Tuesday 17 February – off to Komodo Island

We were going to get up early to climb the hill to the viewpoint, by 7am there was a snaking line of tourists going up to the top. It looked very hot, with no shade, so Rowan and I stayed behind with the kids while Lovat and Monique went up quickly. The longest part for them was buying the ticket to enter the park. They are both super fit so got up and down very quickly, we had a very entertaining time with the kids.

From there we motored around to the otherside of the island to the pink beach. It did not disappoint Amalie as it really was a very strong pink, her favourite colour. It was a stunning beach with refreshingly cool water that looked so blue next to the pink sand. The kids had a wonderfully refreshing swim. Rowan stayed on board PolePole as he was not that happy about where we were anchored. We all had a coconut to drink in one of the many shelters, there were about 3 boats but they obviously cater for hordes.

It was another couple of hours motoring to Komodo island. We went through some ferocious currents, the water was so churned up and you could feel the force of the water throwing PolePole around. Rowan had organised a guide to take us to see the dragons at Komodo Village tomorrow, he said there was a mooring ball opposite the village that we could use. We found it easily and were tied on just after lunch. It was so hot, the kids had flaked out. We decided it would be better to do the tour this afternoon, when hopefully it would be a bit cooler and then we can leave earlier tomorrow. The guide was very obliging, and so helpful. We went in at 4pm, it was a pretty rickety jetty to tie on to and only one step ladder that was a bit precarious, our guide got us all up safely. We went into town with him where we met a park ranger who was our official guide in the park. It was quite hard to tell where the park started as we saw our first Komodo Dragon in town. There were endless chickens and goats free roaming around the town, maybe the dragon thinks they are easy pickings! The ranger assured us nobody has been eaten recently! Their natural diet is the deer or water buffalo and they only need to eat once a month. The dragon’s saliva contains a mix of bacteria and venom that causes shock and prevents blood clotting, killing the prey within days. Our ranger and guide came on the walk with us both carrying sticks with forks on the end that they said was all they needed to fend off the dragons. When we came across the first dragon out on the walk, the ranger asked for my phone to take photos of us standing behind the dragon. He got down low and took hundreds of photos, quite impressive, even if a bit gimmicky. They took us up a hill to a viewpoint and found a small dragon up there. It was a stunning view looking across to where PolePole was anchored at a little island opposite the town. The walk took about an hour and led us back through the souvenir shelter. Only a couple of stalls open and we certainly did not see a single other tourist in town or on the walk. Our guide had begged us to buy from the stalls to help the town. Amalie and David were able to make a couple of purchases, carved wooden dragons of every size were the main items on show.

We headed into town to see if we could get some supper and stock up on bananas and tomatoes. Our guide took us around the town trying to find us fried chicken and rice, an Indonesian staple. We finally found a little place that opened up for us, run by some lovely woman. We got our very basic food and were glad to be heading home just before it got dark. A great day enjoyed by all, the kids did so well on the walk, and David was a celebrity in town, everyone shouting ‘baby’ at him. With his cute blonde curls I think he was a novelty. Luckily he was pretty oblivious to all the attention, and Amalie did not feel too left out.