Java – Driving through the interior – photography.
We drove a long way, through mountains with dense tropical rainforest, past rice terraces. The volcanoes loomed in the distance.
Java – Driving through the interior – photography.
Java – Driving through the interior – photography.
We drove a long way, through mountains with dense tropical rainforest, past rice terraces. The volcanoes loomed in the distance.
More shots from the Botanical Gardens in Belem – a tropical paradise – photos
We spent ages walking around this incredible place. It was alive!!
Wildlife at Alter Do Chao – photos
It is fabulous to be in the rainforest with its rich array of wildlife. Colourful birds, iguanas – a tropical paradise for naturalists like me.
Alter Do Chao – Brazil – into the flooded forest. Photos.
We hired a canoe to take us into the flooded forest. Every year the lagoon levels rise and much is submerged. It makes for an interesting habitat. We slowly drifted through submerged trees and over the floor of the rainforest. All around us were birds and wildlife.
It was fabulous. A different world.
Australia – Daintree tropical rainforest, crocodiles, iguanas, birds and snakes.
We headed off up the coast to Cairns and took a boat up the river to see the wildlife. Daintree is a fabulous nature reserve and tropical rainforest.
Borneo – Kota Kinabalu – Into the rainforest
As soon as we landed we took ourselves off into the rainforest. I never get fed up with the lianas, huge fronds, stilted trees and scent of a rainforest. It is so rich and overpowering – though the heat can get a bit oppressive. It fills me with delight.
Anthropocene Apocalypse – Cecil the lion and trophy hunting.
Back in 1900, when Theodore Roosevelt was out hunting bears, things were different.
Back in 1902 the human world population was 1.7 billion. Nature was secure. The Jungles and rainforests were intact. The effects of hunting (apart from if you were a Dodo, Passenger pigeon or Bison) were not going to drastically affect animal populations.
Guns were quite rudimentary. You had to get close.
Now we have high-power, accurate guns. You can kill from distance.
We have a population of 7.3 billion. The forests are being decimated. All around the world – the Amazon, Vietnam, Madagascar. Some of the major rainforests are now 10% of what they were in 1900. The hunters, with their high-power weapons, go in to the remaining jungles via the logging roads, and shoot anything that moves. Trucks are heaped with dead chimps, monkeys and anything else you can think of.
I have a head full of questions.
By 2100 the world population could be 16 billion. Will there be a single wild animal left? Will there be a single square mile of rainforest?
What world are we creating?
What should we do with the politicians that are selling the forests for a quick buck?
What should happen to the logging companies who are clearing pristine rainforest to make a killing?
What should happen to the authorities who sell licences to the sad hunters, like Walter Palmer, who murder animals for trophies?
What should happen to the hunters who are decimating wild-life to feed their families?
What can be done to protect our dwindling wild-life and conserve our wildernesses?
Awe and wonder – the incredible beauty of birds.
It is amazing to see the wondrous things that evolution has produced. Birds in particular have come up with the most incredible array of colours, feathers and shapes – truly awesome.
We can only look in delight.
The sad thing is that so many of them are now becoming extinct due to the devastation of their natural habitat. Rainforest clearance is robbing the world of immense beauty.
Thank you to all the photographers who show us these wonders!
Opher's World 