April 2020

The Cape Kri dive site is famous for a record that was set by Dr. Gerry Allen for the highest number of different species on a one-tank dive; he recorded 374 species here and it went on to become a world famous dive site for its tremendous diversity

Large grey reef shark; estimates of the gestation period for this species range from 9 to 14 months with 1 to 4 pups being born every other year; they can live more than 25 years

Barramundi; this is an important commercial fish with more than 30,000 tons caught annually in SE Asia alone; the species is being raised in aquaculture now around the world as well

Gestation with manta rays is just over a year with live pups born weighing about 150 lbs and already 6 ft wide; mantas can live more than 50 years

The Coral Triangle is the heart of the world's coral reef biodiversity, with Raja Ampat touted as the richest coral reef ecosystem in the world

Blue triggerfish; this species has the ability to change its color depending on its mood, food, feeding and water quality from purple to blue and to bluish-green

Ribbon and Oriental sweetlips; I've heard people talk about fish balls and now I think I understand what they meant!

Clown triggerfish; this species has very strong jaws and broad teeth, perfect for eating its preferred prey, hard-shelled invertebrates like sea urchins, crustaceans, and mollusks

Brown-marbled grouper; this species, which can live more than 40 yrs, is carnivorous and its diet consists mainly of fishes, crustaceans and cephalopods, it is an ambush predator

Pinnate spadefish; this inquisitive fish feeds on algae, jellyfish and gelatinous zooplankton and can grow to a length of 24 inches

Clark's anemonefish; the boat had cans of Coke (but not Coke Zero) for sale during our journey so I didn't have to go through withdrawal

Bluespine unicornfish; the horn of this common Raja Ampat fish develops when it reaches a size of approximately 6 inches; they are quite social creatures and can live in large saltwater aquariums

I think I could get used to the sailing life!; the trip brought back great memories from our group trip to Greece for Mike's 50th birthday

The most famous site on James Bond Island is where this rock split practically in two and the pieces now lean on each other; the split is amazingly almost perfectly smooth

Cabbage coral was the most common species in the area; there was not a great variety of fish species but the visibility was fairly good

The limestone karst islands in Phang Nga Bay reminded me of HaLong Bay in Vietnam except without the hundreds of boats and trash in the water; definitely better here!

My GAdventures tour only had 6 people rather than the usual 18; I was also the youngest of the 6 which never happens anymore!

Railay Beach is noted for gorgeous sunsets like the one we experienced; it was very hazy in Phuket when we left so the pollution might contribute to the colorful sunset

There is a nice sandy beach on the west side of Railay Beach but there's no decent snorkeling; there was the constant noise from the long boats shuttling people in and out of town

Walking Street is the most famous path in Railay Beach; roads can't reach the town so there are no cars meaning everyone walks which made for a nice feel

At Ko Khom I saw half a dozen of these Crown of Thorns sea stars; they are invasive and are trying to be eradicated from the Andaman Sea with limited success

Haliclona cearulea is a blue, encrusting tubular sponge; these attractive sponges are sometimes sold in the aquarium trade

The islands came to worldwide prominence when Koh Phi Phi Le was used as a location for the 2000 British-American film The Beach

Our sailing trip had amazing sunsets!; the weather was just perfect too

Ko Phi Phi was devastated by the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, when nearly all of the island's infrastructure was destroyed

The crew had expected 11 more passengers to board at Koh Phi Phi and had purchased tons of food; they nicely let 3 of us stowaway back to Phuket with them when our trip was suspended due to coronavirus concerns

When you exit the pier on Ko Phi Phi Don you're first greeted by Burger King and McDonald's; the Thai Ronald is giving the traditional thank you gesture

Powder blue tang; the fish has an erected part of the spine located at the base of the tail that is as sharp as a surgeon's scalpel and is used for defense

Black and white banded sea krait; saw several of these venomous sea snakes; they were probing the many crevices looking for food

We hiked about 20 kms along the Tugela Gorge on a relatively good trail; the scenery was spectacular and this was my favorite hike of the entire trip

The Drakensburg Mountains Amphitheatre forms a natural border between the South African state of Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Kingdom of Lesotho; surprisingly, there were very few other hikers when we visited

This rock formation is known as the policeman's helmet; the weather changes quickly here as we discovered since it was raining about an hour after I took this photo

Golden Gate Highlands National Park is known for its golden, ocher, and orange-hued, deeply eroded sandstone cliffs and outcrops, especially the Brandwag rock

The Amphitheatre is widely regarded as one of the most impressive cliff faces on earth and is roughly 3 times the size of the total combined area of the cliff faces in Yosemite's famous El Capitan

This area is a 4 hour drive from either Durban or Johannesburg; March and April are the best months to do the hike since there's less rain, milder temperatures and no snow or ice

Tugela Falls is generally accepted as the world's second-tallest waterfall but there is an argument that it is actually the tallest waterfall in the world, rather than Venezuela's Angel Falls

There were many protea bushes along our hike but very few were blooming; there are many different species with some of the bushes having already bloomed and others barely starting

The water in the Tugela River was super clear; the river doesn't look like much here but will flow 312 miles before emptying into the Indian Ocean

