Entries about egret

Another early start today, up at 05:00, breakfast at 06:00, and leave at 06:30.

There is a mist hanging over the river this morning, creating an ethereal scene.

Black Fronted Nunbird

Long Nosed Bats
They are so incredibly well camouflaged, as they try their best to hide from the Bat Falcon.

Sunbittern

Striated Heron

Greater Ani

White Tipped Dove

Saffron Playboy Butterfly

Rufescent Tiger Heron

Plumbeous Kite

Capped Heron

Centipede
I love the way the pattern creates a false set of eyes on his rear end, and that he looks like a series of glass beads joined together.

White Throated Toucan

Rapids
We return to the same area we visited yesterday, as the moving water often attracts birds.

Red Throated Piping Guan

White Banded Swallows

Bearded Turtle

We are not the only ones from the lodge out and about on the water today.

Bird Watchers

A boat waiting for the trekkers to return

White Winged Swallow
I am still chasing these little birds around trying to catch one flying – I have some success, but still not completely happy.

Scarlet Macaws

Red Throated Piping Guan

Ruddy Ground Dove

Reflections
From the rapids we enter an area where the water is completely still, creating perfect reflections.

Amazon Kingfisher

Snowy Egret

Olive Oropendula

Cristalino Lodge
The usual taxi (luggage truck) is waiting for me at the top of the steps to take me to the room when we get back from our morning's boat safari.

Butterflies
On our way to the lodge when we arrived on the very first day, I saw a number of butterflies on a rock near the lodge, and I asked Gui if we could go back and take a closer look. They are more active in the middle of the day, so we go out at 11:45 to see if they are there.

There are literally thousands of them, and they rarely stay still for more than a second, flittering about left to right, right to left.

It is like being in the middle of a living, breathing, confetti shower.

I spend over an hour photographing these mesmerising butterflies, with lots of exclamations of “wow” and “isn't this amazing”. The experience is like nothing we have ever known before.

We have a photobomber

Not one, not two, but three photobombers

My taxi takes me directly to the restaurant this lunchtime, via the staff quarters (the truck can't drive the pedestrian path as there are too many tree roots along the way).

Lunch
I try and remember what I ordered last night (you pre-order the food for the next meal at the previous one). I photographed the items on the menu, but the starter bears little resemblance to what I receive. Whatever it is, it is very enjoyable.

The main course is a Micaela-style tenderloin stew with parsnip chips and country-style corn meal.

Dessert is something called Cupuaçu, a traditional dish of fruit pudding with crunchy Brazil nuts

I spend some time trying some gentle exercises for my knee, as it is feeling very much better today. The rest of the afternoon is spent chilling in the room with the fan on before confidently walking the ¼ mile path through the jungle to reach the restaurant for dinner, without the use of my knee braces.

Dinner
Everything seems a bit of a shambles this evening, and while the service is friendly and helpful, it is a little hit and miss and at times rather slow.

After sitting down at our usual table, we ask the waitress for a jug of water. When after a while it has not arrived, we ask another of the waiting staff. Some time later, the maître d' comes over and asks if everything is OK. We mention the missing water, and he goes off to chase it. Soon after someone arrives with two jugs, immediately followed by two other people carrying three jugs between them. We now have five jugs of water, although they do take four of them away, thankfully, otherwise, I'd be up every half an hour throughout the night.

Courgette hash with poached egg

Cristalino steak - so tender and tasty

Coconut pudding - delicious!

So much for the confidence earlier – walking back to the room, my knee is suffering big time. Full of disappointment and frustration, I take some painkillers before bed.

Goodnight from the Amazon, and thank you to Undiscovered Destinations for arranging this trip for us.

Another early start this morning: up at 04:15 for a 05:00 safari.

We stop at the statue of São Francisco, the protector of ecology, to photograph the sunrise, before continuing to Ponte 3, our favourite bridge (I never thought I'd end up with a favourite bridge on the Transpantaneira).

Bridge # 3
There are way more birds flying this morning than yesterday, and in greater quantities.

Most birds roost near water at night, as the sun heats the water during the day, which helps keep the birds warm during the night. In the morning they fly off in search of food.

It is mesmerising to watch.

Flash Gun
After the problems I had with low light necessitating high ISO (= noisy/grainy images) yesterday, I brought my Speedlight with me this morning, plus my Better Beamer.

Ringed Kingfisher

The Better Beamer is basically a fresnel lens on a frame. Its main purpose is to extend the range of the flash, although it will also reduce the possibility of the lens hood casting a shadow.

Green Kingfisher

Caiman

I am impressed that it seems to work all the way across the other side of the pond!

As well as into the sky above.

Large Billed Tern

Black Vulture

Black Bellied Whistling Ducks

Orange Winged Parrots

After a while, I abandon the flash.

Caiman

Wood Stork

Jabiru

Black Skimmers
I love watching the way these birds fish by skimming the water with their beaks open. The lower mandible is larger than the top one, allowing them to more easily hook up some breakfast.

This one's got a fish!

Large Billed Terns having a bit of a domestic

Yellow Billed Cardinal with a colouration issue

This is what he is supposed to look like:

Southern Caracara

Black Capped Night Heron

Maguari Stork

Peach Fronted Parakeet

Unicoloured Blackbird

Striated Heron

Great Egret

Reluctantly we move on from the pond at Bridge # 3, and slowly make our way back towards the lodge.

Maguari Stork

Savanna Hawk

Southern Lapwing coming in to land

Black Stilt

Wood Stork

Wattled Jacana

Monk Parakeets

Roseate Spoonbill

Rufous Cachalote

Bared Faced Ibis

We see a Southern Caracara have a wrestling match with a stick.

