These vol­canic islands are inhab­it­ed by a pop­u­la­tion of around 5,700 giant lizards, whose appear­ance and aggres­sive behav­iour have led to them being called ‘Komo­do drag­ons’. They exist nowhere else in the world and are of great inter­est to sci­en­tists study­ing the the­o­ry of evo­lu­tion. The rugged hill­sides of dry savan­nah and pock­ets of thorny green veg­e­ta­tion con­trast stark­ly with the bril­liant white sandy beach­es and the blue waters surg­ing over coral.