Oh Hello!

Obuasi by night

Here are a few pics I took the other night in and around Obuasi.

Mie Mia Ghana

It's been a while (again) since I posted on my blog, this time I have some kind of excuse! I am recovering from malaria which wasn't very nice, luckily this time seems to be a fairly light attack, nevertheless it still hits you for six.

Here are few photos from Mie Mia the other weekend:

Photos from Tanzania trip

It's high time I updated my blog with a few photos from my recent trip to Tanzania. The holiday itself was very enjoyable and relaxing, Jane and I set a goal of spotting 45 animals during our trip, we managed 44!

List:

Elephant
Red Hartebeest
Giraffe
Lion
Zebra
Cape Buffalo
Black Backed Jackal
Impala
Dik Dik
Ground Squirrel - short version
Waterbuck
Baboon
Vervet Monkey
Grants Gazelle
Rock Hyrax
Small Bat
Warthog
Ground - long version
Black Tipped Mongoose
Black Banded Mongoose
Wildebeest
Hartebeest - standard
Golden Jackal
Thompsons Gazelle
Spotted Hyena
Hippo
Leopard
Cheetah
Eland
Serval
Hare
Rhino
Genet
White Tailed Mongoose
Dwarf Mongoose
Reed Buck
Topi
Silver Backed Jackal
African Wildcat
Bushbuck
Blue Monkey
Marsh Mongoose
Bushbaby
Large bat

I took over 1200 photos during the trip, here are some of my favorites, expect some more photos in the near future.

A Masai herder in the Ngorongoro crater

Cape Buffalo

Rock Hyrax (Dassie)

Lilac Breasted Roller

A Golden Jackal take a leap over a stream

Old Elephant in the Ngorongoro crater

Our Masai guide

Lioness checking out some potential prey

Male Lion

This Lioness may looked aggressive or distressed but she was in fact just yawning

The brothers

The sisters

Cheetah

Giraffes, I just love the backdrop to this photo

Silver backed Jackal

Zebra enjoying a dust bath

Zebra mid stride

More running Zebras

Crested eagle

Red Hartebeest mid stride

Typical African sunset

Ol Doinyo Lengai Volcano - active

Mount Kilimanjaro

A Masai dog sleeping in the flowers, someone commented that this looked like a doggie funeral!

Tanzania

---

From: Jeremy Tucker <jez.tucker@gmail.com>
Sent: 03 June 2008 09:18
To: jez.tucker.170371@blogger.com
Subject: Tanzania

After no jet fuel in Accra, cancelled flights to Lagos, etc. (the joys of travelling in Africa!)‚ I finally made it Kilimanjaro airport last Saturday evening and stayed the night in the KIA Lodge whch is a few minutes drive from the airport.

After a decent nights sleep I met up with Jane at the airport the following morning, unfortunately Jane's luggage was not with her, as you can tell we had an eventful start!

We finally made it to the Maee Ninga tented camp on Monday evening which is located in the Tarangire national park, Northern Tanzania.

I have taken a few photos with my phone to add to this post, so don't expect good photos!. I cannot get over the fact that I can post messages on my blog while I am really in the middle of nowhere!

Kitten update

It's about time I did an update on the progress of the kittens. First off, I have some really sad news, Vladkat went missing a couple of weeks ago and I searched high and low for her. I was told a few days later that someone had seen a small white cat dead by the road outside, I searched for her but could not find her body.

Sadly Vladkat is no longer with us :-(.

R.I.P Vladkat.

After a few days I deceided to get another kitten, seeing how Meowrie and Vladkat interacted and played together made me feel a bit guilty that Meowrie did not have a play partner, so I decided to get another one.

Say hello to James:

This is the first photo I took of James, he was very frightened at the time! He stayed in my bathroom for a few days while he got used to his surroundings and I could eventually pick him up. Initially Meowrie was aggressive towards him spitting and growling at him when all he wanted to do was be friendly. Now they are good friends! On another note I discovered that Meowrie is in fact a tom, so Meowrie will now be known as Adie.

Here are some recent photos of Adie & James:

Wakey wakey!

What time is it?


The morning stretching exercises.

Time to playfight!