Guira Cuckoo

Lesser Yellow Headed Vulture

Black Vulture

Snail Kite

Breakfast
By the time we get back to the hotel, we are too late for the breakfast buffet, but the lodge has laid our usual table in the shade of a tree on the patio, and they bring us a number of different dishes.

It seems the chachalaca have got to the butter, however, before we can.

Caught red-handed - or is that red-beaked - with a large knob of butter in his mouth.

I bet the butter does melt in his mouth, though!

This is the most we've eaten for any breakfast so far. Disclaimer: we didn't eat everything served! We do feel obliged to eat more than we normally do, however, as they've brought us all this food.

Chill time
Mid-afternoon we spend some time in the pool cooling down. We are the only ones around, so have the pool to ourselves. I guess everyone else has gone out for a strenuous walk or horse-riding.

This is not a sign you really want to see right next to the pool

Afternoon safari
At 16:00 we set off for our very last safari in the Pantanal, as tomorrow we are moving on to pastures new.

The first thing we spot is another armadillo.

Agouti
He is a long way away, there is lots of dust in the air, and I am shooting into the sun, so unfortunately I don't get any good pictures of the agouti.

A Crab-Eating Fox rushes past us.

Blue Crowned Parakeets

Yellow Collared Macaws

Collared Anteaters
Leaving the best until last, Roberto slams on the brakes and reverses the car back a few yards before jumping out with his binoculars. Soon he beckons us over: he has seen an anteater in a tree.

Wow!

Not just one, but there is another one in a nearby tree, which is quite surprising, as they are normally solitary creatures.

Once the sun's gone down, leaving the anteaters in very low light, we reluctantly return to the lodge for a shower, dinner and packing before bed.

Goodnight and goodbye from Araras. Thank you to Undiscovered Destinations for arranging this trip for us.

After lunch, I take a quick walk around the hotel grounds to see what birds are around, then retire to the air-conditioned room for a much-welcome snooze.

Southern Caracara

Cattle Tyrant

I am so tempted not to go this afternoon, as I feel completely knocked out, but I don't want to miss anything, so I join David for anotehr safari.

The Boat
While there is plenty of space to spread out my gear (I carry two cameras, one with the 100-400mm plus a 1.4 extender, and the other with either the 24-105mm or a fish eye), legroom is at a premium as a result of the raised shelf at the bow of the boat. I can, of course, stretch out by placing my leg on this higher 'platform', but by doing so, my back ends up hurting. Every day I have been eating painkillers as if they are sweets in order to enjoy the boat trips.

Dinio, our trusty captain

Jaguar
I am so glad I did come out this afternoon as we are just motoring along at some speed when the captain stops the boat and quietly shouts: “Jaguar!” Roberto doesn't believe him at first but then spots the cat in amongst the tall grass.

Walking along the riverbank, he meanders in and out of the tall grass, emerging out into the open at regular intervals.

Initially, there is only us here, but after Dinio radioes the other boat captains, other photographers turn up.

Depending on where they were when they received the message, quite a few miss the sighting; or they just see his head sticking up from above the long grass.

Just like he appeared out of nowhere, 14 minutes later he is gone into the undergrowth.

We go off to see what else nature has to offer us today.

Jabiru

Peach Fronted Parakeets

Great Egret

Cocoi Heron

Black Vulture feasting on a capybara carcass

Lesser Kiskadee

Neotropic Cormorant
Watching a cormorant attempting to take off from the river, I am fascinated by the number of flaps and how long a runway he needs.

Finally airborne!

Large Billed Tern

Caracara with an interesting growth on its chest

Giant River Otters
We come across a couple of otters, fishing.

While we are watching the otters, drifting slowly along the river, a couple of little fish jump in the boat. To get away from the otters, maybe?

Ruddy Pigeon

As we make our way back to the lodge, I amuse myself by trying to be creative using a slow shutter speed on a moving boat.

David, meanwhile, is not feeling at all well.

It gets surprisingly cold in the boat when it is moving at speed. In the heat of the day it gives a welcome relief, but first thing in the morning and last thing at night it is good to have some extra layers.

Tonight is our last night here at Porto Jofre. We celebrate by having an early night (as we have done every day so far on this trip). David's throat feels raw, and he spends most of the night coughing.

Goodnight from Porto Jofre, and thank you Undiscovered Destinations for arranging this trip for us.

We have a later start this morning: breakfast at 05:30, leave at 06:30. David is still feeling pretty rough, so again decides to stay behind when Roberto and I go off.

Having already seen eight jaguars (including the one at dinner the first night), we head to a different location this morning.

The scene may look idyllic, but the water is dirty and certainly not good for swimming as there are a number of dangers lurking under the surface: caiman, piranha, and sweet-water stingray to mention a few.

Capybara
These giant guinea pigs are the world's largest rodents, at twice the size of the beaver.

The most interesting thing about capybara is that they are known to eat their poo in the mornings.

I am disappointed that we don't see them do this (I think). We do see one of the youngsters drinking, however.

Pied Lapwing

Amazon Kingfisher

Wood Stork

Great Egret

Roseate Spoonbill

Black Crowned Night Heron

Rufescent Tiger Heron

Greater Ani trying to hide

Black Howler Monkeys
Today we see the male – which is actually black – as well as the golden-coloured female we saw yesterday.

One of the females has a baby on her back!

Golden Tegu Lizard

Green Iguana

More Capybara

Caiman
There are caimans everywhere!

