We left the bay of Labuan Bajo the following morning for a two-hour boat ride to the island of Rinca, which is in the Komodo National Park. We had a greater chance of seeing the Komodo dragons on this island, rather than its neighbor, Komodo Island.
The boat crew were Melanesian from the island of Flores and tended to be small in stature and had a more Aboriginal appearance than the Indonesians we have met so far.
Here we are, Must Ado About Us and the Dragons!
These guys are big, the young are 2-3 feet in length, the adults are 9-10 feet. They are the largest monitor lizard in the world, found only on these two islands but were originally seen but no longer found in Australia. They are not prehistoric; they are carnivores and eat their own; they eat water buffalo, boar and other wild animals on the island. Not only do they kill their prey with their powerful jaws but the bacteria they carry in their mouth will slowly kill over a period of weeks.
