Well the only thing left is the final count of birds and a brief summary. I won't put a list of birds seen in the rain forest but the highlights were a resident pair of Blue-throated Beeeater which were always too far away to get a photo. A couple of species of Hornbill going across the tops of the trees, the disappearing arse of a Great Argus pheasant and several small twittery things that I confess I did a best fit and how common they are. Also several will remain a complete mystery and even more that would be a guess of the first water so they were discarded. One of the best lifers was the last of the trip at Medan airport where a Great-billed Heron was spooked by the aircraft. I suppose the final count of 87 species, about 20 lifers, was disappointing but the overall holiday was one of the best I have ever had. People were friendly but not overly so, going out of season helps and not being too gushing yourself even more so, the accommodation was superb and the getting from place to place an education in itself. If there weren't other places I want to go to I would certainly go back here especially Bukit Lewang. To get some idea of the cost of things knock off the noughts and put a decimal point in between the last digit and and next. this gives you the Australian $ conversion. so a pizza would be five bucks etc. Although cheap for us not many locals would be seen here so if you ever go be nice and not backpackery stingy, but not patronising.
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The monkey blog has appeared below the London blog. There's no need to ask me why because I have no idea. Don't get me wrong I like monkeys, so it was not a deliberate misplacement, in fact I may put more monkey photos here or there cos they are pretty damn cute. However there are other forms of wildlife and here is a small selection for your delictation. One of the must do excursions is the elephant washing. If you feel the need you can get into the river with them but when the clouds opened most sensible people ran for cover. The elephants are used to patrol the jungles for poachers and illegal clearance for planting Palm Oil. In some cases they are successful, unfortunately the government has rarely if ever prosecuted any illegal activity with the obvious consequences. Interestingly the road from Bukit to here is a road put in by the palm oil company and is 25k long but it takes about four hours to get here. The alternative is a days journey by bus. Owing to the down pour our driver, the uncle of the hotel owner, thought one of the river crossings may be closed but we got through and enjoyed a cold beer when we got back. I have just spent the best part of an afternoon writing about monkeys and when I went to post it some how it has disappeared so this won't be as good as the first one but I will endeavor to stay calm and do it again.
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January 2018
Authorlives in the northern burbs of Ballarat, Victoria. Love birding, BBQing and sport and of course the Aussie way of life. I have a fantastic partner two dogs and two fish. Categories |