Colombian Beauties: Brilliant Birds and Other Animals

We have been here in Colombia for almost a month, slowly wending our way from Bogota northeastward with a general goal of maybe flying out from Cartegena, Bucaramanga, or whatever seems feasible. It has been an enjoyable trip. Especially after leaving Bogota, events there in the news made us a bit leery of lingering.

After That we made our way to Tunja, Duitama, San Gil, Barichara – Thank you kind lady sitting next to me on the plane coming down for telling me about this gem of a town! – and now we are in Giron, also a colonial white-walled town similar to Barichara, but somewhat grittier.

I have been so occupied with exploring these towns – and also my other writing projects – that I neglected this blog. Since I have so many good nature photos accumulated that seems like a way to remedy my publishing hiatus here. Below are some of the Colombian beauties we saw, mostly birds:

**Left**: **Carib Grackle**, *Quiscalus lugubris*, Bogota. He sings better than his Mexican cousins. **Center**: **Glossy Flowerpiercer**, *Diglossa lafresnayii*, caught in the act of piercing a flower! La Zarza, near trinidad. **Right**: **Central American Agouti**, *Dasyprocta punctata*. San Gil.

The Rock Dove, *Columba livia*. Pigeons, especially when the light favors them as here, can be quite striking. Barichara.

**Left**: This **Colombian Chachalaca**, *Ortalis columbiana*, was the first bird I saw as we arrived in San Gil. Raucous birds, especially when they get together, but always fun to watch. **Center**: Immature **Yellow-headed Caracara**, *Milvago chimachima*. San Gil. **Right**: **Pale-breasted Thrush**, *Turdus leucomelas*. San Gil.

These next twelve photos are all from **Barichara, Colombia**, a mountain town just a half an hour’s bus ride from San Gil. Close by, but quite different. Peaceful, touristy yet not overwhelmingly so. We spent about ten days here. And each day there was a different part of town and countryside to explore.

The names of these motmots are in a constant state of flux, it seems. As of this week, at least, this is the **Whooping Motmot**, *Momotus subrufescens*. Beautiful birds, whatever the name.

**Left: Tropical Mockingbird**, *Mimus gilvus*. **Center: Blue-and-white Swallow**s, *Notiochelidon cyanoleuca*, make themselves at home under the eaves of the colonial houses. **Right: Bar-crested Antshrike**, *Thamnophilus multistriatus*.

**Left**: **Roadside Hawk**, *Rupornis magnirostris*. . I have never seen so many of these hawks in one place as I have here in Barichara, especially along the cliffside that marks the north edge of town. **Right: Black-faced Grassquit**, *Melanospiza bicolor*

**Scrub Tanager**, *Stilpnia vitriolina*. This striking gem of a tanager was a frequent visitor to the courtyard garden of our guesthouse, allowing me to get a decent photo from our window.

Some familiar friends from further north, Mexico and the Southwest states of the US, respectively. **Left: Chestnut-capped Warbler**, *Basileuterus delattrii*. **Right: Vermilion Flycatcher**, *Pyrocephalus obscurus*

**Venezuelan Troupial**, *Icterus icterus*. They look a bit like Orioles of the Baltimore persuasion, but they are not nearly as “well-behaved” as their northern cousins. They don’t build their own nest, but take over other nests, abandoned or occupied. If the nests are occupied they push out or – in some cases – eat the eggs and nestlings and then settle in to their new home!

This fellow sang such a nice, fluty song. But the blue robber-type mask gives him kind of a lean and hungry look!

**Left: Yellow-olive Flatbill**, *Tolmomyias sulphurescens*. **Right: Spectacled Parrotlet**, *Forpus conspicillatus*. These little parrots, once they light into the trees are very hard to pick out from the leaves around them. The second morning that I saw these birds they were working over the *Müllerian* *bodies* (“Gummi Fruit”) of a Cecropia Tree.

All the photos below are from Giron, a town just a few kilometers outside of Bucaramanga.

**Left: Straight-Billed Woodcreepers**, **Dendroplex picus**, are pretty common on the far bank of the stream. **Right: Green Iguana**, Iguana iguana. And these are especially common on the near side of the stream, along the aptly-named *Parque las Iguanas*. It is “*las* Iguanas” because they are fed here with fruits and vegetables from the nearby market. I noticed that they left the carrots untouched.

**Left**: One of the most unusual bird calls among the wrens is that of the **Bicolored Wren**, *Campylorhynchus griseus*. **Center**: The **Spectacled Parrotlet**, *Forpus conspicillatus*, like the other parrotlet above, is hard to see – even with the male’s pronounced eye-ring and wing margins. **Right**: **Red-Tailed Squirrel**, *Sciurus granatensis*. I would just call it Red Squirrel, but that name was already taken by a North American squirrel.

