Approaching the islands of southeastern Indonesia. These are some of the most beautiful islands I can recall seeing. Yes, the islands of the South Pacific around Tahiti, Bora Bora, etc. are beautiful but here there are more of them in many more sizes.
Passing the village of Komodo on the Island of Komodo. Our guide would report to us that there are no automobiles here. All transportation is by foot or boat. Many of the structures are built over the water.
And, just around the "corner" was where we docked! Actually, at the time I took this pic, we were anchored and one of the tenders was already at the dock. Note the small pier/dock behind the longer one. At the end of it, you can see the white boat with the orange top. We would find out later that the blue tent on shore off to the left is where vendors had set up to display their wares for us to buy! We forgot to carry cash with us so just bypassed that area.
Getting off the tender and heading down the pier to the shade. Did I mention it was HOT! The temperature had to be in the low 90s and the humidity was probably 95%!
The entire island of Komodo is a designated national park so all the wildlife is protected. Even the native humans that live here have to abide by park rules.
A sign in place to welcome us. We were not allowed to be on the island unescorted. We were divided into groups of 22. Five groups went in by tender at one time. Needless to say, we were packed in the tenders like sardines!!!
After a brief little presentation by a resident guide, our group headed out. Each group had a guide and 2 "guardians", guys with sticks to push the dragons away should they become aggressive. The picture below is of a birds nest. Back home we might think it to be an Indian shell mound! Not here! Birds build these large nests and then, the dragons take them over to lay their own eggs. The dragons dig holes, much like alligators, to lay there eggs. Because the ground on the island is quite hard, they prefer to use the softer dirt that the bird had prepared! Lazy animals!
Finally after having walk probably 3/4 of a mile, we came upon 4 dragons, actually, they're large lizards, trying to cool off a little. This guy did lift his head to see if he had a prayer of getting a quick lunch!
Here's another guy totally stretched out! We learned that these guys are extremely venomous. They have some 50+ bacteria in their mouths. If they bite you, you will be dead in 24 hours. And, they will patiently stalk you until you're dead. They prey on deer and water buffalo that live on the island. We also learned they are cannibalistic.
One of the guides offered to take my picture with the dragons. Whew! Fortunately, they were pointed the other way and he was watching them!
One of the dragons decided to get up and move. Tom got some video. I need to figure out how to get some of that into these posts!
Moving on along toward some of the other folks on tour here.
And then, he just plopped down!
And one of his buddies studies the situation… how do we get rid of those guys with the sticks??? You can tell by his flabby tummy he's ready for a few oversized Americans!!
Walking across a dry creek bed… our guide told us there had been quite a shortage of rain this year. Yes, that's Tom bringing up the rear!
Almost back to the dock, the guide points out the crab holes. The Komodo dragons will stick their tails down the holes, the crabs will grab hold of them and when the dragon brings his tail back out, he has a nice little appetizer!
Ahhh! Air conditioning awaits! Did I mention it was HOT!
Us with the Komodo dragons, fortunately stone ones! After walking probably 2 miles over uneven terrain in HOT HUMID weather, we were certainly ready to be back to the air conditioned comfort of "home"!
Leaving Komodo… truly a beautiful islands area!
One more shot...
We lifted anchor about 1:30pm and were off on our way to Bali!
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