Here be Komodo Dragons

In addition to Orangutans, my Indonesia trip was to photograph Komodo dragons. These are absolutely remarkable animals, and as close to a living dinosaur you can see today.

As excited as I was to see these animals, the experience was a little disappointing. The rangers lead us around a short trek through the forrest before returning to the beach where there a dragon was basking. It was all clearly staged.

© 2016 Will McGugan Komodo Dragons are actually venomous, contrary to the popular belief that their bites kill with toxic bacteria in their mouths.

© 2016 Will McGugan This was a juvenile dragon. We saw it meandering through the forrest, occasionally chewing on dry bones, trying to find sustenance. The urge to hug him, and squeeze him, and call him George was strong!

© 2016 Will McGugan The hardest thing about this photo was cropping out other tourists.

These shots were taken with the venerable Canon 400mm f5.6. It's rather an old lens now; it doesn't image stabilisation and relatively slow maximum aperture, but it is tack-sharp and light enough to carry around all day.