Two feisty and very successful competitors are these two colorful birds. **Left**: The **Blue-Gray Tanager**, *Thraupis episcopus*, is especially aggressive. **Right**: I have not seen the **Saffron Finch**, *Sicalis flaveola*, actually chase away other birds like the Tanager has. They are probably just successful because of environmental degradation. But both of these are very photogenic, don’t you think?

**Southern Lapwing**, *Vanellus chilensi*.

**Red-crowned Woodpecker**, *Melanerpes rubricapillus*. One of those birds that is usually first heard, then seen.

I hope to write more next time about the towns that we have visited this last month, especially Barichara and Tunja. Hopefully in a few weeks. Or maybe I will finish my set on Africa and start writing about our Malaysia adventures.

Knysna, South Africa

The first syllable is pronounced “nice”. And it is. We enjoyed our short stay in this seaside town just a short bus ride away from George. This is the main street through town.

Two views of **Knysnakerk** on **Voortrekker Street**: From the east and from the west.

Older jacaranda and palm tree shaded neighborhoods of the town slope gently down to the wide Knysna River as it empties into the Indian Ocean.

**Top left**: Riverfront green spaces are home to lots of waterbirds and other wildlife. Bottom left: The road leading into the island of Thesen Harbour Town. Markers are adorned with the Knysna Seahorses found locally. Right: Information on the boat-building for which the island was known.

The Knysna River empties out past **The Heads**.

**Next three photos** are of the walkways that follow along the Knysna River. Or maybe I should call it an estuary. It widens out quite a ways. A very pleasant place to walk or cycle. We saw lots of herons, egrets, stilts, and gulls, as well as a few oystercatchers, kingfishers, and other birds.

A member of the **Marsh Crab** family, *Parasesarma catenatum*.

**Cattle Egret**, *Bubulcus ibis*, and (inset) **Pied Kingfisher**, *Ceryle rudis*.

Three photos show the importance of aquatic life along the river harbor area.

**African Sacred Ibis**, *Threskiornis aethiopicus,* slumming it in a dumpster behind a grocery store. These birds, long famous in Egyptian and Middle Eastern lore, were unknown further south. But modern agricultural practices and unsanitary environmental practices such as seen here provided newfound attractions for these birds. The Sacred Ibises were first seen in South Africa in the 1970’s and they are quite common now. Unlike the smaller **Hadadas Ibises** they are generally quiet.

Signs in Afrikaans and English. This town did not feel particularly unsafe. but then again, we didn’t go out at night.

**Keedol’s Inn and Backpackers** is where we stayed. Best value in Knysna! The owners were helpful and friendly. We enjoyed our stay here and would come back again.

And just outside of the inn were these two birds! **Spotted Thick-Knee**, *Burhinus capensis*. I almost didn’t see them at first; they were so camouflaged and still. They must have felt at home here because we saw them outside the place two or three times. I always like seeing these staring solitary birds. Actually, usually they were in twosomes.

Some of the green spaces around the harbor might have some interesting surprises. This wooded area just east of the town and close to the harbor, seems to have been visited by at least one **leopard**, judging by the scat that was reported here in July of 2021.

Also nearby the area of the last photo are these perpetually nervous and talkative birds. Helmeted Guineafowl, *Numida meleagris*. I first saw these plump beauties in Del Rio, Texas when four or five of them, I’m assuming escapees, barged on to our property, rummaging under the pecan trees in our yard. I never thought I would be able one day to see them in the wild.

Other interesting birds found in these same woods: **Top**: The always photogenic **Speckled Pigeon**, *Columba guinea*. **Left: Black-bellied Starling**, *Notopholia corusca*. **Right: Piping Cisticola**, *Cisticola fulvicapilla.*

Another star attraction for this town is the **Pledge Nature Reserve**, conveniently within the town limits. Most of the park is well-wooded with signed paths and posts making it hard to get lost. Toward the northern end of the park (shown here) the habitat becomes more arid. The view here is southward, looking back over the town and harbor valley, the Indian Ocean in the distance.

**Above** and **Below**: The Reserve is where we saw the **Southern Vervet Monkey**, *Chlorocebus pygerythrus ssp. pygerythru*. Unlike the macaques these monkeys were rather shy.

A few of the birds seen at the **Pledge Reserve**: **Left: Black-headed Oriole**, *Oriolus larvatus*. Thjis golden songster is often heard before it is seen. It is interesting to me that certain families of birds, like orioles, have similar “*accents*” (for want of a better word). Throughout the world I have noticed that orioles often sound a certain recognizable way, thrushes, another, and so on. **Center: Karoo Prinia**, *Prinia maculosa*. **Right**: The **Fiscal Flycatcher**, *Melaenornis silen*s, could easily be mistaken for a shrike but for his more slender build and less pronounced hook on his beak.

