Pulau Komodo Local Custom Tips by RoyJava

Legend Komodo Dragon Princess

Long, long ago, a mythical princess lived on Komodo, whom people called Putri Naga or Dragon Princess. She married a man named Najo and bore him twins: one was a baby boy, and the other a baby dragon. Her son, named Si Gerong, was raised amongst men; the dragon she called Orah, and reared it in the forest. Neither knew anything of the other ...

Years later, manly Si Gerong shot a deer whilst hunting in the forest. But as he stepped forward to take this quarry, a large lizard appeared from the thicket and seized it hungrily. Si Gerong tried hard to chase the beast away, but in vain. It stood firm over the carcass, warning him off with bared teeth and hissing sound.

Si Gerong raised his spear to kill the lizard, when suddenly a radiantly lovely woman appeared: the Dragon Princess. Swiftly, she pared the foes, telling Si Gerong, "Dont kill the animal, she is your sister Orah. I bore you together, consider her your equal because you are "Sebai" (twins)."

From then on, the inhabitants of the island treated the Komodo's with kindness. Old Komodo's who could no longer fend for themselves were fed by their human "brothers".

The name of the cave where the egg hatched is LOANG ATAWINI, "Woman's Quarters". It is situated on the Southern part of Komodo Island. It is also the place of the grave of Najo, the man who was the husband of the Dragon Princess. The tomb is sacred, and the Dragon Princes is supposed to be there at all times ...

Local inhabitants come here to pray, to meditate and to pay respect ... my very good friend Mrs. Hilly C. Djohani-Lapian did the interviews for the book The Dragon Princess From Komodo, edited by James Astill (in privat)

thanks for reading

ORA - BUAYA DARAT

The natives call the Komodo-varan ORA (=snake) or BUAYA DARAT (=land-crocodile) and do pay great respect to this reptile-animal that could surprise you by a tremendous sprint. The muscular legs do support the heavy body and show the fierced lizard as a truly spectacular creature. It can run swiftly, jump, walk on 2 feet, climb a tree, swim, dive and dig. It must be told that "ORA" in old-Javanese means "NO"!

It was the year of 1910 AD and the first article "On a large Varanus species from the Island of Komodo" was published at 1912 by Major Ouwens. From that moment all kind of horror-stories corroborated with myths, legends and sagas, attained to the world...

Until a cool-headed blond Frenchwomen took away the unapproachableness of the gigantic pre-historic reptile-animal!
Nicole Viloteau managed to live with the bloodthirsty dragons on the island of Komodo for about 3 months. She got friendshipped with them, took care of some of her friends, made some rituals with them... and kissed an ORA GILA! The locals respect the woman,... the scientists were averse to Nicole reporting about "witch" bustle ...

(All out of my MSN "Komodo Dragon & Pearly Mermaid
by RoyJava)

Komodo

Western Tourists, Eastern Culture

When Western tourists have holiday most of them don't stop at the thought that the customs and habits could be very different from their home place.

So along the beach you'll see the Western girls, blond and sunburned, and a lot of them walk around ... topless. We got used to that picture and don't bother the "problem".

It is a problem when you are on holiday in Indonesia. Most of the population is Islamic (about 88%), so it is not decent to walk around ... topless.

Our girlfriends understood when we explained them this issue. They joined us at the Komodo Island and we sailed back to Labuhanbajo. They loved to take a rest on the roof of our boat, and the Labuhanbajo guys loved it, too ...

;o)))