Crawlies of Belize

Of course Belize wasn't all pyramids, rain forest and birds, there are lots of little creatures living out their lives underfoot whenever and wherever you go. Mexican red-rump tarantulas are quite common in the area and we got nice pictures of this one as it was crossing a gravel road out in the countryside. Unbeknownst to tourists, they make readily identifiable burrows in short grass and guides throughout the area can quickly winkle them out just by disturbing their lair with a piece of grass for a few seconds.

Many of you may get the heebie-jeebies from spiders, so you'll be glad to know that there are insects down there that give the heebe-jeebies TO spiders. Take for example this Milde's Tarantula-Hawk Wasp, which looks colourful to us but is a nightmare to tarantulas. The reproductive cycle of the wasp requires that the female sting a live tarantula, which paralyses it, and then drag it to its den. There the spider serves as a living meal for the young implanted in that that gradually eat their way out. But don't worry, these wasps are necatarivorous, living entirely off flowers and only supplementing a small part of their diet from your nightmares.

Hermit crabs were quite common on the grounds of Steven's condo complex and we went out several evenings to watch them scurry around at night while mosquitoes (not pictured) would feast on us. Hermit crabs are very neat since they don't produce their own shells but rather scavenge discarded shells of other animals and trade-up as they grow and require a larger home. This can result in a "vacancy chain" as they hand shells down the line from largest to smallest with everyone getting an upgrade to the preceding crabs old digs. Spending more time on land than you might expect, the shells also help keep their gills humid so they can breathe out of the water.

Horne Lake Caves

Geordie and I finally made it to the Horne Lake Caves.  Preserving any cave formations has kind of gone by the way side here.  Wearing grubby clothing and helmets with lights Geordie went into the pitch black caves.  In one cave, the spring run off was flowing fast so we had to wade throw the water coming out of the cave in a fairly fast flow.

With some mild spelunking and squishy bits we get further in to the passage where water is flowing out.  You can see the pearly mineral deposits.  The passage narrows to nothing that a human could pass throw.  The water takes some weeks to perculate throw the limestone.

I got squicked out by the huge daddy long leg cave spiders that appear not only singly but in clumps.  That is what those things are.  And they moooooove when light is shined on them. 

Ecuadorian Rainforest

This post has come unforgivably late.  Over a year ago Geordie and I took a plane to Coca, a motorboat down the Napo River, a half hour hike through the jungle and then a dug out canoe through waterways unknown to our wood and thatch hut at La Selva in the Amazon Rainforest. 

Beyond the BC interior it is one of the most exotic and remote places we have ever been.  There was no electricity at night. Everything was built from native materials.  And the wildlife..... nighthawks, hoatzin, frogs and Orapendula birds nesting all around us along with anacondas and howler monkeys, bats, capucins, while owls, tarantulas, agoutis and whip scorpions came out in some of the blackest nights that we have ever experienced. 

I got bugged at the Victoria Bug Zoo

On our Victoria Bucket list was the Victoria Bug Zoo.  This is a small zoo dedicated to bugs. But you likely guessed that. But unlike most zoos that don't let you pet the tigers, this one is different as that you can hold some of the large leggy creatures inside of it.  Below I am holding a leaf insect.

Geordie is holding some kind of demon bug from hell.  The creature alien from the first Men and Black movie was based on that creature.  And yes it is terrifying. I held it after this tiny blond girl was completely fearless like a boss.  I couldn't let myself be outdone by that.  Geordie was braver and is all getting into it.

One of the prettiest is this Mantis who specializes in hiding among the petals of a certain orchid.  It took forever to spot her. She is a graceful lovely thing just like the plant that is her home.

Big Bugs of the Rainforest

I am not a bug person. I am not a bug fan. I consider it a brave achievement when I handled a stick insect at the Vancouver Aquarium.  But the ones in the Amazon jungle didn't bother me so much simply because they were so FRIGGIN HUGE that I always knew where they were.  The lady tarantula below lived just down the path from us and we saw her every night.  We saw her in her hidey hole too. She is roughly as big as my hand.

We heard Cicadas often. They were hard to spot as they often rest high up in trees. This one was obliging and was at eye level just ouside the social area of La Selva.  They have beautiful wings. His body is slightly less large than a thumb but his wings add to that.

