2012
promissed land
It was my second time that I went up that hill to attend the 2012 Shaolin Mountain Retreat and although I had been there almost eveery year since 2003 it is something different with the Kung-Fu brothers and sisters. The energy is there and this sundown, at the first evening, mirrored the nice days to come.
kite fight
Our last stop of our trip was in Goa. Right the first day, when we arrived and stepped out of the airport I noticed flock of huge birds in the sky and they where everywhere else to be found as well but in Goa I finally had the time to sneak by and take some shots; not without fretting about leaving my big lens in Germany. Anyway here you can see two young black kites practicing some dogfight maneuvers.
Hoopoe
Our second day in Hampi we descided to shift back one gear and have a relaxing day by strolling around, visiting the places we missed the day before and stay longe in one spot. First animal of the day that we noticed was this hoopoe, passing us by couple of times at top of the virupaksha temple. Nice catch, isn’t it?
Toque macaque
The old world monkey, as it is calssified. Our first day in Kandy we went to the botanical garden and althoug quite impressive it was the monkeys that cought my eye. After one of the elders tried to ripp of our bananas from Nadines bag, we choose to follow them to their spot. After a couple of minutes they almost ingnored us and we could observe them quite well. This one reminds me somehow of Bob Marley…
Indian Woodpecker
You could find woodpeckers all over the world. There are about 200 known species and non the less, I was surprised to find it in the Indian jungle. The best part about it is that indian birds are not shy at all. So I could get quite close and som decent shots. Not that it uses its tail as tripod… a camera and we would probably be really good friends.
mudskippers
Half fish, half reptile they are somhow arkward creatures. They can breath through their skin as well ais their mouth, depending if they are in the water or on land. This cutaneous air breathing functions much like a skubadivers system. However their gills have to stay wet and so you mostly find them on the rocks along the shore. Flexing their body they can jump uo to 60cm in one leap. Be sure to stay calm and do not move when you want to observe them – their eyes are really good.
old varanus
On our second day in Hikkaduwa/ Sri Lanka, Santa took us to a nearby lagoon and the first animal we met, was this old, big varanus, about 2m long and really looking hazardous. They are known to be very clever and can count up to number six, which is quite big thing for animals from the times of dinosaurs. Now I am frightened.