Africa Wild

I first came here from another place and and while I still have virtual friends over there I feel more comfortable here. AW seems a place more in tune with my approach to African wildlife, my views on conservation, eco-tourism and you just seem a friendly bunch of people. It's also a great place to learn. I lurk more than post but I'm here on and off. I appreciate the welcome I've received from Flutterby, Richprins and others. The African Wild Books particularly plants are wonderful to read – good job Toko, BluTuna et al!

RP and I have had a PM conversation and he gently prompted me for a TT of my latest adventure. I want to contribute something to AW so here goes.

Some background before I start. Seiont is a the name of a river - Afon Seiont, the River of Saints, that rises in Eryri, the Snowdonia National Park in North Wales. A very special river to me for many reasons not least the connections with my late parents, E & F, who supported my interest in the natural world.

9333 miles is the great circle distance from my home to my final destination, a place far, far from anywhere I've been before but a location I have wanted to visit for many years. David Attenborough has been there and said of his visit “it was one of the most magical experiences of my life". I hope you enjoy my account of my journey there.

To start, I am interested with anything containing DNA and much more besides including climate, weather, geology and astronomy. I am an improving photographer and document my travels with hundreds of photographs that slowly get pruned down. I am not seeking perfection as I don't have time before I need to move on but I photograph as a record of my trips. I am a Canon type of person with a 7D and 100-400mm lens as my main camera and a 450D and 18 – 200mm as backup. For this trip I have also invested in a GoPro with underwater capabilities.

I left home five days ago and I am currently sat in a hostel wide awake in that time between the early hours and the dark before dawn. From the window I can see Orion rising at a very peculiar angle. My lovely wife, son and daughter are sleeping. This is a family trip catching up with my son who has been here for some months. I am very fortunate that they support and tolerate my natural world obsession.

My journey to here starts many years ago on the North Yorkshire coast, in a village called Staithes.




It is a magical place with an amazing coastline. The coastal sedimentary rock there is marine in origin, Lower Lias and it contains many Ammonite fossils between 175 and 200 million years old. A great place to go fossil hunting but be careful as the cliffs are sometimes unstable. Staithes has a very strong connection with my final destination as you will see. A bit of history thrown into this TT as well!

When we move on from here my location will become more and more remote and I will probably not be able to post anything significant for some weeks but we'll see how we go. I've have made a start and that is a commitment to continue even if it takes some time. I'll stop here so I can grab my camera and get ready to head out and catch the dawn with the early birds.

Great to have another TT and that from someone new looking forward to your TT

a new TT from a place I don't know
what a chance and great start
waiting for more

Seiont

Lovely intro, wonder where we are going to

On board Seiont

Great to have a TT on somewhere new for most if not all of us

Really quaint looking village

I'm on board for this

Great start

Thanks, seiont!

Great start Seiont!! Looking forward to the rest of the trip.

Welcome Aboard!

Lovely to have company but I hope you are all well prepared. Large ocean, small boat, open deck and rough seas - you may need to wrap up warm and get your sea legs.

First a brief transit 6802 miles from home - Singapore's Changi airport. 14 hours travel to get here and still a long way to go. One attraction at Changi is the Butterfly Garden. I escaped the dry cool air-conditioned environment of the airport and headed out to the Butterfly Garden. 30+ degrees at 7 am and near 100% humidity. Wow! It took my camera and I quite a while to get acclimatised but I did get some photographs and enjoyed a short break from travel.

Tree Nymph (Idea leuconoe)



I think the uppermost Butterfly is a new Lacewing (Cethosia cyane). The lower right and other photograph below are unidentified. Any ideas?





Our historical hero spent only a short time in Staithes working as a grocer. It is said that it was the view of the sea that was the trigger for him to move on and join the navy. As he moved on so did I, ever closer to my final destination but I'm sure we will have a few diversions along the way.

I will now be out of range for some time. More to follow when I get the chance.