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...two travellers in search of the world's wildlife
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26 February 2011

Dragon islands

Indonesia, Photos

Flores was a strong contrast to Bali. It is still a very backwater island, the few hotels are unusual oddities in a local landscape whereas on Bali tourism is the currency. We came to see Komodo dragons and we weren’t disappointed.

We were travelling to the prehistoric landscapes of the Komodo Islands in search of dragons
Our base was Labuan Bajo on Flores, an Indonesian backwater surrounded by coral seas
This was monsoon season, but the sky remained blue and fluffy white for us
The narrow beach and mangrove river near our hotel were worth exploring
Kingfishers are some of my favourite birds - this collared kingfisher maybe followed us from Langkawi
To see the dragons we had to explore by boat, though - across to Rinca island in two hours
We passed simple settlements on the coastline of Flores
The seas held local fishing boats of all shapes and sizes
Once ashore we almost immediately beheld an enormous Komodo dragon
In fact we beheld a dozen, lazing outside the kitchen block at the Ranger station
No photos before we\'ve had our breakfast please
Dissatisfied, we set off on foot across the island. We found wild wallowing water buffalo, sometimes prey to the dragons
We also found the megapode bird, which nests in dragon dens. Maybe eating all that worm spaghetti makes them taste bad?
Out on the high savannah grasslands we finally found our lone dragon - or possibly he found us. We got away though
The rest of our time on Flores was spent relaxing and snorkelling, Bididari and Kelor islands
And so farewell to Flores, home to birds and fishes and dragonsssss
Oh no, not more underwater photos! Oh yes, and surely you can\'t be bored of clownfish yet
I particularly liked the texture of the corals off Flores - all fuzzy and velvety like exotic home furnishings
The lion fish got a big wow from me, though I wasn\'t quick enough to see the sea snake Maureen spotted
This fish looks like he should belong on a piece of expensive Japanese porcelain

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