Fly over Okavango Delta

Okavango Delta on mid-August, just about three months into the dry season. Lush green turns into yellowish brown, water has receded in many places. Animals searching for food, along with termite mounts dotted the land.

Elephant Sands Lodge in Kalahari Desert

Third day in Southern Africa in Botswana, traveled long bus ride on a major highway with hardly any traffic or structures along the way. Before reaching the lodge, our tour guide showed us a drawing of the location, repeatedly warned to stay on the designated trail, not to step out into elephants' path. This area is in the Kalahari Desert, now is the middle of dry season, water is getting scarce. The elephants would visit water holes everyday, and if they don't find water, they would make a lot of fuss searching for it and damage the lodge property. So the locals would put together some money to pay for pumping water to the water holes.

Fruit Bats (Flying Fox) of Sri Lanka 斯里蘭卡的水果蝙蝠

斯里蘭卡的蝙蝠，又叫“飛狐”，集體倒掛大樹上。飛起來的造型和電影裡的蝙蝠俠真沒有兩樣。這是在Tissa Lake的東南角上看到的。

First I saw a few on the island of Maldives, then a few on one tree in Kandy around Kandy Lake. Then came the mother load of those fruit bats hanging from several big canopy trees at the southeast corner of Tissa Lake, about 100 meters from the Rain Tree Hotel we stayed. Many big birds like Grey Heron, Asian Darter, and Cormorant also shared the trees.

Malabar Pied Hornbill in Yala National Park of Sri Lanka 斯里蓝卡的犀鸟

這群鳥在很遠的樹上，用望遠鏡才大概看出是犀鳥。因為很遠，想放棄不看了。導遊說等等，一隻鳥開始飛，整群都會跟進的。果然如此，大家紛紛飛到近處的樹上。其中兩隻在飛行中和在樹上都觸碰著大嘴。慢慢地，就像來時一樣，他們又漸漸飛離。這是我第一次在野外看到犀鳥，比在動物園裡看精彩多了。Our safari guide D spotted those Hornbills on the tree at the far end of the clearing. So far away I had to use binoculars to acknowledge they were indeed Malabar Pied Hornbills. D told us to wait, once one bird started to move, the rest will follow. He was right. One leave the group and flew toward us, slowly others follow. Even on the move, one pair touch beaks on the fly!

They arrived on the tree closer to us, still, the pair lock their beaks. After brief stop, the group started to move again. One by one, they leave us.

I tried to check the sex of those two kissers later when I had the bird book and internet access. My guess is they were both female, but can't confirm.

Photos by Dinesh Harsha.

The magic mountain goats of Glacier NP

I wanted to see mountain goats badly. Visited Alaska twice, didn't get to see them, not even a tiny grain of white dots up on the mountain. Didn't see any in Canadian Rockies either. My last hope then was Glacier NP, where everyone got pictures of them. Search results showed Logan Pass is the best bet.

Ranger said they frequently spotted on Hidden Lake Trail. Just the trail we planned to hike. It was late June, most of the trail was still covered by snow after short walk on wooden walkway at the beginning. At some point slippery and narrow, but overall an easy and beautiful hike.

Swimming With Sea Turtles in Kona, Big Island of Hawaii 在大島與海龜同游

三年前才遊大島（驚艷夏威夷大島），因為熟門熟路，從西岸直飛很方便。這次決定只去幾個地方，希望好好放鬆度假。在Kailua-Kona 留了兩天，都在浮潛。我們去的兩處都在路邊，停了車就可以下水，完全免費。買了兩年的水底相機這回真的努力使用。不只見到海龜，還在水中看牠們覓食，跟了好一陣子。其他熱帶魚更不在話下。（倒是珊瑚礁沒啥看頭。）我這旱鴨照例穿救生衣浮潛，保證要沉也沉不下，可以安心地享受神奇的水中世界。以下是英文詳情。

Revisit same place in three years is something unthinkable in our travel record, but we wanted to go back to the Big Island because we knew the place from last visit, this time just wanted to do few things and relax, no exploration needed. With direct flight from Oakland to Kailua-Kona, flying time to the west is much easier than to the east. The big plus is easy access to the free snorkeling sites we intended, no need to involve boat or tour operators.

White-tailed Kites mating

The whole thing lasted for 3 seconds...

地獄谷的日本雪猴 Japan's Snow Monkeys

Jigokudani Yaen-koen near Nagano has one-third of the year under snow. To help the monkeys endure the harsh winter and prevent them from starving, a small onsen was set up and grain is provided in the surrounding area. We got there at the feeding time, so mostly the monkeys were focus on food, instead of enjoying the steam bath in the onsen.  For more information, check the link at the end of the page.

看雪猴是和朋友跟著一對知名的攝影達人去的，去的是長野附近的地獄谷野猿公苑。到達之後需要走1.6公里的上山路，穿了冰爪覺得很踏實，不用擔心滑倒。路的盡頭雪很厚，但溫泉大冒。公園中心是一個很小的溫泉池，是寒天裡給猴兒們享用的。

北海道的丹頂鶴 Red-Crowned Cranes of Hokkaido

Tsurui Village in Hokkaido, Japan has three sites regularly feed the red-crowned cranes, making the sighting of this rare bird a sure bet. See the English link at the end of this blog page for map.