This guy is a real giant of a grandaddy!

I didn't realise until today, that caiman (and crocodiles) have no tongue as such. Well, technically they do, but the tongue is held in place at the roof of the mouth by a membrane. Because caimans spend so much time underwater, the tongue helps keep the throat closed, protecting the animal's airway. Unlike other species, the tongue plays no part in feeding.

This poor guy is missing the tip of his tail – he could have had an encounter with a jaguar, or possibly even one of his own. Caimans have been known to turn to cannibalism.

More Capybara

Jabiru

Nesting Site
We arrive in an area where almost every tree has a birds' nest. It is a beautiful, peaceful place with lots of tall trees offering shade, and we are the only people here, so I ask if we can just hang around for a while.

Jabiru on her nest

I try to photograph some of the numerous birds flying above the canopies, without a great deal of success.

Large Billed Tern

Lesser Yellow Hooded Vulture

Southern Caracara

Neotropic Cormorant

I have a bit more luck with the perched birds.

Anhinga

Cocoi Heron

Lesser Kiskadee

Southern Caracara

Cormorant and Anhinga

The Anhinga is not happy

She has more than her hands full with feeding her young. I am amazed at how far down her throat the youngster sticks his head!

His brother tries to muscle in on the action.

Enough is enough!

We move on to see what else nature has to offer us today.

More Capybara

Southern Screamer

Jabiru

Black Collared Hawk

Bare Faced Ibis

Black Crowned Night Heron

Green Iguana

Cocoi Heron

Another Jabiru - this large bird is the symbol of Pantanal

We return to the lodge for another buffet lunch.

Goodbye from Porto Jofre for now. Thank you Undiscovered Destinations for arranging this trip.

I had a dreadful night: my shoulder, back, wrist, knee, pelvis, and ankle were all hurting at some stage, and my stomach felt very unsettled (I still have the runs); while David spent the night coughing and blowing his nose. I finally give in and get up just after 04:00.

David decides to stay in bed for the morning, so I go out with Roberto in a boat to see if we can find any jaguars. The Pantanal is said to have the world's highest density of these beautiful cats, and Porto Jofre is known as Jaguar Central, so I am hoping we'll get lucky.

We agreed quite early on at the planning stage that we didn't want to be in a group (too many bad experiences as a photographer on group tours), so we paid extra and upgraded to a private tour. Seeing some of the bigger boats with up to 12 people in them, I am grateful for the small four-seater boat with me, Roberto and Captain Dinio.

We leave the hotel before dawn, and the sunrise is beautiful with the early morning mist hanging over the water! It is surprisingly cold this morning with the wind from the moving boat. I am glad I listened to Roberto and put a wind-proof jacket on!

We are heading in a leisurely fashion towards an area where jaguars were spotted yesterday, stopping to photograph the birds and animals we see along the way.

Bat Falcon

Pied Lapwings making baby lapwings

Black Skimmer

Large Billed Tern

Green Iguana

All the boat captains are in touch via radio, and we get word that some guests from the hotel have seen a family of five otters, so we decide to go there to check it out.

It seems to take forever to get there, as the captain is very courteous and slows right down every time we pass fishermen in their boats. I worry that the otters will be gone by the time we get there.

Giant River Otters
The otters are still around, eating fish. They are quite large (I guess there's a hint in the name), and they have viciously sharp teeth. You can easily hear the crunching of the fish bones as they eat.

Other Wildlife

Cocoi Heron

White Winged Swallow

Wood Stork

Great Egret

Neotropic Cormorants

Amazon Kingfisher

Black Crowned Night Heron

Wattled Jacana

Anhinga drying its wings

Caiman

Southern Screamer

Brown Capuchin

Crane Hawk

Lesser Yellow Hooded Vulture

Toco Toucan

A passing boat indicates to us that they have heard of a sighting, so "hold on to your hats, it is full speed ahead!" Sod the fishermen, this is business!

Jaguar
The first hint that there is something of interest, is a boat jam!

At first, I can't spot the cat, as she is doing her best to be camouflaged (very successfully) while she stalks an unsuspecting caiman through the long grass at the riverbank.

Her camouflage skills are better than her hunting skills this morning, however, as she pounces with a menacing growl, the caiman gets away with a large splash at the last minute!

The look of dejection on her face as the caiman gets away!

The jaguar walks along the bank. We follow.

She stops. We stop.

She turns around. We turn around. We lose sight of her for a while and thinking she might have wandered over to the other side of the peninsula, we check it out. Nope. We return to the original side just as she appears out of the undergrowth.

Soon she gets fed up with sitting on a log and disappears into the undergrowth again.

Our next spotting is one of her two sub-adult cubs in a tree further down the bank.

The other one is hidden in the thicket behind the tree.

Meanwhile, mum is keeping an eye on them from the riverbank.

We're all getting roasted by the fierce sun while waiting for further action.

Mum is fidgety and heads along the edge of the river towards where her babies are.

She looks straight at us and heads for the water.

There is a strict code of conduct for boat safaris in the Pantanal, and keeping at least 25 metres away from any big cats is one of them. When it looks like she is going to swim across the river, all the boat captains move to a respectable distance.

As it turns out, she swims away from us along the bank and disappears into the jungle further along.

It's time to head back for lunch. Last night Roberto suggested we start at 06:00 this morning, and be back at the hotel between 10:00 and 10:30. It is now 12:30, and lunch is served in half an hour. David must be wondering what on earth has happened to us!

