Sorry blog to be so behind in reporting. The internet here is fickle and days and events pass by and is seems to late to tell you about it. Anyway we will have the internet briefly as we pass through the islands this morning so I will endeavor to share our last adventure.

We have left Labuan Bajo after a lovely 4 days of rest, great food (a strong Italian flavor present??) and a big re-stock of food. We are now In Rinca and will stay in the National Parks of Rinca and Komodo for about a week before we race off to Lombok to renew our visa and for a rally dinner on the 20th.

Yesterday we visited a National Park (approximately 15km) where you can see the mighty komodo dragon in amongst monkeys, wild pig, deer and water buffalo. Our guide was about 20 years old and all he had to protect us was a long stick with a forked end. This is used to poke the dragon in the eyes or nose as that is their most sensitive area.

Right at the start we were lucky to see about 4 dragons waiting for food underneath the rangers kitchen. We then trekked along a path for a good 40 minutes and spotted another few dragons (very well camouflauged), birds, monkeys as well as huge palms and strangling trees.

Just as we were beginning to get complacent our guide came across a patch of white powder on our path. He stopped to explain that it was white because the komodo excretes calcium because they eat bones and all!! Then we all (guide included) jumped back as there was a dragon just 6 feet away from us - definitely a hard stopping moment. I call it the old poo decoy trick!!

Our guide apologized profusely as he should have looked around before stopping to explain. Anyway we then climbed a huge hill to be on top of the mountain (much cooler up there) and we walked down with a lovely view of Babar sitting patiently for our return.