Here be dragons -- the real ones

On maps from the olden times, we have seen the phrase here be dragons. Today was the day for me to see the actual dragons.

After Padar Island, we started towards pink beach but there were almost hundred other boats headed there already.

The guide changed our course and took us towards Komodo Island first, hoping to escape the crowds.

From the pier, you can see the colorful shops. After that you have to wait around until the guide pays the entrance fees to the tourist office. The fee was about $35 if you pay cash to the tour guide but higher if you pay yourself.

Our group got assigned a Ranger/Naturalist. It was a short trek through the Komodo village.

We followed him up a slight uphill and came across the very first Komodo dragon that I ever laid my eyes on.

Male dragons grow up to about 3 meters and live to 50 years while the female ones live up to 40 years and grow up to 2.5 meters.

The dragons are sometimes lounging under a berry tree and this time of the year, there were a lot of colorful, ripe berries on the ground.

The guide sets up a perimeter of about 3 meters by using his stick to mark on the ground and visitors are required to stay behind the line.

The dragons fight amongst themselves for dominance. Komodo dragons feed on goats, buffalos, or wild pigs. They disable their prey by spraying their saliva on them, and follow them for a few hours, awaiting them to die. Dragon saliva is supposed to have 50 types of toxins in it.

There is another island nearby named Rinca where the dragons are also found.

The female dragon guards the eggs very ferociously, but as the baby dragons are hatched, they run up trees and hide from the mother dragon because the mother dragon is seen to have eaten its own babies. It’s a blessing for the babies that the mother cannot climb the trees.

The Komodo island is the biggest in this national park and has about 1700 dragons. We saw several lounging around, barely moving. We walked through a riverbed and saw another large dragon and a couple female dragons kind of facing each other.

Suddenly one on them started moving and it was time to take its video. It had its split tongue out. They don't have a good eyesight but do have a sharp sense of smell.

There are many stalls selling souvenirs made by local villagers which include different sizes of dragons carved out of hibiscus wood.

Next, the boat went on a small stop to swim/snorkel at the pink beach. The dark red coral mixed with the white sand makes the beach look pink.

After the pink beach, we had a snorkeling trip to see Manta Rays, and we saw one huge one at about 60 feet depth and it seemed surreal.

The tour was coming to an end. Two hours of boat ride bought us back to the starting point of the Labuan Bajo harbor.

The view at the sunset was excellent and there were several kiosks displaying fresh seafood caught that day. Besides fish, they sold clams, octopus, crabs, lobsters, oysters. The kiosk owners quote a price for the seafood people choose to eat and bargaining is allowed.

Once you order the seafood, it gets cooked on a charcoal grill and is served fresh. A delicious, well-priced,1.5kg crab was my choice for the day. It was a delicious way to end the Komodo islands tour!