Here be dragons...

Komodo Island was a bit of a different port. It was another water shuttle port, and it is a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site, so we were only allowed to go there on a tour (no free wandering). Komodo is one of the 17,508 islands that make up the Republic of Indonesia, 200 miles east of Bali. About 200 people live there year-round, most working for the park. It was very dry and very hot, which they say is the usual state there. Their rainy season is in January.

An interesting bit of trivia about Komodo: American adventurer Douglas Burden heard tales of these dragons and organized an expedition, returning with two large, dead reptiles. Film producer Merian Cooper was fascinated by Burden’s story. He changed the lizard to an ape, added some dinosaurs and Faye Wray, and produced the classic King Kong.

For the first time this trip I saw trash in the water as we sailed into Komodo. I was so disappointed – there were shoes, plastic cups, and other unidentifiable man-made things floating. We had passed some tugboats pulling barges along the way; I assume they were towing trash to dump.

This was a water-shuttle port, so we went from the big boat to a lifeboat/tender to get to shore, then climbed up some tiny, uneven cement stairs in the side of the wharf to get to shore.

Everyone was warned multiple times before we got here that it was going to be a tough hike and extremely hot, and that those with mobility issues should not participate. But, of course, people think they are fine. And they wore flip-flops and sandals to trek through the mud. It was HELLA hot. I had sweat dripping off my fingers – something I had not experienced before. Bottled water was available at the start of the hike. Four people had to be carried out of the jungle because of heat exhaustion, fainting, and falling. I guess it just sneaks up on you and then it’s too late. What was concerning was that the guides did not carry walkie-talkies or emergency kits, so they had to run back to the base to get help. With all the poisonous snakes around, one would think they would be better prepared!

Each group had three guides to keep us safe. They carry these forked sticks so they can push them back if the dragons attacked. I'm not sure how effective sticks would do against a 300-pound, 10-foot-long dragon, but the guides seemed to know their stuff. Except for the time I pointed out one was coming up behind us and they all jumped, surprised, and moved us out of the way. Another group got to witness one of the big guys catch and consume a deer almost in one gulp. Ew. I saw pictures but was glad I didn’t witness it. I wouldn’t handle that well.

Men with sticks

The park staff do not feed the dragons anymore, as they don’t want the Komodo to lose their ability to hunt. They live off local prey – deer, wild boar, goats, and the occasional tourist. True: several have been attacked and a few killed in recent years. The park rangers put in a manmade watering hole so all the animals have a water source during the dry season (which is most of the year), so you can pretty much count on seeing at least one at the watering hole. In all, we saw about six Komodo of various sizes and ages, which was much more than I expected. 

This is the guy who snuck up on us

Baby Komodo headed for a drink

Big Daddy - 25 years old

Humans for scale

Big Yawn!

Well-hidden Komodo - this is how they hunt. They hide and jump out at their prey.

After surviving the jungle, we had to walk the gauntlet of vendors selling local wares. While polite, each person called out to me to look at their carved magnets, abalone bowls, and t-shirts.

The next stop was getting on a local boat to get to a pink sand beach. We couldn’t swim at the beach by the wharf, as Komodo “owned” that beach – they swim in the water too. I saw two of them from the water shuttle.

Local boat

We scrambled into one of the local boats. This was another challenge – no gangway, just climbing over the rail, but my knees don’t like to bend that way anymore! got a bit of an assist from one of the mates to get that foot over the edge. A short ride later, we anchored off the coast of one of seven pink beaches in the world, called Pantai Merah. The sand is made of regular white sand from calcium carbonate and bright red seashells from microorganisms. My next challenge was to climb off the boat into a dinghy to get to the beach.

I stripped down to my swimsuit and plunged into the water. Oh, Bliss! The water was just cool enough and crystal clear. We only had a half hour at the cove, so I didn’t snorkel – I was also concerned about all the little dinghies that were passing through the swimmers to get to the shore. So I just floated on the waves and refreshed myself.

Ahhhh, paradise!

Back to the dinghy, back on the local boat. When we got back to the wharf it was mayhem with all the boats trying to dock at once. We almost got hit by another boat, and then we docked with just the front of the boat accessible to the pier and we scrambled up and out. This certainly wasn’t a trip for the mobility impaired!

Climbing to safety

On the ship’s water shuttle, I sat between who shall now be called Alpha Male and Granola Girl. Alpha Male, dressed like Crocodile Dundee, bought a 5-foot Komodo dragon carving in hibiscus wood. It was very pretty and very lifelike. He had some toxic male energy, but I was sympathetic to him due to his history. He told me about his time in the marines (kicked out due to assault on a superior officer), how he went kangaroo hunting in Australia (supposedly donated the meat to locals), how he moved from California to Alabama (and tried to convince another couple to sell their house in LA and move) and embraced the gun-carrying, hunting mindset. He then showed me what I thought was a picture of a friend which turned out to be a battlefield video of his friend being dragged to safety after being shot (I think this was the motivation for the attack on the superior officer). I pretty much stopped contributing to the conversation at that point. Yes, this was a 20-minute trip. When he referred to “freaking out liberals” for the third time, Granola Girl finally spoke up and asked if he could use a different word, that dividing the country into liberals and conservatives was not helpful. Naïve girl, though I respected her point of view. I just leaned back in my seat and watched the show like a tennis match. We were not going to change hearts and minds on a water shuttle ride, people! Everyone calmed down and went back to their respective corners.

Next stop, Singapore!