Ready... fight!

The kitten half-nelson with bite-to-head.

The winner celebrates...

...then does a spiderman impression.

This man should be in a circus!

I have seen this man a few times in Obuasi, he rides a bicycle through heavy traffic while balancing 3 or 4 bamboo poles on his head in what can only be described as an incredible feat of balance.

I was told that he was previously jailed for petty theft, since getting out of jail he bought himself a bike and most days he rides into the bush to find bamboo poles, he then puts them on his head and rides back into town to sell them. They are used as TV aerial poles.


Mind you, I would be much more impressed if he was riding a hicycle!!!

Swallows drinking and cooling down.

Yesterday was a holiday in Ghana (May Day). We spent most of the afternoon relaxing by the pool. I got the camera out and managed to get a few shots of the swallows drinking on the fly from the surface of the pool.

Elmina panorana

This a panoramic photo of Elmina Castle, Ghana. Click on photo for large version (this applies to all my photos).

Beach or desert with clouds, or maybe not?

I took this photo on the beach at dusk. The photo is long exposure with the shutter open for about 30 seconds. At first glance it may look like a beach or desert with the sky and clouds in the background, in fact they are not clouds but ocean waves breaking.

Vladkat and Meowrie update

Both kittens are doing well, they get fed corned beef or tuna at least twice a day and love chasing the flies at night.

Excuse me, I want attention.

I said, I want attention!!!

That's better.

Vladkat being camera shy and hiding inside the pool table.

Monkey Forest Resort

While we were near Kakum we visited the Monkey Forest Resort which is run by a Dutch man called Dennis and his wife. There are quite a few local animals to see in their zoo, it's a nice place but I think it's a shame that you have to see the local wildlife in a zoo rather than in the wild.

A Genet.

Young monkey.

Vladka with monkey.

A young tortoise, only a few weeks old.

Night sky

I took this photo while I was next to the pool at the Golden Tulip hotel in Kumasi.

Kakum national park

The Kakum national park is about 30 kilometers north of Cape Coast and contains a canopy walkway, one of only four in the world and the only one in Africa. The highest point is 40 meters, there are 7 bridges and the total length is 330 meters, making it the longest canopy walkway in the world.

It certainly an experience being on top of the the rainforest canopy, unfortunately there are very few animals in the area because of the human activity. We did hear some monkeys but were unable to see them. "Bushmeat" is considered a delicacy by many Ghanaians and many forest animals such as monkeys, deer and pangolins are still killed and eaten.

This is our guide "Fifi", he has worked at the park for 12 years and gets paid about £120 a month, he told me that he has to provide his own uniform and footwear because the Ghana Wildlife Society doesn't provide him with anything. I wonder where the park fees are going then?

40 meters up looking over the rainforest canopy.

Vladka taking the first steps.

Looking 40 meters down. At this point I asked Fifi who maintained the walkway, he told me that Paratroopers did the maintenance. This made sense because Paratroopers are used to heights and are generally well trained, further into the conversation I realised that he was saying "parrot trappers"! Parrot trappers make their money from climbing high trees and trapping parrots funnily enough, when they are caught and arrested they are then put to work maintaining the walkway.

Looking down one of the walkway bridges.

Marie on the walkway.

Vladka on the walkway.

One of the bridges.

Marie & Vladka standing next to the biggest tree in the forest.

Fungi.

Elephant skull.

Hans Cottage Botel

Hans Cottage Botel is an amazing place, it is located between Cape Coast and the Kakum forest. The restaurant is built on stilts over a lake that is inhabited by several dozen crocodiles. There are also several hundred weaver birds building nests along the bank, the weaver is a fascinating little bird to observe! Unfortunately the rooms are not great and are rather expensive for what you get.

The restaurant at night.

Office & statue at night.

A kingfisher aims for a fish...

...and misses.

One of the crocs.

The same croc.

We were throwing bread into the water which attracted the fish, in this photo the croc is actually going for the fish which are going for the bread.

Marie making friends.

A worker fills up his water can next to a croc.

A schools party visits the Botel.

A smaller reptile.

This once was quite large and supposedly friendly.

The friendly one again.

A weaver bird.