El Gato Perezoso

I was lucky enough to have a weekend off when I went for a short work trip to Mexico City in March 2011. I spent one day at the Teotihuacan pyramids, marvelling at the construction, and another day seeing the sights of the Mexico City. I strolled through the San Angel market full of vibrant art, popcorn machines, and a concert band under a rotunda. I walked around the Museo del Carmen, which is a former convent that's been turned into a museum (complete with mummies in the crypt). My day ended with a visit to "La Casa Azul" (The Blue House) where the artist Frida Khalo made her home. It's a wonderful museum now with a lovely garden (which has its own pyramid, as you do).

I was wandering around enjoying the sunlight when I spotted this guy who'd found his own little bit of shade, and didn't look like he was in any hurry to move. A very lazy cat.

The Usual Suspects

The Nairobi National Park is about 30 minutes away from the city centre, so going for an afternoon safari is completely feasible, and a much more exciting Sunday drive than I ever went on as a kid! A couple of friends and I hired a driver (in a little hatchback) to take us to the Baby Elephant Orphanage, the Giraffe Sanctuary and the National Park one Sunday last year. We cruised around and saw wild giraffes, and antelopes and were even able to go for a little walk (escorted by an armed ranger) where we didn't see much more than monkeys and crocodiles, but it was still pretty cool to do a walking safari. 

We then drove through a large herd of zebras, all spread out and grazing in the grass, except for these four, standing equal distance apart, as if in a police line up. 

Huffin and Puffin

I'm not sure where my fascination with puffins came from, but I was talking to a Scottish colleague when I was in South Sudan and she mentioned that puffins come to the Isle of Skye where she lives every year around April/May. An invitation was extended for me to visit, and as luck would have it, I had to go to the UK for work in May, so I was happily able to accept. Her neighbour captains a tourist boat, and he told me not to get my hopes up of seeing any puffins, as he hadn't spotted any for a couple of weeks and I might have left it too late. I resigned myself to having missed out, but went on a little boat trip anyway and was happy enough to spot a Golden Eagle and some seals.

After cruising around on the boat for a while, the captain suddenly cut the engine and we drifted towards three little birds bobbing in the water. I wasn't sure what I was seeing at first, but then the bright beaks became apparent and I squealed with delight. Unfortunately we couldn't get too close to them without scaring them underwater, so the photo above was digitally zoomed as far as my camera could cope. They were just so cute and expressive and I'm so glad they'd decided to stick around a little longer before their migration. Puffins!!

Slurp!

Wow, I really have been bad with my travel tails over the last year - and there have been so many! I'm committing myself to catching up on quite a few, they won't be in order of when they happened, I'll try to mix it up a bit. Considering I've spent much of the past 12 months in Africa you can expect quite a few exotic animals, and some less so as well.

For something different I'm including myself in one of these posts, as it's kind of the point. The Giraffe Sanctuary in Nairobi, Kenya is a wonderful, magical place because you're able to get up close and personal with these beautiful creatures. The viewing platform is elevated to (giraffe) head height and when the giraffes are a bit peckish they wander over to eat some pellets. These can be fed by hand as in the photo above, or for a really close encounter, you put a pellet between your lips and get your face slurped off by a long black tongue...there's nothing else like it in the world! I went twice to the Sanctuary during my stays in Nairobi and I can't recommend it highly enough. There are lots of educational posters, and the staff are extremely knowledgeable about all things giraffe. And the giraffes themselves are incredible up close, with their flapping ears, long eyelashes and inquisitive gazes.

Refugee Dog

I was working in Liberia a few months ago. Tens of thousands of people had fled from the Ivory Coast due to an outbreak of violence following a disputed election. One of the border crossing areas was outside a town called Zwedru, which was a 10 hour drive from the Liberian capital Monrovia. It was a bumpy, long and hot drive to Zwedru and then another hour or so to get to Dougee camp.

Construction on the camps for the refugees had begun quickly, and the organisation I work for was responsible for installing water and sanitation systems to provide the newly arrived refugees with not only clean, safe water, but also clean hygiene facilities to prevent the outbreak of disease.

This little guy was obviously hungry and poking around the tents for morsels of food. I don't know whether he was a refugee himself, or a local opportunitic dog, but unfortunately for him the refugees didn't have much food to share and he was shooed off from one tent to the next.

Donkey Double

I apologise, it's been so long since I put up any travel tails. There really haven't been too many in recent months, so I'm giving you a double! I'm working in Islamabad, Pakistan and there are a few creatures around the place, but I'm not allowed to get out very much to see them. But I've seen monkeys by the side of the road that leads up into some hills (apparently if you walk up the tracks you can see more of them), and foxes that run across the road at night. And I'd even seen a few donkeys pulling carts along the side of the road. Of course cruising past in a 4WD does not a good photo make.

