TOP 10 ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS

It's Top 10 time.

Since much of our trip revolved around looking for, swimming with, and hiding from beasts big and small, we kick things off with a list of our 10 favorite animal encounters. 

From the world's biggest fish in the Philippines to a lake full of jellyfish in Palau to an overly-friendly lemur in Madagascar, it was one wildlife-filled ride.

Hugging Lemur, Madagascar

On a visit to a wildlife refuge in central Madagascar, a lonely but loving lemur decided Kip needed a hug. Then he wrapped himself around Kip's leg and wouldn't let go.

Whale Sharks, Philippines

The reason we started our trip in the Philippines--swimming with the world's largest fish. Swam with them...check. Counted and cataloged them for an international conservation group working to protect them...check.  Dream about seeing them again someday soon...check.

 









Happy Pygmy elephants, Borneo

Prior to this trip, we weren't sure Pygmy Elephants existed. But after taking a boat up the Kinabatangan River in Borneo, we got to see for ourselves. The elephants' smiles made for some happy tourists, too.

Baby Orangutan, Borneo

We had the pleasure of meeting this swinging creature and his mamma up close, at the Semmengoh Orangutan Reserve, just outside of Kuching, Borneo.

Great White Sharks, South Africa  

Who couldn't love that face to the left? He was even kind enough to donate one of his teeth, after Liz did her most incredible, and surprisingly accurate seal impression.

Hungry Ocelot, Costa Rica 

This pretty lady gave us her best "Blue Steel," at least until we presented her with a plate of perfectly sliced beef hearts that we'd spent the morning cutting up.

 










 Millions of Jellyfish, Palau 
Swimming in a hidden mountain lake with millions of stingless jellyfish should be on everyone's list. And Palau is one of the only places to do it. 

Feeding Mother Leopard, Serengeti 
Watching this mother leopard drag a wild boar carcass across the road, up into a tree, and feed it to her two leopard cubs is as close to live National Geographic as we will ever get. And it was awesome. 

Sharks, Palau

The ocean in Palau is the purest we've ever seen. And with lots of fish, come lots of sharks. And we got to see lots of them up close and personal, including this curious grey-tipped reef shark.

Baby sloth,Costa Rica
When visiting Cahuita, Costa Rica, you're bound to see a sloth or two. After all, it is the sloth capital of the world. We caught this little guy napping just outside of our bedroom window.

SAN BLAS ISLANDS II

There's so much to love about the San Blas Islands.

The stunning clarity and colors of the water that laps soothingly over the white sand beaches, which Liz could never seem to get enough of. The ubiquitous bead anklets and bracelets the local Kuna women wear to signify whether they're married or not. The lady below, preparing fresh fish for our dinner is married, as noted by the wide wrap around each ankle. 

The quality of food and accommodation varies from island to island. Since only Kuna people can run businesses in the San Blas Islands (no foreign-owned companies allowed...meaning the Hard Rock San Blas will not be happening there anytime soon), the hotels and accompanying restaurants are run by the same one or two families who inhabit whichever island visitors end up staying on. 

While this often means sleeping arrangements are rustic and meals can be culinarily-challenged at times, the overall experience is one that's becoming more and more difficult to come by.

Above, Liz stands in the doorway of our hut. Amenities include one naked light bulb hanging from the palm roof, one thin mattress resting on cross-cut palm trunks, and a hammock for when the bed filled with sand. After lights out, the darkness is profound, as are the starry skies and the sounds from the waves nearby and the palms overhead. 

For families or groups, there are larger huts with multiple hammocks.

But the main attraction can only be the islands themselves. Picture perfect, whether from a distance...

Or frozen in yoga pose atop one...

Or closing business deals just next to one.

If you have time, the San Blas are so worth a visit (or two). While you're there, take some time to enjoy the scene, learn about the locals, and consider a volunteer activity such as  a beach cleanup.

And of course, don't forget to take dominion over your own palm-crowned private island. It's as unique a place as we've seen on the trip and will definitely be making our Top 10 list, if we ever get around to putting one together. 

PHOTO FRIDAY: DIVING WITH SHARKS IN COIBA MARINE PARK

Liz gets a close-up view of a white-tipped reef shark in Panama's Coiba National Marine Park. 

UN-FUNNY MONDAY: SHARK FINNING IN EL SALVADOR

Fins of baby sharks.

Near the end of a scenic, somewhat smelly stroll through the fish market atop La Libertad's main pier, we saw something that didn't seem right. Tossed across a wooden table lay a pile of what looked like tiny shark fins. 

Worse, in a 50 gallon drum next to the table, mixed in with discarded fish entrails, we found the detached heads of more than a dozen juvenile Scalloped Hammerhead Sharks, a proposed endangered species.

For the short-sighted fisherman who caught them, these sharks are worth more dead than alive. Their fins can fetch as much as $700/KG in Asia (though far less locally), and presumably the shark meat was sold as well.

At least one study has shown the true value of sharks when it comes to tourism. In Palau, individual sharks can bring in more than $1 million in tourism- and scuba diving-related revenue. A story in this week's New York Times revealed that perhaps demand in China is waning, a sign of hope for the jagged-toothed predator.

Heads of endangered hammerhead sharks tossed into a 50-gallon drum of fish entrails.

Environmental rant aside, the truth is these fishermen need to feed their families. And until a sustainable profit can be made from these species alive, with benefits reaching the residents of La Libertad, these practices will continue. 

