a mid sized animal about two meters long. It was resting under a group of mangroves just near the path and we were less than two meters from it when we walked past. We were met at the ranger station by a very energetic ranger who then led us to the start of the walk which led up a dry river bed. We learnt from our Ranger Guide that Komodo dragons let unsuspecting animals, us included, to wander quite close pretending to be asleep or dead and then when we get close enough they spring into action inflicting a bite that usually results in death due to severe infection. The infection results from the huge amounts of bacteria in their saliva. The dragons use this bacteria to their advantage and are able to bring down animals substantially larger than then selves such as fully grown buffalo. As we walked up the river bed the clouds grew larger and larger, blacker and blacker and the distant thunder was now not so distant. Not that we really cared as the temperature was starting to climb into the mid thirties and some rain would bring some relief from the heat. At the end of the walk we came across a small muddy water hole where many of the islands animals had congregated to cool down in the shade and have a much needed drink. In amongst the buffalo, deer, monkeys and Megapod birds were some opportunistic Komodo dragons that were lying in wait for one of the animals to stray too close. We sat and watched the animals doing what animals do while they stared back nervously wondering what we were doing at their water hole. Not that they would understand that all we wanted was some great photos to take back to show our family and friends.

With a loud clap of thunder that seemed to come from the sky above us we decided that it would be a good idea to head back to the ranger station before we got wet. Too late. After walking only 100 meters the rain started to fall, only lightly at first but as every second passed the drops seemed to get bigger and bigger and more and more frequent until it felt like someone was throwing buckets of water on us. We started to walk quite quickly but were forced to slow down as the rain had turned our track into a muddy slippery dip and it was taking all our concentration just to stay up right. An added problem to our trip back to the ranger station was that mud from the track was sticking to our shoes and with each step our feet became heavier and heavier not to mention more awkward to move. We finally made it back soaked to the bone and our legs covered in mud. The ranger station has a small undercover seating area which we headed to to take cover from the monsoonal bucketing. Once under cover though, the rain stopped, just as quickly as it had started. What perfect timing.

After trudging back to the boat we set off, this time for Kalong Island or as it is some times called "Flying fox Island". This name comes from the tens of thousands of Flying foxes that call the small mangrove covered island home. That is, they usually call it home. On our arrival we were expecting to see the flying foxes all leaving their daytime roost for the evenings foraging on the other nearby islands, however all but a handfull had either already gone or had not been there in the first place. We were a little disappointed but as we had already seen so much the disappointment did not last for very long. Especially after we opened a couple of Bintang beers and sat back to watch the sun set over Komodo Island in the distance. This was topped off by the two deck hands John and Jos serving a fantastic meal of fish, fried rice, fresh vegetables and Tempe. We were all excited about the next day, our journey to the world famous Komodo Island.

That night we slept on board the boat, gently rocking back and forth with the movement of the water. Apart from the humidity which made it a little hard to get to sleep it was a great way to spend a night. In the morning we woke with the rising sun and set off early for Komodo. By 6:30am we were on Komodo and setting off on the walk around the Ranger station to try and spot some more dragons. Our new Ranger guide walked us through the dry scrub of Komodo past many trees covered in beautiful purple and white orchids, stag ferns hanging off the trees in the cooler gullies and many of the islands animals, including a dead pig in a tree. But no Dragons. As it turned out we didn't see any Dragons on the island apart from those near the ranger station. The ranger informed us that they were spread out over the whole island in search for the scarce water sources. Unlike Rinca the island hadn't received any rain yet and was still very dry from the past six months of dry season weather. Nonetheless the walk around the island was still great as we saw so many other animals and interesting plants.

Leaving Komodo Island we headed for Red Beach for some more under water adventure, seeing once again numerous species of fish, coral and an interesting looking brown and white spotted eel. From Red Beach we set off for our final night stop, Kanawa Island while we ate our lunch. Once again prepared by our very capable deckhands, John and Jos. On Arriving at Kanawa Island we moored at the end of a one hundred meter long wooden pier that led down to a pristine white beach and a small low budget holiday resort. Before we set off to explore the island we were able to sit and watch a group of locals fishing off the end of the pier and on a couple of small boats moored to the pier. They fished, not with the normal bait on a hook method, but with a heavily weighted hook that they threw out into the large schools of fish under the pier. Once the hook had sunk under the school of fish they would rip the rod up into the air hoping to snag a fish as the hook flew through the school. As we watched they caught only three fish for maybe one hundred attempts so it seemed to be quite a lot of effort for not much return.

Noval let us know we had about an hour before our dinner would be ready so we had ample time to explore the area around the resort. Ranualt and I decided we would go and have a beer before dinner but soon found out that the generator was only turned on in the late afternoon and that the beer was still warm, so we all wandered around checking out the resort. The owner had some time in the past brought a couple of Timor deer to the island as pets one of which we found asleep under a tree near the bar with warm beer. This deer acted more like a dog and would respond to a good pat and scratch under the chin. Along with the tame deer the Island had a resident eagle that was able to be approached quite closely. More so by the locals that would feed it a fish or two from their daily catch (I doubt though that the guys at the end of the pier would give up one of their three fish). After our exploring session we wandered back to the boat, ate our dinner and settled down for the night once again to a magnificent sunset.

The last day of our trip saw us doing some more exploring and also some snorkelling on Kanawa Island before heading off to Kalong Island where Lyndall and Renault relaxed on the beach while I climbed to the highest point on the island to see what I could see. What I saw was a perfect view of Kalong Island and the clear blue seas which stretched for hundreds of kilometres all around me. After lunch at Kalong Island it was back to Labuan Bajo via Bidadari Island for some more snorkelling. Arriving at Labuan Bajo we were met once again by Aleksander who took us back to our hotel, before we flew out back to Bali the next day.

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Published on 3/1/05