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Komodo Dragons: The Primeval Beasts of Rinca Island
A hunt for ancient Komodo dragons in Indonesia interrupts the beasts’ afternoon nap.
We had been trekking for a few hours when we stopped to take stock of our surroundings. Overhead, the sun beat down on us, and in the distance, the sea shimmered as palm trees waved listlessly in the breeze. It was a classic island setting, and one that a great many people had come to the island-hopping side of Indonesia.
And yet the mood was one of slight trepidation. We were on the island of Rinca, on a daytrip from our guest house in Labuan Bajo, hunting for the renowned Komodo dragons, giant lizards synonymous with the archipelago. We weren’t entirely sure what we’d find.
2026 clarity
The more eagle-eyed amongst you – all one of you – will note that this story was uploaded once before, perhaps about 14 years ago. We reuploaded it because of reasons. Reading it back, the story has a nice flow, friendly narrative bounce and decent worldbuilding. Not too engrossing but still atmospheric.
There’s also a flagrant disregard for two of the core tenets of our style guide: namely, the use of first-person pronouns and personal background stuff. We applaud these violations, by the way, and don’t have any kind of a problem; it’s just interesting to see how people’s style develops over the years.
On a sidenote, we’re not expecting a huge uptake on this story.
Mr Da, our guide on Rinca, had done his best to stoke up the anticipation. He explained a great deal about the beasts’ history, their importance to the national park’s ecosystem and their place on the threatened species list.
But, for the intrepid visitor, only four details stood out: Komodo dragons can grow up to 10 feet long, they weigh an unusually large amount, they can reach speeds of 20mph, and they are carnivores. I looked at my shoes and made a mental calculation of the quickest I’ve ever run. It wouldn’t be enough to outpace any of the giant reptiles if they suddenly developed an appetite for my flesh and fancied a snack.
Soon enough, we descended into the creatures’ den, which doubled up as the island’s administrative centre. Wooden huts encircled a courtyard, in the centre of which lay three gigantic forms, each in various states of rest, and all lying flat on their stomachs, their compact legs were spread out either side of them.
We had found our dragon-esque killing machines, and it looked like they were asleep. Thankfully, though, we had found our dragon-esque killing machines, and it looked like they were asleep
Mr Da turned to us and shrugged: “They rest in this part of the day. It’s too hot.” The cloudless sky backed up his point. The dragons’ place was in the cooler mornings and afternoons; the relentless midday sun sapped their energy.
Read More: An encounter with orangutans in Sumatra.
Bulky intelligence
However, even sprawled on the ground, the Komodo dragon can clearly cause immense damage.
Their thick tails, as long as their bodies, were perfect for swiping. Despite the grey bulks’ current horizontal, sleepy appearance, their sunken black eyes keenly scoured the surroundings. They seemed ready to launch themselves into action at a moment’s notice, and every inch of them looked taut and tight and muscular.
A smaller one idled toward us on squat, powerful legs. Its forked tongue swatted away a fly, and the world seemed to melt away. The dragon moved calmly and slowly. Those calculated movements, if applied to a human, would have suggested a steely, unflappable demeanour, demonstrated by a creature with nothing to prove to anyone or anything. The dragons, though, moved with a far more natural gait, that told how they were the threat, and that everything else had to look out for them. For a second we had emerged in a prehistoric time where survival, and only survival, mattered.
Another of Mr Da’s lessons sprang to mind – that Komodo dragons rarely, if ever, attack humans – and put us at our ease, although we still showed no interest in moving closer and testing the theory, however apocryphal, of the beasts’ poisonous bite.
Eventually, the creatures roused themselves and sloped off, moving with the calculated instinct afforded by millions of years of evolution into an apex predator. We watched in respectful silence as the loping dragons departed. No fools amongst our number, we headed in the opposite direction.
Come the day’s end, I found myself on the deck of the boat heading back to our base at nearby Labuan Bajo. Drawing heavily on an aromatic clove kretek cigarette, I watched Rinca’s receding peaks, wondering if the Komodo dragons weren’t heading in the same direction over the horizon and on to extinction, another lost link to the planet’s ancient past.
(2026 Editor: Bit of a sudden ending, this one. The writer was probably alluding to the dragons’ endangered status. Writing it again, you’d expect that fact to be a lot more prevalent, along with any threat to the dragons and how the authorities are trying to protect them from extinction. Maybe talk about feeding habits too. But bearing in mind the story’s nearly 20 years old and was intended for The Daily Telegraph’s travel writing competition, which had a 500-word limit, we can see why it came to a bit of a sudden stop. Nice one, Mx Writer)
Read More: Lake Sarangan Lore: Dragons, Eggs and Enchantment in East Java
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