Lake Nakuru - Rhino and Hippo

We're on the trail out of Nakuru park, settling down for the journey back to Nairobi, when our driver again spots a couple of animals we hadn't believed we'd be lucky enough to see.

Firstly, rambling along the side of the road, munching its way through foliage as it went, was a Black Rhinoceros. There are less than 5000 black rhinos left in the wild, so to see one here is amazing.

The rhino watches us for a couple of minutes, then wanders away, nochalantly, carrying his bird buddy.

 

Our last find is a couple of hippopotamuses (no, hippopotami isn't the correct pluralisation). They are about thirty meters out in the water, and the sun is starting to set, making photographs very difficult to expose correctly. I do my best and get a reasonable shot of one of them.

Lake Nakuru - Lions

It's nearing the end of our time in Nakuru and we're all hoping to see some lions before leaving. It's not looking hopeful when our driver spots something out of the corner of his eye (the sign of a good guide is the ability to see something you didn't think possible and make everyone aware of it).

We drive over and stop near a tree, under which there appears to be ... nothing. One of our group points excitedly, exclaiming and we all turn, aiming cameras at the spot being pointed at ... but it's just a lion-coloured rock.

Suddenly, under the tree, there's movement and two heads pop up. Two females are spending the afternoon resting in the shade. Then, just as suddenly, up pops another, smaller head - they have a cub!

 

Lake Nakuru - Giraffes and Rhinos

Heading down from Baboon Cliff we hope to see some giraffes. One of our party spots one, but giraffe are very shy and no-one else see's it.

Finally, we all see a giraffe close enough to get a good look at. It knows we are there and looks a little wary, but continues to eat lunch for a time. Apart from the occasional glimpse from a distance, that's the last we see of the giraffes in the park.

Back down on the plains surrounding the lake and we're in White Rhinoceros country. While driving around the lake shore and up to Baboon Cliff we spotted some rhinos in the distance, but now our driver wants us to see some close-up ...

Probably a little too close - the third photo below was taken with no zoom (OK, for purists, 40mm, translated to about 60mm on a 1.5x crop camera - eyesight is equivalent to around 50mm) so shows just how close we were. Between the second and third photo the sound of the clicking camera shutters seemed to annoy the rhino - it stood up and looked menacing, we made an exit left.

  

Lake Nakuru - Views and Baboons

After taking our fill of flamingoes and pelicans at the Lake Nakuru shore, we head away from the water a little, with a drive across the plain and up to Baboon Cliff.

It's a dusty road, and almost completely devoid of baboons, but the view from the top shows us the lake shore we have just driven along.

 

Fortunately, we catch up with some baboons later, and one is kind enough to pose.

Lake Nakuru - Zebras and Storks

I find myself in Pune, India's seventh largest city, having just missed a train to Mumbai, the world's fourth largest urban centre, due to a sleepy driver and a phone number mix-up.

What better time to start talking of my time in Kenya last year?

I was in Nairobi for a little under two weeks - which meant one full weekend free from work and free to do something touristy.

Saturday started the weekend well, with a trip to see UB40 (well Ali Campbell plus band) - good fun. Sunday was the day I was looking forward to though - a safari to Lake Nakuru National Park.

On entry to the park we immediately start seeing the animals we came for - beginning with a small group of zebra. We'd already seen a few zebras from the car on the journey to the park, but its great to see some close up in their natural habitat.

Next - on to the birds. In fact it is impossible not to see the birds at the lake - there are literally thousands of pelicans and flamingoes, which I'll come on to later. First, we have a couple of storks: a Marabou - big, rangy, ugly - and a Yellow-Billed - slim, smooth and colourful.

 

Seal Sanctuary

I mentioned the National Seal Sanctuary (in Gweek) the other day, because they also have Asian Otters.

Surprise, surprise, there are also seals at the seal sanctuary. While we were there we saw the feeding - including a cheeky fish-stealing heron - and I thought I took a load of photos. After we left I was reviewing my images though and realised I really didn't take too many. Oh well, never mind. Here's my favourite from the day out.

Nikon 80-400 VR at 220mm, f/5.6, 1/250sec

Asian Otters

Both the Paradise Park and the National Seal Sanctuary in Cornwall have Asian Small-Clawed Otters.

Asian otters are a lot smaller than the European variety - probably only half the size. They make up for this by making much more noise - squeaking and meeping amongst themselves all the time.

The first two shots below are of the otters at Paradise Park, while the two in the shot at the bottom are at the Seal Sanctuary during feeding time.

 

Red Panda

Although Paradise Park in Cornwall houses mostly birds, they also have some otters (more on those later) and a couple of Red Pandas.

I've seen a Red Panda before - in the zoo in Washington D.C. - but these ones were a little more active. They are usually fairly tricky to photograph as they like to sit up in trees, hidden by the shadows under the branches and leaves. Fortunately, this one poked his head out enough for me to see.

Deer in bluebells

On Saturday I went to Ashridge to see if there were any bluebells still about - in previous years when I've been there the place is carpeted with them, but I was worried I'd left it a little late.

I needn't have worried at all. I was wondering around the woods, off the paths, climbing trees and lying on the floor to get a few shots, when I spotted another photographer of to my left, about twenty meters away.

Suddenly I saw some movement in front of me: there's a group of about fifteen deer heading straight for the other guy. They see him and stop, wondering what to do, so I sit down on the nearest log to to see if they will come any closer. I think about trying to change lenses, because I'm all set up for close-ups.

