Tayrona National Park, Colombia

I visited Tayrona National Park twice during my time in the area. One day was spent at the beaches and mainly snorkeling around 'La Piscina'. The other I hiked up to the native village and saw as much of the park as I could cram. Frankly I walked so much that I got blisters despite my lovely hiking boots being extremely comfortable.

Tayrona National Park

Tayrona National Park

Tayrona National Park

My first day in the park started late because of the massive lines to get in the the fact the park doesn't even open its gates until 8am and also shitty. By that I mean I actually got pretty much full force shat on by a Yellow-crowned Night Heron.

Yellow-crowned Night Heron

The crowds flock to the beaches and the trails are busy. The beaches you can't swim at are completely empty but the few where it is safe to swim are packed with people. On a few rocks far away from people there were terns, vultures, kingfishers and grackles.

Royal Tern

Black Vulture

The boardwalk areas on the trail to Arrecifes Beach were great places to see Rainbow Whiptails and Skinks.

Tayrona National Park

Rainbow Whiptail

Monkeys were also really common to see on the trails and these Santa Marta White-fronted Capuchin (Cebus albifrons ssp. malitiosus) and Howler Monkeys were pretty easy to get a good view of. 

Santa Marta White-fronted Capuchin (Cebus albifrons ssp. malitiosus)

The trail up to the village is steep and rocky but very well maintained. It is not an easy trail but it is beautiful. On the afternoon hike we saw pretty much the same things that I had seen at Kankui Hostal and along the river but there were so many geckos climbing over the rocks.

Yellow-headed Gecko

Tosashimizu (土佐清水市), Japan

Shimanto River is the longest river on Shikoku Island, Japan and is said to be one of the most beautiful. On our way to Tosashimizu and Oki Beach we stopped along the river near Shimanto City. Here the river is very large and wide with turquoise blue waters rather than the crystal clear blue you see in rivers further up in the mountains.

Shimanto River near Shimanto City

Oki Beach (大岐海岸) is a fairly large beach by Japanese standards and it actually is a natural beach unlike some of the man made beaches you can see in cities like Osaka and Takamatsu. The water is lovely, warm and quite clear. Oki beach is very popular for surfing, however it was incredibly calm the day we visited so there weren't any large waves to watch people surf on. 

Oki Beach (大岐海岸)

 Snorkeling here is actually fairly good along the rocky edges of the beach such as in the image above. I saw over 10 species of fish in just a short while and that included a school of young puffer fish (possibly Diodon holocanthus), a species of Cottida, butterfly fish, tang, small blotchy fish and a few species of larger silver fish in schools (possibly chub). I of course forgot my underwater camera but I expect I will return to Oki beach for a nice relaxing weekend on the beach. 

Oki Beach (大岐海岸)

Oki Beach (大岐海岸)

Oki Beach (大岐海岸)

 There are two fairly large parking lots and some areas where you can camp along a small river letting out into the ocean.

Oki Beach (大岐海岸)

Oki Beach (大岐海岸)

Cafe 69 Log is a very small cafe down a hill toward a port. There is only one person working there and limited seating so if you go in a large group it can take a while but the food is very good. It was a lovely place to have breakfast before heading to the aquarium.

Ashizuri Underwater Aquarium (足摺海底館) is on a small peninsula within a bay created by a larger peninsula. The aquarium is a viewing deck that looks out into the ocean with windows above and below the water surface. I was told they attract fish by feeding them.

Ashizuri Underwater Aquarium (足摺海底館)

Ashizuri Underwater Aquarium (足摺海底館)

Ashizuri Underwater Aquarium (足摺海底館)

Ashizuri Underwater Aquarium (足摺海底館)

 There was a fair amount of wildlife along the coast if you just walk from one beach on the inner cove and around the peninsula. You can see many crabs, sea roaches, birds including many Black-eared Kites and this gorgeous black and green butterfly (Graphium sarpedon ssp. nipponum).

Black-eared Kites frequent the coastline in Japan

Graphium sarpedon ssp. nipponum

The snorkeling by the aquarium is a bit better than Oki beach mostly because of the deeper water, rocky surface and spots of coral or anemone. There were the same species I saw at Oki beach along with Blue chromis (Chromis cyanea), Moorish idol (Zanclus cornutus) and the largest rainbow parrotfish I have ever seen. The pufferfish here were also huge.

Ashizuri Underwater Aquarium (足摺海底館)

Kongofuku Temple (金剛福寺) is a Chisan Shingon temple and Temple 38 on the Shikoku 88 temple pilgrimage. The temple is located in a beautiful area on the tip of the Ashizuri Peninsula. The deity that is worshiped at this temple is Sahasra-bhuja, or Senju Kannon Bosatsu in Japanese.

38 Kongofuku Temple (金剛福寺)

38 Kongofuku Temple (金剛福寺)

 There are many turtle statues among the rocks and pines decorating the temple grounds.A large central pool creates a calm reflective surface and really beautifies the temple grounds. So far this was my favorite temple but I know that I keep saying that because they are always so interesting to visit.
 

38 Kongofuku Temple (金剛福寺)

38 Kongofuku Temple (金剛福寺)

38 Kongofuku Temple (金剛福寺)

 Cape Ashizuri Lighthouse (足摺岬灯台) is a short walk from the temple along some paths. The paths are quite close to the edge of the cliff but only in a view places can you see a decent view unless you get to one of the lookout points. 

