To Komodo Or Not To Komodo? For This Adventure Writer, A Hard Not

Recently some friends asked me to join them on a trip to Indonesia, specifically to the Komodo and Rinca islands, where the legendary Komodo Dragon resides. Why not, they reasoned? Me being an extreme adventure writer, they know I’ve been taking on risky propositions for decades.

When deciding what and what not to do, I weigh risk versus return. That’s why I’m still alive. Then I look at how badly I want the adventure. After careful consideration, I make a decision. Wing-walking, for example, is not for me. Reaching 84,000 feet in a MiG-25 Foxbat at Mach 2.6 with its ethereal views is.

Flying 21,000 miles round-trip from the U.S. east coast to Southeast Asia is a lengthy and expensive commitment. There’s your first risk. Yes, I know Komodos are kept in a few zoos in the U.S., including Akron and Nashville, but still, if one is to cover them authentically, it’s best to visit their natural habitats.

Essentially giant lizards, Komodos have been around for a long time. Reaching up to 10 feet in length and weighing more than 300 lbs., there is a reason they still breed after millions of years. It’s testimony to how resilient and ruthless they are, now at the top of their particular food chain.

Komodos prey on most anything they can get their teeth into, both small- and mid-sized animals including water buffalo, deer and wild boar. They have even been known to eat their own species!

The Dragons, when they bite, infect prey with a combination of deadly bacteria carried in their saliva plus gland secretions that work as an anticoagulant. If Komodos don’t swallow their prey whole, they follow it until it becomes weak, perhaps bleeds to death, then finish off the job.

One particularly disturbing YouTube video shows a Komodo swallowing a live baby goat whole – first the head, then the torso and finally the legs. The Dragon does this in less than a minute. You can continue to hear the goat’s muffled screams from inside of the Komodo’s stomach. You can also see the sick, contented look on the Komodo’s face once it has accomplished its mission. (In today’s world of rampant AI, who knows if the video is real? But it sure looks real to this writer.)

Granted, human attacks are rare, as visits to the islands where the reptiles reside is sporadic. But they do kill people. A reported 24 human attacks over the last several years have resulted in at least five deaths. Who knows how many others went unreported?

Perhaps the most infamous attack was of actress Sharon Stone’s husband, journalist Phil Bronstein, in 2001 while on a personal tour of the Los Angeles Zoo. He didn’t die, as help was close by – there are no known antidotes for a bite, but immediately administering a blood coagulant and cleaning the wound helps. In addition, surgeons had to reattach several of Bronstein’s tendons and rebuid one of his toes. Stone witnessed the attack from outside the cage.

Weighing risk versus return, not surprisingly I decided not to join this trip. The financial and time commitment, plus the risk of getting bitten (they can run 12 mph) and the horror of possibly witnessing one devouring a small animal is not worth it. That, of course, may not apply to other intrepids. Take my friends, for instance. Guided tours are even offered. One is with Komodo Luxury. There are others, too. Check the Internet.

Again, thanks but no thanks. Recurring nightmares about that baby goat are enough for me.