Namibia - and a long-hoped for encounter

I know I am fortunate in having travelled as much as I have. I do use my trips to gather material for my books (the opening of The Divide came from a holiday in Costra Rica), and I take photographs for watercolours. It took me many years to finally see a leopard, but just like buses, you wait for ages and then a whole load of them come along. 

I've seen white rhinos, but just the backside of a black one until July 2022, when I finally got to one really close to. The other animal I have always wanted to see is a meerkat. But not only did I get to see one, I got to cuddle it as well. We stayed at a place called The White Lady Lodge, names after some rock painting.Just behind the lodge is a rocky escarpment, in which a colony of meerkats live. During the day they forage for pests in the garden, making short work of scorpions and other potentially unwelcome invertebrates. They are not fed by the lodge at all. But we were there during their winter, and it gets very cold in the morning. Two meerkats ventured into the lodge one day, and discovered the cat basket.

They were so impressed that the lodge bought them one of their own, and every evening they scapered across the veranda, dashed through the bar, and put themseves to bed. But in the morning there was nothing they liked better than being picked up by a nice warm human, and cuddled inside a coat... What was so delightful about all of this is that no bribery was involved, as they were not fed. It was their choice to interact with us, and one of the best experiences of my life.

There were some pretty good birds, too!

Using lockdown to explore your locality

 I'm lucky in that I live close to some lovely countryside, and consequently some excllenet walks. The M25 is on my doorstep, so it's not totally rural around here. But I've been walking on Epsom Common, and along the River Mole, and I've discovered a wealth of willdlife. Here are some photos of the creatures that have brightened my life over the last few months.

Cambodia

A Selection of photos. There wasn't a lot of wildlife, but the underwater landscapes were pretty spectacular.

Angkor Wat - the Tomb Raider temple

Bats leaving  a cave at dusk

Fruit bats

Leopards!

It's taken me twenty-six years and eleven different game parks to finally see a leopard in the wild. I've been to Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, Zambia, Ivory Coast, India and Sri Lanka, and every time they've eluded me. Frequently it was the jeep in front of me, or one behind that managed a sighting, which was infuriating. But this August I went to Botswana, and had the holiday of a lifetime. It's a wonderful country, and there's loads of wildlife and a small human population. I was wild camping with a group of people, which meant we had hyenas and honey badgers sniffing round the tents at night, and we could hear lions roaring and elephants trumpeting. We saw a pair of cheetahs grooming one another, and a young male lion left to babysit his three-week-old cub for the first time. He didn't really know what to do, and the cub kept yelling for mum. And I saw four different leopards, all told. It was really exciting holiday in many ways, so here are some photos.

 

Tigers!

In 2014 I went to Bandhavgarh National Park in India to see tigers, and didn't see a single one. I decided to have another go in Tadoba, and the result couldn't have been more different. I also managed to see sloth bears and dholes, the Indian wild dogs. A tremendous trip, and some very close encounters with a number of different tigers.

Uzbekistan

This was the most amazing place, with a a wealth of really beautiful architecture. The ceilings are particularly fine, but the only way to capture them is to lay your phone down on the floor and hope you get your finger out of the way in time to take the picture!

We went to Khiva, Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent. The buildings are all harmonious, and emanate sense of calm.

It's a great place to visit. The people are really nice, the food is good, and the clothes are beautifully embroidered and cheap.

Camera trap and pirated downloads

I had a camera trap for my birthday - this is the fox who visits our garden. I have also been made aware of various sites who offer free downloads of my Divide books without my permission. These may be trying to collect your data so that they can scam you, so beware.