Cape Ashizuri Lighthouse (足摺岬灯台)

Cape Ashizuri Lighthouse (足摺岬灯台)

 Just down the street from the temple is a free foot bath with a lovely view and a trail down to Hakusan Sea Cave (白山洞門). I would recommend enjoying the foot bath after the sea cave. We went to the bath first and then experienced the steep down and up of going to the sea cave in the hot weather.  The cave is very large and at low tide you can see straight through it as more of a large tunnel than an actual cave. It is definitely an interesting rock formation and I still think the view from the foot bath was one of the nicest but really didn't do the scale justice.

 Hakusan Sea Cave (白山洞門) is on the very left

 Hakusan Sea Cave (白山洞門) is on the right

 Hakusan Sea Cave (白山洞門)

Koh Lanta, Thailand

We arrived in Koh Lanta by bus that was supposed to drop us off at our hotel but mixed up the names. Kantiang View vs Kantiang Bay View is pretty easy to confuse but we had to walk up a hill to Kantiang View just to be told we were in the wrong place and then had to ask the other hotel to come pick us up. Luckily they were very very nice about it and picked us up right away.

Kantiang Bay View, Koh Lanta, Thailand

Koh Lanta Beach at Kantiang Bay

Koh Lanta was not exactly what I expected. I was hoping that the further we went down the island the more we would be on a secluded beach surrounded by wildlife. There were a lot of tourists and a lot of resorts along the beach. That being said just our first afternoon sitting around and relaxing we saw a lot of birds including Greater Coucal, Brahminy Kite, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Indian Roller, Pacific Reef Egret, Chinese Pond Heron, Common Myna, Zebra Dove, Green-billed Malkoha, Dollarbird, Common Sandpiper, Intermediate Egret, Olive-winged Bulbul, Dark-necked Tailorbird, Common Iora, Coppersmith Barbet, Swallow sp., Olive-backed Sunbird and Large-billed Crow.

Common Iora

Female Indian Roller

The rivers in the area was quite dried up but a Common Water Monitor was eating fish trapped in small pools of water and at night a few frogs and toads were in the wetter parts.

Asian Common Toad (Duttaphrynus melanostictus)

The reef outside the hotel had a lot of fish but you had to go pretty far out along the rocks to see anything cool and the coral isn't very spectacular. I saw a massive puffer fish approximately a meter long and an adorable pair of clown fish on an anemone. My favorite fish that was common was these little black and turquoise tangs (I think they are babies).

Tiny crab making an intricate design on the beach

Crab-eating Macaques are all over the island and we saw them from our room, along the road and all over the National Park. The National Park is quite lovely with some amazing views but the hiking trail is actually a fairly short loop and the majority of the park you can access is manicured. Because we got into an motorcycle accident on the way and then stopped to take photos of the Macaques (who actually jumped on the bikes) we had a much later start than desired and birding was quiet. There were a few Commonn Sun Skinks and Oriental Garden Lizards along the trails and Water Monitors in the ponds of the park.

Crab-eating Macaque

Koh Lanta National Park Map

Koh Lanta National Park, Thailand

Common Sun Skink (Eutropis multifasciata)

The park closes quite early and we didn't have a chance to go snorkeling here but I hear it was better than other places on the island. I think that maybe Thailand is a place where going out diving in one of the best locations might actually be worth it but maybe it was just around Koh Lanata that the reefs were a bit far away or hard to find.

My favorite trail was actually up to a waterfall between our hotel and Bamboo Beach. They charged 20B for safe parking but you can just drive past this and park at the trailhead for free if you aren't worried. The trail is a loop that is a bit rocky in places and since many broken flip flops littered the trails I believe it is best to wear something more appropriate for a hike. In dry season the trail goes to right along the river up to the waterfall and you can actually hike up the river above the waterfall to areas with small pools of water. These are lovely for a quick dip or relaxing in while it's hot. They have very chilly water and some small fish and crayfish were living in them.

Waterfall in dry season, Koh Lanta, Thailand

 Along the other side of the loop the bat cave has a large entrance just off a small short branch of the trail. Despite the large entrance you can't actually walk very far into the cave. You can hear the bats but at first you can't really see any of them. We went up in the evening and actually got to see the bat coming out of the cave. They started to come out slowly and were perching around the entrance. It wasn't really like movies where they come out in a large swarm.

Flying Lizard (Draco sp.)

Sheath-tailed Bat (Family Emballonuridae)

The herping on the way back along the trail that evening was also quite good. It was mostly geckos and two species of frogs with a few toads. One large species of gecko got away from me as I slipped on a wet root right when I saw it. It was a stunning contrast of black and white stripes. Not as big at a Tokay Gecko but larger than any of the house geckos. Most of the frogs along the river were Rain Frogs but around the dam green frogs with black stripes were more common. Some frogs were calling from higher up in vegetation but it was impossible to find one lower down. My herp list from that night included Green Paddy Frog, Asian House Gecko, Blyth's River Frog, Common Asian Toad, Tokay Gecko, Flat-tailed House Gecko, Limborg's Frog and Three Lined Grass Frog.

Pegu Forest Gecko (Cyrtodactylus peguensis)

Green Paddy Frog (Hylarana erythraea)

Blyth's River Frog (Limnonectes blythii)

It is very hard to get food early in the morning. Koh Lanta is definitely on island time not birding time. The 7-11 on the corner down from our hotel was actually a god send for this reason. I thought I wanted to be in the middle of nowhere on a secluded island but getting some coffee and a bite to eat before early morning walks was definitely appreciated. In terms of food the Drunken Sailor was the best food we had on the island but everywhere had pretty similar menus and prices from what we saw.  The Drunken Sailor had the best smoothies with my favorite being the yellow submarine with mango and banana.