The Last of the Komodo Dragons

There are only two places where you can still see the Komodo Dragons in the wild and that is Rinca Island and Komodo Island. However, at the end of 2019 both these islands will be closing to the public as their environment is being destroyed by tourism as well as poaching. So we were extremely lucky to get to see these amazing lizards in the wild before you no longer can. In order to get there you need to take a boat. Rather then just buying a ticket and going with a group I thought it would be more fun to charter a private boat, captain, crew, and cook, and spend a couple of days on it. So this morning we flew from Ubud to Labuan Bajo to set sail.

Flying near this volcano that was coughing up some ash.

We arrived in Labuan Bajo and first picked up some provisions for living on a boat for the next two days. Which really means we just bought some beer and wine.

We then boarded our dinghy to take us to our boat.

That's our girl over there and I was glad to see that she looks pretty sea worthy.

I just hope we would fair better then these guys.

This boat would be another highlight of the trip. We each had our own cabin.

There was a nice table in the back where we would enjoy our meals.

The wheel house and the captain's bed.

The engine looked good. Well, at least to my eyes it looked good.

We had a bathroom shower combination. The hose in the middle was our hand held shower so pretty much everything got wet when you took a shower. You quickly learn that it is best to leave your towel outside when showering.

Up top was a nice sun deck and lounge area.

We caught some rays as we headed towards Rinca Island.

Searching for the dragons is much like searching for the gorillas in Uganda in that you only get one chance, if you see them you see them, if you don't you don't. We started hiking and this was not much of a welcoming sight.

The island is big and they could be anywhere.

We were told that this was a Komodo nest but unfortunately no dragons were around.

We were then told this is their poop. I guess it is mostly the bone that they defecate. There is no real way to tell how fresh it is so we were still not sure how far away the dragons might be.

And then we found them.

They are marked by the island in order to tell who is who.

They have flesh slashing claws and a very long tongue.

They also can move pretty fast so it is best to have a good zoom lens.

These guys were snuggle buddies.

You only have a limited amount of time on the island to see the dragons so we were pretty lucky to find them today.



We were really hoping for a kill as their dinner was only a few yards away. But I guess they recently ate as they showed no real interest in this deer.

I tried to get Riley to pet one but this is as close as he would get.

With our time coming to an end we headed out with our dinghy in tow.

This afternoon we would do some snorkeling in nice warm crystal clear water.





Fish everywhere.





Some starfish.

Lots of beautiful coral.

The somewhat mythical Riley fish. But they are not in season so if you catch one you have to throw it back.

The very elusive Phynn walrus.

Back on our boat we enjoyed a nice dinner and sunset, talking about what a great day today was.