Komodo Dragons do not celebrate Mother's Day, because mother Komodos eat their own babies. As soon as they hatch, the 30cm long baby Komodos climb into trees to avoid their mothers. Their favourite places to hide are palm trees without tops, where they hide in holes and eat insects and other critters. The baby Komodos only leave the palm trees when they are 5 or 6 years of age and big and fast enough to escape mummy. This is also when they start to develop the nasty buccal bacteria so critical to their way of hunting - see next paragraph.
Eating their own kids is just one of the reasons why these enormous lizards have very little in common with us humans. Komodos are simply too remorseless. When they hunt, they lie in wait completely still until some complacent animal (or human) gets too close. When the victim is within striking distance, the Komodo Dragon lurches forward and sinks its 60 teeth into the victim's flesh, releasing not only anti-coagulant, but also infecting the wound with a horrible cocktail of more than five dozen nasty bacteria. The bacteria kill the victim, but not right away. An Timor Rusa Deer can take a week to die; a water buffalo up to a month. Komodos can smell decay and death up to five kilometres away, so when the pongs of passing begin Komodos from a huge area congregate on the victim and proceed to consume, sometimes while the victim is still alive.
One of the guides on Rinca Island - an island in the Komodo National Park - took seven months to fully recover from a Komodo attack. These animals are not for kids.
Above: Komodo Dragons on Komodo Island and Rinca Island. The Rinca Island guide carries a big stick for good reason; many of his colleagues have been attacked.
While Komodo Island is by far the best known place to see Komodo Dragons, it is not the best place to see them. If you plan a visit to Komodo National Park then I suggest you go to Rinca Island as well. Komodo Island may have a larger total number of Dragons (the island is also larger), but Komodo Island is too commercialised and the Dragons have become used to people.
By contrast, Rinca has none of the commercial hype and far fewer visitors. As a result, the Rinca Dragons are much wilder. Rinca also has a really cool government museum facility with information not just on the Dragons, but also about the other animals and birds in the park. The museum complex is connected to an newly-built elevated board-walk, which traverses a river delta. So, you get great views of the Dragons and other game from the boardwalk without disturbing the natural environment. It should also be pointed out that Rinca is more beautiful than Komodo Island, with some great view points on the hills immediately above the museum facility.
Above: Rinca Island anchorage from the hill above the government museum facility
Komodo National Park is located in the Flores Sea, a stunningly beautiful archipelago of countless fertile volcanic islands that are covered in grass with mangrove swaps along the edges and low forests in the valleys. You travel to the park by boat from Labuan Bajo, a port on the Western side of the Island of Flores in East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. Make sure you take a three-night cruise, so you have time see both Komodo and Rinca Islands as well as the opportunity to do some snorkeling or scuba dive on some of the most amazing coral reefs I have seen in decades. Be mindful of the tides, though. This place really rips! And go before the place drowns in plastic.
Final tidbit: It gets incredibly hot in the summer months from June to August, when most visitors come to Komodo National Park. During this time, everything is dusty and scorched to a grey-brown colour due to the heat. Sure, you can perhaps more easily find the Komodo Dragons, but every moment will be hell due to the heat. Try visit in early to mid-April instead, which is right at the end of rainy season. You will still see tons of Komodo Dragons, but it is not nearly as hot and you get to see the islands in the Flores Sea at their prettiest green.
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