When I get back to the hotel, I find David sitting outside the room. While he is up and about, he does not look well, with his right eye swollen and watering. He tells me he is feeling slightly better and we both go off for some lunch.

Thank you to Undiscovered Destinations for arranging this trip for us.

Zebra

Looks like we have us some zebra love here.

It's pretty obvious that this liaison isn't going to result in any zebra babies!

It looks like a kinky threesome to me.

Cattle Egret

Wildebeest Buffet

Marabou Stork and a variety of Vultures feast on a wildebeest carcass left behind by a much larger predator. These scavenging raptors are the hyenas of the skies, playing a vital ecological clean-up role by disposing of decomposing carcasses.

There is always a strict pecking order at such buffets, with the Lapped Faced Vulture being the first, as with their powerful hooked beaks they are the only raptor able to open up the carcass to allow other, smaller vultures to access the innards.

These huge and aggressive birds stand more than a metre tall with wingspans of around three metres. They are also, however, known for being particularly affectionate and mate for life, which in the wild can be up to thirty years.

I have to say that he doesn't look very 'affectionate'.

Their heads are free of feathers to avoid blood clinging to it as they bury themselves deep into the carcass to get at the sinew, their preferred food. Potent stomach acids help them deal with the most putrid carcass.

Vultures can store up to one kilo of consumed flesh in the distensible section of their oesophagus, called a crop. They have been known to eat so much that they become too heavy to physically take off; although should they sense danger, they are able to empty the crop for a quick get-away.

Different species of vultures have different shaped beaks, which means they eat different parts of a carcass, hence they should - theoretically - all be able to eat peacefully at the 'dinner table'.

Hartebeest

A large antelope, standing at around 1 metre at the shoulders (3 feet), hartebeest are gregarious animals that are usually found in herds, such as here.

Now let's go back to what I said about the size of the Lapped Faced Vulture: should the bird be standing next to the Hartebeest, this is what it would look like.

Giraffe

A lonesome giraffe eats his way across the savannah.

Golden Jackal

She is sniffing around, looking for something, maybe food or a scent.

She finds a hole and disappears into it.

Elephants

It's interesting to see the different lengths and angles of the tusks of these two elephants.

Kori Bustard

Eurasian Avocet

Common Pratincole

Lions

At first the only evidence of the lions sleeping under this tree, is a paw sticking up.

Later we a head appears, then drops down again.

We let sleeping lions be, and carry on exploring.

Another Lion

A young male lion is surveying the landscape from a hillock overlooking Big Marsh.

We can tell he is young – less than seven years old – from the fact that his nose is still pink. As they get older, their nose becomes black all over.

He gets up and walks down onto the flat area.

We move down to the flats too, and at one stage he comes up and lies under our car for the shade!

Eventually he seems to settle down and go to sleep – in the middle of the sun – so we drive off to find somewhere to have our lunch.

Picnic at Big Marsh

Malisa finds a great lunch spot overlooking a sea of wildebeest on Big Marsh.

There is something really special about getting the picnic chairs out, in the company of wild animals.

There are literally thousands of wildebeest down on the marsh.

Judging by the number of Superb Starlings who join us, I would guess this is a popular picnic spot.

"Got any food for me?"

I might just accidentally drop a piece of cake on the ground while I was eating; it is so easily done.

Just as we are packing up, we hear a commotion down on the marsh, with thousands of hooves beating the ground as the whole herd – or confusion as a group of wildebeest are known as – make a run for it. Soon there are none.

Just a couple of minutes ago, this was heaving with animals

I have no idea what spooked them, so we pop down to find out.

This safari was arranged by Calabash Adventures, the best safari operators by far.

After breakfast we continue on our quest to see the wildebeest migration and maybe even a female giving birth.

The first thing we come across, is a less-than-a-day-old baby suckling his mum.

Large herds of wildebeests attract a number of followers as they cut across the savannah, in the form of flies, which again entice birds, in this case Cattle Egrets, who ride along, hoping for a tasty snack.

Marabou Stork

Grant's Gazelles

Thomson's Gazelle

The difference between Grant's and Thomson's (affectionately known as Tommies), is not just that the latter is much small (which of course isn't easy to see in a photograph), but also the shape of the horns, and the dark stripe along the side.

Here you can see them together – Grant's in the front with the paler body and the curved horns, and Thomson's at the back: smaller with a distinctive dark stripe.

Dung Beetles

Hundreds of thousands of wildebeest in one place naturally produces a lot of waste, with the waste again attracting dung beetles. Lots of them. Malisa knows what a fascination I have with these cool little recyclers, and stops for me to take some photos as they roll away their prized balls of shit.

So, why do they do it?
While there are different types of dung beetles, these little critters we see here, start by converging on a fresh pile of dung and rolling it into a ball. Sometimes you see several beetles on a pile of dung, and they can transform a huge mount of manure into perfect balls in minutes.

Usually it is the male doing most of the rolling – they can roll up to 50 times their own weight – with the female simply hitching a ride.

Things don't always go to plan.

When a spot with soft soil is found, they stop and bury the ball.

After mating under ground, the female lays eggs inside the dung. Once the new brood has hatched, they eat their way out of the ball, thus the dung doubles up as housing as well as food.

By burying and consuming dung, they improve nutrient recycling and soil structure; as well as the dispersal of seeds found in the animal waste. Additionally, by removing the manure, they decrease the number of flies that would otherwise be attracted to the wildebeest.

I just love these little animals!

Hyena

A pregnant hyena eyes up a zebra.

While they are known to be opportunist predators, hyenas generally go after abandoned kills. In this case, our female is looking for placentas left on the ground after animals have given birth.

