KOMODO ISLAND, INDONESIA
April 18, 2010
"Get back! Get back please! Get back now!"
More than 100 grey-haired cruise-shippers heed the ranger's warning and scurry for safety as the Komodo Dragon charges toward them - and me.
I didn't come to Komodo Island with the oldies. I just happened to arrive the same day as the MS Volendam, a cruise ship carrying 1,500 mostly North American retirees.
I have to admit, I'd been hoping for a little more peace and quiet. And so, it seems, had the island's famous giant lizards.
This particular beast - a 30-something, three-metre, 100kg male - had been enjoying a quiet moment in the shade of a hut when an old woman spotted it.
Within minutes, the creature was encircled by a gaggle of geriatric gawkers, their camera shutters aflutter as it yawned, revealing the serrated teeth that carry a bite so septic it can bring down a water buffalo.
The dragon displays its displeasure by rising to its fearsomely clawed feet and trudging to the other side of the hut. But the oldies follow.
Surrounded, the dragon grows increasingly agitated, slapping the ground with its long, powerful tail and scratching at the dirt with its front claw, like a bull preparing to charge a matador.
The ranger swoops in with a big, forked stick and tries to push the beast back the way it came.
But its mind is made up: the only way out is through.
It charges. We scatter.
"Holy shit!" cries one wizened old man as he hobbles from the creature's path.
The lizard finds a gap and pounds past in a whirl of dirt without causing injury.
"Oh! That's enough for my heart for one day," says one woman before starting in the direction of the pier and cruise ship safety.
And with that, the island became that little bit quieter.
Thank you, cranky dragon.
Watch it...some seniors bite back!!
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