 |
The next morning 'the others' meaning us independent tourists, were the first group to leave the ship by way of Zodiacs for transport to a jetty. The Americans were to be transported in the ship tender to the jetty half an hour later. This pleased us greatly as it meant that we would probably get a better view of the dragons.
|
On the island we were met by three rangers and then told to follow their leader single file along the trail. One ranger located himself in the middle of the group and the third rangerr kept rear guard. Each guard carried a long forked pole with which he was expected to ward off angry dragons.
 |
The rangers had no trouble at all in getting us to keep quiet - the silence only being broken by an occasional nervous snicker throughout the walk up to the safe area. The vegetation in some areas was indeed quite thick and one could not help but wonder if there might be a stray dragon waiting in ambush. I kept my camera ready just in case.
 |
The head of the line of people had only just passed through the gate into the compound when the first dragon came in for a feed. These dragons are really quite spectacular for they grow up to three meters and can weigh up to 150 kg. I took some close up photographs of one really large monster as it waddled past our compound. Unfortunately these photos did not turn out so well as the dragon would not keep still (perhaps this brave man's hands were shaking a bit too).
 |
The early practice of tying up a live deer as bait to lure the dragons in has been banned and now the dragons must fend for themselves entirely. So in this instance the only likely feed was us. We wasted no time in getting into the compound. The rangers stayed on the outside and one of them walked out into the scrub where he beat the long grass with a bough to attract other dragons and succeeded. I thought that we were in for a real drama for as he drew two dragons in towards the compound another one came up behind him and he had to jump to one side. They are capable of speeds of up to twelve kilometres per hour but are not very agile so if one jumps to one side when being pursued, they cannot switch direction quickly enough (hopefully).
 |
I offered very vocal English Lady, who had earlier described me as being another one of 'those uncouth chaps from down under' , a million dollars if she would go out with the dragons. I really wanted to get some good photographs. She had great delight in telling everyone about this for the next day or so. She figured that I expected that I would never have to pay up. Too true!
 |
A sign in the compound told us that a two meter, 50 kg, dragon
can eat a 40 kg wild deer or wild pig in one meal. My English
Lady would have posed no problems at all for a 100 kg dragon.
They have admirable traits. For example the young dragons have
to live in the trees for up to five years as otherwise the larger
dragons will eat them. They have no way of cleaning their teeth
and so apart from having a foul breath, a bite from one of them
is almost certain to result in death by poisoning even if they
don't succeed with an immediate kill. Their digestive system is
very efficient. Only hair and calcium remain after digestion,
hence their 'dung' mounds are actually very small, white piles.
They have no problems at all in bringing down a horse or a buffalo
and have been know to devour an occasional human. Their favourite
trick is to hide in the bush along game trails waiting for prey.
I kept this in mind on the way back to the ship via another route
(taken so that the Americans would not have to encounter us on
their way up to the compound).
We had a special treat on the way back for we encountered not
just one, but three large dragons, all travelling in the opposite
direction. Some of the tourists were tempted to take off in the
same direction, but our guards made us stand still and the dragons
simply waddled off into the bush. They probably saw our very close
formation as being one very large, threatening animal. Along the
trail we saw several deer. They took absolutely no notice of us
at all and did not seem at all worried about what might be lurking
in the thick bush around them.
