A courageous journey into the Komodo dragon's den

A courageous journey into the Komodo dragon's den

By Steve Rhodes

KOMODO ISLAND, East Nusa Tenggara (JP): I was sitting in the
dining room of Chez Felix, a pleasant little hotel in the
pleasant little town of Labuhanbajo, on the island of Flores,
East Nusa Tenggara, waiting for Capt. Abdul Achamad to pick me up
and transport me to Komodo and Rincha islands. These are the only
two islands in the world which are the home of Varanus
komodoensis, otherwise known as the Komodo dragon.

Capt. Achamad was the proud owner of the trim, 17-meter
fishing boat Rahmad Jaya and he'd agreed to do the trip for the
princely sum of Rp 350,000 (about $70.00). While I waited I
admired the stunning view of the harbor and read David
Attenborough's book Zoo Quest for a Dragon, an account of his
adventures in 1956 filming and catching dragons for the London
Zoo.

When Attenborough was on Komodo, he and his cameraman spent
several days luring dragons into camera range by hanging a dead
goat from a tree and squatting in a hide inhaling the foul fumes
from the decomposing animal until they managed to get the shots
they wanted.

Up until 1995 this was also the method employed by the park
rangers to entice the creatures within range of the tourists'
camcorders. The dragons would stand up on their back legs and
tear the goat to shreds. While this was a thrilling spectacle and
provided reams of videotape to enthrall friends and relatives
back home, it made the dragons fat and sluggish and dependent on
humans for handouts. So the government decreed that the practice
should cease. Now for the last four years they have gone back to
fending for themselves and dragon spotting is all the more
exciting and better for it.

Despite the ban on feeding, Achamad suggested that we should
"take a present for the dragons". He'd purchased a chicken at the
market which was already ensconced below decks.

After a pleasant three-hour cruise and a leisurely lunch,
(Achamad turned out to be quite a fine cook as well as a capable
captain), we cruised to a halt at the end of the jetty on Rinca
island. The atmosphere was deceptively peaceful.

"Dragon," said Achamad in hushed tones, pointing theatrically
toward a sign bearing the words "Welcome to Komodo National
Park".

Sure enough a monstrous reptile was glaring at us from beneath
the sign. Suddenly he sprang onto the jetty and swaggered
arrogantly toward the boat at quite a brisk and business like
pace. At close to three meters in length and weighing in at
around 80 kilograms, it was a rather daunting sight and, despite
all the reading up I'd done on the dragons, my first encounter
turned out to be nothing like I'd expected.

Clearly it was time for us to pay our admission fee to the
park in the form of the "present" clucking in its cage below
decks. The unfortunate fowl had its legs hastily bound and was
slung over a long bamboo pole which was thrust from the bow of
the boat. The dragon lunged, the chicken squawked and slipped off
the pole, making a futile attempt to escape by throwing itself
into the sea. But to no avail. Dragons can swim like crocodiles.
Within seconds he'd retrieved the sodden bundle of feathers and
it was all over bar the shouts of merriment from the crew.

A quick gulp and he sauntered back up the jetty and collapsed
in the shade of a tree, leaving the way clear for us to enter. We
were told later by one of the rangers that the same lizard, who'd
been named Horatio, had put the fear of god into a boat load of
fishermen only a few weeks earlier.

Apparently they were new to the area and tied their boat up to
the jetty while they laid out their catch on the deck to dry in
the sun. Horatio had timed his attack perfectly, waiting until
the last fish was laid out before charging the boat and making a
flying leap onto the deck. The terrified fishermen fled to the
small cabin where they had no option but to barricade themselves
in and watch helplessly as Horatio polished off their haul and
retired to the shade of his favorite tree to sleep off the
effects off his orgy of self-indulgence.

As a result of his antics he's become something of a local
legend, regarded with a certain amount of affection by some,
hated by others, but certainly held in great respect by one and
all.

Another resident of the island who commands respect is
24-year-old Merry Mba'u, the first woman to make it as a park
ranger in Indonesia.

She's been on the job now for three months after successfully
completing a six-month course in wildlife management at a
university in Jakarta. Merry loves her work, especially the
hours, 10 days work followed by 10 days off at her home in
Labuanbajo.

Her male counterparts have to work 20 days in order to get 10
days off.

However all the rangers are totally committed to their work
and have a deep concern for the welfare of the dragons and the
area as a whole, including the marine national park which
surrounds the islands.

Getting Merry to pose for a photo with one of her charges, a
giant of a dragon called Goliath, was a load of laughs. Goliath
was enjoying a quiet nap in the shade and was most reluctant to
come out into the sunlight for the frivolous purpose of taking
photos. He was clearly getting a trifle testy as the other
rangers tried to entice him out with gentle prods with their
forked sticks, their only method of dragon control. Finally his
patience snapped and he charged out of the shadows, his long
yellow tongue flickering ominously. Everyone backed off very
smartly, including myself, nearly tripping over another dragon
who'd come up to see what all the fuss was about.

But Merry stood her ground and we got a couple of quite good
shots. "Be careful," one of the rangers warned me with a chuckle,
"he likes to bite the tourist."

Caution

All joking aside, though, one does need to be careful. After
all, any animal that can bring down a water buffalo and who
regularly dines on wild pigs needs to be treated with a certain
amount of caution.

So far about eight people have unwittingly become meals for
the dragons. The first foreign visitor to have the dubious honor
of being eaten was an elderly Swiss photographer and bird
watcher, Baron Rudolf Von Reding Biberegg, who wandered off in
pursuit of a rare bird and became separated from his group.
By the time his friends realized he was missing, it was too late.
All that was left to ship back to Switzerland were his reading
glasses and camera. Every so often a child disappears from the
Muslim fishing village on the eastern side of the island
but this is treated philosophically as just another of life's
hazards on Komodo island.

But basically, visiting the dragons is just a matter of using
common sense. As long as you don't antagonize them, they leave
you alone and no one is allowed to wander about the island
unescorted. Your chances of being killed by a car on the streets
of Jakarta are far higher than being taken by a dragon on Komodo
island. Besides, there are two other creatures far more dangerous
than the dragons. The first is the dreaded golden orb spider, as
big as your hand, whose bite can kill you in an hour if you
blunder into their web unless, as our guide put it, "you have a
strong heart."

Then there are the souvenir sellers at the park entrance who
set upon you with a ferocity unmatched by any attacking dragon,
brandishing wooden replicas of the giant lizards in a huge
variety of shapes, sizes and poses.

This is your big chance to take home a Komodo dragon. After
days of trying, David Attenborough finally managed to catch one
in a cage trap he and his team constructed out of trees and vines
but, at the last minute, the Indonesian authorities forbade its
export.

Attenborough was philosophical about the whole thing, saying:
"In one way I was not sorry to leave the dragon behind. He would,
I am sure, have been happy and healthy in the large heated
enclosures of London Zoo's Reptile House, but he could never have
appeared to anyone else as he did to us that day on Komodo,
majestic and magnificent in his own forest."

It's certainly the only way to see them and well worth the
rigors and perils of a trip to Komodo Island National Park.