Before I have any more time to do anything, the deer decide the second guy is not to be trusted and run straight at me!. They spot me and change angle, but end up running between us - about five meters from me. I snap away a few shots, but haven't had time to think about anything so just have to hope something comes out. Fortunately, one of them does.

Once the deer are a little way away they stop again and have another think before running in a different direction. This allows me to get another few shots of the group.

 

Nikon 105mm VR Micro
1/60sec at f/6.3                                             1/60sec at f/5

Morning Calm

A scene from my walk to work in the morning - taken with my Nokia. I really need to be carrying my proper camera more often - these pictures could be soooo much better!

This was taken from almost the same spot as this (the tree in the background is the one in this picture), this and this - a very productive corner indeed.

Swoyambhu - the Monkey Temple

Day 17 and we find ourselves, all of a sudden, back in Kathmandu.

The last two days have flown by - the walking has been good (even through the snow on the way to Namche), the appetite is well and truly back, and the lower altitudes allow us to consider that alcohol might not be a bad thing any more. In fact a few of us have hangovers and a need for sleep after last night's shenanigans.

Not a lot gets accomplished today - after a lunch of Sushi and a quick trip all the way to the hotel foyer to pick up some souvenirs, its time for a kip before dinner at Kilroys.

Day 18 is a lot more successful. Although we're leaving today, our flight is not until late afternoon, so we have the morning free. We have heard recommendations for the 'monkey temple' so we jump in a cab and ask for it. Twenty minutes later we're there.

The real name of the area is Swoyambhu, but tourists know it better as the Monkey Temple due to the number of monkeys living wild around here. They are fairly tame, but won't let anyone get too close before running.

 

The area also contains the temple, as well as some statues and stupas, which we spend some time wandering around.

  

And suddenly its time to leave - back to the hotel to pick up the luggage and meet with the rest of the group for the start of our journey home. Its been an amazing 18 days and I would recommend this trip to anyone. I hope you've enjoyed reading and looking at the photos - its back to semi-regular postings of daily life now ...

Yaks and other wildlife

Time for some Himalayan fauna and flora.

Firstly the yaks. We're seeing lots of these - in fact our group includes three of them, which are carrying our luggage between stops. Below about 3000 meters a cross between yaks and cows (caks?) is used - seen in the picture to the right - as yaks themselves prefer to the thinner air at higher altitudes and don't do well down low. The first photo below shows some proper yaks - longer-haired and larger than the cross.

We're also seeing 'Yak Steak' on the menu at the lodges each night. It's probably buffalo (we're told) but tastes good none-the-less.

There's not a lot of flora around - we're a bit early in the year and had we arrived a few weeks later we might have seen the rhododendron forests in full bloom. However as we start our trek there are already a number of primula coming up and on the way back the ground will be covered.

 

Next up, some birds. First is the Impeyan Pheasant, the national bird of Nepal. We see quite a few of these below 4000 meters. They tend to be seen at ground level, scratching at the dirt, and their colour really catches the eye. Next we see some Himalayan Griffon Vultures circling overhead - there must be something dead nearby.

 

We see plenty of Snow Leopard footprints in the snow in various places along the route, but no sign of the animals themselves. Our guide also claims to have spotted a Musk Deer, but none of the group have eyes quite that sharp.

Nuts!!

All the squirrels I saw last weekend were digging around in the soil, trying to remember where they buried their nuts last year. This is the only one I found that was nut-less. Sorry about the annoying twig in front of it - I had to take the opportunities as they came before the little fellas scarpered, and this one turned out well, despite the slight obstruction.

Interestingly, I looked up the origin of the word scarper after writing the last paragraph - turns out it comes from good old Punch and Judy

Nikon 18-200 @ 170mm, f5.6, 1/15sec, ISO-400

More wildlife

Wow, it was a busy week last week. Didn't get a chance to post more pics from the wildlife park before now.

I was actually hoping to have something different to post today - fireworks. It having been November 5th yesterday, we strolled down to Cambell park to watch the pyrotechnic delights and I took the camera down. We've lived in Milton Keynes three years now and never been before so didn't know where they would be exactly - I think we ended up standing a bit too close to get pictures covering the whole area, and I really didn't choose the right settings for the camera. I think the whole lot are useless! If there is anything I can salvage I'll post it later in the week, but don't hold your breath.

In the meantime, here are some others from the park I promised. Eventually I'll post these and more on my website. Click the photos for larger versions.

 
 

A grand day out

Boy (pointing): What are those mummy.
Mother: They're Zebras.
Boy: No, those, lying down.
Mother: Those are logs.

Yes, I went to the zoo a few days ago, during half term week, and a laugh was had by all.

Well, when I say zoo, I actually mean the Cotswold Wildlife Park. A wildlife park is like a zoo, but instead of bars separating you from the animals there is a fence, a ditch then another fence. The height of the fences, and the amount of electricity going through the second one varies with the likelyhood of the animals inside eating you given the chance, but generally I think the view you get is better and the animals have a lot more room than they would at what you would normally consider a zoo.

Last Christmas I adopted a penguin for Helen as a gift - or at least I gave a bunch of money to the park in her name, they sent her a certificate, and they have some penguins, which is almost the same thing - so we were mostly interested in seeing these guys. I didn't really realise how much else there was too see there though. I would recommend going along to anyone.

While we were there I took a load of pictures - far too many to post here. Here is my favourite from the day - I'll post some of the others later in the week.

Click the photo for a larger version.
Nikon 80-400 VR at 280mm, f8, 1/20sec