By Bob Van Leer

  (KOMODO ISLAND, Indonesia, Wed. Jan. 9, 2002) - Today we went for a long hike in the woods to see the fabled Komodo dragon in his lair.
We anchored in the island harbor after an overnight run from Bali.

  There is no good dock even for our small tender boats, so we took the tenders to near shore, then transferred into zodiacs and ran up on the beach. Betty took a pass on this one.

  On the beach we were formed into groups of 20 led by a ranger. The island was established as a national park in 1980 and is also a World Heritage site. There are only about 1500 residents of the island, we were told. The park itself is several islands. We started out on the trail in heat near 90 degrees. The humidity is high and quickly we are drenched.

  The round trip tour the ranger said is four kilometers, about 2.5 miles, but it seemed longer in the heat. We traveled single file and the ranger told us not to leave the group (we could become dragon food). We were also told not to go swimming because Komodos can handle themselves well in the water. 

  We heard birds and saw two geckos peering out of a crack in a tree, but no other wildlife. By the time we got into the jungle it was 1:00 p.m., not the prime time for wildlife viewing. Numerous well-used game trails crossed the main trail.

  We could tell we were approaching the dragon's lair by the smell. Rangers had hung a deer carcass in a tree as bait for the dragons.

  There were seven Komodos on the ground under the deer and a couple on the tree holding the bait.

  Komodos are the world's largest lizard. There is speculation that the Chinese concept of dragons came from these lizards.

  The Komodos we saw were from about four to eight feet in length. We were told the largest on record was 10 feet two inches long and the largest weight recorded was 365 pounds.
We were able to approach within about 20 feet before the rangers got too nervous. These were well-fed and sluggish in the mid-day heat. But we were told they can move lightning-quick when needed. One dragon did get up and walk a bit for us. We were told there are about 3,300 dragons in the park on a couple of islands. The lizards exist no where else in the world.

  The hike back was as long and hot as getting there, but it was well worth it to see the Komodo dragon in his lair. A published figure I saw is that about 18,000 people per year visit the park, less than a third of the number of persons who are taken up the Rogue by tour boats annually.

  Our stay in Komodo was brief and at 4:30 p.m. we set sail for Darwin, Australia.