We
set out for Rinca and our much-anticipated dragon encounter. We anchored
mid-afternoon and walked to the ranger station with a guide (you most
definitely need to have a guide carrying a dragon stick) to see about booking a
dragon trek the following morning. We were told that they are active in the
morning and then find a place to snooze in the shade when it gets hot later in
the day (the dragons, not the rangers! :) ). Still, I couldn't wait another day
before seeing a dragon, so the guide took us to see what I now call the
"kitchen dragons". These are the ones that smell the food in the
kitchen building for the rangers and hang out below the building in the shade.
The rangers say they don't feed them, so you think that eventually they would
get the idea and give up on the kitchen, but there they were.
The
following day at 7am we made our way to the ranger station and started our long
trek (only 5km). On the way to the ranger station we saw our first dragon, and
then many more followed. We saw one walking through the compound, flicking his
tongue along the way. They have only a fair sense of smell through their noses, but excellent
sense of smell using their tongues. Their noses are particularly sensitive however, so
the sticks the rangers carry are forked at the end. If a dragon starts getting
too close, they poke it in the nose and apparently that diverts them. We walked
by the dragon nest where one female was sitting. Dragons mate in July and
August then lay eggs in September. It takes 8 - 9 months for a baby dragon to
hatch out of its egg, and then the hatchlings go immediately up into the trees.
The adult dragons, and even the parents, will eat the baby dragons... how's
that for bad parenting? MomCat, I have an even greater appreciation for having you rather than a Komodo dragon as my mother... and you are a lot prettier. :)
We
continued along the way and saw other dragons walking around. Then we headed
back to the riverbed and saw one of the wild water buffalo in a water pool. Later on
in the trek we saw another one, likely injured, sitting in a mud pool and we
watched as a dragon slid over to the area and perched on the side of the mud
hole above the buffalo... waiting for his opportunity to strike (we didn't need to hang around for that particular event). Dragon bites are filled
with 65 types of bacteria and so the large animals once bitten will become
infected and/or bleed to death. Then it's feast for the dragons. The rest of the hike was uneventful, but wonderfully enjoyable if a tad hot.
Back
on board EQ, we decided not to spend another night in the small anchorage with
all the other dragon-fanciers and headed out towards the west coast of Rinca
and Komodo Island. We were against the current all the way, which slowed us to just about a standstill. The following day we headed to the Komodo ranger station late because of the strong currents, so we didn't see any dragons along the hike... just a few "kitchen dragons" at the end.