The zebra nearest us is limping badly, and we momentarily get quite concerned for safety, but either the hyena doesn't notice, or she has not got the energy in her at her current state to pursue a potential prey. There is less chance of losing her baby by foraging for leftovers than chasing a large animal.

Marabou Stork

Meanwhile, a Marabou Stork circles above. They too are carrion eaters, so probably looking for placentas too.

And an Abdim Stork

Kori Bustard

Judging by his flamboyant courtship display, this guy doesn't have food on his mind, he is looking to attract a female.

Zebra with Young

This guy seems to have a lot of passengers.

Wattled Starlinsg

Black Headed Heron

Far in the distance we see him stalking something on the ground, then dip down and reappear with a snake in his beak!

For the next ten minutes we watch the battle of wits between the still-live snake and the hungry bird.

It is a tough flight. The snake keeps trying to slither out of the heron's mouth but obviously the heron gets the better of it.

While trying to re-arrange the snake within his beak, he drops it at one stage, but is very quick at picking it up again.

We are fascinated by the spectacle unfolding before us - this surely has to be today's highlight!

Knob Billed Duck

As we are watching the heron, Malisa calls out to alert us to a Knob Billed Duck flying overhead. I grab my other camera (I have been using Big Bertha for the heron, but find that too heavy and cumbersome for birds in flight), but by the time I get myself sorted, it has almost passed us over.

Wildebeests

As we continue our journey across the flat meadows near Ndutu, we find ourselves surrounded on all sides by wildebeest. There are literally thousands of them, everywhere we look, as far as we can see into the distance.

Today's challenge is to find a wildebeest – or zebra – just about to give birth so that we can witness the beginning of a new life. It seems, however, that we are too early for the wildebeest, and too late for the zebra.

Zebra Dust Bath

Zebra on Heat

Someone ought to tell this female zebra on heat that mounting another female zebra is not going to satisfy her sexual urges, nor is it going to produce baby zebra.

“Stop it! You're scaring the children!”

The other female is obviously not in the mood for lesbian love, and kicks out before making her escape.

Car stuck in the Mud

In the distance we see a car at an odd angle; obviously unable to get out of a bit of a hole, quite literally.

The ground is so deceptive here: the savannah looks its normal grassy self on the surface, yet – in some place – as soon as you drive on it, it is all boggy underneath.

There are already other people helping the female driver of the grounded vehicle. A few years ago there were no female drivers here in th Northern Circuit, but that is slowly changing as the lodges prepare accommodation to support both genders. On this trip we see two lady drivers.

It rather concerns me seeing the vultures circle above – what do they know that we don't? The presence of a number of wildebeest, however, indicates that we are reasonably safe from predators.

At the beginning of this trip, Malisa mentioned about making sure he had a couple of tow ropes in the car, now I am beginning to understand why, as a rope is attached to the stuck car, with another vehicle ready to pull them out. They are travelling together in a group of three cars, with the passengers being a bunch of very friendly Americans.

The lead car goes full whack in top speed and makes it all look very easy. One of the passengers, however, makes the mistake of standing up in the vehicle as they are being pulled out, and ends up completely airborne. I am pretty sure she must have hit her head on the roof – that's gotta have hurt!

Malisa tells us to hold on for dear life as he drives across the boggy area at full speed too, creating some serious bounce, resulting in painful jarring of my back. We stop the other side of the bog to make sure all the vehicles get across. The atmosphere here is like that of a party, with everyone treating it as an adventure. There is lots of clapping and cheering going on.

There's an enormous amount of surface water about!

Hyenas

We see four hyenas scattered in different places, in amongst the zebra. Neither species seem that bothered by the other.

As we move to get closer, we almost run over this fifth one in a den.

Eland

A small herd of eland appear on the horizon. Traditionally hunted for their delicious meat, these large antelopes are usually very skittish.

For that reason there is no point in trying to get any closer to get a better shot, so I grab Big Bertha instead (my 600mm lens). Because of how far away these critters are, there is a lot of atmospheric distortion in the air, making the images quite soft.

Abdim Stork

Pee break

Unlike the Serengeti where there are a number of organised picnic areas with modern toilets, here at Ndutu it's au naturel. You'd think that after all these years I would have learned to face into the wind when 'marking my territory', especially on a gusty day like today. Not a chance. The only casualty is my knickers, my jeans remain unscathed, and thankfully there are no other tourist vehicles around as I take them off. The wildebeest don't seem to mind.

You - and I - will be pleased to know there are no pictures.

Thomson's Gazelle

A mother and her ten day old baby.

We race across the savanna – not because we're in a hurry, but in order to prevent ourselves getting bogged down in the marshes - to reach a tree which will provide shade for our picnic lunch.

More to follow in the next blog entry. Thanks to Calabash Adventures for arranging this safari for us.

It's late afternoon as we leave Serengeti National park behind and head for pastures new, with five nights in the Ndutu region of Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

There are just as many zebras here as there were the other side of the park border. Of course the animals don't have to check in and out of the parks as we do, and there are no physical borders.

Wattled Starling

A tree by the side of the road is alive with these colourful and impressive-looking birds.

They get their name from the long wattles found on the throat of breeding male birds, who also display unfeathered yellow skin and a black forehead (the rest of the year they are a dull grey)

Female

Jackson's Chameleon

Without warning, Malisa comes to a screeching halt on the apparently empty road. Except it is not so empty. Malisa's eyes never cease to amaze me – he has spotted a chameleon crossing the road!

