There Be Dragons
The Komodo Dragons, which are a kind of monitor lizard, grow up to 10 feet long and can move surprisingly fast, easily out running a human. They wander freely around the islands and can even swim between them, but so far only one tourist has been eaten, although a few of the villagers have had injuries. Every tourist who arrives there is told the story of the poor Swiss tourist who wandered off on his own to take photographs and was never seen again. His camera was found hanging in a tree. This presumably is to prevent more visitors doing the same.
These huge monitor lizards only live on this small cluster of islands and although there are other big monitors elsewhere in the world, none are as impressive as these ten foot long powerful beasts, especially when viewed on these desolate prehistoric islands.
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Komodo Dragons: Table of Contents
- Komodo National Park in Indonesia
- Map of Komodo, Indonesia
- Guidebooks for Indonesia
- Komodo and Rinca
- More reading on the subject
- Current Weather in Bali, Indonesia
- More Travel Articles
- Cameras
- Please Follow
- My Zazzle Gallery
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- More Recommended Travel Lenses
- More Photo Galleries
- Asian Hotel Reviews
- About Me
Komodo National Park in Indonesia
The Land of the Giant Lizards
Flores, the biggest of the islands that the lizards inhabit, has an airport, with flights from Bali. It takes several hours to get there in small old planes, which hop between other islands on the way and tend to have a slightly unreliable service, so you need to allow several days for a trip to Komodo National Park. The biggest island in the National park is Komodo, but Rinca also has a large number of "dragons", so both of these fairly large islands should be visited. When I was there, I was stranded on Flores for an extra day because the airline claimed the plane wasn't working, although I suspect they didn't have enough passengers to warrant taking off.
Komodo Island:
Boats can be booked from Flores to the National park. My traveling companion and I hired a boat and pilot for two days, and slept and ate on the boat, moored off Komodo Island. We managed a bit of snorkeling during the trip too and many tourists come to Komodo specifically for diving. I can't remember the cost, but it was sufficiently inexpensive for us to charter the boat for just two people rather than joining a group.
Flores had basic accommodation and restaurants, but was not a particularly interesting place to stay except as a base for visiting the National Park, or diving.
Guidebooks for Indonesia
Bali & Lombok (Lonely Planet Travel Guide)
Amazon Price: $14.95 (as of 07/14/2009) 
Diving and Snorkeling Guide to Bali and the Komodo Region (Pisces Diving & Snorkeling Guides)
Amazon Price: (as of 07/14/2009)
Komodo and Rinca
The recommended amount of time to spend at the islands was two days, to improve the chance of seeing some of these endangered prehistoric creatures and my guidebook warned that there was a reasonable chance of not seeing any at all. The smaller island, Rinca has fewer dragons and allegedly a lower chance of seeing any. When I arriver at Rinca, the dragons apparently were not aware of this and a fairly large lizard was waiting for me on the jetty. The pilot of the boat smacked him over the head with an oar and he reluctantly lumbered away. No wonder they are endangered.
Guides met us and tourists from other boats, on arrival and briefed us on what we would see and we set off on a walking tour in small groups. The guides were equipped with thin walking sticks and running shoes. I thought that this seemed rather inadequate protection from a ten foot lizard, until I realised that in the event of a dragon-attack the guide could simply hit a tourist over the head and run away. Fortunately this never occurred.
During the time spent on the islands we saw many sleeping dragons of various sizes and quite a few wandering around, but the best sightings were in a clearing on Komodo Island. When the first tourists visited Komodo, many years ago, they would purchase a goat and tie it up in a clearing and wait to watch it being devoured by the dragons. They don't do that any more, but a few old dragons with good memories still come back to the clearing. I got some excellent photos from there, of dragons coming towards me with blood on their mouths after a kill nearby. The guide got rather agitated because I insisted on waiting for the ideal shot as they got closer, before jumping over the barrier into the safe viewing area.
We also visited the main village on Komodo Island, with its simple wooden huts on legs, to keep the dragons out and frightened looking goats and children running around underneath them.
Summary
Komodo National Park was a wonderful, memorable place to visit and I certainly don't regret it, but it is a big detour even if you are staying in Bali and does take several days. If we had gone all that way and not seen any dragons I would have been very disappointed.
Both Komodo and Rinca has a large number of Komodo monitor lizards of various sizes wandering around or sleeping. The biggest grow to about ten feet in length, which while not the only monitor lizard in the world of enormous length, it is by far the heaviest.
More reading on the subject
Komodo Dragons: On Location (Darling, Kathy. on Location.)
Amazon Price: (as of 07/14/2009)
Komodo Dragon (Welcome Books)
Amazon Price: $4.95 (as of 07/14/2009)
Komodo Dragons (Predators in the Wild)
Amazon Price: $7.95 (as of 07/14/2009)
A Komodo Dragon Hatchling Grows Up (Scholastic News Nonfiction Readers)
Amazon Price: $15.60 (as of 07/14/2009)
Komodo: The Living Dragon
Amazon Price: $13.22 (as of 07/14/2009)
Current Weather in Bali, Indonesia
What is the Climate Like in The Indonesian Archipelago: Bali, Komodo, Flores, Rinca?
Current weather conditions in Bali, Indonesia
Local Pollen Reports
26°C (Feels like 28°C)
Last update: 7/14/09 9:30 PM Local Time
Humidity: 83%Visibility: 10.0 km
Dew Point: 23°C
UV Index: 0 (Lawn and Garden Weather)
Barometer: 1011.9mm steady
Moon: Rush Hour Traffic
Wind: 14km/h From: Airport Conditions
Tonight
Low
Low: 24°C
Sunrise: 6:35 AM
Sunset: 6:15 PM
Wednesday
Jul 15
N/A
High: 29°C
Low: 24°C
Sunrise: 6:35 AM
Sunset: 6:15 PM
Thursday
Jul 16
Sunny
High: 29°C
Low: 23°C
Sunrise: 6:35 AM
Sunset: 6:15 PM
Friday
Jul 17
Sunny
High: 29°C
Low: 23°C
Sunrise: 6:35 AM
Sunset: 6:15 PM
More Travel Articles
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Cameras
digital SLR cameras
digital compact cameras
Canon PowerShot SD1100IS 8MP Digital Camera with 3x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom (Blue)
Amazon Price: $252.99 (as of 07/14/2009)
Sony Cybershot DSC-S950 10MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Zoom with Super Steady Shot Image Stabilization (Black)
Amazon Price: Too low to display (as of 07/14/2009)
Canon PowerShot A590IS 8MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom
Amazon Price: $252.99 (as of 07/14/2009)
Nikon Coolpix L20 10MP Digital Camera with 3.6 Optical Zoom and 3 inch LCD (Deep Red)
Amazon Price: Too low to display (as of 07/14/2009)
Canon PowerShot A470 7.1MP Digital Camera with 3.4x Optical Zoom (Gray)
Amazon Price: $99.95 (as of 07/14/2009)
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Please Leave Some Feedback
JaguarJulie wrote...
Wow, these are unbelievable -- the iguanas of Costa Rica scared me silly -- imagine what encountering a komodo dragon would do???
Posted July 11, 2009
GodMother wrote
Beautiful, just beautiful!
Posted May 31, 2009
Tipi wrote...
This is a nice lens, Andy! - I like to put places lenses in Local, because Local does get higher ratings then Travel for some reason. If I can work it in somehow I do it! :))
These Komodo Dragons are some awesome creatures. It must be kinda scary to get close enough to take pictures of them.
Posted February 17, 2009
TheGreenerMe wrote...
These are amazing creatures. It must have been a site to see to actually see them in person.
Posted February 14, 2009
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