Funny

For those who know me you will be aware that i am a bit of a DILBERT fan. So often a relevant Dilbert will pop up just as I am working on something, like Scott Adams is reading my mind. So I started my blog recently and LO! A Dilbert to have a giggle at... Posted without permission but with credit...

Thought for today (as proven once again last night...)

Language Barriers are soluble in Alcohol.

( I cant attribute this but before I claim it as my own advice from other Netizens will be appreciated.)

Time to go.

Another day in Tropical Paradise...

(Yes this Is a quote but I wont embarrass myself by attribution. If you know, you know)

Wibble....

OK some surfing and from Jenny's blog I got the link for the worldmap, and the counter too (thanks Jenny). Adventuring into HTML country to get the map to fit in my sidebar. I love the Interwebs!

Thanks to Hannah for linking us up.

Also seeing quite a few kiwis have been commemorating ANZAC DAY around the world

I just wanted to let everyone know that a remembrance was held in DOUALA CAMEROON this year. A small and select group came together to raise a toast and take a moment to Remember Them.

test post for my photo.....

OK so that didnt work but its still an OK picture.

After some heavy fiddling about I managed to set this to be my profile portrait.

Taken: September 2005 on the Highway to Ceti Cama, near Gamba, southern coast of Gabon. As i was having a weekend in Petit Loango National park. Spoiled? You bet. More please.

I guess I'll have to post more of this story another time...

Korup Trip Post 2

In the interest of keeping things reasonable (ok theres a first time for everything) I thought I would set this into a second post.
So:
Day 3 of the trip after a truly wonderfull night rest at Rengo camp began with a marvellous breakfast accompanied by a dawn chorus of epic proportions.
Once a gain we trekked to the famed Picarthes rock but no joy, they didnt show up. So from there we went on to Rengo Rock itself, which was a fair hike and kept us well entertained for the morning. Again we spotted a troop of monkeys in the trees but once they knew we were around they wandered off deeper into the jungle. We discovered some fresh elephant tracks and the guide figured out that this one had circled the camp overnight. It put us on our toes a bit because it could still be in the area. Equally it could be 5 km away. Everywhere there were sounds and glimpses of a cornucopia of *bulls (Greenbulls, Bullbulls, etc), basically a African thrush with a habit of speciation. On the way we saw a Rufous-Sided Broadbill doing display flights which was pretty cool, and a Bare Faced Trogon. Once on Rengo Rock Estella spotted a African Crowned Eagle which although quite distant was still a great sight to see. Also from there we saw a Shrike Flycatcher in the treetops.

We had a bit of a lunch break on Rengo Rock, and then carried on back to camp for a short break before making our final attempt at the Picarthes. Still no joy, although a flock of Forest Swallows buzzed us quite closely to roost in a single Picarthes nest.

Once again back to camp after dark and some great food, well cooked indeed and even a salad! Our porters had returned to take our gear back out the next morning, so we were abit more populated than the previous night.
We had quite a thunderstorm after lights out, so we were glad of our solid roof above us, very spectacular in the forest with the rain drumming on the roof and lightning throwing the forest into stark relief.

Our last morning after breakfast we saddled up for the trek back out, still taking our time to look at the pristine untouched rainforest. Some weird trees with flowers on the trunks or in the middle of leaves, really alien looking termite nests, and a huge variety of fungi and mushrooms were admired.

Eventually we once again reached the river and the edge of the forest, and returned to the river to meet up with the boatcaptain. On the way we saw a flock of blue throated bee-eaters which was also cool, and some barn swallows just freshly adorned in summer plumage ready for the trek to the North. We started slowly down the river while having some lunch, spotting a woolly-necked stork and black-capped heron in the trees. High overhead the Swifts were seen to be migrating toward Europe and their breeding season.
Eventually we reached the estuary again and poured on the power to return to Idenau and the cars.

Back in Douala and a hot shower was very welcome!

Trip to Korup National Park, Cameroon, end March 2007

Bear with me folks this is my first attempt...

At the end of March I had a 4 day hike in Korup National Park, at the western border of Cameroon (where it joins Nigeria). A very beautifull place. The first stage of the trip was by boat along the coast and up the Bakassi magrove forest to Mundemba.

A very beautiful and relaxed trip and a good way of getting there avoiding the 6 hour road trip and getting to see some more of this beautiful nature at the same time.

We saw very noteworthy a large flock of African Skimmers (or Scissorbills) which was a real treat, as well as pelicans, a great variety of terns including large flocks of Black terns ready to migrate, and a family of Osprey.

Moving up the river amongst the mangroves we also saw the very rare and beautiful Hartlaub's Duck and some African River Martins. Finally we spotted the African Finfoot.

We spent the night in the thriving metropolis of Mundemba, where we were fortunate to see a colony of Preuss' Cliff Swallows who were nesting under a nearby bridge, as well as a beautiful African Pygmy kingfisher that was struggling with a cricket. We roused at dawn to start our trek into the park itself. The entrance is across a foot-only suspension bridge that crosses the river marking the eastern border of the park. We arrived at the river and sat down for a while to look at the wildlife as it was still early morning a lot of things were moving. We saw a number of Hornbills flying across to their feeding ground in the Palm Oil plantations. Piping, Pied, White-Crested, Black-Casked and Yellow-Casked hornbills were all seen (pretty cool really). As well as this the pied kingfishers were giving a great display in the curve of the river and we were visited by a lady Giant Kingfisher. The Rock Pratincoles also were very pretty. Finally we managed to see a small group of monkeys appear briefly before once again dissolving amongst the leaves. We saw our bags getting hauled across the bridge too.

We followed our packs into the forest (Yes luxury and all that having porters to carry our gear but i tell you it was HOT!) Temperature from early morning quickly climbed into the mid 30s and stayed there with 99.8% humidity under the trees. This was occasionally relieved by 100.1% humidity when the rain fell :)

We sat down to have lunch on one of the bridges that cross the various streams that run through the place. Being a RAIN forest it does get quite damp and all that water needs to go somewhere. Spotted a ShinyBlue kingfisher.

Eventually we reached Rengo Camp which is quite basic facilities. 3 huts plus a cookhouse. no electricity, no running water (apart from the stream around the camp), no TV, Radio, interweb, no cellphone coverage, outdoor plumbing. Beautifull. We settled in with a brief rest and began our first attempt at spotting the Yellow-Headed Picarthes which apparently roosts in some rocks about 30 minutes walk from the camp. I say apparently because it didn't show up. But we happily trekked back to camp in the dark, accompanied by owlsong. We took a dip in the stream before getting our dinner (we brought a cook along, again luxury but it was well worth it to come back to a proper hot cooked meal!)

Next: Day 2! i might turn that into a separate post though...

Trial and Error

Well having a go at this Blogging think.
Marc enters the Century of the Fruitbat, kicking and screaming all the way.

Lets see what this does aye?