They are seriously bizarre in the way they walk.

Having safely crossed the road, our little friend disappears up the bank and into the undergrowth. What an exciting sighting!

European White Stork, a seasonal migrant

The dark line you see just before the horizon is thousands upon thousands of zebra and wildebeest making their annual migration through the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. Some 3-4 million animals in total are part of this spectacle.

Lions

Also watching this amazing phenomenon is a pride of seven lions, but not for the same reasons as us: they see it as a line-up of prospective lunch choices.

Although this one seems to be watching us.

Wildebeest

We soon find ourselves in the midst of the hoofed melee, surrounded by wildebeest on all sides.

There are a few zebra amongst them too, but nowhere near the numbers we saw just a little bit further north in Serengeti.

At this time of the year, the plains of Ndutu are descended on by what is known as the 'Great Migration', and the animals are here to give birth to their babies before continuing on their never-ending quest for greener pastures. It is in the hope of seeing the young animals or even babies being born that we have chosen to come here now; we are therefore a little disappointed to see that there do not appear to be any little ones around, at least not in this herd.

We finally see this one single youngster in amongst all the adults.

He's full of life as he explores his new world.

At just a couple of days old, he doesn't know what to make of this egret.

“I think I'll go back to mum.”

Mum, meanwhile, has a non-fare-paying passenger in the form of a wattled starling.

The fare-dodger is soon evicted, however.

Cheetah

In he distance we see a few cars gathered and go off to investigate.

Initially we can't see what they are all looking at, but then we spot a little head in the long grass.

There is a mum and two young cubs, somewhere in the region of 5-7 months old, and they have a kill that they are feeding on. Their dinner, however, it completely overrun with flies!

Mum tries to move the carcass, but it proves too heavy for her.

Having had enough to eat, they all join together and roll in the grass in an attempt to rid themselves of those pesky flies.

It's getting late and we need to be at the lodge before dark; and as we don't know what we might see on the way to delay us, Malisa wants to get going.

Great White Egrets and Abdim Storks

We are not the only ones heading for home – a great number of egrets and storks fly low on the way to their roosting sites for the night.

Road Block

More and more ungulates are joining the migration this point, with the road being blocked in several places by wildebeest and zebra.

Uh uh. It looks like there may be a road block of a different kind here; I hope we can manage to get through the puddles.

The cars in front of us have made it, so we should be OK. It probably looks worse than it actually is.

We're through!

Great White Egrets
As we cross the narrow strip of land between Lake Masek and Lake Ndutu, we see hundreds and hundreds of egrets fly low over the water as they are coming home to roost. The light is gorgeous with the setting sun giving the whole scene a warm, yellow glow.

It's a spectacular sight, and we stay as long as we can before having to make the journey to the lodge for the night.

Ndutu Lodge

This is the third time we have stayed here at Ndutu Lodge, and as yet we've never arrived early enough to be able to have the time to sit around the camp fire before dinner.

Today is no different. By the time we have a shower and change, we are the last to arrive in the restaurant. The food here has always been excellent, but as they are under new management, we are a little concerned that this may have changed. We needn't have worried, it every bit as good as it always was.

Another good thing about Ndutu Lodge which hasn't changed, is that they serve Savanna Cider.

Mini tomato tart

Chicken curry with coconut and banana, mango chutney, rice and poppadum; with vegetables on the side

Chocolate mousse

Thank you so much to Calabash Adventures for arranging this trip.

Lake Natron Camp

We can see the camp from a distance, initially looking little more than dark pointy hillocks or large boulders on the landscape.

The 'boulders' are in fact large camouflage Bedu style net covers, hiding the accommodation. Like everywhere else we have been so far, a whole army of helpers arrive to help carry our stuff as soon as we pull up in the car, and we are ushered into the open mess tent which doubles as a reception.

After the usual formalities, we are shown to our tent. They are well spread out, making them very private. The whole tent, as I said, is under a huge fly sheet, offering shade from hot sun.

The accommodation is relatively spacious and offers three parts – first the screened veranda , with a couple of chairs and a table. The staff leave our lunch boxes here, which we brought with us from Kilimamoja this morning.

The main part has a large double bed, a writing desk and a day bed which in our case doubles as a luggage rack.

A partial wall separates the bedroom from the bathroom, where there is a wash basin, compostable eco-toilet and bucket shower.

We dump our stuff, change into swimwear and head down to the 'spa area'.

This is another area shaded by a large fly sheet, offering chairs, day beds and a couple of hammocks alongside a natural spring which feeds the main lake.

We take our picnic boxes with us and enjoy our lunch overlooking the spring and the marshland.

The main attractions here, however, as far as I am concerned, is the little freshwater spring. As soon as we step into the cool water, the endemic cichlids start to nibble at our feet.

For a number of years I have wanted to have a fish pedicure, but I have always been concerned about the hygiene in the tanks in British salons (they have since been banned in the UK for that very reason). Here, however, I have no such concern, and am loving every minute of it!

David, on the other hand, is way too ticklish to get pleasure from it, and merely dips his feet in briefly.

I could spend hours here, but the sun is very strong and I worry about my photo-sensitive dermatitis on my shins; so we reluctantly go back to the tent.

This area is affectionately known as 'Zanzibar' to the locals, as it is very much hotter than Arusha and the northern safari circuit. We try to have a little siesta, but it is really rather too hot to get any decent sleep.

The not-so-distant thunder than rumbles on and on and on doesn't exactly help. We prepare ourselves for a deluge, but it appears the storm travels all around us, and by the time we are ready for an afternoon excursion, it is thankfully still dry.

