[password] kudzuu1114
[position] 08 39.134S 119 42.792E
[weather]FANTASTIC!
[speed]at anchor
[status]Komodo National Parks encompasses several islands, 5 I think, and Komodo Dragons populate most of them. We've come to Rinca Island, much smaller than Komodo where nearly half, more than 1300, of all the lizards are found. Mersoleil is anchored just 100 meters from the jetty at the ranger station at Loh Buaya. We tied the dinghy to the jetty along with about a dozen local boats who bring tourists from nearby towns to visit the park. Signs on the jetty warned of crocodiles, a macaque played on the jetty and its railings, and even hopped onto one of the boats which excited the crew into shooing him away with the universal back-of-the-hand gesture. We walked, unescorted, from the jetty up a long crushed granite path wondering if we had missed something. Where is the guide? We thought this was dangerous. Should we go back and wait for someone to issue an engraved invitation to enter the dragons' domain? But a five or ten minute stroll delivered us to the ranger station itself, the admissions office where it takes two or three people to sell a ticket, and much discussion seems to ensue with each purchase because the price never seems to be what was expected. We had purchased our tickets yesterday in Labuan Bajo, so our transaction was simple, but still there was the reuest for local tax, 210 Rupiah, which amounts to 21 cents and I was happy to hand it over with a big smile. The cashier deserved the big smile after the grumpy reception he received from the couple before us who had presented tickets for Komodo Island and not Rinca and were convinced they were being unfairly required to pay twice. Silly. Robbie and I was assigned a naturalist guide named Bony whose English was excellent and who has worked at the park for five years, ten days on and ten days off when he goes home to his family on Flore Island. He took us on a 2 hour walking tour of the island whose flora and fauna, except perhaps the largest lizard in the world, reminided us very much of Mexico. He even talked abut the trees being mesquite and ironwood, and mentioned that the forked stick all the rangers carry is from the ironwood tree. Immediately next to the office two eight foot Komodo Dragons were... um.... laying there like slugs on the ground. They move slowly most of the time and seem to require good reason to muster up tyhe energy to go anywhere. Many people are afraid of them, but I don't get it. I mean, I didn't see one jump out at me in ambush and that certainnly might have changed my assessment, but we both had the distinct feeling that the dragons are quite happy to tolerate our presence, pose for photos and if we don't bother them they're not motivated to bother us. Up the track we saw a female on her nest incubating a clutch of eggs, and we treated her with due respect. Our walk included other dragons, too, and a pair of scrub fowl pecking in the forest undergrowth, more monkeys, highly amusing to watch, a few Timor deer and another nest guarded by the female and surrounded by her decoy nests, extra holes dug in the vicinity of the real thing in order to confuse and mislead predators. Komodo dragons are definitely big, and interesting, and dirt-colored, so they're not easy to see in the dry grass or the bare rocky soil. Bony, our gguide, thumped the ground with his stick as he walked along and I asked him about that. No, it's not just play, he's doing it to alert the snakes that someone is coming so they can slither off without confrontation, a grand idea in my book, and whenever he stopped thumping I felt a twinge of concern. The green viper lives on this island, So does the hissing python, which sounds treacherous to us, and one or two other poisonous snakes. It was our pleasure to encounter none of them. After our lovely walk we stopped at the handsome concession pavilion, all the buildings including this one are built up about 4 feet above the ground so the dragons can't enter easily, where we were able to resist the carved dragon statues and tee shirts but not the cold beverages and we sat for a bit watching monkeys playing on the ground and in the trees and a deer cutting the grass around the welcome center. Water buffalo were not in evidence except for the enormous piles of buffalo doo strategically placed here and there on the pathways, nor did we see any wild horses. Returning to the jetty we found at least a dozen local boats rafted together, fanning out on either side of the jetty, all hung from only two berths, a common docking practice throughout Indonesia, Hopping down onto Doggie1, fortunately it had been an easy step up when we arrived at higher tide, we motored back out to Mersoleil, raised the hook and moved about 8 miles to our dive site for tomorrow morning. More about that anon. Komodo dragons, hmmm. Very interesting. But not particularly scary. It's hard to get my head around the fact that this is the wild, this is nature, not a zoo. Yes, we have pictures. But no Internet. Pictures will come later. Biggest impression for me? I love the plants, the trees, the smell of the forest, even the dry smell of an arid environment. I miss the earth and the trees in this life at sea and each time I have a chance to wander on land I'm thrilled.
Bev
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