Footwalks around the camp
The area is a National Park, so it is worth having a look around. Normally, one will see and understand much more with a guide, but the guide's English skills may be limited. Also, tourism is well-developed in the area, and it may be a bit too much for the animals around, so they stay in distance. The gibbon calls promised in the National Park guide book and in the travel guide book were not heard, but some fireworks at night. We were informed before not to worry: these fireworks will keep the elephants off, so they cannot come into the village. Which on the other side means, there still are elephants around. Possibly, there also are Tigers, Tapirs and other wildlife one does not come aross too often. Anyway there is enough to see without going too far into the jungle. Along the streets there are garden jackfruit trees, in the water tanks many homes have, one finds little frogs having their concert at night.
One finds a lot of little animals anlong the trails, but I only could find out the names of very few. The lizard may be an agamid, but if you can tell me more, it would be very welcome. The insect on the left is a cicada, but not a real one. It an empty skin, an exuvia. The insect left it behind and continued it's life up in the canopy. Our guide told us there were several different types of cicadas in the jungle and it was useful for the locals to learn about their sounds. They all make themselves heard at a different time of the day. So if you go into the jungle, you only need to listen to the cicadas and you will know what time it is and when better to turn around and go back home.
The leaf above is covered over and over with algae and fungi of what ever kinds, all struggeling for a place to survive.
In the Tropical rainforrest, one finds large trees with buttress roots - and sometimes, they are much larger than this one. These roots help the giants to stand in the soft grounds.
Life in the rainforrest is uncounted. This one on the right is probably a spikemoss. If it is, it well deserves a moment of holding your breath: Plants of this type were the base of lifecycle at the times of dinosaurs, when there was no grass, no trees nor flowers like the ones we know.
