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| He eyes us off |
The surviving Dragon hunters on the pier
Komodo Island is the home of the fierce looking Komodo
dragon. Fully grown they can be 4 metres
in length and up to 200 kg. For the
first 3 years of their life after hatching out of the egg, they live in the
trees on the island eating birds and insects.
From then on, they become land animals, hunting in packs and producing a
toxin that sends their prey into shock before they kill it.
We went ashore by tender on a very hot morning and were met
by guides carrying stout sticks to protect us from marauding dragons. People who had open wounds were warned not to
come as dragons can smell blood from kilometres away.
We walked along a path through the forest and on the way we
saw several deer and a distant dragon.
After about an hour and a half we arrived in a clearing where several
dragons of varying sizes were resting.
The largest was over 3 metres long.
We took lots of photos and the guides kept a wary eye on the dragons.
No-one was attacked today but there was a recent case when a
fisherman and his son were eaten. On a previous visit by our cruise ship, a
lady fell and cut her leg. Several
dragons smelt the blood and appeared on the scene within minutes.
Komodo Island is now a national park with only a very small
population living in 2 villages.
This was a fascinating place to visit! Very hot but worth
it!!
4 comments:
Hi Gail & Rob
Glad you weren't eaten by a Dragon.
Do you know I have to prove I am not a robot to comment
Hi Anonymous,
Glad to hear from you but is your identity a secret?
Wow, and I thought the goannas down at Conjola that steal the snags off the barbie were scarey! Glad you survived unscathed and I think I'll quietly cross Komodo off my bucket list and stick to photos...
They do not look very friendly! Was it scary?
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