Monday, September 13, 2010

Komodo Island. The Land of Living Dragons.

Komodo Island is an island located in the Nusa Tenggara Islands. Komodo Island is known as a habitat for animals native Komodo dragon. This island is also the Komodo National Park which is managed by the Central Government. Komodo Island in the eastern island of Sumbawa, which are separated by the Sape Strait.

Administratively, these islands including Komodo district, West Manggarai regency, East Nusa Tenggara Province, Indonesia. Komodo Island is the most western tip of Nusa Tenggara Timur province, bordering the province of West Nusa Tenggara.

At Komodo Island, Komodo dragons live and breed well. Until August 2009, on this island there are about 1,300 Komodo dragons. Coupled with the other islands, such as Island and Rinca and Gili Motang, their numbers totaled about 2500. There are also around 100 dragons in the Wae Wuul Nature Reserve on the mainland island of Flores but was not included in the Komodo National Park.

Besides Komodo dragons, this island also store a variety of exotic flora of Sepang wood which by local people used as medicine and dye clothes, this nitak tree or sterculia oblongata in believe are useful as medicines and it seeds are crispy and tasty as the peas.

The history of Komodo Island starts in 1910. When the Dutch named the island on the south side of East Nusa Tenggara Province as the Island of Komodo. It begins with Lieutenant Steyn van Hens Broek who tries to prove Dutch troops's statements about the presence of large animal resembling a dragon on the island. Steyn then killed a Komodo dragon and bring documentation to the Museum and Botanical Garden in Bogor to be investigated.

In 2009, the Park has been named finalist in the "New Seven Wonders of Nature" which was published in the year 2010 new through online voting at www.N7W.com

No comments:

Post a Comment