History of Komodo Island

It is said that in ancient times there was a daughter named Putri Naga who lived on the island. The princess married a young man who was called Moja.

Not long after, the princess became pregnant and was blessed with two male twins. But strangely, one of the babies was not a human baby but a lizard.

The boy was given the name Si Gerong and grew up among humans. Meanwhile, the lizard was named Orah and released in the forest.

Time passed until Si Gerong became an agile young man. One time Gerong was about to hunt deer in the forest with a spear when he came across a giant lizard.

Gerong then chased the giant lizard and wanted to kill it with a spear. Suddenly, the Dragon Princess appeared and prevented Gerong from drawing his spear at the giant lizard.

The Putri Naga told Gerong that the giant lizard was a Komodo dragon which was Gerong's twin brother. After the incident, the local community treated the Komodo dragon well.

Komodo dragons live in the forest by hunting other animals such as deer, goats or wild boar. The giant lizard has lived side by side with humans to this day.

In 1910 the Dutch named the island on the southern side of East Nusa Tenggara Province as Komodo Island.

This story begins with Lieutenant Steyn van Hens Broek who tried to prove reports of the Dutch troops about the existence of a large animal resembling a dragon on the island. Steyn then killed a Komodo dragon and took the documentation to the Museum and Botanical Garden in Bogor for research.

In 2009, Komodo National Park was named a finalist for the "New Seven Wonders of Nature" which was announced in 2010 through online voting at www.N7W.com.

On November 11, 2011, New 7 Wonders announced the provisional winners, and Komodo National Park was named among the winners along with, Amazon Forest, Halong Bay, Iguazu Falls, Jeju Island, Puerto Princesa Underground River, and Table Mountain. Komodo National Park gets the most votes.