We
awoke at 6:15 so we could get showers and breakfast before the big
adventure. Ta Ta, our guide, had told us
the night before that everything was weather dependent. He was hoping it would be sunny from the
start of the day, but wasn't hopeful since the rainy season seemed to be holding on for dear life! Cheri meditated
on sun and we awoke to blue skies!
We
walked around the beautiful hotel grounds that were a garden paradise filled
with flowers, butterflies, birds and even local snails. We had shared with Ta Ta that we love all
animals and are happy shooting nearly anything he would find for us – even
snails. That said, we sure hoped we would
see a gibbon ape.
Ta
Ta picked us up right on time at 8 am and into Khao Yai National Park and world
heritage site we went! The day was
action packed and fun filled from the start.
We were barely inside of the park when we found 5 Great Hornbills. We shot them in multiple poses and then moved
on.
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| Great Hornbill |
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| Great Hornbill |
Just
up the winding road we ran into a troop of macaques. We had seen the short tailed version of this
primate in Gibraltar and in Bali. This
was our first encounter with its pigtail cousin. Just like in other locations these monkeys
have turned into beggars and are often found near humans looking for handouts
or just outright stealing food.
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| Pigtail Macaque |
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| Pigtail Macaque |
As
we were shooting the macaques, Ta Ta said, “oh look a squirrel – quick shoot
it!”. We were both thinking a squirrel –
the macaques are more interesting. But,
being dutiful photographers who never want to miss anything, we swung around
and what we saw was definitely photo worthy and not like any squirrel we had
ever seen before. It was huge! Long,
black and cream colored, it was running through the trees, sometimes head down
as squirrels often do! Check out those
whiskers. As we were shooting both of
these species there was also time to snap a butterfly or two as well as a
spider.
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| squirrel |
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| squirrel |
We
had barely shot the squirrel, when Ta Ta was deftly moving us down the
road. Before our eyes, a family of
White-Handed Gibbons was swinging through the trees by the side of the
road!!! Jackpot!!!!! You could hear the shutters click as we shot
away. There was a white Mom with a white
baby and a black male. They are all the
same species and like cows they have different colors.
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| White-Handed Gibbons |
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| White-Handed Gibbons |
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| White-Handed Gibbons |
The
Gibbons were amazing to watch. The
babies stay with Mom for 2-3 years and this one looked to be about a year old.
It was clinging to Mom as she swung through the trees with the greatest of
ease; the baby playing on her torso as she swung, clearly at home. The sun was out and the images divinely
inspired!
The
joy was coursing through the veins as we reflected on how much we had the
privilege to see in such a short period and it was not even 10 am!
We
got back in the truck and carried on. The
next stop was a view of the mountains and the valley. It was time to put on our leech proof
socks. “Socks” are a funny name for
these cloth bags that you put on your feet and tie at your knees with your
pants inside to ensure you don’t get leeches on you! The light was gorgeous at the pull off and we
made a nice valley image.
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| leech socks |
Next
stop was the visitor’s center which had a variety of restaurants, a river
running through it and a little shop.
Our guide went to hang out with his guide buddies for about 25 minutes
to check out the critter movements, eat, and have a little community. We got to look around, shop a little, and
enjoy nature. A Chinese Pond Heron, an
Indo-Chinese water dragon and more butterflies showed themselves. Cool!
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| Indo-Chinese water dragon |
We
went looking for Blue bearded bee eaters, instead we found a Shirka hawk drying
its wings. On the walk we found some
very cool mushrooms. Cool! Ta Ta got a call and a guide thought they
heard the elephants so we roared off to find them, but it turns out it were
just bush pigs roaring. As we stood in
the jungle, listening for eles, we were by a dam and saw some cool double wing
dragonflies and butterflies. After 15 minutes
of listening we decided to head for a jungle walk.
It
was clear why we were wearing the ridiculous leech socks all day. We were going into the jungle with all the
critters you would think would be in the jungle. Since it had rained the day before, like we never
see rain in the Northeast US, the tail was still slippery in spots. The dirt was made of red clay and could be
very slippery when wet. So, looking at
every branch above and below and the trail for things that could sting and
seriously hurt us, we struck off into the jungle. Woweee!
About
10 steps into the jungle Ta Ta found the first thing for us to see. We were now into the little critters, or so
we thought….The first was a millipede.
It has a very hard shell and curls into a circle when it feels
threatened. There were mushrooms of
every description. The red ones that
looked like bark were very fun to shoot.
Next we saw a cicada condo – they live in the ground and build a stack
from clay and spit to enter their hole.
There were many kinds of grasshoppers, butterflies dragonflies, and
spiders and even a snake – a green keelback snake in fact!
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| Green Keelback Snake |
We
walked a little further and all the sudden we heard sounds that could only be
one thing – GIBBONS! Wahoo!! Another family in action in the trees and
this time it was a back mother with a white baby and three black juvenile
males. We tracked them through the trees
and the jungle, now moving at pace and still trying to pay attention to the
things that can sting and hurt you! The
Mom and Baby were on the move and swinging away! They stopped for a little while and the young
males decided to play with each other – what a fun thing to see! Just like human brothers running up and down
the tree, twisting each other’s heads and dropping each other in the air. So fun!
Pure joy!! In the middle of the
shoot, another squirrel showed up and began eating giant leaf.
Next
thing we knew, the wild pigs were running through the jungle and it sounded
like they were coming right to us. We
started to track them and just missed them by a track (maybe 30 feet), but we
saw their tracks.
Ta
Ta found this little hole under a rotten log and went “fishing”….out came a
giant scorpion!!
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| Scorpion |
After
2 hours and 15 minutes we left the jungle behind and took our clay caked feet
out into the sun.
It
was 2:30 pm and we were starving, so back to the visitor center for some
energy. We both had red curry – Cheri
had pork and John had chicken.
Yummy! After lunch we had a quick
walk around and saw two monitor lizards, another Chinese Pond Heron, deer, and
more butterflies. We even saw a Daddy
Long Legs eating a dead bee.
As
we were driving down the road, Cheri spotted some birds in a tree. We stopped and it was a group of Oriental
Hornbills. What an odd bird – check out
their bills. Very decorative, but seems
like a weird way to build a bird.
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| Oriental Hornbill |
We
headed off to a waterfall and on the way down to it we got to see a mercifully
nocturnal Indonesian Pit Viper in the day – which means it was sleeping! Wow – it was like seeing something out of a
movie.
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| Indonesian Pit Viper |
Then
the day was nearly done and we headed out of the park, to a driver to return us
to the international airport to begin our long journey home. What a day!!!
Enjoy!
Cheri & John
