3845 Our guide (in the white hat) and our ever watchful ranger with his forked stick.
3847 Komodo Dragon scat. All that's left of his meal is the calcium. Now that's digestive efficiency.
3860 This is the dragon that was interested in Diana. She's standing to my right. The white on the left of the picture is the ranger's shirt as he stepped in front to discourage the dragon. The dragon to the right is laying down and not posing a threat. This photo was taken at wide angle so you can see how close the dragon got. This was the second time the ranger waived his stick.
3860a This is the dragon smelling the air just before he turned and headed away. Admittedly, this was taking with a bit of telephoto to get the ranger's shirt out of the picture.
3889 This is the island as it looked today, Feb 25. Other areas were much greener but this is the only formation I could identify as the same as the next picture.
3889a This is the same portion of the island on Nov 1, after the dry season. Much of the landscape is bare rock in this area and will never be green, but I could match the formations to the current pictures.
Feb 25 – Slawi Bay, Komodo Island, Indonesia. What a difference time of year can make. When we were here some years ago it was November and the island was as brown and leafless as a place can get. That was the end of the dry season and dry it must have been. Right now it's green and lush because it's the tail end of the wet season. It's another tender port so we'll get a little boat ride to the island.
This monitor lizard is the world's largest lizard and the entire island, with 3 other smaller islands and parts of a few other islands make up the Komodo National Park. The monitors grow to between 6-10 feet and weight up to 300 pounds. They are mainly carrion feeders but they will hunt and attack birds, invertebrates and mammals. They reproduce by laying eggs. Once out of the nest their young climb trees to keep from being eaten by the parents. The parents will do whatever they have to in order to protect the eggs in their nest but once the eggs hatch, the young better scat quickly because they apparently make a very tasty snack. Adults will raid the nests of others to eat the eggs.
They can run up to 12 miles per hour and can ambush deer and other animals. They rarely kill their prey outright but their mouth contains about 60 different types of bacteria so they usually bite the victim and wait for septicemia to kill it before eating. They don't hear well but can smell a dead animal up to three miles away. Like most reptiles, they smell with their tongues.
While the 'dragons' are the most famous of the island's inhabitants many other animals live here including some spiders that are 6 inches across and many species of snakes, some poisonous. They told us that, although the dragons look fierce, more people are injured by snakes.
After landing on the beach we proceeded inland in small groups. Each group of about 12-14 was accompanied by two rangers and a guide. The rangers are locals and are armed with a long pole with a natural Y at one end. This is to defend us from the dragons if they show too much interest in a tourist.
We set off into the forest. Unlike last time at the end of the dry season, we are near the end of the wet season and the trees are providing welcome shade. It's over 90˚F and very humid. We will be walking a trail that is about a mile long. While in the forest we say a cicada, the oldest surviving plant form. I've seen them in botanical gardens but this is the first place I've seen one in the wild. They grow so slow that a 5 foot one is probably 100 years old.
It was at this point that we encountered dragon scat. Like most reptiles the dragon swallows its prey whole. These big boys can swallow a whole deer. The digestive system of the dragon is so efficient that the scat they produce is just a white powdery substance. They dissolve and use every part of the animal but the calcium in its bones. That they eliminate from the body. They don't have to eat very often if they are lucky enough to get a deer.
We continued through the forest and up a hill to what the ranger referred to as the highlands. Here there are open fields of tall grasses interspersed with groves of trees. The lack of shade made this stretch of the walk much warmer and when we dropped down the other side of the hill it was warmer still because the breeze couldn't reach the valley. We started to turn a gentle circle until we were going back toward the ranger station area. We were walking in a valley that was still cutting us off from the breeze. As we left the valley and reentered the costal forest the breeze returned and was much appreciated.
Not much later we came upon the 'dragons'. They don't guarantee that you'll see dragons on the trek but they might as well. Because the dry season is very long and most of the natural waterholes dry up, the park has created one about one-third of a mile into the forest from the ranger station. In the dry season this is the only reliable source of water and both the lizards and their prey come here to drink. That conditioning results in some lizards being here even in the wet season. This is exactly the same spot we saw them on our last trip but that time we did the loop in reverse so we saw the 'dragons' nearer to the start of the trek.
They like to feed in the morning so they're probably full about now and looking for a nap. I think one of them took notice of us because he (the males are larger and he was big) lifted himself off the ground and started moving our way. His tongue was darting in and out so he probably smelled us. He was heading directly for Diana. As he got closer a ranger stepped in front of Diana and waived the Y end of his stick in front of the lizards face. They must have bad eyesight because he stopped immediately and turned his head a few times before starting forward in exactly the same direction. The guide repeated the stick waving action and again he stopped. I guess this discouraged him because, after looking around again, he turned and walked back the way he came.
Diana did the smart thing and stayed still. As with most animals with poor eyesight they notice things much more when they move. There were 4 monitors at the water hole today. Last time there were about 8-10 but they were spread out for the most part so the pictures will be much the same.
We got back to the park headquarters where the locals had set up a little market. I got a small, but well executed, wooden dragon last trip so I didn't do any shopping. Diana looked at the stands but didn't buy anything either.
The rangers and our guide seemed very pleased to receive a small tip. I don't know if people usually tip them but I had developed a smile and nod relationship with and wanted to show my appreciation.
We got good seats on the tender for the ride to the ship. Very breezy by the doors. The forward seats can get a little hot and stuffy. Back on the ship for a well-earned lunch and shower.
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