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Published: March 1st 2010
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Cruising into the Komodo National Park is visually one of the most beautiful set of tropical islands in all of Indonesia. This is one of Captain Dag’s favorite cruising areas of the world. The Indonesian Archipelago is comprised of over 17,000 islands and has the largest Muslim population of any country. Komodo and Flores Islands are right out of a picture book description of what a tropical island should look like—palm tree covered mountains descending to white sand beaches spilling into azure seas. Who would ever suspect that the largest living lizards call Komodo home. These carnivorous monsters have evolved from dinosaurs over the last 130 million years. Adult dragons weigh in at around 300 lbs and measure 12-15’ in length. They can run at speeds up to 18 mph and are pretty good swimmers also. They are best viewed at a safe distance.
As a World Heritage Site and a national park, Komodo Island is now a preserve protecting the dragons and their sanctuary. Once ashore each group of travelers must be accompanied by trained park rangers who carry long forked sticks to keep the dragons at bay. I did notice that several of the guides also had rifles
slung across their backs as an added layer of protection. We took a one hour jaunt through the forest and came upon six big dragons surrounding a water hole. There was also one quite active juvenile dragon about eight months old scampering around. The animals seem pretty lethargic in the afternoon heat, but I think it is just a ruse as they await their prey. After all they do feed on fleet footed deer and small buffalo—so they must be pretty agile when stalking their lunch. It is fascinating to watch these prehistoric monsters roaming about in their natural environment. The ranger told us about the recent loss of one of the village children who was gobbled up by the Komodo in a matter of seconds. He further told us that the male dragons have three eyes and two penises—which is a pretty darn scary thought! And they do eat their young—that is why the baby dragons spent most of their first few years high up in the safety of the trees.
Most of the local population lives in stilt houses perched out over the calm sea lagoon. Several merchants had set up a small market featuring their homemade
wood crafts and strings of Komodo pearls. Captain Dag told us that the pearls are a very good buy, so I selected a pearl bracelet for very little money as a memento of Komodo Island and it is actually quite stunning.
Bali is our favorite part of Indonesia and it is quite different from the rest of the islands. Firstly it is predominately Hindu rather than Muslim. They are a deeply religious and gentle people who put family first. There is a temple or statue every few hundred feet and offerings to the gods can be found in every doorway, roadway, hillside and beach. In the Balinese culture women play an active role in everyday life.
In previous trips we have visited much of Bali including the artistic mountain town of Ubud with its wood carving shops and batik stores. We like to go to the ancient village of Tenganan where the way of life hasn’t changed in hundreds of years and kids and chickens and water buffalo share the open space of the village compound. This trip we came upon a lovely eco friendly resort called Bloo Lagoon which is perched on a hillside overlooking Padang Bai.
The hotel grows their own fruits and vegetables; they have a recycling sanitation system and generate most of their electricity via solar panels. We watched the gardeners use hand clippers and brooms to trim and clean up the landscape. We met the American owner, who along with his wife are the architects and designers of Bloo Lagoon. Tony has traveled the world since finishing college many years ago. On a trip to Asia fifteen years ago, he fell in love with Bali. That is when he decided to build his dream resort. He has done a good job and we enjoyed our afternoon at this quiet retreat.
Last November we made the trek to Borobudur, the massive Buddhist temple with its 432 Buddha statues which symbolize the path to total enlightenment. The 8th century masterpiece sits among green forests and towering volcanoes in central Java. This trip we opted to travel inland to the Ambarawa Railway station and museum. We took a ride on a steam-powered train through verdant rice fields and bamboo forests. We told Dr Tinkle that the train was three years older than him, having been built in 1907. Like last year, we had a police
escort the entire trip complete with sirens blaring and lights flashing to clear our way through the narrow streets and byways. We were very fortunate with the weather as we had hot, dry conditions. Later that night we heard that just 100 miles to the west of us there was a torrential rainstorm and landslide which resulted in the deaths of many Indonesian farmers.
Another bit of news we received is that a Komodo dragon attacked one of the rangers several days after our visit. The other rangers were able to rescue the man before he was killed but he was quite severely injured. We actually got quite close to that dragon and took a picture. The ranger had told us that lizard always hangs around one of the cabins. We're glad this huge carnivore wasn’t particularly hungry that day!
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Teresa
non-member comment
Thanks
Wonderful - except the lizard. Thanks so much for the gifts they are beautiful. I wore the scarf last week to school and read one of your blogs to the kids. Thanks also for the phone call. My phone didn't even ring. We had a great time - all of the kids and their significant others were here. Thanks again, Teresa