11-7 (Tuesday)

We had been sleeping in but this morning were up at 6 a.m. for hair washing and final packing before leaving overnight to see the Komodo Dragons. We stored four of our suitcases at the hotel since wed be staying there two more nights when we got back. We planned to just take our “Chinese” bags stuffed full of things.

We hauled the biggest and heaviest bag (mine) downstairs on our way to breakfast. I had been having toast, fruit and tea every morning. This morning they were out of bread so I had to have fried rice. I didn’t eat that much of it because it wasn’t appealing for breakfast.

The driver arrived to take us to the airport. He was a really nice guy and told us that George Bush was going to be coming to Jakarta on the 20th. When you travel you have no idea of what is going on in the world. We think he must be on his way to Vietnam for a APEC conference they are hosting.

When we were almost at the airport I got so nauseated I thought I was going to have to ask the driver to pull over. Even though I drank a lot of water I think it was the malaria pill on an almost empty stomach that made me sick I left Joyce with my bags and ran in the bathroom. I wet a cloth and put it on my face and neck. I was able to hold everything down. Isn’t this interesting? After we went through security I bought a package of Ritz Crackers and drank a Sprite. I felt better almost instantly so I’m sure it was the pill.

Our plane was scheduled to leave at 10:15 but since everyone was there we took off early. Why wait around?

The islands here are very close together. It was interesting to see the contrast. Some were lush and green while others looked brown and parched. Some had volcanoes and other appeared flat.

Our guide, Luis, picked us up at the airport in Komodo. The driver took us directly to the harbor where we boarded a private “wooden” boat for our 2 ½ hour ride to Rinca Island. It was such a smooth, cool and relaxing ride that we kept falling asleep. The only thing that could have made it better was if they had had hammocks for us.

We had our guide, the captain, and a crew of two. The crew cooked lunch for us: fish heads and rice (yummy), noodles, cucumbers, green cooked leaves and pineapple for dessert. When we got off the boat there were three sleeping dragons beside the walkway. We walked to the Rangers Station where we had to register. I looked back through many of the pages and only saw one other person from the US. The Rangers told us the order of countries that send the most visitors: 1st Dutch, Germans, French and Brits.

The guides work 10 days on the island and 10 days back home. The only thing they are armed with is a long wooden stick with a V at the end. If attacked they poke the dragon in the face with it and he goes away. We elected to take the long (2 hour) trek. Before leaving we saw several dragons under the cook hut. The ranger said the smell of food draws them but they are NOT fed by the workers. One was a huge male who was sticking his long snake like tongue in and out. He was next to a smaller female. There were several young ones running about.

Along the hike we saw many more. As in Africa it was easy for the ranger to see them but hard for us. They blend right into the rocks and grass. We saw nests that the females use to bury their eggs. July and August are mating season so that’s when most of the tourists come. The males are constantly fighting with each other. They stand up on their hind legs to fight. The female lays around 30 eggs then hangs around her nest for the next 8 months. When they begin to hatch they crawl up in the trees for protection from other animals and their mothers. They hang out in trees (coming to the ground at times) until they are a couple of years old.

On the trek we saw something like a guinea hen, monkeys and deer. We heard a VERY loud, strange noise. It sounded like a loudspeaker. We were expecting an announcement like, “Run for your lives.” But it turned out to be the sound of a deer. It was so loud and strange. We also saw water buffalo (all males) down in what little water they could find. The females come down to drink and then leave because of the dragons. There was one large male dragon under the tree near the buffalo watering hole.

We walked through several river beds that didn’t have a drop of water. Everyone over here is talking about how hot it is and how the rainy season should have started in September but so far there is NO rain. You can certainly see the effects of global warming here. The farmers can’t plant because the ground is dry as a bone. The animals can’t drink because there is no water.

Even though we walked through mostly shady areas it was so hot I finished a large bottle of drinking water. My face was beat red. We actually ended up walking an hour and a half. Before going back to the boat we sat down to rest for a minute then decided to walk back to the cook hut for a final look at the dragons. The other rangers were playing ball when we heard them call out and saw that they were all looking at something on the ground. We went over to investigate. It was a snake, a viper, the most deadly snake in Indonesia. Its coloring was so good that I couldn’t see it even though it was right in front of me. Our ranger had to touch it with his dragon stick before I could see it. When we got back to the boat the same three dragons were still there. The welcoming and good-bye committee!

Luis, our guide and I sat up on the front of the boat and talked for over an hour. All of a sudden I was doubled over with stomach problems. Somehow I made it to the back of the boat and to the toi-let.

I was back talking to Joyce when the crew arrived with dinner. It was the exact same menu that we had for lunch. Thank goodness Luis knew I had been sick so I begged out of eating ANY dinner.

We arrived back in Labuanbajo around 8:30. We went directly to the hotel. We kept telling Luis we had to have two beds in the room. Well . . . there were three! We chose the two cleanest to sleep on. There was no top sheet, just something that was supposed to be a blanket but looked like a large towel. We decided to sleep in our silk sleeping bags. There was an A/C in the room that only began cooling by morning when it was time to get up. The bathroom . . . well . . . it was similar to the Honey Hotel in Myanmar only worse. It had a hand held shower head on the wall and a western toi-let but it smelled terrible. We had to keep the door closed. I think the drain was backing up.

After washing with baby wipes we were ready for a good sleep. Then we heard a puppy yapping. It went on so long I know its throat was sore. I went to find out where it was. It was a couple doors down from our room. The mother dog was nursing about 6 puppies and one was barricaded off from the rest by some boxes. I went and got one of the hotel workers. His solution was to put all the puppies behind the barricade. I thought that would at least keep the one from yapping but NO! The poor thing was probably hungry. I gave up, put in my ear plugs and went to bed.