We saw several of these centipedes. I believe the scientific name is Scolopendra gigantea.  You can see how big they are. I poked it gently! I didn't have the courage to actually handle it. They curl into a ball when overly harrased.  This one didn't seem to mind and crawled over hand over hand over hand until it was let on its merry way.

Lake Manyara

Note: I have a busy weekend coming up so I'm posting sooner than later as last time I was a few hours late I came under intense fire for being lazy ;)

Lake Manyara was a very peaceful place in general. Our lodge was at the top of a ridge overlooking the park and we could see the jungle and a nearby town from the pool. The park itself was a nice assortment of grazers and the absence of large predators made it all the more serene.

Music: "Under the Stars" by Hans Zimmer

Our lodge had a very pleasing design with the rooms being arranged in little clusters of double deckers with two sets of rooms on each floor. Like many of the lodges they used concrete in a very pleasing way to avoid many hard angles and kept everything very smooth and organic looking.
The pool was a delight and after a long drive in the hot sun we were always keen to have a flop by it and a swim. It was quite cold so while it was incredibly refreshing it was also tricky to stay in too long without going numb; such are the hardships of roughing it in Tanzania ;)

Maasai Mara - Highlight Reel

We were in the Maasai Mara for about 6 days as an optional extension at the end of our safari. About half the group opted not to do it but we were certainly glad to. For anyone in our group that missed it, this can at least fill in some of the gaps for you, and for anyone considering an extension there, we heartily recommend it.

Music: "He Lives in You" by Lebo M.

The lodges in the Mara were often tricky to get nice pictures of as the building themselves are usually tucked well into the brush at the tops of hills and under dense foliage. This is done more to conceal the buildings and make the landscapes seem uninterrupted then to hide ugly architecture. The Mara Serena lodge (shown below) is particularly charming, situated at the top of a hill its buildings all seem to lack 90 degree angles thanks to smooth concrete and stucco.The view from the top was wonderful as well and the sunrise timelapse and one of the pans in the video above were both shot there.We stayed in two tented camps in the Maasai Mara as well, and just to show that a tent in a safari lodge is different from a tent when you go to the lake on the long weekend, here's a picture of one tents interior. Notice the twin beds and attached bathroom with lighting, just like your typical tent. Roughing it every step of the way ;)

And yet smaller still...

Just to push things as small as we can before getting back to giant mammals, I thought I'd include a selection of insects/arachnids that we saw on our journey. This magnificent spider was spotted on our very first morning when we were jet-lagged and exploring the grounds of the first lodge we stayed at in Tanzania. The shape of its shell really reminded me of the crest of the queen from 'Aliens' and its striking red colour is very unusual. We saw several of these spiders that day but none after it.
At Ndutu, near the Serengeti, we spotted this tiny mantis on a thorn tree. I was actually taking macro photos of the thorns themselves without even noticing it and then spotted this tiny terror (maybe 1.5cm long) on a further back thorn.
Managing to even find insects at night, we spotted this glow worm (or at least thats what we think it is) casting a beautiful almost neon green colour by the pool in the Maasai Mara. This photo was taken with a flash since it was too low a light for my camera to do well without, so its personal light is gone, but was being emitted from the tip of his tail.

Aquarium Exhibits

Normally I wouldn't have two posts on the aquarium back to back, but we went there on Saturday and got some nice new pictures, so it seems like a sensible time to use them. Aside from its set displays of jellyfish and the like, the aquarium always has a rotating selection of animal shows and different displays from day to day. They also opened up a new display on the arctic which we hadn't seen before. But I'll start it off with a dolphin picture that should show why I love our new camera with a fast shutter.
Since 2009 was the Year of the Frog, there has been a huge amphibians display in the lower level all year which I always enjoy poking around when we visit. I've been able to get a surprisingly good number of pictures out of the exhibit... the low light being offset by the typically slow moving animals on display. Below is an axolotl which is a strange Mexican salamander.. apparently they taste like chicken.
And as proof of the ever changing displays, here's Kathryn holding a Vietnamese Stick Insect. We've passed through the tropical section a dozen times or more and never seen insect handlings before. Kathryn was very brave and had fun getting to meet this beastie up close.