192. ENTER THE DRAGON

If I ever have a lizard for a pet, he shall be named Bruce

My playground for the week - the islands are washed by the waters of the Savu and Flores Seas and the Indian Ocean.

In January 2020 parts of Komodo will close for 'restoration' work - the giant monitors may be viewed on Padar and Rinca Islands - if nothing changes...

This region is the creme de la creme of all my explorations - the piece de resistance that's been on top of my bucket list for years...the result of being such a big fan of Nat Geo...I did not expect all the other wonderful sights that greeted me - it isn't just the giant monitors...and it's come about just when the Park will close for a year early in 2020

Trick photography - we are a metre behind this brute - the park ranger is super at positioning the camera. The brute is too sluggish to whip his tail at us...

Too close for comfort - it's the closest thing to a real dinosaur I can ever hope to experience. They are categorised as monitor lizards but don't live near water, they're as good as being a descendent of some dinosaur family like the crocodiles are

Enter the Dragon

Chasing the dragon!!

Lounge Lizards!

They find the shady spots - are a sluggish lot, sleep most of the day, are active only to hunt, after a meal, they sleep it off for days or weeks...the surroundings are almost the same colour as them - grey and dull...they are well camouflaged among fallen trees and shrubs...

Their habitat

These dead palms provide a home for newborn monitors. They instinctively crawl into them and live in it for 3 years living on small creatures, insects - the Komodo lizards eat their young...at birth they are the size of the gecko below...

Several thousands exist in the parks on several islands, I doubt they are on the endangered list as they have no predators on these islands, unless it's men who trade them as exotic pets. They are not hunted for food by the locals, who are well aware the tourist trade is their lifeline - in any case, they don't eat monitors...

There's lots of geckos behind that wood panel - the hotel keeps them as insect exterminators! The spots on its body makes it rather cute!

This sap could be amber

Interesting shadows - would make a nice painting...

...for I am the Tree of Life...

Fly-by...as the sun goes down, these Sunda flying foxes come out to party - there were zillions of them. So much natural life in these parts...so much natural beauty in their landscapes...one does not need to travel 10 hours or more for similar landscapes which may not even be this spectacular...

Padar Island is another jaw-dropping sight...

The deer on Padar have adapted - they drink salty sea water

Got wet, hang out to dry...

More to see under the sea...

At this picnic stop, the beach was this lovely pink shade. Broken red coral bits mixed with beach sand create this spectacle. Natural red corals are actually quite rare but it appears to be commonplace here...

There were colourless 'wormy' creatures living in them

close-up of red coral specks

What the tides washed up - all trash were carried onto the boat - the boat crew would clean up the beach should they see any trash washed ashore but it was truly clean waters. 

close-up

Back on land, a stop was made at the Cancar spiderweb rice fields. The farmers over many decades have carved out the plots according to the lie of the land, forming this web pattern, which promotes communal interaction as well. I imagined the fields when it's golden yellow. I've seen many rice terraces in which early farmers, chiefly indigenous tribes, carved the hillsides into terraces, some date back thousands of years. What can I say except repeat the observation that creativity is our very core, not something that's learnt in schools...

Another stop enroute was this large, old bamboo grove. Growing up, there was one near my home. It's trunks knock against each other in the wind, it's leaves and long slender stems rustle, creating a musical rattling sound, at times, groaning and creaking. On road trips in Java and Myanmar I came across many groves, would  commune with them just as I did here. Throughout Asia, they are treated with love for they are extremely versatile. Above, I came across this bamboo strip floor in a residence of an aboriginal. It's smooth and cool to walk on. In a house building project in Cambodia, I hammered into place a bamboo strip floor, In a VietCong camp in Vietnam, I saw a tiger trap with sharpened bamboo spikes used in their fight against their invaders...

This used to be an arrestable offence - brewing moonshine in one's backyard. Here it's by the roadside, so perhaps it's now acceptable as it's a tourist attraction! The brew is from a palm boiled in that quaint primitive stove, the distilled liquid travels along those bamboo 'pipes' to collect in those jerry cans - the arak burned my throat! My takeaway was the palm sugar which tasted pure...

Such home manufacturing centers are used to produce narcotic pills - narco police have found them in jungle clearings or in isolated, quiet villages...

Medicinal herbs - no creepy crawlies

Low hanging fruits!

Labuan Bajo is the port city where I returned to Bali on a 1 hour flight, worn out but contented with all I saw and experienced

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The huge landmass of Indonesia is underrated as a travel destination. Most folks only head to Bali and to a lesser extent, Borobudur, in recent years, Lombok - just as they know only the Taj Mahal in India and Kashmir to a lesser extent.

I find this land fascinating. It's raw and primeval, almost angry. There's fire, smoke, steam, there's boiling liquids and fiery magma, there's sulphuric fumes and acidic calderas. The fumes sting my eyes and nostrils, made me cough. Smoke escapes from numerous vents on their mountainsides. Once, there was a tremor, the lamp in my hotel room rattled, I braced myself for the worse...I've not yet come across in any hotel, any emergency drills/action to take in case of serious tremors, I suppose run for your life and head out into the open - take the stairs - but it could be an earthquake, not a fire...! What if there's liquefaction or a tsunami - in the case of Indonesia's natural disasters, it's not possible to have drills nor know what to prepare for except to prepare to meet thy Maker...

Due to its geographical position over tectonic plates that are constantly shifting, grating against each other, the land changes - lands become submerged into the seas, new ones are thrown up from below the seas, the upheavals can be tremendous. What takes place regularly in Indonesia is like Creation at the beginning of Time...

Best of all, there have 'dinosaurs' on their isolated islands - those islands became isolated due to Earth's movements no doubt...

My pictures in these 2 posts (192 and 191) show the raw beauty of the land...