Tag Archives: Creature photography
Bunia, DRC and a visit with my aunt in Kampala, Uganda
After finishing up in Dungu, we landed in Bunia on February 24th for a nice weekend off. The next week was spent doing an inventory of the emergency preparedness stock, including things like jerrycans and tent poles…
On March 2nd, I flew to Kampala, Uganda. First, the plane took us to Entebbe International Airport to clear customs, then a very short seven minute flight from Entebbe to Kajjansi Airfield.
Leaving Bunia:
The mountains just outside Bunia:
A mountain-top village just outside Bunia:
Landing at Entebbe International Airport, Uganda:
Looking back toward Entebbe as we flew to Kajjansi:
One of many opulent homes seen from above when flying from Entebbe to Kajjansi:
Kajjansi Airfield from above:
Aside from the one night spent in transit in early January, I hadn’t been to Uganda since my three week visit over Christmas at the end of 2002. This time around I only had four days, but it was a welcome chance to spend a lot of time with my Aunty Jo and some of the other wonderful Sisters of the Sacred Heart in Kampala. We had a great time catching up and chatting about a million different topics, and they fed me really, really well!
Me and my aunt:
Aunty Jo with sisters Ursula and Lynette, beside Lake Victoria:
Despite being a huge city, Kampala still has a fair few animals, both domestic and wild, such as these Ankole-Watusi cattle (long-horned zebu):
I also spotted a chipmunk eating a peanut, just like in a cartoon:
In a tree, about six feet from the ground, I spotted a tiny little tree frog:
When I returned to the house on foot after having lunch with a friend in another part of the city, I found about fifteen or twenty banded mongooses running through the area and managed to catch a pair of the slower ones as they ran away:
Pretty soon my time in Uganda was up, and I was off to the airport once more…
Posted in Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda
Also tagged Banded mongoose, Bunia, Chipmunk, Entebbe International Airport, Flights, Frogs, Kajjansi Airfield, Kampala, Zebu
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Le Parc National de la Garamba, Province Orientale, République Démocratique du Congo
Once we finished our measles vaccination campaign in Faradje, we were asked to fly west to Dungu to do the same. If you draw a line from Faradje to Dungu on the map (and there is indeed a road joining the two, though our security rules prevent us from driving along it), what you see above that line is Garamba National Park, once home to an incredible number and variety of wild animals. Unfortunately, it has for several years now been frequented by Joseph Kony’s famed Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) which, some may recall, was active in Northern Uganda for many years, but eventually began to frequent areas of South Sudan, then DR Congo and Central African Republic once a number of militaries started putting more energy into pursuing them. The LRA not only terrorised and thereby displaced local populations all across the area, but they also seem to be part of the reason for a decrease in the number of wild animals in the park. Nevertheless, during the half hour flight from Faradje to Dungu in a Cessna 208 Caravan I, during which I was lucky enough to get the co-pilot seat again, we managed to see quite a few animals. Our pilot, John, could see the animals from far away, and banked the plane hard several times to get us closer for a better look.
I only had a wide-angle lens with me, so I took very few photos and focused on watching the animals with my own eyes, but I’ll post a couple pics anyways. In this photo, there are at least seven elephants, two of which have white birds on their backs. Can you see them all?
If not, here are zoomed views of two different parts of the photo:
In total, I saw about twenty elephants during the flight. We also saw well over 200 hippos by my estimate, as we flew over at least ten groups of hippos lounging along the banks of the Dungu River, which runs through Garamba National Park, and each group had at least twenty individuals. For instance, I count at least 38 hippopotamuses in this photo:
I didn’t get to fly the plane, but being in the co-pilot seat has its advantages regardless, mostly the chance to wear a headset and spend the entire flight chatting with the pilot and listening in on radio conversations between pilots and airport control towers.
As we flew over the town of Dungu to prepare for our final approach to Dungu Wando Airstrip, we got a clear view of the famed Dungu Castle. The story told about the castle’s construction is that the Belgian administrator at the time chose to build a single bridge across the river instead of two, using the bricks instead to build this medieval-style castle:
Posted in Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo, Travel
Also tagged Cessna 208 Caravan I, Dungu, Dungu Castle, Elephants, Faradje, Flights, Garamba National Park, Hippopotamuses, LRA
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Creatures of Côte d’Ivoire
From June 19th to December 23rd (with a short break in Ghana from October 1st – 9th) I was in Côte d’Ivoire working as a logistician for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). As usual, I took loads of photos of the little and not-so-little critters I saw. My Ivorian staff sometimes thought I was strange to be so interested in the little bugs around me, but when I explained that many of these guys don’t exist where I come from, my hobby of creature photography immediately became completely normal and acceptable. In fact, staff sometimes excitedly came to tell me about some little bug or animal I should see. Twice, friends of staff even came by to show me their pet monitor lizards (photos of one of the ornate monitor lizards below), and in both Daloa and Tabou we had neighbours ask if we wanted to see their crocodiles (photo of the Tabou crocs below). The descriptions are based on my observations for the most part, not on actual researched names, so when it says “woodchip moth” for instance, it’s my description for an insect, the name of which I don’t know, rather than the actual name. If you have a correction for me, please let me know! So here, organised very roughly from slightly less interesting to more interesting, are 59 photos of the wildlife I encountered over six months in Côte d’Ivoire:
Wasps starting a new nest in our garage
Wasps working on their nest in a health centre
A spider 3 inches across, but very flat
Cows outside the MSF Daloa office
Cows on the Guiglo garbage heap
Land Cruiser fishing
Centipede in Zokoguhue health centre
Weird leaf bug
Big snail cruising on our terrace at night
Leaf bug
Leaf bug
Praying mantis at Para health centre
The mango beetle climbs out of my mango
Yellow Power Rangers beetle
Rhino beetle
Rhino beetle on Daniel’s shirt
Rhino beetles in a sac, to be sold as food
Pretty little moth
Triangular moth
Green fat moth
Big brown moth
Blue-eyed big brown moth
Woodchip moth, side view
Woodchip moth, top view
Six inch maroon moth
Six inch brown moth
Tiny mosquito moth
House fly
House dragon fly
Curious green fly
Tiny fly with antennae
House gecko
Male agama lizard
Female agama lizard eating a grape
Little lizard caught on a shoe
Baby skink caught on my hand
Baby gecko caught on my arm
Lizard on the window screen
Black skink sidewinding along the baseboard
A lizard’s final breaths
A lizard’s final breaths
Ornate monitor lizard
Ornate monitor lizard
Ornate monitor lizard
Crocodiles in Tabou
Chameleon skin at a mystic’s shop in Daloa
Leon the chameleon in Tabou
Leon the chameleon in Tabou
Vervet monkeys, Taï
Diana monkey, Daloa
Astrophe, our pet cat, sleeping on a book in Tabou
Astrophe sleeping in our bin of documents to be burned
Astrophe showing his wild side
Rainbow Shield Bug in Daloa
Two flies taken hostage by ants
Flies guarded by ants
Flies guarded by ants
Variegated grasshopper in Zoukpangbeu
Male forest elephant, near Sapia
Daloa and the Amazing Technicolor Shield Bug
On September 18th, while I was still living in Daloa, Côte d’Ivoire, I walked out into the backyard and spotted the prettiest little bug I’ve ever seen. In a couple days I’ll post a bunch of critter pictures from my six months in Côte d’Ivoire, but for now here’s the Technicolor Beetle Shield Bug (turns out it’s not a beetle, but a “true bug” called the Rainbow Shield Bug, Calidea dregii)
