There’s nothing quite like experiencing a breathtaking sunset, and it makes for some awesome sunset silhouettes.
Imagine snorkeling with massive Whale Sharks! They’re the largest fish in the sea, and they migrate right through The Philippines annually. It provided a perfect opportunity to not only see whale sharks up close, but get in the water and actually swim and snorkel with them. Wow. It was certainly one of the highlights of my trip!
Elephants are incredible. So primitive, so old, and the baby elephants are so cute! We were on a river safari in Borneo when we saw a whole family of Asian Elephants (aka Asiatic Elephants or Elephas maximus). After seeing them in the wild, I was really curious and learned some interesting elephant facts. My photography is below, also with interesting Asian elephant facts are below:
- Elephants are the largest land animals living today. They’re massive!
- If you thought human pregnancy was challenging – check this out. Elephant pregnancies last 22 months, baby elephants can weight 260 pounds at birth.
- At full size, male Asian Elephants can weigh up to 12,000 pounds (5400 kg)! Females weigh up to 9000 pounds.
- Elephants typically live for 60 years in the wild (80 years in captivity).
- Asian Elephants can be up to 10 feet tall at the shoulder. They’re much smaller than African Elephants in mass, but are taller.
- They have up to 20 pairs of ribs and 34 caudal vertebrae (bones that make up their tails).
- Trunks are the single most important feature of an elephant, with 100,000 muscles in their trunk. It’s used for feeding, watering, smelling, breathing, drinking, touching, sound/communication, washing, and also for grabbing things.
While I’ve never gone snorkeling with so few fish in Malapascua, Philippines, the water was clear and we had a great group and our first ever encounter with a Sea Snake! I’ll post about the Sea Snake soon, but in the meantime, here are some fun pics from our snorkeling experience below.
With hardly any fish and great visibility, we mostly just played. Our international group of friends were from Italy, Sweden, England, Holland, and the U.S.
I’m often asked, is there good snorkeling in Malapascua? If you’re looking for clear water, it’s wonderful. If you’re looking for lots of fish, I don’t recommend. With that said, I had an amazing time!
The top 10 Best Animal Photos of 2011 – incredibly cute photos from around the world. It’s not my photography, but rather from some of the best animal photojournalism of the past year. They’re from everywhere from China and the Philippines, to Russia, Slovakia, and Germany. I loved this Ginger Orange Seal, and the chimpanzee nursing a tiger. Which were your favorites?
Adorable animal photography.
The monkey I saw most often on my trip was the macaque. Long-tailed macaques are not shy (although sometimes aggressive; be careful!) and that made for some wonderful closeup photos like at Ulu Watu, and this one (below) from Bako National Park in Malaysian Borneo.
Another photographer said this wildlife shot of a macaque should be the next cover of Lonely Planet Borneo – perhaps! I need to thank the photogenic monkeys that were so kind to pose for me.
[yes the correct pronunciation is actually Muh-kok. Giggle.]
It wasn’t the first time seeing wildlife in my trip – the baby orangutans, baby elephants, and baby monkeys (macaques) in Borneo were adorable! I also saw other types of animals up close – camels, tarsiers, proboscis monkeys, sharks, pythons, and more!
Petra is impressive – established sometime in the 6th century BC as the capital city of the Nabataeans – they carved the entire city out of the rock. They didn’t build columns – they kept carving the rock until they had columns. Given the back-story, it’s some of the most impressive architecture I’ve seen. I highly recommend.
The Monastery (above) and The Treasury (3rd & 4th photos) were my favorite two.
The Monastery, Petra’s largest monument, dates from the 1st century BC. It was dedicated to Obodas I and is believed to be the symposium of Obodas the god. This information is inscribed on the ruins of the Monastery. [wikipedia]
What’s the only thing more exciting than seeing animals in the wild? Baby animals in the wild! Check out these photos of baby monkeys – baby long-tailed macaques:
These baby monkeys are macaques from my trip through eastern Borneo (Malaysia) in the island of Bako National Park, in the Sarawak region of Borneo.
I saw these Long-tailed Macaques in Bako National Park, in Malaysian Borneo. This below photo reminds me of the photos of monkeys in Bali.
Best baby wildlife photography?? This trip has already produced opportunities to see baby elephants in Borneo, baby monkeys (macaques) in Indonesia, and baby apes (baby orangutans). Which set of baby wildlife photos did you like best?
Who knew primates had photography skills? A monkey stole a wildlife photographer’s camera, and then started taking pictures of himself, even smiling in the photos. The crested black macaque monkey (black ape) swiped the camera and took self-portraits at arms length, like you’d see on a 15-year old girl’s Facebook page.
It happened when wildlife photographer David Slater was visiting a national park in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, he left his camera unattended and a crested black macaque monkey grabbed it and proceeded take Facebook-style monkey self-portraits. Who knew “black apes” took pictures? It’s actually a decent monkey self-portrait!
If you’re curious, I found out some interesting facts about these inquisitive monkeys below:
- Some crested black macaque facts:
- They’re promiscuous - with both males and females mating multiple times with multiple partners
- They live in groups, and tend to either be all males or be 4:1 females to males.
- Their diet is 70% fruits
- They’re extremely rare and critically endangered
- They’re found in Sulawesi, an island in Indonesia, and some tiny islands near it
We were enjoying the view from the cliffs of Ulu Watu in Bali – it was a beautiful moment until…a slight interruption. Just then it occurred to me that I was surrounded by monkeys…and they seized the moment. I was photographing a monkey on the edge of the cliff, when another jumped on her from behind. Then two other monkeys having sex too. Then two more. Where am I??
These monkeys were in their natural habitat, so anything goes. Including this first photo. What, you’ve never seen monkeys having sex?
Forget doggystyle – this is monkey style!