The top of Tugela Falls is nearly 10,000 ft above sea level; we really lucked out with great weather for our hike since the falls are often shrouded in fog or clouds

It's actually possible to hike to the top of Tugela Falls for stupendous views; I wish we'd had 2 days here so that we could have done that hike as well

We did a quick side hike to see Bushman paintings underneath a rock shelter; a Bushman painting discovered at Blombos Cave is thought to be the oldest known instance of human art, dating to around 73,000 years ago

Howick Falls (364 ft) is on the Umgeni River right in the center of the town of Howick; according to local legend, the pool at the bottom of the falls is the residence of a giant serpent-like creature

Many people have been swept over Howick Falls, especially in the pioneer days of the province, as some settlers thought the easiest place to cross the river was just above the falls

This sculpture is the highlight of the Mandela Capture Site Museum; it’s made of 50 steel columns and was installed to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Mandela’s arrest

After evading police for 17 months, Nelson Mandela was captured here in 1962; the site is now a new museum telling Mandela’s life story, with a focus on the time around his arrest and his subsequent 27 years in jail

This was the first time I'd ever seen a turtle resting in such an exposed place; he was on top of a large coral bommie but still somewhat camouflaged since some divers didn't see him

According to Conservation International, marine surveys suggest that the marine life diversity in the Raja Ampat area is the highest recorded on earth

This manta ray was just passing by; I even saw giant oceanic mantas from our dive boat and they grow to 23 ft across and can weigh 6600 lbs!

I like to think that I can spot fish pretty well but I swam over this tasselled wobbegong and then when the divemaster pointed him out I still didn't see him

Brown-marbled grouper; this species is a protogynous hermaphrodite, which means the female can evolve to male during its life

Turtles love to eat jellyfish and they were doing an awesome job since I didn't see a single jellyfish during my dive trip!; on the other hand, they eat plastic bags mistaking them for jellyfish and the bags are not yet banned here

Golden batfish; this species can reach 26 in in length and was not at all shy; maybe they felt safer with us than swimming with the barracuda

Ribbon and Oriental sweetlips were some of the most plentiful fish we saw; the fact that they often schooled together made them stand out even more

Giant clam; these are the largest living bivalve mollusks and can weigh more than 440 lb, measure as much as 47 in across and have an average lifespan in the wild of more than 100 years

We saw several green sea turtles on this dive; we were all given dive computers to wear which I'm sure would have pleased my diving friends back home (they did help gauge where to do safety stops)

People around this area live in a small colony of tribes distributed among small villages with fishing the primary occupation; the population is majority Muslim but there are Christians and Hindus as well

The London Wetland Center opened in 2000 at a site formed of four disused Victorian reservoirs tucked into a loop in the Thames; the entire 100 acre park is 100% man-made

The Asian small-clawed otter is a threatened species and the only non-bird at the center; the pair is the most popular draw and the main reason I chose to visit

The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust was founded by the son of Antarctic explorer Captain Scott; Peter Scott became an Olympic sailing medalist and was founder of the World Wildlife Fund

I loved these benches and the great wood carving!; admission at the center is 13 pounds which seems steep unless you're really into waterbirds

The red-breasted goose is a threatened species native to Siberia which winters in Romania and Bulgaria; I expected more wildlife here but I guess it's really targeted at bird watchers

These otters are excellent swimmers and can stay underwater 6-8 minutes; the Asian small-clawed otters are very social animals but are seriously threatened by rapid habitat destruction, hunting and pollution

The center is a great field trip destination for school groups; there are dedicated educational facilities for young kids that show them how they impact the environment in their daily lives

The London Wetland Center needed some flamingos in their lagoon; TripAdvisor comments generally focused on the lack of any species that aren't seen already in London

The Asian small-clawed otter is native to SW Asia and the smallest otter species; ordinary river otters almost disappeared from England but have rebounded and are now found in every county

Egyptian geese are native to sub-Saharan Africa with feral populations in Western Europe; apparently there are more birds here in the summer since some species migrate

Sleeping tundra swan; the center is close to Heathrow Airport in the Barnes neighborhood and is an included attraction with the London Pass

The center hosts 50,000+ school kids each year; like the rest of London, I heard plenty of different languages being spoken here during my visit

Sir Peter Markham Scott established the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust which now has 9 locations in England; his roommate at Trinity College, Cambridge became the first Director of Nature Conservancy in Scotland

There are only two otters here with the larger one being the female; she's 7 years old while the male is 4 with the average lifespan in captivity of this species about 15 years

Barnacle goose; normally found on Arctic islands in the North Atlantic, the main predators of this breed are Arctic foxes and polar bears

An amazing amount of money has been spent to develop the center from scratch; I stayed in a neighborhood of immigrants south of London at the end of my trip since central London hotels are so expensive

Greylag geese tend to bond in long-term monogamous relationships, though 5 to 8% of the pairs divorce and re-mate; birds in heterosexual (14-20% are homosexual) pairs may engage in promiscuous behavior, despite the opposition of their mates

This grey heron has moved in with the river otters since he can easily get fish that the otters don't eat; the otters rule their territory and occasionally would pester the heron who would fly a short distance away