I noticed these donkeys from the roof of our office, helping with a construction site that has apparently been going on forever. There are about six donkeys that cart dirt up from the big hole in the ground to a spot behind a brick fence. If you stand there long enough and watch them (which I do when I need a break from my computer) it becomes obvious that the donkeys are pretty cool. They stroll down the ramp unassisted to where the labourers are picking away at the dirt, and wait patiently to be loaded up. Then the donkey totters back towards the ramp and makes it about half way up. It just stands there for a while, not sure of what to do next, and the labourers are so busy with their shovels that they don't notice it hasn't quite made it. Eventually one guy will walk up behind it and give it a slap on the rump, and off it will go. It becomes more amusing when there's a donkey pileup on the ramp.

Perhaps now they've brought the donkeys in the building might actually get finished!!

After my wonderful safari in Kenya I spent a week on the island of Lamu, at the far end in a quiet little village called Shela. There is apparently one car on the whole island, but by far the most popular form of transport is the donkey. The walk between Shela and Lamu town takes about 40 minutes, and during the stroll you get passed by men riding donkeys at break neck speed (all calling out a very helpful "excuse me ma'am" just in time to allow you to get out of the way) and other donkeys that are laden with all sorts of food items.

The streets of Shela are narrow and mostly sandy, and around almost any corner there are donkeys. I liked the little ones.

Jambo Junior

The travel tails have been a bit light on of late, but I've got enough saved up to last a lifetime after my last trip. I went on safari in Kenya to three different parks, the Masaai Mara, Lake Nakuru, and Samburu. The 5 days we actually spent safari-ing were some of the best of my life, it truly was a magnificent experience, and I certainly didn't get "animal-ed out" as I had been warned!! Our guide was a man named Justice, who'd been a safari guide for 45 years, and I jokingly demanded that he find me a rhino and baby, along with basically every other baby animal I could rattle off. I'd been joking about all of them (of course, secretly hoping to catch a glimpse of the Big 5) but Justice delivered.

We'd been roaming around Lake Nakuru, marvelling at the sight of the pink flamingos in the lake, and keeping an eye on a distant buffalo. Justice had driven us far enough away from the buffalo so we could get out and walk around a bit, but he was still wary. We got back in the van as the clouds began to darken and the wind picked up. It was after a pack of babboons that we came across our first rhino. It was absolutely huge, and covered in mud, and seemed completely oblivious to our van parked not 10 metres away.

Justice spotted a "crash" of rhinos (I just googled the collective noun for rhinos and this is it!) further on, and as we approached I spotted this baby, and my heart melted. While the older members of his crash paid no attention to us, little Junior was not impressed. He twice attempted to charge us, the sight of his fat little legs propelling him made us laugh, but he'd chicken out and veer off before he got too close. I could have watched him for the rest of the afternoon, but the rain had other plans for us.

Here's a first for Travel Tails, video!


The photos of more amazing animals can be found on my photo site.

Get ready

There will be some extremely fantastic travel tails in the next couple of weeks, once I finish my current travels and can get home and upload them all!

Startled

The city of Chittagong in southern Bangladesh is home to a thriving port. The busiest trade in the port area is shipbreaking, an horrific practice whereby gigantic ships are taken apart bit by bit to be sold as scrap metal. The horrific part is that this is done by the hands of men, not machines. Men who are paid peanuts and who are not given personal safety equipment. Many of the beggars on the streets of Chittagong who are missing limbs formerly worked in the shipbreaking yards.

While this isn't a particularly fantastic photo of the animal, it does give a bit of scale to how big some of the ships are that come into the yards. It's a noisy business, and as this dog made his way along the beach, he was startled numerous times by the sounds of banging metal.

The Vista

I'd never had a burning desire to visit the USA, but I'd thought that if I did, I'd want to do a road trip in a convertible. When I ended up in the States I knew that it had to be done, and decided to drive up the west coast, from Los Angeles to San Francisco. The only convertible the rental company had was a brand new, bright red Mustang, which seemed highly appropriate, so off I roared. The wind was in my hair, the sun was shining, and I had a fantastic mix CD that was perfect for singing along to at the top of my lungs. I drove along beside the ocean, through the forests, marvelling at the varying landscapes.

I passed a road sign that said "Elephant Seal Vista," and thought it an odd name for a lookout, since there couldn't possibly be any elephant seals. However when I approached the lookout, there were quite a few cars parked, so I pulled over to check it out. A couple of seconds passed before I realised all of the large rocks on the beach weren't rocks at all, but massive seals. It was nap time as there was barely any movement, and the thought crossed my mind that perhaps there'd been some freak accident and they were all dead. But every so often, a giant rumbling sigh would escape one as it wriggled around and rolled over.