Malisa, ready to see what nature has to offer us this afternoon

Homenid Footprints

Malisa is taking us, along with a local Maasai guide arranged by the camp, to see some old footprints left on the mud flats. When we spoke with Malisa about it yesterday, he had some concern about whether we would be able to reach the site because of all the flooding, and indeed we do get a little lost this afternoon as the road has washed away.

The floods and subsequent receding water have left some strange formations in the mud.

When I say “some old footprints”, I am grossly understating, of course, these impressions captured for eternity are seriously cool.

Some 19,000 years ago, the nearby Ol Doinyo Lengai Volcano erupted, spewing out its innards down to the shores of the lake. Unable to outrun the fast flowing lava, the local people left their footprints in the hot magma as they made their desperate escape attempts.

Judging by the way the footprints are facing in different directions, it is assumed that the family (there are different sized prints too) were overcome with panic, unsure of which way to run.

While these imprints are seriously cool to see, I can only begin to imagine the anguish the people felt at the time, stepping on the ground which measured at 600 °C.

The Ol Doinyo Lengai is unique in that it is the only active volcano known to erupt carbonatite lava. What that meant for these people, is that the thin silvery lava flowed faster than they could run, so there was no escape.

Today the volcano looks peaceful.

From here we continue on foot down to the lake edge for bird watching.

Great White Pelican, Lesser Flamingo, Great Cormorant, Long Tailed Cormorant, Slender Bill Gull

Blacksmith Plover

Chestnut Banded Plover, our second lifer on this trip.

Eurasian Avocet - I love the way they move their head from side to side to stir up the bottom, just like a spoonbill.

Thomson's Gazelle

The Gang

Flamingos

As I said in my previous blog entry, this time of year normally sees thousands of flamingos descend on the lake to breed. Here the water evaporates leaving behind very high concentrations of soda. Algae and zooplankton thrive in this water, which in turn supports great numbers of flamingos. The combination of remoteness and the hostility of the soda mud-flats provides the flamingos with a relatively safe area to breed and rear chicks. This year, however, as a result of the heavy rains, the vast majority of them have remained at Big Momella Lake in Arusha National Park. We still see a few here though.

Greater Flamingo

Lesser Flamingo

There is a group of four South Africans staying at the camp tonight too, and we see them walking with their guide much nearer the lake edge.

They look rather unsteady as they cross a small stream, and I keep my camera handy should one of them take a tumble. I am all heart!

No-one fell!

We return to the camp via the spa area, where Malisa also finds the fish pedicure too ticklish!

Little Egret

White Throated Bee Eater

Sundowners

It is time to sit and watch the sunset with a drink or two.

The camp fire is lit, but the sunset is rather unimpressive.

It turns out we've all been facing the wrong direction, the clouds away from the sunset are colouring up beautifully!

Sustainable Tourism

Lake Natron Camp prides itself on being eco-friendly, with $15 per guest per night going to the local village (as well as an annual fee for rental of the land). It has been agreed that this money be used primarily for secondary education. They are also involved in community projects that have been requested by the villagers themselves such as building new classrooms at the school, teaching the local community about permaculture, making keyhole gardens in the local bomas and creating a vegetable patch by the school.

The camp employs local staff, with 19 Maasai woman working on a 6-week rotation to give an opportunity to other Maasai ladies who may wish to have a job here.

The structures are 100% removable, the toilets compostable with all human waste taken off the site. All kitchen waste is taken off site with all non-biodegradable waste removed to Arusha for disposal, while paper waste is incinerated. Limited charcoal for cooking comes from eco-friendly brickettes – made from recycled wood or coconut husk sources. The decking and furniture in the mess area and pool area, is made out of recycled plastic by a local company from discarded items collected from Arusha.

The glassware they use is from Shanga Shaanga. Over the years Shanga has grown to employ more than 60 people with a range of disabilities to make creative products including weaving, glass blowing, beading, paper making and metal work, using recycled materials wherever possible. We were lucky enough to visit this enterprise in 2011 and 2016.

Dinner

Once the colourful clouds have disappeared, we move on to the mess tent for dinner.

Tilapia fish from Lake Victoria - fish and chips Tanzania style

Ginger pudding with custard

By the time we have finished eating, the camp fire has gone out. So much for toasting marshmallows!

I set my camera up on a tripod with a wide angle lens to try and capture some of the amazing stars; but the bright moon and bottle of wine (as well as a couple of rum and cokes) that I have consumed this evening, renders it a complete failure.

Instead we watch parts of Malisa's wedding video on his laptop before retiring to our tent for the night.

Thank you Calabash Adventures for arranging this trip for us.

Having foregone the early morning coffee delivered to our room this morning, we sleep in until we wake naturally, and wander down to breakfast when we are ready.

We choose the full works today:

Fresh fruit, fruit juice and coffee

Continental selection: bread, jam and butter – as always there is too little butter, it seems to be the same all over the world!

Full English: eggs of choice (I have vegetable, cheese and chilli omelette), bacon sausage, baked beans and tomato. I am rather surprised to be offered bacon in an Islamic country – I am assuming the chef is not a practising Muslim.

The day is spent between the shade on our private terrace with a book (and my camera by my side, just in case); on the bed in the cool room with a book; in the bar with a cold drink and a book; and in the pool cooling off - without a book.

Egret on the neighbours' deck

Western Plantain Eater

Common Bulbul

African Palm Swift

Western Plantain Eaters

Common Bulbul

Channelling my creative side...

I love the artwork dotted around the grounds.