Thanks to **iNaturalist** I was able to find this **Spotted Eagle-Owl,** *Bubo africanus*, two of them, as it turned out! The site showed the exact location of these birds down to two neighboring trees in a quiet commercial area of Thesen Island.

**Common Dwarf Gecko**, *Lygodactylus capensis*

A bumbling beauty, the **Giant Carpenter Bee**, *Xylocopa flavorufa*

Surprise, surprise (not)! The bus taking us back to George was three hours late. But we had already checked out of our guesthouse. So we had to kill time all packed up hanging around the downtown area. I took the opportunity to make a few candid photos. I guess Alexander Pope would have been pleased with me. He wrote:

“Know then thyself, presume not God to scan…
The proper **study** of **Mankind** is Man.
Placed on this isthmus of a middle state,
A Being darkly wise, and rudely great…” .

Having nothing else to do, that is what we did – people-watching.

The bus finally came and it was a short trip back to the bigger city of George. These four photos are of the stretch between the two places.

This pleasant equestrian scene is just a few miles south of George.

After a few days in George we flew up to Windhoek in Namibia and then traveled throughout that country as well as a good part of Botswana. You can select the tags or links for those reports somewhere in these pages.

My plan is to finish up the Africa reports with an article on **Pretoria** and **Johannesburg** – mostly the former.

Escape from the Cape: Riversdale, South Africa

The best experience I had in Africa, I would say, is in South Africa – here in Riversdale. Also the worst experience – Rustenburg. (But I am not planning on writing about that town).

The title of this article is more for the sake of rhyme than reason. Our stay in Cape Town was pleasant enough. But after a while we were wondering what the rest of the country was like. We were looking for some places that were not as touristic and, hopefully, still affordable to visit. That last factor proved more difficult the more we researched. Hotels and guesthouses were rather pricey. Luckily we found a suitable and affordable one in Riversdale, Rusticana Guest House.

The town of **Riversdale** as seen from the **Aloeridge Local Nature Reserve** with the **Langeberg Mountain Range** in the background.

A few photos of the trip away from Cape town. **Top Left**: A view from Sir Lowry’s Pass, showing False bay and Cape Town in the hazy distance. **Bottom Left**: I forget where this is but this country is where I learned just what “*biltong*” was – dried and cured meat, often of game. Pretty tasty. **Right**: Downtown **Caledon**.

**Views of Riversdale**. This town reminds me somehow of **Blackwell, Oklahoma**, in the US, seemingly laid-back, pleasant to explore.

The sign says “Parking for customers only.”

More views of the town. **Left**: Butcher shop in the foreground. “Butchery”, actually, is their word for that type of store! **Center**: Railroad tracks point toward the distant Sleeping Beauty Mountain. **Right**: One of the main tourist attractions for this town, going by how often I see it on web pages, is this old jail.

The **Dutch Reformed Church** and **Jacaranda Trees**, Church Street.

Walking through downtown I noticed that the majority are black (75%), the whites being a distinct minority (15%), only slightly more numerous than the coloreds (12%). This information comes from their municipal site. Those “colored” (Afrikaans “*Kleurlinge*” or “*Bruinmense*“) are those of mixed races, between European, Asian, or African.

Hopefully someone here can answer my question. What sport is this? The people are throwing these rods sort of like in horseshoes. I tried the internet but can’t get any answers. Anyone?

It helps to know Afrikaans in this art of the country. In fact, many people who look like they would speak English don’t understand it at all. More than once I was only able to find what I wanted in the stores by my knowledge of German and passable Dutch – and even then it was sometimes difficult.

**Above**, **clockwise from upper left**: 1. **Farmers Market,** and other activities, held every Saturday on those dates at the town park. With “*Versnaperings*“! (Snacks) 2. “Russians”, as far as we could tell, were just hot dogs. Maybe thicker, like the German Bockwurst. “Hoender” = “Chicken”. “Koeksisters” are braided traditional pastries, fried dough glazed with honey. 3. “We thank God for a long life.” I would say so. Francois A.B. lived to be 101. 4. Our hotel, helpfully, had a dual-language New Testament with Psalms. Whenever I try to learn a new language I often read familiar books in the Bible in that language, being already familiar with the passages in English.

Two more examples of Afrikaans. **Left**: “*Keep our town clean*“. **Right**: A monument in the town park commemorating those who undertook the **Great Trek**. “*With thankful memory of all those who took part in the Great Trek of 150 years ago. Installed by the Riversdale Association*“.

Looking northward from the **Aloeridge Local Nature Reserve**. **Left**: A pretty weed that is actually invasive here, a Vervain. I think it is the **Purpletop Vervain,** *Verbena bonariensis*. Native to South America, it has now spread to major parts of six continents. I remember seeing them on the university campus where I taught in Northeast China. **Right**: **Springbok**, *Antidorcas marsupialis*. I’d like to pretend that this was shot in the wild but these antelopes were actually in a campground in town. They may still be wild. Later, in George we saw dozens of them mingling with golfers on a well-manicured course.

