INDONESIA - DAY 2 IN KOMODO NATIONAL PARK: LOH LIANG PARK ON KOMODO ISLAND

 July 12, 2023

During the night, when the tide movements were right (I think around 11:00 PM), the captain drove the boat a couple of hours to another bay. When we got up, we had a not very appetizing breakfast :

But really, it is amazing that they can cook at all in a kitchen this small.

After breakfast we took the small boat to shore to Loh Liang National Park on Komodo Island.

We pulled up to a very long dock . . .

. . . and disembarked.

Vincent spotted our first dragon of the day right away. It was walking on the sand, and no one else had seen it. We were maybe the third group to go ashore that morning, so not a lot of people had arrived yet.

That meant we got to have it all to ourselves for a while, and our naturalist took plenty of photos for us.

This video is one of my favorites of the trip. Vincent propped up my phone on the trail and started filming, then left it there and got out of the way. The dragon plodded steadily towards it, actually walking right over it!

One of these photos will be on our Christmas card this year--not that it has anything to do with Christmas.

The dragon, with some encouragement from Vincent and the naturalist, stayed on the dirt path for quite a while. 

This is how you get a "Komodo kiss."

Similar stances, right?

Komodo dragons really have a cowboy swagger.

We finally quit following this particular lizard and let the other groups have the photo ops. 

We saw a wild boar (aka dragon food):

. . . . and a dragon nest, which looked to us like a tall, wide mound of earth, something kids would want to climb up and jump off of.  That would definitely not be a good idea for obvious reasons.

We hiked up a steep hill to a viewpoint, conveniently marked for English-speaking travelers:

We had a great view of the Indian Ocean and some shadowy, mountainous islands in the distance.

We looked back at the island we were on. It could almost be the Western United States.

The naturalist pointed out a sizable pile of dragon poop, and then started scanning the area more carefully.

Sure enough, not too far away lay a very, very large male dragon. The naturalist said that judging by his size, he was about 25 years old. They live 50-60 years. While we watched, it opened and closed its eyes but never moved.

He was using a rock as a pillow.

He looked like he had a full tummy, but we didn't want to get too close.

The naturalist had my phone, and I didn't realize he had taken this video until I got home and reviewed my photos. It does a good job of showing our relative location to the dragon. We aren't as close as the photos make it look.

On our way down from the viewpoint, we saw two fantastic yellow snails clipped to tree branches . . .

. . . and one of the scariest spiders I have ever seen. it had a body the size of my thumb and was overall larger than my hand with all my fingers splayed. CREEPY.

Unfortunately, Bob began suffering from another bout of body-drenching sweat.

We came across another type of komodo dragon nest--a cavernous opening under a tree. We stayed away.

This pretty deer will likely one day be dragon food. 😢

Whoa! What's this????!

Dragon romance!

I'm not sure if that poor female underneath was trying to get away from the guy on her back, or if she was looking for a more romantic spot, but I was impressed by her strength as she dragged him along. 

Of course, we had to do the obligatory series of four dozen photos. (This one is NOT going on our Christmas card.)

The last dragon we saw before leaving the island had a crippled front left foot. Look how it is bent. I'm not sure if the upper leg is swollen or muscular, but it is huge.

Farewell, Komodo Island! What an incredible experience!

Back on the boat, there were snacks waiting for us.

At some point it got a little windy, and the wind ripped the protective tarp/roof off the supports. While there was some excited chattering in Indonesian, the crew seemed to go with the flow. Nothing ruffled their feathers.

A few more photos of the boat--the engine room and the small boat we used for shore excursions being towed behind us.

Back in port.

This was a very fun crew. We give them an A+ rating.

Farewell, Ayla and our Komodo adventure!