Pics from my trip to Komodo

[BAZ]

Well I just got back from Komodo on the weekend. Was there with Ravi and Shaggy helping out San Diego Zoo with their research. Some pics for you guys. Hope you like them

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/pf31ba3700f78daaa35a49db9fa87c109/f6e5c14e.jpg
Weighing a dragon

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p1a07c485ede37b8a5407b34c95f1c573/f6e5c150.jpg
Sunset on Gili Motang Island

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p32627de836b67557dde6d10af7d64123/f6e5c153.jpg
My home on Gili Motang. Tent on the beach.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/pdfdb4ff11fb6edb6dd1b6b9fe9790b2d/f6e5c151.jpg
View from the tent.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p3a19682d0fc6af7f2b32f277ca90d360/f6e5c156.jpg
The team.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p31004f5917c7c7a4bb32dc6fe4612a42/f6e5c157.jpg
Star trail on Gili Motang

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p9e64f8aaf499599450d62fad44cb9427/f6e5c2bd.jpg
Here I am inserting a PIT tag so we can electronically identify the dragon.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/pd73026c3174d5c7c747b0c672c0f1090/f6e5c8ea.jpg
A little dragon we caught


http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/pdea3801f708bf2c668bf62453de34f65/f6e5c8f8.jpg
A bigger dragon

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p5a7cee0e71565695886c276df6ca47c1/f6e5c8ee.jpg
8ft dragon in one of our traps

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p16b521c95d88ea26f5519f21070fb033/f6e5c8f5.jpg
I wanna hold your hand! 6ft dragon

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/pcbb999e144a52457ad304777330deb23/f6e5c2bc.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p2525fb0eebbd86261e8f66879ed7342a/f6e5c8e4.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p5d7331292f565dc2445b2ccd1d704ec5/f6e5c8e6.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/pec68bc61491402be31494872796fe75e/f6e5c8ed.jpg

Carrying 1/3 of the trap to its location on a dried up river bed on Komodo Island. This is week 2 and Im tanned like anything now.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/pb1d1842fa703808e447ec6a4b4340bcb/f6e5c8f3.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p1abe1f4c98dbe1b6fa6afb33a977e3ba/f6e5c900.jpg

Eye of a 8ft dragon. Check out the reflection of my camera in its eye.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/pa756049a2950ae71e8eec26b82712aa7/f6e5c8f6.jpg

Komodo Nest
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/pea71d50acc1da7f178184705e1441c12/f6e5c8fa.jpg

Measuring the 8 footer
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p8e025e7fd434242644e225c5f32072b9/f6e5c903.jpg

Dragon claws
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p86ff139e50d7d042dcc13f21ac3613b6/f6e5c904.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p7406c1b2f2e34d86e5c268ab4179a1bd/f6e5c90d.jpg

[Brent Strande]

Awesome man! You definitely lead a life to be envied!

[bistrobob85]

WOW "/$?!/$%!/%!/$%! !!!! Now those are amazing pics!!!! The pic you took from the 8 footer is amazing! How did you manage to take such a front pic?!?! And how did you manage to get on such an expedition with the San Diego Zoo????

phil.

[ChunkyMunky]

NICE! Great pics!~ Looks like you had a very fun time. How many did you capture? It looks like a lot, i expected them to be incredibly hard to find let alone catch. Good stuff. Take care.

Dan.

[Rebecca]

Dude that eye one is the best!! I love it. Your so lucky do be able to do those things, I envy you man.

[Dom]

Awesome! you guys had fun..

With a bit of cash i'd be out there with you too man lol

I envy you guys .. . show me the pics next time u are at the zoo

Take care baz... See you shaggy when you get back...

[BoidKeeper]

Baz that is so cool. How is your are always going on these adventures? I thought you had a regular joe job job? I must have been wrong. So let's hear it, shoot us a little Baz herp resumee.lol
Cheers,
Trevor

[BAZ]

Oh the pic of the 8 ft komodo was taken by placing the lens of the digital camera in a hole at the front of the trap.

I think we caught around 15 to 20 dragons while we were there but a lot of them were recaptures. We caught the 8 footer in the same trap twice.

The dragons were not that hard to find. Some of them hang out near the ranger stations. I literally bumped into at least 3 while we were walking to check the traps. Saw one basking on the rocks near the sea on Gili Motang. Saw a huge one which was 9 or 10 feet up on the bank of the dry river and he ran when he saw us coming and hid in this big hole. We tried to lure him out with bait but no luck... he just wouldnt come out.

I guess I managed to hook up with San Diego on this expedition by having the right contacts. Trevor, Im always going on these adventures coz its what I love doing. I do have a regular Joe graphic design job but I do work at a reptile zoo on the side and my passion is in working with reptiles and educating the public (aswell as myself) on these amazing animals. I think my next trip is going to be to go back to India and work with the Crocodile Bank again. Ill have to wait a couple of years for that though.

[hooter]

I think everyone here would love to go on trips like you lol its just most of us dont have contacts, time, or money. Nice pics although I can only see a few because most dont work for me :(

How long did you stay?

~ Hooter

[Matt]

unbelievable, thats amazing!
looks like a great time!

[BAZ]

Hey Hooter, right click on the red x where the pic doesnt show up and click on "Show picture". That should work coz I get the same thing too. We were on the islands for about 2 weeks and there was a week of travel time (spent a few days in Flores, Bali, Singapore and Taiwan). Bali was amazing. Been to Singapore before and always loved that place.