I stood watching them for quite some time, and as the minutes rolled by, I could spot more action. There were two ginormous males having a tousle in the shallows, a little baby awkwarding sliding after its mother. But the vast majority were like the ones above, happy to laze around enjoying the sunshine.

The Ladies and The Tramp

A very special guest blogger has provided the following travel tails, my Mum!!

Our holidays visiting Carly and her brother have presented us with many photo opportunities, and the following are a couple of my favourite Tails.

Life on the streets of Bangkok: not easy! This tramp may have found some comfort on his bench at the ferry terminal, and the bottle below? Well that's exactly how we found him.

Some doggies have a very different life experience. Take the ladies of Ginza Street, Tokyo.

After checking out the leather wear at Prada, dogdem sets in and it's far too much effort to walk to Louis Vuitton. A ride in a jaunty dog-o-pram is necessary for these pampered pups.

Left out

A blue gate is almost as great as a blue door. After finishing a magnificent four wheel drive tour of Bolivia, we were left in the small town of Uyuni. As either the start or end point for any four wheel drive tour, the place is filled with tourists, but in the part of town we pulled up in, there was not a soul on the street. Except for this shaggy guy, who was obviously desperate to escape the deserted streets and get into where all the people were. At least he had some shade to wait in.

Let sleeping dogs lie

One of my favourite things in life is seeing a blue door. This is closely followed by seeing a red door. So you can imagine my delight when I noticed this blue door in Humahuaca, in the very north of Argentina. I'd spent many hours on a luxurious bus (seriously, the buses in South America feel more like aeroplanes) to get up to the north, where I'd hoped I could find some condors. When I reached the small town of Humahuaca it was siesta time and it was quite the ghost town. My travelling companion and I wandered around, trying to find some shade, and marvelled at the incredibly tall cacti that dotted the landscape. We managed to find a restaurant that was open and after eating an unsatisfying lunch we strolled around the town. The blue door caught my eye first and then the sleeping doggy in front of it. I was immediately reminded of my canine friend in Nepal.

I never did see any condors, I was easily convinced to carry on into Bolivia, where there were many travel tails to be had. I'll just have to go back one day to track down those condors to share with you.

Lovely Llamas

I love this photo. This was towards the end of the Bolivian outback adventure, in the wide open plains between the salt flats and the town of Uyuni. This baby llama had wandered a little way away from its mother, but as our car got closer the mother came running. You can see above that her head has turned, just moments before she came to protect her baby.

I love the sky, I love the baby's little shadow. I love this photo.

Cheeky Coati

I wasn't sure I would see anything as unusual as the Machu Picchu critter on the rest of my travels in South America, but that wasn't quite the case. After spending spent many hours on a bus, I made it to Puerto Iguazu, home to the mammoth Iguazu Falls. As I've mentioned before, the falls are breathtaking, and the national park is huge, so walking around and round and up and down really builds up an appetite.

I had a ham roll in my backpack and after spotting some picnic tables, my travel buddies and I took a seat. We'd seen the signs advising not the feed the coatis, and to tell the truth, I didn't know what a coati was (at this point, still not knowing what the Machu Picchu critter had been). I thought it was probably a bird, since there are so many signs at home advising not to feed the ibis. But the signs also proclaimed that coatis can carry rabies, but still, I wasn't sure what to be on the lookout for. As we sat under the shade of the big umbrella enjoying our sandwiches, we spotted something heading towards us. It was dark brown with white stripes and looked like a furry anteater. That was when we realised what a coati was. The critter changed its course and I grabbed my camera and chased after it, at a safe distance of course. I snapped a couple of shots and went back to the table to finish my lunch.

Suddenly, there were four coatis, circling the table like sharks. Now when a sign has told you to be wary of rabid creatures, you don't take that lightly. We'd pulled our feet up onto our chairs, and were waiting for them to get bored and go away.

Then this cute little one approached the table, so much lighter in colour than the others, and not menacing-looking at all. A couple of seconds after I caught this moment, it sprung up on the table, grabbed the remaining half of my sandwich, jumped off the table and sped off, the others hightailing behind it.

Greedy little thing!

Anise, Atrice and Twitchy

I'm much more of a dog person that a cat person, but this has slowly been changing, after my bonding experience with Mangy in the Philippines, and now in Lebanon. We'd seen a fluffy cat wandering around the work compound and eventually we discovered that she'd had three kittens. It took a while to discover this as she'd been hiding out on the roof of one of the prefab containers our offices are in, but finally she brought them down. And promptly disappeared. We started giving them powdered milk (for babies) and named them Anise (meaning the friendly one), Atrice (the chubby one) and Twitchy (the scared one) once their personalities became clearer.