The **Bokmakierie**, *Telophorus zeylonus*, songs as beautifully as he looks. As *they* look, I should say I heard the male and female singing a striking duet.

Normally I wouldn’t post so many bird photos in any one article but Riversdale had a wonderful variety of interesting and beautiful species that I had to indulge myself here. And there are even more I could have added.

**Left**: One of the star attractions of the *Fynbos* hill overlooking the town was this **Sombre Greenbul**, *Andropadus importunus*. **Upper Right**: **Cape Sparrow**, *Passer melanurus*. **Lower Right**: **Cape White-Eye**, *Zosterops virens*.

**Left**: This **Red-knobbed Coot**, *Fulica cristata*, was in nearby *Riviersonderend*. **Center**: **Cape Robin-Chat,** *Cossypha caffra*. **Right**: The intrepid **Fork-tailed Drongo**, *Dicrurus adsimilis*, reminded me of the American Kingbirds as he took on a hawk two or three times his size.

It is always a challenge getting a well-focused capture of the **Greater Double-collared Sunbird**, *Cinnyris afer,* as it darts in and out of the leafy trees throughout town.

Two of the three dove species that are commonly seen here: **Left**: **Red-eyed Dove**, *Streptopelia semitorquata.* **Right**: **Laughing Dove**, *Streptopelia senegalensis*

**African Hoopoe**, *Upupa africana*. This fellow was busily poking in the ground for ants and termites. This species is darker than the more well-known Eurasian Hoopoe.

I would really like to return to Riversdale. The place and the people intrigue me. But I don’t think we will. It is rather expensive to fly to South Africa and, once you are there, bus travel (train being almost totally non-existent now) is very problematic. For instance, we wanted to go up from George to see Oudsshoorn, famous for the Ostrich farms and canyonlands, a few hours to the north. But the only bus available for us at that time left around midnight. And the bus station in George is in a very unsafe part of town. Added to this, the buses were often late.

Next: Speaking of George, that will be the next article.

Francistown & Gaborone, Botswana

Traveling on to Francistown was a tricky proposition since we did not have our own vehicle. First we had to walk down to the intersection that passes for downtown Nata. And then we had to find a van heading south, waiting for quite a while in the van until we have a full compliment of passengers, something we call “achieving valence”. This should make sense if you took chemistry in school. This time we had to wait quite a while for the final two or three “electrons”!

**Above** and **Below**: Views on the way south. On this stretch we saw no wildlife just cattle, farms, and the odd store or business here and there.

Francistown was a bit of a disappointment, for me at least. If I may borrow and misuse Gertrud Stein’s comment on Oakland, California, I felt “there is no there there“. I mean the town has some history but they have managed to effectively obliterate most of it, covering it with malls and shabby-looking supermarkets. The most interesting place was the open air market right up against the bus terminal.

We also had trouble at first finding a good hotel. With a map app in hand we walked to where I thought was an affordable place. I finally found the place, opened the gate and knocked on the door. I was told, “This is not a hotel anymore. And you better leave the yard because there is a dog here that bites.”

This was now the second hotel off my list, the first being way too expensive just by looking at it. I was down to my last choice, the historical Diggers Inn. It was over $40 a night. I was going to settle for that and move on the next night but, luckily, I noticed just then another hotel just a block away that that was less than half that, City Inn. This place was perfectly suitable. End of a long travel day.

**Left**: The next day we explored the town starting with a small city park nearby. There were some interesting cultural exhibits here. I took some pictures and, strangely enough, a guard came up and told me that it was not allowed. I was told I could use a cellphone but not a camera! What a strange rule. And mine was not a really fancy camera.

**Right**: Pretty close to the hotel, on the edge of town was a steep, paved path that went right up Nyangabwe Hill, where you can get a good view of the city. Before we went up this lady (pictured) spoke to me, “*Hey, English!*” she said, “*We want to take a picture.* ” We obliged. And then we took their picture too.

Birds seen on our trek up the hill: **Left: Cut-throat Finch**, *Amadina fasciata*. (Not your usual prosaic bird name, don’t you think?) **Center: Southern Red Bishop**, *Euplectes orix*. **Right: African Gray Hornbill**, *Lophoceros nasutus*.

Photos **above** and **beow**: After two days we were ready to head down Highway A1 to the capitol city, Gaborone. We stopped in a few places, giving me a chance to take a few photos through the grimy tinted windows.

Finally made it to Gaborone. Everything we needed to see – and most of what I *wanted* to see – was in semi-easy walking distance. Like in many African cities, crossing the street was a bit dicey.

