Thursday, August 21, 2008

More images from Congo River surveys

While waiting quietly for manatees or stopping in at villages to talk to people about them, we have plenty of time to see lots of other interesting things on the river...

Broad-billed Roller
Mudskipper, a fish that comes up on mud banks to search for food. The way this guy walked around on his fins reminded me of a Dr. Seuss character!

A spectacular lavender-pink ground orchid. We saw them growing wild in several places and the flower stalk was as tall as I am.

I'm holding a Spotted (or Variable) Bush Snake. It was found on the base where we stay and Warren was relocating it to better habitat so he let it go after we took a few photos. It was a gorgeous little snake with bright blue turquiose flecks and it's one of the few here that isn't venomous.
Clam divers at Nzadi Caca. These guys free dive 10m deep, bring up armfuls of clams and dump them in their pieroges until the boats are full. They have seen manatees eating clams, but only small or rotten ones.
Catch of the day at Kibaka. We see a huge variety of fish species in villages here.
Tim took this photo with my camera. Children here always love to have their picture taken, but I think this shot is especially beautiful.

At first we couldn't figure out why all the mangroves along the edge of this channel were dead. Then we saw the man with the canoe collecting wood to make charcoal and realized he had girdled the trees to kill them so the wood would dry out before he collected it.
Home-made sailboats heading up the Congo River in the late afternoon sun.

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