Killing sharks for their fins is a complicated issue that numerous groups and governments are attempting to address. For more information and some interesting shark resources, check out the links below: 

• This blog post notes some interesting facts about the rapid decline of the Scalloped Hammerhead Shark.
• Here is an interesting article about the Hammerhead population in Belize
• A website for global shark conservation
• Ways to take action to stop shark finning
• New York Times article on the "Hidden Cost of Shark Fin Soup"
• A recipe for "imitation" shark fin soup

ZANZIBAR PHOTO BONUS

We're traveling today but since we love all things Zanzibar here are a few photos that didn't make it into any updates while we were there:

Kip and our new Aussie friend Dougie introduced frisbee to this group of Masai warriors who were on break from their jobs guarding a nearby hotel.

Life's tough...but not today. Yes, we braved another boat trip, but this one was fully-stocked with grilled fish, cold beer, and two motors, both of which worked. 

Zanzibar's beaches...hard to beat.

A local man transports sailfish on his bike to the Stonetown market five miles away.

A Masai welcomes us to The Rock, a famous restaurant atop a tiny outcropping of coral a few feet from the beach.

Liz enjoys the vino and the view at The Rock.

GANG ACTIVITY ON MAFIA ISLAND

Maybe Mafia Island doesn't have any mobsters. But there certainly seemed to be a lot of gang activity during our stay.

Fishing takes a village, at least around Mafia, whose waters teem with fish. The small boat above is filled with a gang of helpful islanders needed to set and retrieve the heavy nets used in the surrounding waters.

Kip (far right)  joins a local gang
assisting a driver re-start his van.

An intimidating gang of feral cats
stakes out a fish seller

Another fishing gang pulling in nets on the island's north shore. 

Liz cleans up trash in the Mafia Marine Reserve. Only a gang of litterers would trash a beach as beautiful as Mafia's.

This group of plastic bottle caps, styrofoam and a lighter shows more of the work of the litter gang.

Kip, trash bag in hand, joins Liz to clean up the beach, littered by the work of the aforementioned litterers. 

SWIMMING WITH GREAT WHITE SHARKS

Come on in...the water's fine! Or not. A shark lunges out of the water during our snorkel trip.

A visit to South Africa simply isn't complete without a relaxing swim in the swirling waters of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Or so we were told.  

Not ones to miss an opportunity for some quality beach time, we headed two hours southeast of Cape Town to Van Dyks Bay, home to long stretches of deserted shoreline...and a cove famous around the world for offering visitors the chance to get up close and personal with massive, hungry great white sharks.

Yes, that's great white sharks, the ones made famous by Jaws, "Shark Week," and overblown newscasts from around the planet that make these apex predators out to be much more dangerous to humans than they really are. Of course, when you're underwater in a cage and a 15-foot long, 2,000-lb. killing machine passes less than an arm's length in front of you, you'd be forgiven for accidentally warming your wetsuit from the inside. Not that either of us did that. No, really, we didn't. Photos below. 

  

"Fishing" for sharks only a few feet from a metal cage filled with snorkelers. Though the sharks are not actually fed, trips like these remain controversial for their impact on shark behavior. Click here for a news story on the practice of shark diving. 

Kip experiences a close encounter with a great white shark swimming just beyond the bars of the cage. 

It was a good day not to be a neoprene seal.

When one of the sharks latched onto the fake seal used to attract them, a tooth lodged in the seal's back. The captain presented the jagged incisor to Liz, who was extremely excited about her new souvenir. 

FUNNY MONDAY: ADS IN POKHARA, NEPAL

There were too many funny things in Pokhara for us to select just one. Below are some advertisements around town that kept us laughing for a while.

In the US, it's a convenience store. In Pokhara, it's a "Dance Restaurant."

Fresh fish, courtesy of the headless, watch-wearing lake man.

This photo was four feet tall and hanging on the wall of a shop offering kayak trips. While interacting with the locals can be fun, this kayaker may be getting a little more than he bargained for.

LIZ SWIMS WITH THE FISHES

If you've ever imagined swimming through a school of thousands of friendly fish, check out this video. Liz literally vanished around the 30-second mark, once the cloud of jackfish engulfs us.

Fish schools like this are part of the reason Sipadan was one of Jacques Cousteau's favorite dive spots. That and the sharks and the turtles and the ridiculous variety of life you can see there.

The video is from our trip to Sipadan Island a couple weeks ago...we finally found internet fast enough to upload it.

Another update coming tomorrow...

MORNING AT THE FISH MARKET

Early morning catch at the local fish market on the Calbayog pier.

Unloading the boats. 

SWIMMING WITH 1,000,000 JELLYFISH

One of the more unique and alien experiences on this planet has to be floating weightlessly in a warm salt water lake while surrounded by a few million pulsating golden jellyfish. But that's yet another underwater attraction Palau has to offer.

The island country's famous Jellyfish Lake is hard to describe in words. Better, check out a few photos from more qualified photographers (or at least a few picture takers who remembered to charge their camera batteries the night before their swim). A trip to Palau is not complete without a visit. 

In addition to saying hello to the millions of jellies, we did manage a few additional dives out in the Pacific. A few photos below. Sorry, but we can't get enough of the ocean life in this place. 

Speaking of the ocean, we met a German couple this week with a sailboat that's heading to the Philippines tomorrow. We asked if we could join--they said yes. Depending on the wind and weather, it should be a 10-12 day sojourn. 

Hopefully, we can check in again briefly tomorrow before we meet Palau-an customs officers and head out. More to come.

A school of yellow snappers swimming past us at the dive site Blue Holes. 

Angel Fish feeding on a hard coral. 

Nemo's cousin hanging out at home in his anemone. 

Kip's favorite...another clown triggerfish, this one cruising with some yellow snappers.