23.02.2023 - Komodo Island

As we woke up, we were just entering the bay of Komodo. All around us, we saw beautiful green mountains - a wonderful sight that we could also enjoy during breakfast on the terrace.

Shortly before 09:00 am, we went ashore with the tender where we were greeted by rangers. The island can only be visited with rangers, it would be too dangerous to move around here alone.

On the island, there are about 1,700 Komodo dragons living in the wild, whose English name Komodo Dragon sounds even more prehistoric.

These up to 3 m long lizards only exist here on this island and the two neighboring islands. Besides the dragons, there are also many deer living here, which serve as food for the dragons.

A quite large specimen suddenly walked right through the visitors, but was immediately pushed back by the rangers and then retreated to the beach.

At a watering hole, where the deer like to gather to drink, the dragons wait for prey. They sometimes only eat once a month. They often do not immediately devour their prey, but wait for it to die naturally after a few days due to the infections transmitted during the bite.

Even the small dragons are not safe. They are often eaten by the larger ones. That's why they spend the first years of their 50-60 year long lives in the trees, where the grown specimens cannot reach them.

It was a very impressive excursion and we were lucky with the weather. Although it was very cloudy and extremely humid, it did not rain as long as we were out and about.

Only when we were back on board, there was a heavy tropical rain again.