As we worked our way westward through Indonesia we found ourselves approaching Komodo National Park, home of the Komodo Dragons.

I was feeling pretty skeptical about this. If you had asked me at age 10 to name the greatest mall, planet, comedian, and lizard, I would have answered: West Edmonton, Planet Pluto, Bill Cosby and the Komodo Dragon. So… Let’s get this over with.

We were pretty exhausted when we dropped our anchor in Komodo Bay after a 48 hour passage from Rote Island. We were in the process of setting the anchor, with the engine still running, when three local boats attached themselves to Mandolyn. Two on one side, one on the other. They all began competing for our attention, trying to sell the exact same mass produced souvenir items. It was pretty overwhelming in our tired state. “Buy one from each of us!” one salesman suggested helpfully. It took forever to get them to leave, and the last guy looked furious with us as he departed empty handed.

My skepticism was feeling vindicated. Komodo schmomodo.

The next morning we arrived at the small village on Komodo Island at 6:30am to take a walking tour to see the dragons. We met our guide Yanto on the docks, along with his helper, both armed with long forked sticks.

Yanto was a great guy and a wealth of information. He’d been born right there on Komodo Island, in the village of 1500 people. There is a very similar population of dragons on the island. Yanto described the relationship between the village and the dragons as brother and sister, each supporting the other.

Yanto explained that the largest predator of young Komodo Dragons are old Komodo Dragons. To help out the youngsters the villagers will offer safe haven to young dragons who ocassionally climb up onto house roofs.

Right behind the village is a path where we saw our first dragons. They were mostly lying around lethargically. The dragons can eat up to eighty percent of their body weight, once per month, so they spend a lot of their lives lying around digesting.

One of these beasts was positioned such that Yanto suggested he take a family photo of us. It feels like a Komodo Dragon walked into a Sears photo studio and requested the “generic tourist family” background canvas. Looking good big guy!

Our path eventually took us into a wooded area, where our guides seemed a bit more on alert. The forest beasts were less predictable than the food coma celebrities behind the village. We encountered our largest dragon yet walking out of a dry riverbed. We left him behind us as we continued down the path, but there was shortly a bit of excitement.

The large dragon was pursuing us down the path. Our guides became quite insistent that we move quickly to get out of the way. “Hurry, hurry,” Yanto urged, always staying between us and the beast. One of the other guides didn’t speak much english, but was able to encourage us with: “Panic! Panic!”

Let’s pause. I’m a forty-six years old human. I can’t get involved in a dragon chase, like some hobbit. That would be ridiculous. But our guides seemed genuinely concerned. A bite or scratch from these things causes serious infection. So we fled. Chased by an aggressive and dangerous dragon.

The ornery dragon pursued us all the way into the gift area at the end of the tour. What marketing! Here our guides mounted a defence with the long forked sticks they carry.

The thwarted beast veered off towards a nearby dragon pair, male and female, at which point the guides became excited again. “Boom Boom Time!” they exclaimed, gesturing that we should come watch.

Boom boom time? What could this be? Was our pursuer heading for the male or the female? Which of natures rituals is about to be imprinted in our children’s minds forever?

The ornery beast headed for the other male as the female slunk away. There was to be a battle.

The dragons stared each other down for a long time, bodies tense and issuing the occasional hiss. Someone made the fisrt move and they both exploded into a grapple, rising up onto their back feet as they came together. After a few quick manoeuvres they fell back down, with one dragon ending up on top. This was the winner, Yanto explained. The winner had earned the right to just lie there on top for 5 minutes or so, administering some kind of weird full body back-rub to the defeated. They repeated this process three times.

We were told they fight for female attention, but with mating season still 9 months away, they’re sort of wasting their time.

This was a pretty exciting end to the tour. My skepticism was unwarranted. It’s definitely a touristy activity, but our experience was really interesting. Our guide was knowledgable and respectful of the animals and their conservation. The Komodo remains the greatest lizard in my view.

Some photos…