komodo island

Komodo National Park lies in the Wallacea Region of Indonesia, identified by WWF and Conservation International as a global conservation priority area.  The Park is located between the islands of Sumbawa and Flores at the border of the Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) and Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTP) provinces. It includes three major islands, Komodo, Rinca and Padar, and numerous smaller islands together totaling 603 km2 of land. The islands of Komodo and Rinca, their jagged hills carpeted with savannah and fringed with mangroves, are home to a few hundred fishermen and the legendary Komodo dragon .

Komodo Island

The world’s largest lizard, known locally as ora, it can reach over 3m in length and weigh up to 100kg. It hunts alone and feeds on animals as large as deer and buffalo, both of which are found here. The males also try to eat the females’ eggs, inevitably sparking a vicious battle of the sexes.These isolated islands are surrounded by some of the most tempestuous waters in Indonesia.

The convergence of warm and cold water currents breeds nutritious thermal climes, rip tides and whirlpools that attract large schools of pelagics, from dolphins and sharks to manta rays and blue whales. The coral here is pristine. Add it all up and you have some ofthe best diving in the world, which is why live aboards based in Bali and Lombok ply these waters between April and September when the crossing is smooth and the diving at its finest.

VISITING KOMODO NATIONAL PARK

This national park (www.komodonationalpark.org), a Unesco World Heritage site, encompasses komodo, Rinca, several neighbouring islands, and their incredibly rich marine ecosystem. A three-day visitor permit includes your park entrance fee (40,000Rp adult or child) and the conservation fee (US$20 adult/US$10 child), collected on arrival by rangers.
A short, guided dragon-spotting trek is included with your entrance fee. For a longer, hour-long trek on Rinca you’ll pay an additional 50,000Rp. On Komodo, where the hiking is superb, you can pay from 50,000Rp to 250,000Rp for guided treks that range from flat 3km strolls to steep 10km hikes up and over peaks and into deep valleys. Arrange your trek upon registration in Komodo.

All guides speak some English and they are very knowledgeable about the islands’ flora and fauna. A camera permit is another 25,000Rp. Komodo is one of the driest corners of Nusa Tenggara, and heavy rains are not common. However, the seas are calmest between April and September.

KOMODO DRAGONS

Komodo Dragons

There were rumours of these awesome creatures long before their existence was confirmed in the West . Fishers and pearl divers working in the area had brought back tales of ferocious lizards with enormous claws, fearsome teeth and forked yellow tongues. One theory holds that the Chinese dragon is based on the Komodo lizard. The first Dutch expedition to the island was in 1910 , two of the dragons were shot and their skins taken to Java, resulting in the first published description. The Komodo dragon is actually a monitor lizard. All monitors have some things in common: the head is tapered, the ear openings are visible, the neck is long and slender, the eyes have eyelids and round pupils, and the jaws are powerful. But the dragons also have massive bodies, powerful legs (each with five-clawed toes) and long, thick tails (which function as rudders underwater, but can also be used for grasping or as a potent weapon).

The body is covered in small, non-overlapping scales; some may be spiny, others raised and bony.The dragons’ legs allow them to sprint short distances, lifting their tails as they run. When threatened, they’ll take refuge in their normal resting places – holes, trees (for the smaller ones) or water. They are dangerous if driven into a corner and will then attack even a much larger opponent. Komodo dragons often rise up on their hind legs just before attacking, and the tail can deliver well-aimed blows that will knock down a weaker adversary. Their best weapons are their sharp teeth and dagger-sharp claws, which can inflict severe wounds.

Hunt and eat.

Komodo dragons have a very keen sense of smell. All monitors feed on other animals – small ones on insects, larger ones on frogs and birds, and the ora (the local name for the dragon) on deer, wild pig and water buffalo. Ora can expand their jaws considerably, enabling them to swallow prey as large as a goat. To tackle even bigger prey, they ambush their victim, bite it and wait for the potent bacteria their mouths contain to take effect – waiting around for up to two weeks for a buffalo to die – before tucking in. Mature dragons are also cannibalistic, and small ora live the first five years of their lives up in trees for safety, not moving to ground level until they are 1m in length. Of all the monitors, the ora lay the largest eggs – around 90mm long and weighing around 200g.

The female lays 15 to 30 eggs at a time and often buries them in the wall of a dry river. She then protects her cache for three months from predators – including male dragons. The incubation period is nine months. Komodo dragons are not relics of the dinosaur age; they’re remarkably versatile, hardy modernlizards, if not exactly sensitive and New Age. Why they exist only on and around Komodo is a mystery, as is why males outnumber females by a ratio of 3.4 to one. Around 1300 ora live onKomodo, perhaps 1100 on Rinca and a small number (around 50) on the west coast of Flores. Today the ora are a protected species.

Read more: http://javabackpacker.blogspot.com/2011/09/komodo-island-big-lizards-behind-beauty.html#ixzz2t0J3q9Ob