We visited the
CARACAL Biodiversity Centre in Kasane, where they have a variety of snakes, birds and other animals. As the Chobe National Park is so close, many animals do venture outside the park, and snakes in particular like the food options available at the lodges. So whenever a lodge finds a snake on its premises, they bring them to the biodiversity centre. There, visitors and schoolclasses can learn about snakes - which ones are dangerous and which are not.
We got to hold a young
python, who is actually quite pretty and didn't fell cold at all. However, you could already feel its strong muscles, which they use to kill their prey by constriction and clearly, I am not exactly comfortable holding it.
The other one is a brown house snake, which apparently is the best remedy against rats and frogs around the house, and is completely harmless to humans. It showed us a little trick, making a knot into its body and releasing itself like a true escape artist. Despite this, I am not sure I'd like to have a snake in my house - but it definitely was a very interesting snake session!
This may seem like a quite touristy place, but it is actually very informative and most snakes are released into the wild after a while.
The water is so low at the moment - the big ones can actually walk across!
Sunset over the Lago Cocibolca on the way back from Isla de Ometepe. I stayed with a friend there last year and we spent a beautiful, quiet weekend on the island under the volcano. During the return trip on the ferry in the late afternoon we watched a spectacular sunset while swaying on the waves. I really liked the atmosphere in Nicaragua, the nature, the beaches and the small-town live.
While some are spending their time searching for elephants in the North, others have to stay at home and work. COP17 is just around the corner and things have started to get quite busy.
The nearby Mokolodi Nature Reserve is a great place to take visitors for a first impression of wildlife and bush in Botswana, and we tend to go there every other month.
saw a waterbuck looking for young leaves,
watched a tortoise crossing the road,
and came across an ostrich, who was taking a dust bath on the tracks.
Then we went up the hill and watched the panoramic views from the top before heading to dinner. As always, it was a nice afternoon there and every time we are amazed how close we are to the wilderness and the bush.
A fiery, red and purple sunset at the Gabs dam. A few days ago I went there for a birthday party and we enjoyed a couple of sundowners in this beautiful evening light. Somehow the colors of the sunset are even more intensive if there's water around, or maybe it was because of the thunderstorm later that night.