After a long walk to downtown we saw a cool, shady plaza where we sat down and rested. But a guard told us we were not allowed to be in the plaza because of Covid! This was in full view of street sweepers enjoying their lunch break under the shade nearby.

We were fortunate to get the affordable Gaborone Hotel (Below) right next to transportation, a market, and two shopping centers (Above).

**Left**: Botswanan stamps, **Top Right: Karoo Thrush**, *Turdus smithi* ,and **Frangipani Tree**. **Bottom Right**: **Speckled Mousebird**, *Colius striatus*.

Truck loaded with hay (?) at the Botswana-South Africa border checkpoint. We had to get out of the bus and walk quite a distance to the other side. I, without thinking, had my camera strapped around my neck. Because of this I had to fill out another form declaring the value of the camera, where I had bought it, and other pointless details. I should have left it in my backpack!

Welcome to South Africa!

Well… it was not really the kind of welcome that we wanted. But that is another story.

Trip to Nata, Botswana

The first half, maybe, of our road down to Nata from Kasane still had plenty of wildlife. But later – and especially when we approached Nata – the land became more agricultural and less wild. *Elephants, lions, zebras, and ostriches* gave way to *cattle* and rows upon rows of crops.
**Top**: The **Kasane Forest Reserve** stayed with us quite a ways as we headed south. I saw elephants and a zebra but, this time, I was not fast enough to get a good shot of them. Lower Left: The sign next to the picnic table reads: *“Disclaimer. This is a wild life area. You are stopping here at your own risk.”* **Lower Right**: As the land opened up more it was easier to see the ostriches.

**Left**: **Pandamatenga** grain silos. The weathered billboards on one of them reads “Financing Farmers to nurture and feed the nation”. **Right**: Entering a new district means getting out of the van and walking through the checkpoint. It felt good to stretch the legs.

**Top Left**: The common area of Eselbe Camp. We enjoyed staying here. We had a very affordable private room. Staying at this place was an unforgettable experience. **Right**: Germans friends we met at Eselbe Camp Backpackers, where we saw the Bush Babies. They were on the way up to Kasane. The very road we just came down in the van two days before. **Lower Left**: The stars of Eselbe Camp, **Bush Babies** (AKA **Southern Lesser** **Galago**, *Galago moholi*) performing nightly. They hide in the hollow beams of the common area you see in the first picture. When it gets dark they venture out tentatively from their hole – first looking around and staring at you for a few minutes . And then they spring into action. Spring is the word. It was incredible to see how quickly and high they were able to jump, like little furry grasshoppers. But very accurate in their leaps. We saw them jump five to ten feet from the platform on to the top of barbed wires, every time landing right *between* the points. *Amazing*.

**Left: Red-billed Firefinch**, *Lagonosticta senegala*. **Top Right**: **Meves’s Starling**, Lamprotornis mevesii. **Lower Right**: **Black-backed Puffback**, *Dryoscopus cubla*.

Canoeing is available at the camp. The **Nata River** is right behind the camp grounds.

A pleasant enough view but, truth be known, we already missed Kasane with all the Warthogs, elephants, hippos, and the rest. The bird life, too, was much more varied than here owing. Cattle have pretty much taken over the whole natural region around Nata, other wildlife being rather rare. There is a sizeable salt pan a few miles south of town. Being a protected area there would be good wildlife there, but it required private vehicle to get there. Or a willingness to walk further than we intended.

We spent two days in Nata and then walked the mile or so to the junction that pretends to be downtown Nata in order to get a van to take us to Francistown.

Nata has an importance way beyond its actual size. Although it is the 49th largest town in Botswana it is one that many travelers come to because it is on an important junction. For us, the main draw was seeing those Bush babies.

Next: Francistown (soon)

Index of the ten articles of our two trips through Nicaragua

When I first started to write of our experiences in Nicaragua I did not think it would require ten articles, but that is what happened. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Hmm, according to my Flickr site I have 2,296 pictures of Nicaragua, so I guess it could have run to a lot more then ten articles!

Here are the article links and a short excerpt from each of them:

Nicaraguan Adventures
“When I first planned to write about our trips to Nicaragua I thought I would just make it a one-off. But the more I looked at the many photos I had to choose from – and the more those photos brought back memories almost forgotten – I realized that this will be another multi-parter, just like my Ukraine articles. Oh well, too many photos and too many memories is a good problem to have.”

Nicaraguan Adventures 2: Ometepe Island
“Volcan Concepcion dominates the left half of the photo. This was taken as our ferry approached Moyogalpa, also visible on the left. On the far right distance is Volcan Madera, the other volcano that makes up this dumbbell-shaped island. Most nature enthusiasts try to make it to this more remote volcano because the wilderness is better protected there. But, at least when we were there, the roads were worse and the hotels more expensive.”

