29-04-09 / 30-04-09

29-04-09
Second part of the story on the island Rinca (the internet café I was sitting in 2 days ago was too smoky and too hot; tonight I publish this story with the help of Lilian, thanks to her and thanks to BlackBerry!) :

We have seen some domesticated Komodo dragons i.e. they are fed by the rangers just to make sure that 1. tourists get to see them instead of being disappointed by coming all the way down and seeing none and 2. tourists are not attacked.There are no set dragon-feeding places any longer.There would be about 2.450 still alive on the islands Komodo, Rinca and on the west coast of Flores, but our guide is doubting such. Cannabilism would be the major danger of this endangered species; yearly the female is laying 15 to 30 eggs, from which only 1 to 2 get adult. Why they only exist on and around Komodo is a mystery, as is why males outnumber females by a ratio of 3,4 to 1. They are impressive to see with their ugly heads, massive bodies, enormous claws, strong tails and yellow split tongues getting out of their mouths like with snakes. But seeing them laying down and hardly walking around the ranger camps and none in the fields was quite deceptive.
We learnt in the European press that an Indonesian fisherman picking fruits in Rinca, fell of the tree and has been killed by a Komodo dragon at the end of March this year. Down here however we have been told that it was actually a ranger preparing food in the kitchen of the Komodo National Park being bitten in his arm and leg by a dragon (having climbed a staircase???), survived such but being half paralysed.....They can expend their mouth cavity considerably, enabling them to swallow prey as large as a goat. To tackle even bigger prey, they ambush their victim, bite it and wait for the potent bacteria (over 60 in number!) their mouths contain to take effect - waiting around for up to 2 weeks for a buffalo to die - before tucking in.
We made a beautiful hike of about 2 hrs through the National Park guided by rangers with great views from the hills on the surrounding islands, sea, savannah and forests.

Off for the next part of the boat trip for a great snorkelling experience at the Red Beach (Pantai Merah) where our group was the only people around. Water of 27 C (that is quite cold after 31 C a couple of days ago) and beautiful fishes - like you are swimming in an aquarium - , corals and anemones. Because of the protection of the surrounding islands, there is no damage here of the 2004 tsunami. Komodo National Park has some of the most exhilarating scuba diving in Indonesia. It's a region swept by strong currents and cold upswellings, created by the convergence of the warmer Flores Sea and the cooler Sumba Strait - conditions which bring in a rich soup of plankton and an astonishing diversity of marine life. Bomb- and cyanide-fishing previously did some damage to the reefs in the National Park, but its waters are now patrolled by navy vessels and the coral is recovering well. Good that we bought our own equipment back home, since one can not always rent it in these remote parts of Indonesia and at least it fits well.

Off again for the last part of our boat trip today. Our boat was anchored for the night and we were surrounded by flying foxes, night fisher men, the moon, sparkling stars,....

The trip by boat is wonderful: bright sunshine, nice breeze, passing by 100s of inhabited islands with great beaches, sometimes jumping dolphins before our boat,.....

Excellent food prepared by the cook (fresh fish, chicken, rice, vegetables, soup, fruit,.....) in a kitchen of 1 by 2 mtr for the 18 of us + tour leader + 4 crew members. Regularly coffee and tea with biscuits (like during our transfer days for which we make a stop along a nice stretch on the road), enough cold soft drinks, beer,.....Sleeping was less fun: it was so HOT!!!! Incredible that we managed to sleep anyway. The boat itself is simple, but OK for 2 days and a group like ours with enough place to sit or hang around outside in the sun or shadow. Thanks God we had excellent weather, since the seas in this part of Indonesia can be extremely hazardous. A great day!

30-04-09

Early natural wake up because of the heat in our cabines in the boat and some new adventures waiting for us. We could have slept on the deck outside but we were not sure of such being too windy, which turned out to be true.
We returned to the Red Beach for another snorkel experience which was wonderful again.
Then we continued our boat trip to the Komodo island itself to spot some more - semi-domesticated - Komodo dragons. Besides that the ranger this time showed us plenty of trees, insects like grass hoppers, birds, wild water buffaloes, wild pigs, wild cows and again great views on and from the National Park on the surrounding islands/seas.

Off again for a long - about 6 hours - very pleasant last part of the boat trip to our final destination for the coming days, the island Sumbawa with arrival at the harbour of Sape late afternoon. A new bus with a new driver and co-driver was already waiting for us, to drive us to Bima, the principal town of the eastern half of the island, a run-down place. Before arrival at the hotel more than 10 km from this town, we had dinner in the town itself and some time for ourselves to walk around in this unexceptional place where horse cars called benhur still hold their own with bemos (public transport in Indonesia by mini buses).
At this town was this terrible internet café.....
Surprise, surprise: at arrival at our hotel, the latter had decided earlier that evening to give our rooms to another party because of our late arrival and we had to return again to the restaurant annexed to a hotel! Happily enough that hotel had enough rooms for all of us. As usual there were some justified complaints: like in India there is always something broken, missing or not working (and I bet that the same thing is applying to 5 stars hotels in Indonesia....). But both Arjan and I were so tired after our hot (in temperature ....) night on the boat, that it could not bother us too much after, however, having let cleaned our bath tube from a ton of sand ....

The potential for tourism remains vast, but, due to political instability, poor infrastructure and transport links, and low educational standards, Nusa Tenggara (the eastern islands of Indonesia) looks unlikely to profit much from this sector for some time yet. On top of that, popular and rather well developed Bali is opposing itself to the development of the neighbouring island Lombok.
Sumbawa is larger than Bali and Lombok combined. Though Sumbawa is an extremely scenic island, it's a poor one, and health and education is very much at the development stage in most parts. Few Western travellers venture here other than wave-seekers and we! That is quite nice of this trip, we hardly meet any other tourists.
Sumbawa is an overwhelming Islamic island; Christian missionaries didn't even bother here. But in remote parts adat (traditional indigenous and animist laws and regulations) thrive under the veneer of Islam.
Also here lots of volcanoes; interesting is following story: in 1815 the Gunung (= volcano) Tambora in Sumbawa exploded, killing ten thousands. One of the most cataclysmic eruptions of modern times, it reduced a 4200 m peak to approx. 2850 m. All around the globe, the following year was known as 'the year without a summer', due to the amount of volcanic ash in the atmosphere.

Later on I try to catch up the backlog of our blog, I have to sleep right now. Thanks again Lilian for publishing this edition; first time during my travels that I meet so few internet cafes, it shows how under developed it still is here.
I have read about the terrible accident during Queen's day in The Netherlands, sorry to hear about it.
And no pigs sateh anymore for us because the swine flu (Mexican influenza) having touched Indonesia as well.