The Komodo Islands - Home of the Great Komodo Dragon

The Komodo Islands' greatest charm - for now - is its relative isolation.  To reach it, one has to fly to Bali, and then board one of five daily propeller flights to Labuan Bajo, a small sleepy town on the island of Flores.  From there, the only way to the Komodo Islands is to charter a boat, which will require three hours of sailing time to reach the main islands.  

The isolation means that there are no tourist hoards, no shops lining beaches, no one pestering you over a holiday souvenir. Man has not yet been able to destroy what nature has bestowed to this little jewel of a place - pristine waters, the warm crisp air devoid of any pollution, and the islands with limited human structures. Mornings are surprisingly cool with the temperature dropping below 20 degrees.  

But things are changing.  The Indonesian government has targeted the Komodo Islands as a major tourist destination. Two years ago, a successful campaign was launched to get the Komodo Islands voted on the net as one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Ten years ago, Labuan Bajo used to have only two flights per week. Today, it has five a day. A new airport will grace Labuan Bajo soon. Hotels are sprouting and the tourism business is replacing traditional agriculture as the mainstay.  Indonesia has a patchy record of being able to balance development with the natural environment and we can only hope it will do better this time.

But the draw of the islands is understandable.  Apart from its stunning natural beauty, the Komodo Islands are the last natural bastion for the world's largest carnivorous lizard, the Komodo Dragon.  The Dragon, which is a giant lizard, is large. An average adult male will be about 2.5m in length and weigh about 85 kg.  It has no natural predators.  With its large size, sharp teeth, venomous saliva, a super keen sense of smell - it can smell a bleeding prey 9 km away - and lightning fast reflexes, every other animal is its prey.  Like most carnivorous reptiles, it feeds infrequently, and is able to eat up to 80% of its body weight in one feeding and then not eat for weeks. Nevertheless, its other senses are bad. Its range of hearing is small. Earlier scientists actually thought it was deaf.  Its eyesight is poor at night and is based on movement. Keeping still in front of a Komodo Dragon makes you invisible, at least by sight. The lizards have existed in its present form for at least over a million years if not three million. Such a length of time suggest that natural selection had earmarked this species to survive - until now.  

As awesome as the Dragons are in the wild, it is nothing against man and the taming of the environment.  The Dragons used to live in a wider area across Australia and Indonesia, but the population dwindled as its natural prey disappeared because of human development and they themselves were hunted by man. Today, the Komodo dragon is an endangered species with only 4000-5000 in the wild, but with only 350 odd breeding females. The Dragons only live on four islands today in the Komodo Islands chain - Gili Motang, Gili Dasami, Rinca and Komodo.  Its isolationism allowed for a stable ecosystem to form. A population of Dragons continues to exist in the main island of Flores, a population which is unprotected and anticipated to decline.  

As much as I loved the waters of the islands - and we did spend time swimming and snorkling - I relished most the treks in the national park on Pulau Rinca and Pulau Komodo. I could have waited hours to see the Dragon in the wild.  There is danger for attacks on humans by Dragons are recorded every year. Listening to the stories from the rangers, their encounters with the Dragons is an adventure in itself.  All rangers carry a long pole, but it is really experience that tells them where the Dragons gather.  There sense of danger makes the walk like a journey into Jurassic Park.  

As if this is not enough, the Komodo Islands also has another rarity.  It is home to one of the world's seven "Pink Beaches".  I had assumed this was only a name given to draw tourists.  But once on the beach I rubbed my eyes several times, and took minutes just looking at the sand.  The sand was pink. It turns out that the pink colour is caused by a mixture of white sand with red coral fragment, shells and the calcium carbonate of marine invertebrates called Foraminifera, microscopic amoeba that have red body shells. It is truly unbelievable.  

The beauty of the islands and the company of my work colleagues made this the best adventure trip I have had for a long while.