Nicaraguan Adventures 3: Granada
“What a contrast this Granada was with the one we had seen in Spain, the city this one was named after by Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba in 1524, after having, along with Ponce de Leon and Hernan Cortes, conquered the country! Things did not go so well for him in later years when his patriotism lost its luster in the eyes of the new king. He was beheaded. But – on the positive side – his head was immortalized on the new national currency named after him – the cordoba!”

Nicaraguan Adventures 4: Diria and Masaya
“This town, founded 1523, is famous for medicine and magic, curanderos and shamans. On the festival of San Pedro the excited locals “accompany” the saint as he inspects the village, dancing (the townfolk, not Saint Peter) and, in the case of two or three men I saw in a video, waving around machetes like batons. I guess people come here from far and wide to see this, but my wife and I have seen such goings-on before.”

Nicaraguan Adventures 5: Jinotepe and Leon
“These two towns have at least one thing in common although they are not real near each other: They both had no decent hotel available for us. Consequently we spent only one night in each town. So there will be less commentary and more pictures for this segment.”

Nicaraguan Adventures 6: Jinotega, Selva Negra, and Matagalpa
“This is the scene my wife and I, sitting down after a hike up the mountain, were enjoying when the masked young man came out of the bushes. “I want that phone”, he said, holding up his machete. My wife threw down some money, but he didn’t want that.

“Give me the phone or I’ll kill you.“

“Kill me then“, I said, standing up. At the same time my wife stood up and yelled, “Ladron!” (“Thief”). At this point he lost his nerve, running back into the bushes. I threw a rock at him but don’t think I hit him. We were a bit shaken after this and reported the incident to the police. They faulted us for not going up the mountain with a police escort! I doubt if they even filed a report.”

Nicaraguan Adventures 7: Sebaco, Boaco, and Juigalpa
“The high point of the town of Juigalpa – literally – is the Mirador Loma de Tamames also called the Mirador Sandino boasts a
two dimensional representation – also literally -of their heroic General Sandino. A pleasant enough setting to enjoy the view and relax on benches decorated with paintings of cattle and birds that are now rarely seen near the town.”

Nicaraguan Adventures 8: Somoto & Chinandega
“We stayed at the aptly-named Hotel Panamericano, two blocks off of the international highway of the same name. Of course, “highway” may be misleading. This is just a main two-lane road cluttered with slow-moving traffic, pedestrians, and donkeys. In fact, Somoto is also called “el Pueblo de los Burros” – “Town of the Donkeys”.”

Nicaraguan Adventures 9: Esteli
“In many ways Esteli is quite the contrast to Chinandega (see previous article). The city , 3rd or 7th largest in the country, depending on which website you believe, it manages a laid-back atmosphere without the sketchiness of the previous town.”

“Many of the murals had revolutionary themes. Not surprisingly seeing that this city suffered immensely during the revolution in the 1980’s. The Nicaraguan populace finally won freedom over the Somoza dictatorship but not before serious bombardments from the latter. Esteli, especially, suffered major damage.”

Nicaraguan Adventures 10: Ocotal & Mozonte
“American history that did not make it into most American history books, certainly not the ones I taught with: Uncle Sam turning Nicaragua into its own bloody stomping ground. I have taught high school and junior high history for several years and never came across the embarrassing information I learned from my visit of the local history museum here in Ocotal. I knew the general strokes, the “who” and “where“, but never really processed the underlying “why” of it all. From the 1930’s to the Iran-Contra Scandal of the 1980’s our country’s actions were quite at odds with the democratic platitudes we preached. We were not on the side of the angels on this one.”

Nicaraguan Adventures 8: Somoto & Chinandega

Somoto, refers to the town and the canyon just a few miles north. We stayed at the aptly-named Hotel Panamericano, two blocks off of the international highway of the same name. Of course, “highway” may be misleading. This is just a main two-lane road cluttered with slow-moving traffic, pedestrians, and donkeys. In fact, Somoto is also called “el Pueblo de los Burros” – “Town of the Donkeys”. The hotel was cheap enough and the owner was very accommodating. The only sad part was seeing those nervous spider monkeys kept in small cages.

The photos are from our two separate trips, November 2018 and May 2019.

Left: Government building with Sandinista flag over the entrance. Top Right: Waiting for a ride at the bus terminal. Lower Right: Our favorite meal in Somoto are the Nacatamales. Much better than the usual tamales we get in Mexico. Ours had mixed into the masa rice, meat, potatoes, olive, and raisins. And I’m sure I am forgetting an ingredient or two.

Opposite the well-shaded town square is the Templo Santiago Apostol, built in 1611. One of the very oldest churches in the country.

Incendiaries & Ice Cream (in the far right corner). The town, like in other rural parts of Nicaragua, has several Sandinisti and Socialist-themed murals.