[Tim_Cranwill]

Amazing pics! What an experience that must have been. :)

Did you keep a journal while you were there?

[BAZ]

Im no good with journals. I tried doing that while working with crocs in India but after the first page I just said "sod it" and didnt bother.

[Tim_Cranwill]

LOL! Me too... but I was hoping you would have so you could post some stories! :D :)

[doenoe]

wow, those are some awesome pics. Sounds like you had a wicked trip. *insert a pic of me looking in envy here*
Greetz Daan

[reptiguy123]

Dude, those photogrqaphs are incredible!
I'm so jealous!:D &^$^#%)#(%(*&(#*(@^#&^$!!!!!!



Let me know when you're going to Komodo again! Going there is one of my life goals.

[CDN-Cresties]

Awesome pics, thanks for sharing!

[~Suntiger~]

Right on Baz! Man I am so jealous, but I don't need to tell you that -- you already know! You gotta come visit soon and tell me all the stories k!
(And we gotta go eat sushi cuz no one else around here will eat that with me! lol)
Can't wait to see the rest of the pics you took, great photography as always.

[treegirl]

Wonderful photographs! Thanks for sharing---looks like it was a fantastic adventure!

cheers...

d.

[BAZ]

Jen Im hoping to come down in a few weeks so we will chill and have sushi (and maybe that indian-chinese food too coz im craving that again).

[~Suntiger~]

Cool, sounds good to me! Geez, it's been forever eh?
See you then!

[BAZ]

Not reptiles... but here are some other pics I took on my trip:

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p7a036ac28a39317ba0aa1c0d2b530b77/f6e5add9.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p483c0ec11311c45de6eeb0c5a88a46df/f6e5addd.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p92c48cf1c02aad90f3b91adbb7edac14/f6e5ade3.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p02385e71b199eb9745a4a23e4b350f00/f6e5ade8.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p7da5aaf914246b4109baf02b023924d2/f6e5addf.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/pd0988711bb2e3b24ccc192642215ff83/f6e5adf0.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/pd643bf316228dc25b7f5fb670368f983/f6e59d80.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/pde747cb2f2f5b9ed126e4127ebce0a04/f6e59d86.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p223551cb47c3d37708760f45e3ef20f1/f6e59d88.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p366d440c4b4c9749a323dae2df082066/f6e59d7c.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/pbf4913a95a1fde4cc81c8099e9b5a2e2/f6e59d7f.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p30d9397737b6d0033158ca90467c1664/f6e59d87.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p3e3ea426bc81f51bf70130388c62dc30/f6e59d90.jpg


http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p95464faef4d0a8fa10dbeaffe36899ac/f6e5a079.jpg

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid140/p3257a162307ee05ef21a15c3808d3175/f6e5a07c.jpg

[BWSmith]

I admit it. i am jealous. :D

[Nicki]

Awesome Baz!!! Great photos! Thanks so much for sharing!!! :)

Nicole

[Invictus]

I have to agree with everyone who has said that you have a life to be envied. Your passion for these animals has taken you to places where most of us only dream of going. I hope one day to have adventures like these!

[BAZ]

I hope you all get to experince the kind of things I have gotten to experience.

[Simon]

awesome photos!!

[Linds]

That is totally awesome! Those pics also look like something you would see in a magazine. What an experience :D

[BAZ]

Thanks Linds! A lot of people are telling me I should submit some of my photos to a magazine or a competition. I just might.

[HeatherRose]

Wow Baz!!! Those are some really great pictures. It looks like you had an amazing trip...

What are those people in the last few pictures doing?

[BAZ]

The last few pics are of a Kacak (pronounced "Kachak") dance at Uluwatu Temple in Bali and they are reinacting the Ramayana story from the Hindu faith. The last 2 pics are of a Caci (pronounced "Chachee") tribal fighting dance done with whips. The Caci dance was interesting for about 20 minutes but I expected a lot more fighting and it gota kind of repetitive after a while. The Kacak fire dance at Uluwatu Temple in Bali was really good though.

[JD@reptiles]

Holy crap. i never saw this post! thats wicked man. looks like you had a heck of a time!

[TexasAggie04]

Wow, that would be one hell of a vacation. Most people spend a week, two weeks on vacation running around from place to place trying to see everything. You definitely had a lot of work to do, but it is fun work. I like backpacking and outdoors stuff anyway, so that would be incredible. You are a lucky guy.

[BAZ]

I think Ive made up my mind and decided to go to India again in 2 years. Gonna try and make it for a long time but I guess we will see. Probably go south and help out at the Madras Crocodile Bank again and see if I can help out in any way with tiger conservation projects.

I want to try and get to Pakistan during this trip to visit Manghopir in Karachi where you can find lots of mugger crocodiles. Folklore says that these crocs were the head lice of a Sufi Saint which have grown into crocodiles. Somehow I find this story hard to believe ;) but I love to see and experience the ways local populations interact with wildlife and build this wildlife into their culture.

http://www.jphpk.gov.my/English/May04%2012.htm

http://www.balouch.com/Articles/a19.cfm?ID=19

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/20040513/w6.jpg

[LdyDrgn]

Pack me in your bag and take me with you! LOL

Great pics, the ones I got to see. I didn't even get a red x to clicky on. :( dern it