Indonesia trying to promote Komodo Island as the next Bali

Wednesday, March 13, 2019

About an hour east of Bali by plane is one of the destinations the Indonesian government is pushing hard. Labuan Bajo is the gateway to Komodo National Park, a cluster of islands about an hour away by boat.

Indonesia’s Komodo Island, a UNESCO heritage site famous for its giant lizards, is among the world’s best dive sites. An increase in tourism is prompting concern for the island’s ecosystem.

The park sits in between the Pacific Ocean to the north and the Indian Ocean to the south, and the largest island is the one that gives the park its name. And, yes, there be dragons – Komodo dragons.

They are carnivores, and they eat any kind of meat. The only place to see them in the wild in the world is here, on a handful of islands in the park. The world’s largest living lizards can grow up to 10 feet long and weigh more than 150 pounds.

And, says park ranger Agus, who, like many Indonesians, goes by just one name, they have a healthy appetite. They eat monkey, deer, wild pig, water buffaloes – anything, even their own kind – the young ones – the young Komodo.

The ones lounging around the ranger station on Komodo island looked like slightly bored refugees from “Jurassic Park,” but don’t be fooled, says another ranger, Ramli. They can move incredibly fast, and their mouths, he says, are swimming with nasty bacteria and venom.

But it’s not just the dragons that are drawing increasing numbers of visitors to Komodo. More and more divers and snorkelers are coming to Komodo National Park as well, on live-aboard boats or on day trips from Labuan Bajo and elsewhere.

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