看到丹頂鶴就想到日本，高雅和長壽。但是丹頂鶴在亞洲其他地方和西伯利亞也有，只是數目少又散落各地。而北海道幾十年來餵食，因此即使是瀕危，到這裡卻一定能見到。

北海道的鶴居村 Tsurui Village 附近有大片濕地，（屬於釧路濕原國立公園），適合鳥居。冬季時附近有三處餵食地，大部分的鶴都群集這裡。根據WiKi 的說法，因為食物來源固定，這裡的鶴最多只飛個一百多公里就算是遷移了。到西伯利亞去生小鳥的事是沒有的。（日本的鶴就留在日本了。）

看見灰狐

剛轉進這條叉路不遠，還提醒自己要輕步慢行，就見到不遠處坐著隻灰狐，正盯著我。我馬上停步。相機早已設好，就連續按了幾張。看那狐沒動，我就再往前輕移幾步，再照幾張。還沒動，再往前幾步，看牠稍有遲疑，彷彿抬腳要離開，我只好馬上停止前進，牠也就打消了動作。大概這就是牠可以接受的安全距離吧。就這樣，我們對看了一會兒，稍遠處跑來另一隻灰狐，一下就衝進旁邊的灌木叢裡，接著又來一隻，和牠稍微玩了一下。看來這坐著的是母狐，一面應付小狐，眼光卻集中在我身上，另一隻耳稍轉向旁邊，側聽動向。好一陣子這兩隻狐才躲進灌木叢裡。

Galapagos Islands, Day 8: Baltra Airport

早飯之前先去Black Turtle Cove。上船之前，Pedro假意地說，My Dear Owls...這是最後一次上小船啦，加上一張傷心的苦臉。早晨的水上很涼，太陽才升起，小船沿著紅樹林尋找早起的鳥兒和魚兒。除了馬達聲以外，這早晨真是寧靜祥和。海龜、小鯊魚和水裡游的海洋鬣蜥! 黃金魟魚Golden Rays結伴從船邊寂靜無聲地滑過，像翅一般的胸鰭不時露出水面。魟魚無聲息的滑翔! 這最後的早晨還是讓我嘆息。

Galapagos Islands, Day 7: Santiago & Bartolome

早上起來照例看一下周遭，這回是到了一個斜塔旁邊嗎？那大石看上去是要倒下來的樣子呀。一艘帆船已經跟了我們三天了，（但從來沒看到他們張帆，）在斜塔旁看來真是別有情調。

Galapagos Islands, Day 6: Floreana

今天又安排了兩次浮潛。每次浮潛完了都回到船上，快速沖澡，洗泳衣，三十分鐘後繼續下一個活動。當然，不論是從陸上還是海上下水，總是要塗防曬油、上下小艇、穿脫救生衣。好忙啊。

Floreana島是所有G島裡人類新聞最多的島。

Galapagos Islands, Day 5: Española !!

上午去的Gardener Bay滿是海洋鬣蜥，珊瑚礁造成的沙灘很長，土耳其玉顏色的海水在藍天下很宜人。這裡連模仿鳥Mocking Bird都是這個島特有的，嘴比較長，稍稍下彎。羽毛顏色稍深，所以在沙灘上形成保護色。浮潛下水則是萬分宜人。魚真是結集成球地移動。

Galapagos Islands, Day 4: San Cristobal

昨天晚餐前，Pedro 在板上寫完今天的行程，大家看了立刻大叫。六點吃早餐也就算了，居然早上九點不到就去浮潛。原來今天算是半個休息日 zero day，回到有人煙的地方啦。早早把該做的做完好進城啊。

Galapagos Islands, Day 3: South Plaza & Santa Fe

今天要去兩個小島，先去 South Plaza。據說另有一大隊48人也要上這小島，我們最好趕在前面先去，所以七點就吃早餐。

Galapagos Islands, Day 2, Genovesa Island

Genovesa 島是Galapagos 群島北部一個很遠的島，昨晚船行八小時才到。同行的威州團長 Bill 為了此島才選了這行程，我因此有很高的期待。一早起來就看到一隻 Brown Pelican 在船尾，等東西吃嗎？

Galapagos Islands, Day 1 Mosquera Island

早上趕飛機，四點半就集合往機場。到G島禁帶動植物，行李都經過特別檢查。從首府Quito飛到西方大城 Guayaquil 加油再飛到 Santa Cruz 島旁機場所在的 Baltra島。一出來，見到的是一片荒涼, 沒別的建築。很好，少有人居才是動物天堂。行李先被送上船，我們直接前往高地看陸龜。路上經過大都是古早的火山岩漿地形，只有一些散落各處的棄置房舍，是二戰時期美軍為護衛巴拿馬運河，在此駐守的遺跡。

Galapagos Underwater 海洋生物照片

這些水中照片是導遊 Rogelio用我們的Olympus Tough II 相機照的。

Underwater photos by Rogelio Guaycha.

Galapagos Sea Lion

Galapagos 陸地生物照片

軍艦鳥 Frigatebird