In a country where environmental crimes still go largely unchecked, Indonesia’s Komodo National Park provides proof that conservation and ecotourism efforts really can make a difference, but there’s always more to be done. By Ashlee Betteridge.

Male Komodo Dragons can grow to weigh over 70 kilograms. (Image: Ashlee Betteridge)

Flying into Labuanbajo airport on Indonesia’s Flores Island, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you were landing on a makeshift farm runway for crop dusters in some outback Australian town.

Nearing the end of the dry season, the most appropriate words to describe the landscape are dusty and odd. Palm trees jutting out of parched shrubs are the only indicator that you are still in the tropics, as is the sweat trickling down one’s back. Compared with other greener parts of Indonesia, such as Sumatra and Java, this is a different world.

To add to the strangeness, the reason most tourists land in the town is to go searching for blood-thirsty dragons.

It may sound like the premise for a bad science fiction-fantasy fusion novel, but Komodo National Park and Flores are the only places in the world where you can see Komodo Dragons in their natural habitat.

The world’s largest lizard, with adult males measuring up to three meters long and weighing in at 70 kilograms on average, the carnivorous dragons are known for their razor sharp teeth, septic saliva and strong claws. While usually feasting on wild boar and other animals, they have fatally attacked humans on several occasions, adding to their mystique.

Labuanbajo is the starting point for most tours of the national park, which covers 1817 square kilometers of land and sea. The best way to see the park, which is also a haven for diving and snorkelling in waters that house unspoiled tropical reefs, is to get on a boat.

There are many organized boat tours, fancy boat tours and big group backpacker boat tours available. My friend and I decided that the best option for us was to show up at the port in town and organise a three day trip on a little fishing boat with no electricity, bathing facilities or English-speakers. The captain and skipper would cook all our meals on a little gas stove, we would read by lantern-light and sleep on the deck of the boat on thin mattresses and practice our Indonesian in between stopping off at the dragon islands, snorkelling and looking for signs of manta rays or whale sharks in the marine park.

And so the Komodo adventure had begun.

The dragons are found on Rinca and Komodo islands. Both islands are home to a similar number of dragons, with approximately 1,700 on Komodo and 1,300 on Rinca, but because Rinca is much smaller in area, chances of spotting the lizards are greater. Mornings are the best time to spot the cold-blooded creatures because they come out to sun themselves.

We decided to designate one day of our trip as “dragon day”, heading to Rinca in the morning and Komodo in the afternoon.

Entry to the national park is $15US, which includes a conservation fee and a one hour trek on each of the two islands, as well as the right to stay in the park area for three days. Longer treks can be arranged for an additional cost, and we extended our time on Rinca to see as many dragons and as much scenery as possible.

Rinca Island in Indonesia’s Komodo National Park. (Image: Ashlee Betteridge)

At each of the islands, you have to trek with a guide, who carries a long stick with a forked end to protect against any dragon attack. But let’s be frank. If a dragon decided he was hungry, our 50 kilogram, early-20s, scrawny guide and his magic Komodo stick were not going to do much except become a crunchy hors d’oeuvre.

But while I may have doubted the dragon wrestling abilities of our guides, their knowledge of the flora and fauna of the park was impressive. It was clear that the park rangers had been well trained, and our guide told us that they were regularly refreshed with the latest knowledge and research.

We were fortunate to see many dragons on Rinca Island, including females guarding their nests. The landscape is also worth trekking and there are ample chances to spot some of the other animals on the island, such as megapodes.

On Komodo Island, the tracks were much more tourist-friendly, but because we arrived in the afternoon, we only saw dragons near the rangers’ huts where they had gathered because they could smell food. Wild deer were abundant on Komodo though, and our guide made a special effort to point out some of the unique plants on the island, telling us about some of their uses in local traditional culture.

The islands seemed well-managed and I left feeling pleased to see such strong efforts being made to conserve and educate the public about the Komodo Dragon — as well as being rather happy that the dragons weren’t hungry.

But during our next day spent boating, snorkelling and swimming, we saw some of the challenges that still lie ahead in conserving Komodo National Park while providing for the expanding tourism industry in the area.

Moorings were scarce for the number of tourist boats in the park during the high season. Boat crews tried to avoid using their anchors, which damage the delicate coral reefs in the area, by tying several small boats together to share a mooring. But if a large boat came along, the mooring had to be abandoned by the smaller boats. My friend and I flinched as the metal weights were tossed overboard, and I imagined them smashing parts of the spectacular reefs we had been gushing about all day.

Patrolling the huge park without adequate numbers of rangers is also a big challenge. We did see one patrol boat out during our three days in the park, but that is hardly enough to protect against the threats of wildlife or resources smuggling – problems that plague many areas of Indonesia.

But, thankfully park rangers seem to have an ally in the tourism boat operators. Our captain, who has been taking tourists out to see the park for twenty years, said that he knew people came to Komodo to see the natural environment and that his livelihood depended on keeping the park clean and beautiful.

He told us how proud the local people were to show tourists the area and quickly listed off all the countries where his visitors had come from.

Perhaps best summing up his philosophy, the rubbish basket strapped to the side of our boat was painted with the phrase “kalau masih bersih, masih indah”, meaning if it’s still clean, it’s still beautiful.

Ashlee Betteridge is a UTS Journalism graduate currently living and working in Jakarta, Indonesia.