Hello there, I am back!
I still owe you the story of my encounter with the only dragon that truly alive: the Komodo dragon.
Since Komodo dragons only live in several small islands in the Flores sea, it was my first encounter with the giant lizard. We visited two islands with komodos, namely the Komodo island (dang!) and Rinca island.
You have to pay certain fees to enter the national parks. The tickets can be used in one day only, so I advise to visit both islands in the same day to save cost (we did not know this fact so we paid twice). You need the tickets too to swim and explore the famous pink beach nearby. So pink beach can also be included to your itinerary for the day.
Please don’t shock to receive many tickets when you pay the fees. We did complain about this matter since turned out the fees we paid actually consisted of some activities and the ticketing person did not ask whether we would like to do all of the activities or not! Both rangers who assisted us in Komodo and Rinca islands told us that it was decided by the central government (to issue you all of the tickets and force you to pay all of the activities). They argued that they too understand our frustration and had many tourists complained in the past but they did not have any authority to fix the situation. What a shame! 😦
Anyway, let’s focus on the dragons and leave the ticketing frustration behind.
I honestly have mixed feelings about meeting the dragons.. Even though I love to see them, but listening to the story about how dangerous they are made me scared to even close with them..
say hi to Mr Komodo xx
In pulau Komodo, we found a huge Komodo nearby a ranger’s house.
While the ranger told me to pose, I could not hide my fears being nearby this huge predator..
We also found another smaller Komodo dragon nearby, surrounded with some wild boars. It made me thinking.. Did they put the boars there to attract the Komodos? So we, the visitors, can see one or two Komodos even when we can’t find any in the island during our trekking?..
Whatever the background was, it was pretty awesome (even though terrifying) to see this beast at this close. Maybe we won’t be able to be this close if we met the Komodos in the forest, since it may take time to spot them and they may run already when we notice their presence. (just trying to be positive thinking here)
Other than Komodos and wild boars, we also found other wildlife in the island, such as deers and buffalos. The trekking up the hill in Komodo island was also pretty nice and you will get lovely view facing the ocean from the top.
Next, Rinca island.
Similar with in Komodo island, we did not find any Komodo dragons during our trek in Rinca island, but we found some nearby the ranger’s kitchen. Perhaps the smell of the food attracted the dragons.
Somehow the Komodos that we found here were pretty active, much more than the ones we met in Komodo island. They moved pretty fast and seemed to chew on something… (hope it wasn’t any of the visitors!). At some points I was pretty sure the big one looked at me intensely. When I asked the ranger, he said yes, the dragon is looking at you. Thank you for the soothing comment, sir.
I didn’t dare to catch his intense look clearly, but the Komodo who looked at me is the one in this video.
The ranger also said that Komodo dragons are good hunters. They won’t attack their preys immediately, they will observe and calculate carefully, and once they attack, they never miss the target.
I tried to ignore his comments and the Komodo’s staring at me. After some minutes, finally the Komodo left me alone. huft..
It also didn’t help that the ranger only had a v-shape wooden stick with him and no other weapon.. How could I feel secure that he will be able to protect me??! I remember for example in Svalbard, the guide carried a riffle when we go outside, to prepare in case we met any polar bears.
Seriously, Mas? Perhaps we should consider ourselves lucky we didn’t find any Komodo dragons in the forest 😀
But still, it was an amazing experience to see the dragons in person. Disney wasn’t lie afterall, dragons are real! 😀
Almost forgot! We also found one Komodo in a very weird place: a female toilet!
When you want to pee but you have to queue with a Komodo 😀
The ranger said Komodo dragons are really sensitive with the smells of bloods. So perhaps there was some lady who left her tampon here and this Komodo smelled it. Komodo, the patient hunter as it is, waiting his prey to come back. When we were back passing this toilet few hours later, we found that this Komodo is still unmoved there in the toilet! If only guys have the same patience when it comes to pursuing a lady.. :p
Till next time!
Love,
Dewi
Categories: Travel
dewimayangsari
Hello - I love writing random stuff from fiction to mental health to relationship to productivity to travel stories. Hope you can enjoy my writings! :)
- dewi - 
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