Komodo Dragon Hunting — Komodo Island

Komodo Island and the adjacent Rinca Island in Indonesia's Lesser Sunda Islands host the world's only population of Komodo dragons — the largest living lizard at up to 3 metres and 70 kg — and guided walks on both islands produce near-certain encounters with these ancient predators in a landscape of savannah grassland, dry deciduous forest, and volcanic hills that creates one of the world's most dramatic wildlife backdrops. The Komodo dragon's hunting strategy — using a lethal combination of serrated teeth, venomous saliva, and extraordinary patience to ambush deer and water buffalo many times their size — can occasionally be observed on morning walks when the dragons are most active. The permit system requires a ranger guide, and the rangers' intimate knowledge of individual dragon locations and behaviour allows the walks to be timed around feeding activity and known hunting areas. The surrounding Komodo National Park marine waters hold an extraordinary diversity of coral reef, with manta ray aggregations, pygmy seahorses, and some of the richest fish life in the Indo-Pacific, making Komodo a combined terrestrial-marine wildlife destination of exceptional biodiversity. The landscape of Komodo Island — its grass-covered volcanic hills, lontar palm silhouettes, and the pink-tinged sky of the Lesser Sunda dawn — creates a setting of primeval otherworldliness entirely appropriate to an encounter with a living prehistoric reptile.