Hello, to my mostly faithful readers! I
hope you’re all doing well so that you can continue to read my blog. If you all
died, no one would read it, and then I’d be sad. Any-ways, we’ve been poking around the Komodo National park, that’s
made up of about four or five big islands and lots and lots of little ones. And
on these islands, there are critters of various shapes and sizes. When we
pulled into our anchorage yesterday, Timor
deer dotted the rocks like the chocolate chips in freshly baked cookies.
There
was big deer and little deer, brown deer and tan deer, and BABY
DEER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As you no doubt have assumed from the excess of exclamation marks, this fact
excited me. AND THE BABY DEER WERE SWIMMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CUTENESS IN A SMALL FURRY BUNDLE. There were also
wild boars. And wild BABY PIGS. This morning, I watched gleefully as a large
mama pig led her two little pigs down the mountainside to the beach. She then
encouraged them into the water for their morning bath, which sent my mum and me
into squealing fits of joy and caused my dad to shake his head sadly at our delight.
Of course, Komodo isn’t all small baby
animals that cause you to practically wet your pants over their utter
adorableness. If you talk about Komodo, you have to talk about the dragons. On
Rinca, one of the islands in the park, we visited these- lizard/dragon/voldemort/Darth
Vader/ things. When they get mad at each other, they swell up and sound like
Darth Vader. And I swear to god, they’re secretly claiming that they’re the
dark lord. They also bear a strong resemblance to Voldemort. When we arrived at
the dock on Rinca, a guide leapt up to take us to the office to pay for our
park pass, person pass, boat pass, hiking fee and guide fee. His name was Paul,
he was shorter than me, and he looked extremely nervous. He carried a long
forked stick, which he used to warn off the dragons. When we asked whether the
dragons had come to recognise the stick, he snorted. “It’s not magic” he told
us. “If it’s not determined to eat you, it works fine. But if they’re hungry,
run, and climb a tree”. He glanced down at our sports sandals doubtfully. I
then noticed that all the guides were wearing trainers. “I’ll leave you my
stick” he offered, heading off to the office. When we got close, he told us
that the office had been raided three times by dragons, and the in charge guy
had been bitten twice. “I think the dragons know he’s corrupt” he mused
thoughtfully. Once we had paid, he took us on a winding path through the
ranger’s houses. My mum squeaked. I turned to look at her, and she was doing a
little excited dance, and pointing under the house, where about eight large
dragons rested. “That one’s smiling!”
she giggled. I looked at the one in question. Its mouth was open and it was
propped up on its front legs. Then, there was the Darth Vader noise. Paul
gripped his stick. “Oh, shit” he muttered, as a dragon slowly heaved himself to
his feet.
Later on our walk, I asked if there were
many female guides. He laughed and shook his head. “No women!” he said. “I
think it is too dangerous for them”. I raised an eyebrow. I was quite a bit
bigger than him. When I pointed out that danger doesn’t lessen or grow
depending on gender, he shrugged. “I didn’t tell my parents that I work here.
They think I work in a restaurant” he told us, changing the subject hastily.
After our walk was finished, we went and looked at the dragons again. These
ancient animals were huge and mysterious. They were the largest lizards in the
world, and on the islands, they had no predators. I was so privileged to have
seen them in their natural habitat, and I know it is a memory that I will carry
for the rest of my life.
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