2004-11-02 - 2:01 p.m.
Komodo
Our boat ride was, as I said, yesterday, just wonderful - slow, calm, dreamy - and COOL!
Komodo was not cool! 42 degrees upon arrival, 45 degrees when we left. I am not good in temperatures above 40.
At any rate, we arrived at the dock where a sign read "Komodo National Park." Komodo and the neighbouring island of Rinca are now a world heritage site and so are protected from changes of any sort. However, in my experience, world heritage sites are usually kept up quite well. Not so, Komodo and Rinca. The welcoming sign is quite nice, as is the one which lets you know that if you hold a valid entry ticket and happen to lose your life on the island you are automatically life-insured by some worldwide life insurance scheme. All else is pretty much a shambles.
When I stepped off the boat onto the small dock the first thing that caught my eye was a Komodo - the real thing! It was laying down under a mangrove tree and just enjoying the shade (almost wanted to lay down beside him.)
Wayan and I, however, put on our hats and sunglasses and I applied a ton of sunscreen before we walked the 1 km. trail to the ranger station, not meeting any komodos or crocodiles on our way.
The ranger station consisted of a 'restaurant' which served water, coca-cola, and salted crackers - period! There was a separate building where you bought a ticket and acquired a guide. Mikil had told me not to take more than about 30,000 Rp. with me to the island because that would be all I would need. But, it was the same old story, I needed to pay for bringing a camera (nowhere on the wall sign of fees did it mention this fee! I needed to pay boat parking fees (this was not on the fee sign either.) And there were a few other little taxes to be added.) But when you come to the ends of the earth to see something rare and exotic you are not going to turn around and go home at this point are you? After letting the fee collector know politely that I knew he was ripping me off and I was helpless to do anything about it, I paid the 77,000 Rp. I was charged (only about $10 Cdn.) and acquired a congenial, smiling guide named, Urbanso.
Urbanso's job would be to protect us from harm using a wooden forked stick. He would walk ahead of us on our 'trek.'
We stocked up on water at the restaurant. A group of Dutch 'trekkers' were returning from their trek. They looked beet red and almost at the point of collapse. They asked me if I intended to do the whole trek. I said, "Yes." not knowing what the 'whole trek' even was. They looked at each other - I knew exactly what they were thinking - "Sure you are........" I find Dutch people often rude. They were the only other visitors to the island besides Wayan and I.
Before setting off on the 'trek' I wanted to use the washroom because the washroom on the boat had been less than O.K. and I had decided to wait for better facilities - ha!
The washroom was a separate outhouse kind of building with a cold-water mandi (cement tub for water) a dipper, and an Asian toilet that had seen way better days. I know the routine, I have done it many times before. You dipper water out of the mandi and clean your bottom with your left hand - it is the custom! This is not a toilet-paper world. However, there was no water in the mandi and the tap had no spigot. Instead, a washbasin filled with about two inches of the greenest, dirtiest, insect-filled water, with about 2 inches of scum on the surface, sat on the edge of the mandi. I decided there was no way I could use water that revolting. I opened the door a crack, shouted for Wayan, who came running and I asked him to buy me one more bottle of water from the restaurant. He did so quickly, and I was saved from the predicament I was in. (A bonus here - the water was cold!)
After that little start to the day, Urbanso informed us that the trek would be 5-6 km. up a dry river bed to the source of water where most of the animals on the island collected to find what water was left for them by the end of the dry season. He did not ask me if I intended to do the 'whole trek.' Thank you, Urbanso.
We set off in high hopes of finding the rare komodo in its natural environment.
The komodos are not fed at the ranger station anymore and have not been since 1994. The old custom was to hang a live goat by its hind legs off of a bamboo post and then watch the komodos devour it. Nowadays, however, the komodos have to hunt for themselves - they were getting too dependent on the food provided for them.
We didn't have too long to wait to spot our second giant lizard - he was about ten feet in front of us - lumbering along the trail - fortunately going in the same direction as us. They have such an odd gait, swinging their tails with every step. Their heads are massive and their jaws hinge so they can swallow the whole hind end of a deer in a single bite. I wanted to run ahead of Urbanso so I could take a movie clip of him. Urbanso stopped me with his stick. Obviously this works as well with tourists as it does komodos.
Other animals live on the islands too - these are animals the komodos hunt. We saw wild boar, wild water buffalos, dozens of monkeys, wild horses, and a sort of bird that resembles quail. We saw all of them in abundance. No disappointments. Every once in awhile we'd hear a loud crash and we'd look up on the river banks above us and see a komodo who'd lost his footing on the steep slope and was crashing to the bottom of the canyon.
It was hot, hot, hot. I finished off my six liters of water quickly. We had to scramble over large river boulders for a good part of the 'trek.' I drank two litres of Wayan's water.
We finally arrived at the source of the river where there was so very little water left for the animals. Water buffalo and komodos together were gathered at a few small pools of muddy water trying to compete for the small amount of water left. Apparently in a week or so the buffalos will start to die from lack of water and the komodos will finish them off. (The island is strewn with buffalo skulls. The komodo scat is pure white from eating the rest of the skeleton.)
I sat for the longest time under a tree just watching all of these creatures. It was a truly amazing sight and I felt like Wayan in the airplane ' I must be dreaming, I am dreaming, right? I will remember this sight all of my days. It was so exotic and wonderful.
Fortunately we did not run into any of the cobra snakes that inhabit the island (the poison from them kills a human in five minutes.)
We climbed the river bank and proceeded back towards the ranger station by way of a different route - a grassy savannah. Again, wild horses, boars, komodos occupied this area together.
We finished our 'trek' and I had been almost too absorbed in the wonder of it all to be too hot. But back at the ranger station I realized I had badly overheated. I drank two more litres of cold water (too quickly, and I was immediately seized with cramps, but the water stayed down.) I poured two litres more over my head. It was a 12 litre day - must be a record for me.
After bidding goodbye to Urbanso, complete with photo taking, Wayan and I headed back to the boat. I collapsed on the artificial turf deck and just waited until the boat picked up a little speed and I cooled off. We ate our lunchbox meal and headed back for Labhuanbajo, planning to stop for snorkelling at one of the islands on the way back.
After a couple of hours we stopped at Rinca, took a small walk around there and headed on. Closer to Labhuanbajo we stopped at an island with a white-sand beach and no mangrove swamp (so no saltwater crocodiles) and I was able to snorkle for awhile. The ocean here is pure turquoise and the fish were pretty incredible. Such vivid yellows and reds and blues. I have to admit I was a little apprehensive because our boat captain told me to watch for manta rays and sharks - he said they were uncommon but did appear from time to time. Great! Wayan, of course, can't swim and won't go near the water. That was O.K. The underwater world was fascinating to me and I just loved it.
We arrived back at the Labhuanbajo dock at 7:00 p.m. and were met by Mikil and a driver - thank God, I was exhausted. He whisked us back to Ecolodge and I went to my room to shower and change for dinner. I laid down just for a minute - I didn't wake for 12 hours.
Will write the next installment tomorrow if time, or will continue once I get home. This is my last day in Ubud and I leave Bali at 4:20 tomorrow afternoon.
Lovingly,
Karen
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