Atrice and Twitchy (pictured in front) would have nothing to do with us, other than hang around in the mornings waiting to be fed. Anise (pictured behind) on the other hand, was very sociable, and would spend hours sleeping on people's laps, or giving cuddles. It was winter time and quite chilly, so they would all pile on top of each other, or wrap their tails around each other to share warmth, like in the picture above. If you tried to approach Anise at this time, the others would bolt off, hissing as they ran.

One tragic morning, we were told that Anise was dead. It took a long time to confirm this, with different guards giving different stories, but in the end it was discovered that she was found outside, and appeared unharmed. We guessed it must have been a snake bite, or the cold. It was a very sad day for those of us who knew and loved Anise.

A couple of days later, an incredible thing happened. Twitchy stepped up and let himself be patted. We were shocked. But even more so, when a couple of hours later he was found curled up on a colleague's lap, sleeping soundly. We summised that he knew his sister had been the family breadwinner, encouraging us to feed them with her cuddly charms, and now that she was gone, someone else would need to fill her shoes. Twitchy remains as cuddly as ever, but some three months on, Atrice still won't come near us.

Slithering snake

Just the other day I was telling a friend about the wildlife in Australia. We talked about possums (noisy critters), Tasmanian Devils (nasty critters), dingos (killer critters), koalas (you wouldn't want to meet a male koala in a dark bush alley), and basically came to the conclusion that almost all Australia critters are deadly.

This little green tree snake however is not deadly I'm by no means a fan of snakes, and have luckily only come across one or two in the wild, this being one of them. In a nature reserve not far from my house, the ocean and a creek are divided by a beautiful headland, which has a lush canopy that lowers the temperature down a few degrees...a welcome respite in the Australian summer. There is plenty of wildlife hiding in the headland, and when I took a friend there one Christmas we spotted scrub turkeys, kookaburras and lizards. And this snake. I was heading towards this hand rail, to look over and enjoy the view below, but luckily my brother spotted the little snake (he wouldn't have been a metre a length) slowly slithering its way along the wood.

I snapped this photo (using a moderate zoom) and he quietly went on his wriggling way into the wilderness.

Hard work

A very recent tail to share, but not much of a tale. Just 2 days ago a group of friends journeyed to the north east of Lebanon to go for a bit of a hike and a picnic. Along the way, we drove through lots of tiny villages, where life was being led on the streets. There were people sitting outside cafes drinking coffee, butchers cutting off sides of meat, men greeting each other outside mosques, and all of this taking place on the side of the road.

The strength of donkeys never ceases to amaze me, and this one was no exception. He lumbered remarkably up the slight incline, with his owner struggling to keep up. Amazing what you can notice from the window of a minivan!

The Cats of Constantinople

I spent a few glorious days in Istanbul last year, and was amazed at the sheer number of healthy, shiny-coated cats in the streets. In other places I've lived and visited, the cats are the most pathetic creatures wandering the streets, all skin and bones, but not in Istanbul.

My wonderful travel buddy and I both marveled over these gorgeous felines, parading down little alleys, sitting on discarded armchairs, or investigating large potted plants. On this particular day we'd set out to find some funky boutiques and antique stores but alas, being a Sunday, everything was closed. We found ourselves in a maze of tiny streets, with shuttered windows, washing hanging on lines, and cats. Endless cats.

These two black cats were hanging out in an empty lot beside an antique store, and I wish I had a panorama view to share, because to the left there was another beautiful cat curled up on an armchair (which may make an appearance here at a later stage) and more to the right. There's definitely a calendar to be made of the cats of Istanbul!

Chinchillas chillin

I had a wonderful time traipsing around the ruins of Machu Picchu; exploring tiny corners, stooping to avoid hitting my head on low hanging doorways, and marveling at the ability of humans to build a city on top of a mountain without modern machinery. As I was winding my way up and down and back and forth through the ruins I noticed a small tourist group looking up and snapping away.

Of course I walked over and looked up to see what they saw. At that point in time, there was a single chinchilla sunning itself on top of an entryway. I thought that was pretty cool, snapped a photo of my own and carried on. I passed by the same spot again and the solo chinchilla had been joined by two others; calmly checking out all the tourists snaking through the maze of corridors from their higher vantage point. I kept thinking that they'd dart back into their cosy nook at any second, but I must have stood there for at least five minutes, and they barely moved a muscle.