I hope you all had a WANDERful Christmas!

My first ever travel blog here in Steemit is about the Komodo dragons and the beautiful Flores islands of Indonesia. I was thinking of writing backwards from my most recent trips, but I was inspired by @koskl to share my komodo dragon experience. You can check out his blog and photos of the Komodo dragons as well.

I got interested in the Komodo dragons while I was watching an animal documentary which featured the top deadliest animals. Not that I have a death wish but wouldn’t it be such a thrill to be near those creatures and manage to come out alive! But of course, you have to follow animal park site rules – more on that later. Among those listed, the easiest one for me to access (and I mean visa-free and affordable flights from the Philippines) would be the Komodo Dragons in Indonesia.

Kanawa Island

I arranged this trip at Kanawa Island where I also stayed. They have an office at the main island of Labuan Bajo, this is also the pick up point of guests. I stayed at a nipa hut in front of the beach at a really cheap price. With the view, this makes it better than a 5-star hotel. It is a small island with no fresh water source and fresh water is delivered daily. Guests should be responsible in the use of water.

The island is about 2 hours by boat ride from the main island of Labuan Bajo so take as much food and water as you need. The one and only restaurant of the island serves good Indonesian meal so you will not starve.

Staying on this tiny island even if you don’t go for the Komodo tour is still worthwhile. They have the best sunset and dusk. The island is surrounded by a rich reef and there are baby black tip sharks by the jetty. One day, I was just snorkeling around the shallow waters and I found 2 baby black tip sharks! Awesome! I didn’t have an underwater camera that time so sorry I can only share that experience with my words. But I do have a dusk photo here. ;)

Okay enough of that, where are the Komodo dragons?

There are 3 major islands where komodo dragons stay and thank goodness, they’re not on Kanawa island! These are the Komodo, Rinca and Padar islands. For this trip, I only saw Komodo and Rinca islands – I guess 2 days searching for Komodo dragons is enough and gives me lesser probability of a Komodo dragon attack (lol). These islands are far from each other so I took these on separate days.

Rinca Island

The Komodo dragon day tour is a trekking tour so make sure you are wearing proper shoes or sandals. The hills are quite flat and it is an easy trek and the goal of this tour is to spot the Komodo dragons in their natural environment. Every tourist must join a group which is accompanied by 2 rangers, one as the leader and one as the tail of the group. And always stay with your group! This is very important. They recounted a story several years ago of a tourist that was killed by a komodo dragon because he broke away from his group.

But they don’t look scary…

Komodo dragons look like harmless monitor lizards but don’t be fooled, they’re extremely more dangerous. They don't move a lot but they're extremely fast once they turn into predator mode. Their sense of smell is really strong. We have been warned not to go if we have a big wound that would have blood and for females don’t go if you have your period! Their sense of smell is very strong that they all came to see us at the headquarters because the rangers were cooking lunch. That was really a welcome for us!

Komodo Island

Ironically, we spotted lesser Komodo dragons on this island named after these reptiles. But this may be due to plain luck as they may be just hiding or devouring some animal somewhere. The most significant creature that we saw is a baby Komodo dragon. Our ranger guide explains that we’re lucky to see a baby Komodo because it's uncommon for them to be seen and would usually hide on top of trees. They’re rare because the older Komodo dragons kill and eat them and even their own moms kill them! There's no such thing as mommy instinct for them! It's so rare that even our ranger guide was so excited to take a photo of it.

Towards the end of our trip, we found this huge Komodo dragon under a tree. They're really good at camouflaging and this is their way of waiting unnoticed for their prey. There are deers, pigs and other animals on these islands which would soon become their food.

Here’s a summary of the park safety rules as I recall them, in no particular order:

• Each tour starts with a briefing where they discuss all rules so make sure to make a mental note and follow the rules!
• Always stay within your group and don’t wander away even if you believe that you are super independent – that doesn’t apply here
• Make sure you do not have open wound or any with blood. The Komodo dragons have a very strong sense of smell and can smell from far away. And to the women, that includes your period, so schedule your trip accordingly. It sucks to be a girl if you get your period unexpectedly.
• Stay in the open area and don’t stand beside the stilt headquarter houses as they can be hiding underneath these houses. Their color makes a good camouflage so always be mindful of your surroundings.
• Lastly, just enjoy. The rules sound scary but by following them and not being stupid, you will feel like it’s just a walk in the park with predators who wouldn’t think of you as their prey!

So that’s it? You went to a far away island just to see large lizards?

No! After these Komodo tours, there’s also a snorkeling/ freediving sidetrip. Too bad that I have just recently learned freediving! They have one of the best underwater garden I have ever seen. I only snorkeled and it was enough to see the several underwater species which I can't even name, I can’t imagine what more I can see if I went deeper. They say that half the tourist there go for the Komodo dragons, while half of the go for the diving. I will definitely go back to do some freediving or scuba (or why not both).

@derletwins as promised I'm tagging you in this post. Hope you somehow feel that I have taken you to Southeast Asia.

I hope you enjoy my first ever travel blog here in Steemit. I also welcome (constructive) critics for my writing. I am not an experienced blogger, I welcome questions, suggestions and comments. And just comment anything you want to say.

Photos taken using Sony NEX-C3D

UPDATE: Want to see more photos? Check out my Wander Snaps post where you'll find 25 photos related to this blog.