This morning I was sitting upstairs working on an English to French translation for a friend when I heard a strange noise coming from downstairs. It started with Michel screaming / moaning in shock followed by what sounded like pebbles on tile or perhaps claws on marble. I abandoned my work and ran downstairs just in time to see a very large very scaly (think crocodile) reptile climbing in a panic over the large stone wall behind our house and disappearing into the tropical forest beyond.
Michel explained that he and Theo had been playing with Theo's train (a loud and manically speedy little thing we got him for his birthday) in the living room when he heard a strange noise just behind on the other side of the couch. Picking up Theo to check it out he ran almost right into this large, dark, mysterious reptile which seemed to be eating (stealing / trying on?) Manuel's flip flop. It is unclear who was more frightened by who however the reptile was clearly quicker and he ran head first into the glass folding doors and stayed trapped their fighting to get out before finally escaping over the wall into the woods behind.
Now we are very accustomed to the friendly lizards and geckos who live in our house and occasionally poo on us from above while we are sitting at our desk. This however was more like a smallish crocodile that can scale walls in seconds than a gekko. Google search to the rescue quickly let us know that we had been visited by a komodo dragon. Here is highly informative video of the creature
Now in all fairness our dragon was of a smaller variety, about the size of a flip flop or forearm plus a very long tale. That being said it was still an effing komodo dragon in our dinning room! We spoke to the house owner's wife, a very nice Balinese woman, who said that a small komodo had been living near the pool. It was caught and eaten by a local who she had asked to get rid of it. She felt very bad that he had been eaten and assured us that the small komodo's living near us in Sanur are safe and very afraid of people. Nonetheless we are keeping the downstairs doors and windows facing the forest shut from now on and I'm not sure i'll ever be able to descend the stairs at night or in the morning on the way to make breakfast without doing a full dragon sweep first. Maybe we should also buy one of those spitting dart guns they sell on the beach too, just in cause the dragon returns.