Dinner

Our last night here at Mandina Lodges is as uneventful as the day has been.

Prawns in Black Bean Sauce with Noodles

The fish cakes are disappointing as they seem to be mostly potato, but the home made tartare sauce is delicious

Apple Fritter with Ice Cream - or rather ice cream with apple fritter

And so it is off to bed.

The plan this morning is to take the path from the Observation Deck, through the mangroves, onto the main road and down to the bridge.

Village Weaver

Hooded Vulture

Long Tailed Glossy Starling

The trail meanders along the edge of the creek and heads for the road, but ends in a builders yard, obviously private property. There is a gate, but it is locked, so there is no way for us to join the road here, so we end up having to walk all the way back to the observation deck and through the hotel again.

In the hotel grounds we spot some Green Vervet Monkeys, including a very young baby clinging to his mum.

Out on the road we are amused to see a sign for Tesco Mini Market – in reality a small shack selling bottled water, ice cream and a few essentials.

Having spend the last four days almost exclusively in the company of birds, Kotu is proving a bit of a culture shock. Outdoor cafés are full of fat, middle aged cougars with tattoos, piercings, bleach blonde hair and the obligatory toyboy Gambian hanging on their arms. We hurry past to reach the bridge over Kotu Creek, a well known bird watching spot.

Pink Backed Pelican

The place is teeming with the gorgeous little Long Tailed Cormorants:

Pink Backed Pelicans, African Spoonbills, Long Tailed Cormorant and Great Egret

Grey Heron, Sacred Ibis and Marsh Sandpiper

African Spoonbills

Common Redshank

Pink Backed Pelican

Sacred Ibis and Grey Headed Heron

Senegal Thick Knee

We are approached by a couple of guides offering their services, but we are pleased to find they are much more likely to take “no” for an answer than the people we encountered during our visit to The Gambia 23 years ago.

Lunch

Back in the hotel, I request my food “extra spicy. Gambian spicy, not tourist spicy”. It still only arrives as a 2-3 on Grete's scale of 10.

Cheese and chilli omelette

Burger and chips

Refreshing fruit juice - youki?

After having asked for our food “extra spicy” at lunch, we are amused when we return to the room to find this large pack of toilet rolls sitting on our patio table. Are they trying to tell us something?

We are chilling in the room with a drink and some snacks when we overhear someone outside mentioning the name “Mandina Lodges”. Our ears prick up, as we are waiting to hear about what time our transfer to Mandina will be tomorrow. Yesterday we waited for 45 minutes for the rep to turn up (at the advertised time), but he didn't show. This afternoon, however, he is here, although he's knocking on our neighbour's door instead by mistake, so we go out and ask if he is looking for us. At least we now know that we are leaving here at 10:30 in the morning.

Dinner

Chicken Saté

Seafood mornay with crepe

We spend the rest of the evening chilling on our private patio with a few drinks.

I spent most of the night tossing and turning, trying to find a position that didn't hurt my arm. That'll teach me for spending so long at the waterhole photographing the birds. Not. I even struggle to bring my hand up to my face this morning, affecting washing, brushing my teeth and hair, and eating. Photographer's elbow. A bit like a tennis player having played in an all day tournament after normally just having a game once or twice a week. The pain won't stop me going out taking photos of birds though.

Abuko

This morning Malick is taking us to Abuko. He's decided that we are going to be better off walking along the plantations just on the outskirts of the woods, rather than inside the thick forest itself, where the conditions will be rather difficult in terms of photography: dark and too many branches in the way. Sounds good to me.

Onions

Bitter Tomato

Sweet Potato

Mango

Tapping the palm toddy

Scarecrow. Or should that be scaredog?

I don't think the strips of cloth hung from this pole to keep the birds away from the crops are working too well.

We almost immediately spot birds in the trees and on the ground. As before, any lifers (new species to me) will be denoted with *

Sacred Ibis

African Grey Hornbill

Hooded Vulture

Blue Breasted Kingfisher*

Grey Woodpecker*

Woodland Kingfisher

Spur Winged Plover

Striated Heron

Black Crake

Malick warns us to be careful as we step over the ants who are making their way along a well-defined path.

African Jacana

Senegal Coucal

White Billed Buffalo Weavers*

Two different species of Egrets - Intermediate and Cattle

Squacco Heron

Black Heron

David testing out his directional microphone, hoping to cut out some of the "click click click" he normally gets on his videos from my photography.

Blue Bellied Roller*

Giant Kingfisher with a Tilapia in his beak

Rose Ringed Parakeet

Pied Crow

Gull Billed Tern*

Red Eyed Dove

Long Tailed Cormorant

Senegal Thick Knee*

This is a very special and important moment in my birdwatching mission – my 1000th lifer!

Ta da!

While I have been interested in seeing and photographing birds for a very long time, it is only in the last 13 years or so that I have taken it to the next level and making a point of identifying and recording the birds I see. I would not consider myself a serious birder, but I am an ardent list-maker, so to make 1000 different species makes me jubilant and proud.

Little Bee Eater

Hammerkop

Broad Billed Roller

Hooded Vulture

Reef Heron

Purple Heron

Long Tailed Cormorant

Great White Egret

I came to The Gambia with a very short wish list, consisting of only three species that I really wanted to see: Western Bluebill, Western Plantain Eater and the Abyssinian Roller. Having ticked off the first two yesterday, Malick promised me the roller today. He succeeded in spotting it, and the bird put on a delightful display for us.

The perfect finish to a perfect morning's birdwatching. Thank you Malick.