Komodo Island.....interesting but....

Komodo island was a mix of emotions that I'm still trying to process. It seemed an odd combination of legit nature preserve, zoo and circus side show. My experience doesn't coincide with the "hype" which has me wondering what might have been orchestrated vs nature in action.

But let me start at the beginning... which is actually a few days ago when we received a letter from Princess that they had to collect our passports 2 days in advance so the Indonesian authorities could review them. We then received documents we had to fill out explaining the purpose of our visit, where we'd be staying and making all sorts of declarations. That might make sense when flying into Indonesia for a 2 week vacation, but not when a cruise ship is stopping at a relatively deserted island for 6 hrs. Furthermore, this is the only port of the entire trip that required us to be on an excursion to disembark. You could chalk it up to govt inefficiency, but it was so orchestrated, so controlled. How could something be so (well) orchestrated and inefficient at the same time? I always say when something doesn't make sense, you don't have all the facts.

Later we attended a presentation by the travel consultant on board about komodo Island. She couldn't stress enough about staying with your guide, staying on the designated path and other cautionary warnings about how venomous and dangerous these dragons are. So much so, my wife decided not to get off the ship. I decided not to let any of this hype impact my decision to continue with the tour.

This morning, we took tenders to the island and were quickly put in groups and provided a repeat of the warnings etc etc. We had a guide in front and a guide in back to "protect" us.

Almost immediately we saw a baby dragon and shortly thereafter a very large one, both of whom sauntered past us less than 3-4 feet away.

I was a bit on edge to be candid. A few minutes later we came to an opening in the forest where 2 more dragons were resting. They never moved. We had a long photo opportunity as did other groups on tour. The atmosphere was jovial though we had been warned about making a lot of noise.

None of the guides seemed concerned at any point during our excursion. In fact, here's a pic of one guide with the stick they carry to protect us from these carnivorous and ferocious beasts.

The rest of our 2hr, 2 mile safari was void of any more dragons. So we saw just the 4 well-behaved ones near the start of the hike. We did see a few wild pigs/boars, and I found the information on the predatory nature of the dragons interesting. But in the end, it came across more tourist attraction than serious nature habitat safari.

That said, an earlier group said they saw a dragon eat a deer. Here's a pic of the dragon finishing his dinner. Those are the deer's hind hooves sticking out of his mouth. I saw the corresponding video as well where he swallowed the deer whole like snakes devour their prey. But we didnt see how the deer was captured by the dragon. Deer are incredibly fast. The dragons are relatively slow and they don't hide well on land, so my gut says it may have been staged. BUT it was fascinating watching him ingest the deer.

So, all in all, glad I went but no need to return. If you go, don't be scared. It was also a much needed land day after so many consecutive sea days.

I was back on board after what was about 3 hrs from start to finish. But not before I walked thru their tent village of local vendors selling wooden dragon carvings, shirts and jewelry. In a weird twist of events, the vendors were VERY aggressive and I was more scared of them than the dragons. 😉 .

The afternoon and evening were quiet. After dinner, my wife and I snuggled up in the room to watch an old movie. Surprisingly, there are a lot of viewing options on the television. So it was a nice change of pace from show and bars.

Next port is Singapore in 3 days. Till then....