We were planning on exploring the area outside of town but found the surrounding hills hard to get to. Also we had heard that robberies have been known to happen in the hills close to town. So we took the local bus to go to a famous, and safer, canyon of the name as the town. It was worth the trip. Somoto Canyon is maybe two kilometers from the Honduran border.

I wanted to do some hiking in these hills bought we heard too many cautionary tales of muggings.

Bus rides in Nicaragua are always an adventure, good and bad. The seating – at least for this tall Gringo – is excruciatingly cramped. And the driver often has the music playing really loud. We routinely take earplugs with us.

Do you see the ladder and bars around the top of the bus? I have seen the helper climbing up from the front on to the top and then see him come back in the bus via the rear door. All while the bus was in transit down the curvy road!

On our last day trip to Somora Canyon we rode out on the bus you see here, but came back in a crowded transport truck. We waited over on hour for the bus that never came.

The real draw to this area is the canyon, not the town. We came here twice. One of the times we hired a boatsman to take us far into the canyon. The second time we entered from a different road and traversed the canyon where it was more shallow.

**Left**: Coming back from our canoe trip we met a Chinese tour group entering in. 大家好! **Center**: Plenty of of livestock wandering through parts of the National Park. **Right**: Along the steep sides of the canyon there were the stately Cardon Cactuses.

We chose the muddy Frostian path less traveled. But well-traveled by cattle, making our hike difficult. I think my weight doubled with each muddy footstep!

Two beauties of the canyon. **Left**: Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, Myiodynastes luteiventris **Right**: Turquoise-browed Motmot, Eumomota superciliosa. This second bird is called “Pajaro Reloj” – “Clock Bird” because his tail swings back and forth like an old-fashioned clock.

Our second time here the path was impassable without getting the feet – or hooves – wet.

Left: The loud rattle of the Ringed Kingfisher, *Megaceryle torquata*, is almost always heard before seen. Right: Blackbelly Racerunner Lizard, *Aspidoscelis deppii*.

**Left**: I don’t mind getting wet. At least in areas where there are no crocodiles! **Right**: At the end of our boat ride, before heading back.

Next: Chinandega, a sketchy little town that kept us on our toes. See the map for the location of both of these towns.

We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with … Molotov Cocktails? A contrast of wars and warriors, sword and shield armored angel (?) and a plucky revolutionary, lighted Molotov in one hand and firearm in the other.

Close to this statue, thankfully not visible, was a scrawny guy who, well, clearly did not know how to work his zipper correctly.

1. Our bus that brought us here was quite colorful. 2. Painted statues and pithy political slogans are common throughout Latin America. 3. This Orange-chinned Parakeet, Brotogeris jugularis, doesn’t really fit in this set of four but it was the only bit of wildlife I saw in this town. 4. A common mode of travel here is the pedi-cab taxi.

**Above** and **Below**: Market area spills over into several side streets.

In our hunger we momentarily forgot that ordering pizza anywhere south of the Rio Grande is a risky proposition. We waited almost an hour for this pizza. Yet it was clearly undercooked. Not worth the wait.

It was hard to know where the bus terminal starts and the market ends.

I would have taken a few more pictures but after I took my phone out I was warned to put it away because of all the thieves and pickpockets. All in all this town was one of the least favorite places we visited.

**Next**: **Ocotal, Mozonte, and Esteli**, colorful and quaint corner of northern Nicaragua. I would have liked to have stayed longer in these next towns.

Katima Mulilo: Wild Fingertip of Namibia

And this article, for the most part, focuses on the “wild” part, not so much the nondescript town. I went through my pictures just now and I found very few of the town itself, the buildings and almost invariably sandy streets, that were interesting.

More comments coming soon.

This road parallels the main highway into town, a road only slightly less dusty. The contrast between these two roads is striking. Just out of sight of this photo above is a jumble of brick and corrugated dwellings. We didn’t feel especially safe walking down here after being somewhat aggressively importuned for money by a women with an axe in her hand. I know. Sometimes perceptions are just that. But there is also touristic “spider sense”.

We were quite happy staying at the Kololo Guesthouse, a collection of buildings that included a restaurant that made some pretty good pizza! Because our particular place was all metal the wifi reception was not great, but was decent when I sat outside by the table.

**Smith’s Bush Squirrel**, *Paraxerus cepapi*

**Left: Tawny-flanked Prinia**, *Prinia subflava*. **Center: Little Bee-Eater**, *Merops pusillus*. **Right: Black-collared Barbet**, *Lybius torquatus*

The best time to see this **White-browed Coucal**, *Centropus superciliosus*, or perhaps any Coucal or Cuckoo, is after a good rain, when they are often more exposed on treetops, drying off their feathers.

I had to venture through a lot of tangly brush to get this photo of the **Rufous-bellied Heron**, *Ardeola rufiventris*.

