6th December 2007

We were back at the Crocodile Falls again today. There was not much action but we saw the same huge crocodile sliding up the falls again, which allowed me to get some long shots to complement the close-ups from yesterday. Who could ask for more?

The Weavers were carrying on as usual, collecting grass for their nests, uninterested in the crocodile basking in the sun beneath their nest tree. We saw a large yellow-green bird being pursued by a Starling – we think it is a Eurasian Golden Oriole.

New flowers are coming out everywhere, as the rains continue. While I was photographing one flower – a beautiful tiny delicate creeper flower – a tiny movement caught my eye, and I noticed a spider that had caught a caterpillar in its web, and was proceeding to suck out its life blood.

A new bird migrant was here for a short 24 hours: the Black-winged Stilts with their impossibly long red legs and sheer black and white plumage. The resident Spur-winged Plover air were – true to form – trying to intimidate the much taller Stilts and chase them away, but with absolutely no success. The Stilts appeared to be resting – probably after a long flight, and knowing that they had another long journey the next day…

It rained heavily again this afternoon…we sought refuge indoors, but I managed to get a few shots of the rain, beating down on the Tana River Poplars lining the river, on a small crocodile in the river, and on the star grass growing in our balcony gardens. I find it’s not often easy to capture the ferocity of rain in a photograph, but today I had a measure of success.