Komodo - Here be Dragons


Written By: Elizabeth Silverstein

Beep! Beep! Beep! “Mmmmmuummmmnnnuu.” I groaned as my watch alarm woke me up at 5:30 in the morning. I knew I had to get up to get ready for our early excursion. 'What was the excursion again? Is it really that important?' I sleepily thought, rolling over. Then it came to me. We were going to see the dragons.

I quickly got up and put on the clothes I had placed at the end of by bed the previous night. I then got the camera and imported and deleted all the photos so we had an empty card. Dad then got up and started getting his camera gear ready. We all then ate a quick bowl of cereal and I did a check list in my head; hat- check, camera- check, glasses- check, etc.. We then hopped in the dingy and zoomed off towards the wharf.

I was a little nervous because the Komodo dragons were supposed to be active and walking around early in the morning. “Look!” Dad says, “There are monkeys on the dock!” Sure enough, a few monkeys were on the rail! We cautiously stepped on to the slippery, wooden steps that lead up to the wharf and thankfully the monkeys bounded away because we have known two people who have been bitten! Once dad had the dinghy secured, we walked on the path to the ranger station.


On the way, I said, “Wouldn't it be funny if there was a Komodo dragon on the path?!”

“What would you do if it happened?” Dad asked.

“I would probably walk around it,” I replied confidently, not knowing that I would have to put my answer to the test.

We kept walking until we reached the sign that reminded me of an amusement park with over sized concrete Komodo dragons that were on their hind legs with their front feet up on the top of the sign. That is when dad said words that filled my heart with dread: “There are one, no two dragons on the path up ahead, and one walking along the left of the path!” We all denied it until we saw the 6 foot beasts with our own eyes.

Komodo Dragon laying on path.
Another Komodo Dragon on the path
“So Elizabeth,” Mom challenged,“Are you going to walk around them?”

“No.” I said, ashamed.

Dad tried and succeeded to catch on of the ranger's attention who then started walking to us and hollered, “Come! Come!” Mom called back with a stern, “No! There are dragons on the path!”
To our great surprise the ranger walked right by the biggest Komodo dragon and stopped next to him, not paying it any mind! He then instructed us to walk off the path to the right and pass the lounging dragon. The ranger took our picture next to the largest one! After that, we went to the ranger station and met up with our guide who would take us on the hike.

The guide (I don't quite remember his name) lead us to one of the houses just up the road where the rangers sleep. There were three dragons laying next to it; one male and two females! He told us that the smaller ones were the females and to bigger ones were the males. I took a few pictures and then we started the hike.

At first we walked through a bushy tree forest at a slight angle up, then we reached the 'savanna' as the ranger said called it. The savanna was just sloping hills of knee-high grass with a few holders scattered around: a perfect environment for the five poisonous snakes that live here, including the Javan Spitting Cobra! I stayed close to the guide in that area because it is better to be safe than sorry!

When we got back to the ranger station after two hours, we were all quite disappointed because we didn't see one dragon the whole time! Our disappointment was soon forgotten when we came to the sleeping house that we had visited before. There were now nine sluggish dragons laying there! I got nice and close to one and got some decent pictures! One male tried to move his bulky body but soon lay down again a few feet from where he was before with a long sigh. It was so funny!

Komodos hanging around food hall
Finally we said goodbye to our guide and gave him a tip. We then walked on the path back to the dock (this time with no dragons in our way) and hopped into the dinghy. Once back at the boat, we cleaned up and had something to eat. It was such a cool adventure and we will never ever forget it!

Top of hill during hike to see Komodos

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