{"id":3516,"date":"2012-02-18T01:24:00","date_gmt":"2012-02-18T01:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/?p=3516"},"modified":"2012-02-18T01:24:00","modified_gmt":"2012-02-18T01:24:00","slug":"here-be-dragons-and-theyre-after-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/traveloscopy.com\/travel-news\/2012\/02\/here-be-dragons-and-theyre-after-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Here be dragons, and they’re after you"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n

A TOUR of Indonesia’s spice islands brings a close encounter with a reptilian giant.<\/b> by Barry O’Brien, The Adelaide Advertiser<\/a> <\/p>\n

A BIG beady eye fixed its gaze on me. Suddenly the long, powerful tail started to twitch and the monstrous beast lifted to its full height on razor-sharp, clawed feet. I was sitting on the ground near a water hole trying to get a low-angle close-up shot of two Komodo dragons, side by side in the wild.<\/p>\n

“I’d get up now sir,” our guide pleaded with a hint of trepidation in his voice as he readied his stick to counter a possible attack. When one of the reptiles moved towards me, its long, white, forked tongue darting in and out, I didn’t drag my feet in heeding his earnest warning.<\/p>\n

Earlier we’d been told how a bite from these 3m monsters causes a painful death to their prey by infecting them with poison. Only a couple of years ago a child was taken from a village by a dragon.<\/p>\n

READ FULL STORY<\/a><\/p>\n