We awoke this morning to another glorious Indonesian sunrise and enjoyed a relaxing breakfast in the outdoor café before preparing ourselves for our morning activities. Full of anticipation, we made the short Zodiac transfer to Rintja Island, a small island which is part of the famous Komodo Island National Park.
We were greeted on the jetty by a very cheeky group of long-tailed macaques who were playing in the mangroves and a beautiful Timor deer. After a short walk inland we all gathered at the ranger’s station for a safety briefing by the park ranger who explained just how deadly the local animals can be.
We had barely begun our trek when we spotted our first Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis). They are a venomous species of lizard belonging to the monitor lizard family (varanidae) and are the largest living species of lizard, growing to an average length of 2 to 3 meters and weighing around 70 kilograms.
We took photographs of these magnificent creatures with great caution as the rangers carefully instructed us to keep our distance from these hungry lizards which slowly moved towards us, tongues flashing.
As we walked further into the forest our ranger and local guides also showed us a female Komodo dragon guarding her nest and some of the other local fauna that inhabit this small island.
In the afternoon after a delicious lunch on board from Chef Rannie and the galley team, we returned ashore to another part of the Komodo Island National Park—a stunning little island with a large fringing coral reef called Gililawa Laut.
It was here we had the opportunity to go snorkeling and explore the wonders of the surrounding coral reefs. Some of us decided to join a glass-bottom Zodiac tour and gently glided over the fish while receiving excellent interpretation from one of our naturalists, Tom Ritchie.
This area is inhabited by the most diverse assortment of fish species that can be found anywhere on the planet, we were all in awe of their colors and spent hours watching them swim in their beautiful coral home. All too soon the sun began to set into the turquoise ocean and we boarded the last Zodiac back to the National Geographic Orion.
