Dragons and human skulls: Exploring a side of Indonesia few get to see

It would have been so easy for the Komodo dragon to go unnoticed had it not been for the trained eyes of our ranger, Ishak. Longer than three metres, and with sharp claws and black eyes, it lay motionless in the shade close to our jungle track. Had I been on my own, I probably would have walked straight past it … provided it let me.

The estimated 2000 dragons left on Earth have been known to tackle adult buffaloes when hungry, so we’re a tad jittery during our circuitous four-kilometre hike from Komodo Island’s ranger station. Finding the dragon lying dormant on a bed of leaf litter is reassuring until suddenly, a forked tongue darts in and out of its mouth. Is it assessing the threat of danger?

“It’s tasting the air,” says Ishak. “Maybe it’s deciding whether we are worth eating.”

Komodo encounter. There are only about 2000 of them left.Credit: iStock

It doesn’t help that I’ve already been fattened up by a week’s worth of meals since our expedition cruise on the Coral Geographer left Darwin, en route to the orchid-shaped island of Sulawesi. After an initial pause to swim and snorkel off a beach in West Timor, we anchor off the coast of Alor Island, briefly abandoning ship to witness a rousing dance performance in a tribal village.

While our itinerary is adventurously varied, the passenger manifest is far more consistent. Most passengers are aged over 50 and travelling with their spouses. Many are retired. They’re largely Australian, though with Swiss, Irish, English and New Zealand nationals adding to the mix. A surprising number are single; some widowed, others divorced or happily unattached. One gent has a prosthetic leg. Another has terminal cancer. Only one that I know of so far – an Irishman whose son is the ship’s first mate – is cruising for the first time.

Traditional ancestral houses, Sulawesi.Credit: iStock

Conversely, one couple I meet early in the trip are on their seventh Coral Expeditions cruise. In fact, they tell me they’ve never sailed with any other cruise line.

“We like the fact that it’s Australian-owned,” says Melburnian Neil Perry. “The crews are friendly, and the Explorers (tenders) are brilliant, making excursions easier to do.”

“And we want to continue to do adventurous itineraries while we still can,” adds Neil’s wife, Lorraine. After this 14-night cruise finishes, they’ll stay on the ship for the next one, circumnavigating Sulawesi for a further 20 nights.

The reasons the Perrys list for booking this particular cruise are the same as mine – a preference for small-ship expedition cruising through remote territories. While our plans might change from what’s listed on the itinerary due to, perhaps, lousy weather or troublesome beach access, most of what we’re seeing would be visited only by the most dogged travellers. Yachties, most likely.

A crater lake at Keli Mutu volcano in Flores.Credit: iStock

This cruise provides plenty of opportunities to jump in the water, and we manage to dive or snorkel around the Komodo and Taka Bonerate national parks. Both are renowned for their abundance of coral reefs and varied sea life. On Komodo and Padar islands, we swim off rare pink sand beaches, caused by single-cell marine organisms with reddish shells being washed ashore after they die. Lung-busting duck-dives while snorkelling over reef walls off Jampea and Sogori islands – both off Sulawesi’s south coast – are rewarded when I spot groupers, barracudas, spotted sweetlip and banded sea kraits, as well as spectacularly intricate fan and brain corals.

During our beach barbecue on uninhabited Jampea Island late on one of these afternoons, juvenile black-tip reef sharks patrol the shallows beneath a brilliant rainbow arc. A sea turtle surfaces just offshore, gulping in a mouthful of air, while dolphins swim behind it.

On Tinabo, a low-lying, sand-fringed speck of land midway between Flores and Sulawesi, we join in the ongoing conservation programs of park rangers stationed on the island. Casuarina cuttings are planted in the sandy soils first off, then we attempt to sow new coral reefs by affixing branches to metal frames which are then deposited in the shallows. Excitement then bubbles when we’re given the chance to release green sea turtle hatchlings into the water later on.

Komodo and Taka Bonerate national parks are renowned for their abundance of coral reefs and varied sea life.Credit: Getty Images

What’s endlessly pleasing during this Indonesian-island cruise is partaking in these unexpected activities, in between visiting big-ticket attractions. Of course, our daily excursions are entirely optional and there’s always one or two people who choose to bypass them in favour of spending the day onboard to read a book or catch up on news from home. I’m keen to do them all.

On Lembata Island, Lamalera villagers who have been cursed with infertile soils in which to grow their own fruit and vegetables have managed to adapt by hunting whales, dolphins and manta rays that pass through the fast-flowing straits just offshore. With the near extinction of many cetacean species leading to a global ban on whaling in all but a handful of countries, these 2000-odd villagers have been allowed to continue the practice because they’re classed as Aboriginal subsistence hunters by the International Whaling Commission – the same body that outlaws it elsewhere.

Whale hunters of Lamalera village on Lembata Island.Credit: Mark Daffey

The mock whale hunt they put on for us is an entertaining insight that’s designed to showcase their skills. As sinewy oarsmen propel an outrigger canoe closer to their prey, a marksman inches along the bowsprit so he can launch himself headlong into the water. If all goes well, he’ll have pierced the whale’s leathery hide with his harpoon. The carcass is hauled back home for food or to trade for other necessities. Never is the flesh sold for cash, and the villagers only ever kill as much as they need.

In Flores, our buses climb through jungled mountains to the tricoloured crater lakes of Keli Mutu. One, called the Lake of Young Men and Maidens, is a milky turquoise colour while its neighbour, the Bewitched or Enchanted Lake, is bluer. Sometimes, it’s red.

Ceremonial megaliths.Credit: iStock

The third, the Lake of Old People, is detached from the other two, though not far away. Its water is black when we visit, though it can be blue or an inky green colour at other times, caused by rainfall mixing with the volcano’s constantly changing mineral levels.

On Flores’ far western coast, the fishing town of Labuan Bajo is the usual departure port for multi-day cruises around the Komodo Islands. We’re able to bypass it, of course, and instead navigate directly for Padar Island, where a hiking trail leads to a summit viewpoint affording sweeping vistas over steep volcanic hills wrapped around wineglass-shaped bays.

After our dragon-tracking adventure on Komodo Island, we travel up into the mountainous heart of Sulawesi, overnighting in a hotel in Tana Toraja so we can explore a region where traditional houses mimic the shape of a buffalo’s horns. Funerals here are lavish occasions lasting up to seven days. The bodies of deceased relatives are preserved and kept inside houses for years, with fortunes spent purchasing buffaloes that are then slaughtered in honour of the dead.

Cruise comforts aboard the Coral Geographer.

Daily life here seems to revolve largely around death, with the places we visit reflecting that. One, Bori Parinding, is a megalithic funeral site where the 100 “menhirs” scattered about resemble phallic stone columns.

The cemetery dates back hundreds of years, with each stone tower planted into the soil representing the death of a prominent person at that time. In another location, 300-year-old coffins hang suspended from a cliff face beside carved wooden effigies of the deceased. Human skulls lie exposed on shelves or inside caves in a third.

Some might consider this part of Sulawesi to be a morbid ending to their travels. But for others it illustrates the differences between our culture and theirs. And after all, isn’t that what expedition cruising is all about?

 Coral Geographer … for the intrepid who like their comforts.

THE DETAILS

CRUISE
The next departure for Coral Expeditions’ 14-night In the Wake of the Makassans cruise from Darwin to Sulawesi is January 9, 2025. From $15,920 a person, including all shore excursions, food and meals. See coralexpeditions.com

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The writer travelled courtesy of Coral Expeditions.