Imagine Dragons
“Because we focused on the snake,
we missed the scorpion”
– African proverb
In June, we did one final trip in Indonesia before heading back to South Africa. We wanted to see the colossal Komodo dragons in Komodo national park. It turns out that we saved the best trip till last.
We flew on Pancisila day, and a long weekend in Indonesia. There is only one direct flight each day from Jakarta to the port town of Labuan Bajo. The plane was half empty.
No crowds!
When we arrived at our hotel, there was one other couple. We had pre booked our boat trip from the harbour to surrounding islands. When we arrived there the next morning, the company representative told us that, although the boat holds 12 passengers, we were the only ones booked.
We effectively scored private hire of the boat and it’s crew.
We took in clean air, blue skies and open seas. Soon we reached Rinca island, part of Komodo national park.
We had only imagined the mighty dragons up to this point. We had waited three years to see these fantastic beasts. We had flown two hours from Java to less visited Flores island. We were super excited to finally see them.
We walked through the park with a guide, essential in any national park. After all, these are wild and deadly animals with a venomous bite, the largest lizards in the world.
Our guide, armed with just a long wooden pole, encouraged us to get close to the Komodo dragons, keen for us to get a great photo. And this was our folly. We got too close!
When we got back to the hotel that evening we sprawled out on the bed and reviewed images taken throughout the day. Looking at each photo, we both said that we had taken more than a bit of a risk getting that close to these predators.
It was an adrenaline thing. We were so excited. For a moment we let our guard down. Have you ever done the same?
Last year a Singaporean tourist was not so lucky. He wandered off in the national park to take a landscape photo. He needed 43 stitches after a small Komodo dragon bit him.
And that’s a reality with travelling. Unless you are cocooned in the safety of an organised group tour, you might just do things that you shouldn’t. Sometimes you look back and with hindsight you say, “we probably shouldn’t have..”
It all turned out o.k. We had a fantastic day of island hopping. On deck we feasted on tasty curries with creamy coconut milk and most importantly, we saw these remarkable reptilia.
But we definitely took a risk that day. Have you ever looked back at something that you did on a trip and thought, “I really shouldn’t have”.
What’s your travel blunder or faux pas?