FLORES TRAVEL: SEEING THE KOMODO DRAGONS

Komodo Island, in Indonesia, is home to the infamous Komodo dragon - a species of carnivorous lizard that is facing extinction due to a dearth of egg-laying females, poaching, human encroachment, and natural disasters. Komodo Island, a Unesco World Heritage site, has hit the headlines this week as the authorities in Indonesia ‘want to hand the island back to the dragons’. They want to close it to mass tourism, and even expel the inhabitants that have lived amongst them for generations.

There were approximately 176,000 visitors to Komodo National Park last year, and I was one of them. Whilst visiting Flores, me and my friends took a boat trip to Komodo Island and the infamous ‘Pink Beach’ [which gets its name and unique colour from microscopic organisms called Foraminifera that produce a red pigment of the coral reefs].

I hadn’t done my research before visiting Komodo Island, and knowing what I now know about how they kill their prey, I’m not sure why I am smiling as I crouch down beside one. The dragon will kill its prey by catching them and biting down with their serrated teeth. They have venom glands, which are loaded with toxins that lower blood pressure, cause massive bleeding, prevent clotting, and induce shock. Animals that escape the jaws of a Komodo will only feel lucky briefly, as dragons will calmly follow an escapee for miles as the venom takes effect, using their keen sense of smell to hone in on the corpse. Scary stuff!

At present, you can pay for an experienced guide to take you on a walk around the island. They carry a stick [yes, that’s it] with them to fight off any predators, and will help to locate the Komodo Dragons on the island. It was incredible seeing this, almost prehistoric creature, up close. However, I agree that to protect the species, their needs to be better crowd control on the island before mass tourism takes over. The increase in tourism each years means more boats coming to the island, which has already increased ocean pollution [which in turn then threatens the marine life].