One day trip wasn't enough! I was very glad that we had a chance to revisit the Kakamega rain forest, especially as last time we had missed out on the bird watching (one of the main attractions) as we had been in the forest during the afternoon last time. Fortunately this time, we managed to climb Liranda hill on our first day, and completed the short trek (about 4 hours) down to the Yala River from our serene abode, Rondo Retreat. As mentioned in the earlier post, Kakamega is home to an astounding variety of butterflies. and although difficult to capture (why do they they rarely sit still for a second or longer?!) it was amazing to be walking miles in the company of so many different beatiful butterflies. I hope the photos do some justice. My favourite, however, is the dragonfly - a creature I have seldom managed to photograph in the wild.
Highlights of the trip included seeing a menacing forest python seconds after it made a kill, and watching it slowly escape us (disturbing its dinner time) climbing vertically up a tree stump with only its tail supporting it. We also saw a goliath beetle in flight (the largest insect in the world by weight, and about 4 inches long!) but it was too fast to capture on (digital) film. I have also included a short video clip trying to relay the wonderful atmosphere atop Liranda hill - surrounded by lush, dense rainforest with the breeze swimming through the long grass. Some of the photos have captions - click to view. Unfortunately I have not managed to identify many of the insects. Technical details: Olympus ZD 70-300mm and Sony 18-55mm lenses; all unedited and straight from the camera.
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Approximately 3 hours from Kisumu, involving some skilful off-road driving by my father-in-law, took us to the beautiful island of Rusinga. The Rusinga Island Lodge is a beautifully-set hotel and from there our guide Semekia took us on a (thrilling roller coaster-like) speed-boat ride to nearby smaller islands. We alighted at Takawiri, more specifically at an abandoned hotel known as Takawiri Island Lodge. The small island alone is home to more than 300 species of different birds, and the abundance of feathered diversity was indeed something special. There is certainly still a magical paradisiacal charm about the place, perhaps more so in its human desertedness. The return journey included a ferry trip from Mbita from which we were lucky to witness a nature's wonder of a flock of bright pink flamingos flying to and fro at dusk. Unfortunately I wasn't keen on taking out the big camera, but have uploaded a small shaky video, which does not do justice but hopefully gives an insight into the stunning event. As usual, photos have brief captions - click the photos to enlarge and read them. Technical details: Olympus ZD 12-60mm and 70-300mm lenses; all unedited and straight from the camera, except the chasing kits an tree pitpit photos which have been cropped. |
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