I know this is a bit on the long side but some of the comments are painting the picture of how overwhelming it was. A couple of pictures wouldn't do it justice and neither would me prattling on about how fantastic it was. Day 5 - We surfaced at first light to get Pearl-spotted Owlet before photographing this Shikra that was present both mornings and each evening we were at the camp.
The creek crawl was stunning - no words just pictures with names...enjoy!
Pink-backed Pelican...
...African Fish Eagle...
...Hamerkop...
...Blue-breasted Kingfisher...
...Malachite Kingfisher...
...Mongoose...
...African Darter...
...Striated Heron.
The crew on the boat half way through...Me, Joy, Graeme, Shawn and Tony is hiding at the back behind Shawn.
Tijan, our guide for the week.
Western Reef Heron...
...Yellow-billed Stork....
...Woolly-necked Stork...
...Squacco Heron...
...Blue-cheeked Bee-eater.
There was more, much more. We had lunch after the boat trip and maybe this Hooded Vulture was looking for scraps.
The Agama Lizard gives an idea of how hot it was keeping it's feet off the ground.
A Praying Mantis kept us amused for a wee while.
The finishing touch for the day was to catch up with a couple of Black-crowned Cranes as the sun was heading towards the horizon.
We had a welcoming committee of children when we returned to the vehicle so sweets and pencils were duly handed out.
After dinner we had a short drive out in the dark and bagged a Verreaux's Eagle Owl on the side of the road and while shining a torch around we found some blue eyes reflecting back at us - believe it or not it was a spiders eyes! The sky was much the same as it is here on Mull, clear as a bell but no mountains in the way.
Day six - just three more pictures! A bird that shuns water - Striped Kingfisher.
A foursome of Pygmy Goose was a good find for the day...
...and a cracking find at the end of the day was a Long-crested Eagle near the border to Senegal.
I'll take the time to raise a glass and wish you all a Happy New Year (I missed the other one) as it is the night of the Auld New Year here in Scotland - cheers!! Only one more Gambia post to go.
3 comments:
bloody hell!
Cheers Thing - There's not that many people in the boat!!!
Happy new year Bryan,think lots of visitors will enjoy Mull.
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