11th December 2010
Happy Hairy-nosed Otter day!
The horribly early start paid off. Quite eerie, wading through the knee-deep water in pitch darkness with just our head-torches picking out the path through the reeds. Getting settled into the hide, during which Tu dropped his mobile phone. Alas, the floor of the hide is very gappy. PLOP. Now maybe we can try phoning the otters instead?
Then sitting and watching the pitch darkness gradually give way to dawn. The otter appeared suddenly some time after 7AM, approaching underwater and popping up beside the fishtrap. Unfortunately some part of us must have been too visible, and after both parties got one good look at each other, the otter vanished. We waited for another eleven hours but it didn’t return.
So on the one hand, we have seen the incredibly rare hairy-nosed otter in the wild. On the other hand, it was a brief glimpse and we didn’t even get a photo. I’d have to admit the encounter is a little bitter-sweet.
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