A green-feathered beauty on the muddy path. The **Emerald-spotted Wood-Dove**, *Turtur chalcospilos*

**African Openbill**, *Anastomus lamelligerus*, a stork that posed conveniently atop a tree.

**Schalow’s Turaco**, *Tauraco schalowi*, a bird that looks like he was designed by Dr. Seuss! Our first Turaco we saw was in George, South Africa, but this species is even more exotic-looking.

**Top row**: **Prosmidia conifera** and **Forest Elfin** (I think)
**Middle**: Unknown Beetle and **Citrus Swallowtail**
**Bottom**: **Lucia Widow** and **Eastern Dotted Border**

Selling eggs near the vans and taxis that lead south to Botswana.

The future of Katima Mulilo walking slowly to school.

This is the last of my Numibia posts, at least for now. Maybe my next article will be a totally different part of the world. We have been blessed to have been able to travel to many more places than I have time and energy to write about.

Colorful Divundu

“Colorful” is a good name for it, starting with the Elegant Grasshopper shown below, but also the various birds and, most of all, the people and culture in general. This is National Geographic Africa, quite off the tourist trail. However, enough tourists come through that it did not make us such an oddity, but most of them did not stay more than a day – if that. We stayed for a whole week. For many, I noticed, it was a place to fill up the gas tank, get more groceries and hard -nose it on to Katima Mulilo at the end of the Caprivi Strip. Or take the spur south to the more famous Maun, Botswana.

(BTW, currently we are in Malaysia, flying out to Borneo on Saturday!)

**Elegant Grasshopper**, *Zonocerus elegans*

**Meves’s Starling**, *Lamprotornis mevesii*. There are three or four shiny black birds in Divundu, not always easy to tell apart, but they are all striking.

**Above** and **Below**: Downtown Divundu. This is where a lot of Mom and Pop stores are, believe it or not.

We called this the “Business District”. Later in the day it is more alive with foot traffic. The metal building to the right is a “shebeen”, basically a bar.

Cows and people – and the occasional dust-blasting car – on the road in front of our guesthouse.

This was our digs. Notice the Springbok pelt on the wall. Not really the Radisson! But good enough for our tastes.

**Fish trap** on the Okavango River. This is actually a small-scale fishing weir. Bream, tilapia and tiger fish are caught in these waters.

Traveling the Okavango in traditional style. The makoros canoe – hollowed out in one piece from the African Ebony tree. This boat is not kind to sudden movements! Because there is no keel it is easy to tip over. Not a good idea for this crocodile-crowded river. Maybe “crowded” is too strong a word, but I did see them the last two times I crossed over on the bridge.

I would have to think that a sudden, loud splash might sound like a dinner bell to them.

**Nile Crocodile**. I was glad to spot this lazy lurker from the bridge spanning the Okovango River, and not in the canoe shown above.

I hurried across to the other side of the bridge to see this fellow floating downriver like a lazy log.
The next day we took a taxi out of town. The driver told us about a crocodile that almost pulled him in the river. He still had the scar.

**Crested Barbet**, *Trachyphonus vaillantii*. Taken at the Checkpoint where we waited for a ride on down the Caprivi strip

A bucket on her head, baby on her back, and phone in her hand. Triple-tasking.

**White-crested Helmetshrike**, *Prionops plumatus*. This was a flock of maybe ten birds, which strikes me as unusual for shrikes. Shrikes usually are just in ones or twos since they have to hunt for prey. These are definitely forest birds. We only saw them after quite a walk into the Kobe National Park.

**Lilac-breasted Roller**, *Coracias caudatus*

The **White-fronted Bee-Eater**, *Merops bullockoides*, was one of four different Bee-Eaters I saw in Divundu.

The tree that Zaccheus climbed, the “Sycamore” of the King James Bible is a fig tree with fruits growing from the trunk

On the way to fieldwork, some of them, others seem to be returning from the grocery store across the river.

These last four photos are from a private vehicle we were finally able to hitch. The guard at the checkpoint kindly did the “hitching” for us, asking driver after driver if they would take us. After an hour we succeeded. They called it “hiking”, meaning “hitch-hiking”!

Beautiful **Ostriches** showing off by the roadside.

This road had much more foot and donkey traffic than cars.

Next: Katima Mulilo

Traveling across Namibia’s “Finger”: Caprivi Strip

We have been slowly venturing like ants along the eastward-pointing finger of Namibia, spending time in Tsumeb, Grootfontein, Rundu, Divundu, and lastly in the town of Katima, in the region’s “fingernail”. A dirty fingernail that city was too, dusty or muddy streets and poor infrastructure. But a lot of friendly people. And some not-so-friendly animals.

This was going to be a one-off but, once again, the sheer number of pictures I pored over – and the associated memories – will make this a two or three-parter.