1 May 2016 This morning we went kayaking on Elkhorn Slough. What is a slough, you cry? It’s a slow-moving river/estuary attached to the sea, a sheltered tidal waterway, home to plenty of wildlife. And at Elkhorn Slough you cannot fail to find yourself kayaking with sea otters! The local wildlife protection rules say you » » »
Posts Tagged ‘otters’
21 May 2016
Overtly ottery day
23 April 2016 Today we ended up in Sonoma. Wine country! It looked like it had snowed rather than rained higher up in Yosemite, and the big granite domes were all dusted with icing sugar when we drove away, very beautiful. Our route wound its way gradually down through forested mountains and then grassy hills, » » »
Tags: otters
30 September 2012
Elk in the smoke
15th September 2012 Oof, but the mornings start cold! It’s only September and the weather is fine, but it’s just below freezing at dawn and the bright sunshine only manages to deliver proper warmth in the afternoon. This is down to altitude; we may be on a flat plain, but we’re perched up around 2400m » » »
5 June 2011
Chepu otters
We came to Chiloe looking for otters, and at Chepu we weren’t disappointed. It also happens to be a stunningly beautiful place (if you are lucky enough to get sun!) which just shows that otters have very good taste. Look at where else they live: the Isle of Skye, Monterey Bay, Okavango Delta, Yellowstone, need » » »
3 June 2011
Success!
1st June 2011 Did I mention that the flooded river valley at Chepu is beautiful? It really is. Honestly, it’s so beautiful it makes you want to cry. Even living here you couldn’t get used to it, I swear. And we also saw the Southern River Otter, woo-hoo! We went out again in the boat » » »
3 June 2011
Otter or not?
30th May 2011 Wow I’m tired. We were ready for breakfast at 7:30, just before dawn. The whole world was sparkling with frost and despite wearing almost every item of clothing we had, it was freezing. Breakfast at least was in the warm, porridge and hot rolls to store up some energy. At 8am down » » »
15 May 2011
Waltzing to the zoo
9th May 2011 Today we went to the zoo. We like visiting zoos and yet it’s something we haven’t done yet this year, probably feeling that we’re already doing “proper” wildlife watching and so zoos play second-fiddle. I was lured in by Giant Pandas, which I’ve never even seen at a zoo and certainly not » » »
2 February 2011
Singapore snaps
The release of this gallery was postponed due to the need to surprise Tim and Vanessa with Maureen’s new hair. We hope our readers will understand and excuse the delay. Related Images:
21 January 2011
Look! Otters!
19th January 2011 This is ridiculous. Here at Sungei Buloh wetland reserve on Singapore they have smooth-coated otters. They have a small pond right outside the information centre, barely ten metres across, with a sandy bank on the far side of it. And a pair of otters have been resting on the bank and swimming » » »
17 January 2011
I like Langkawi
16th January 2011 We read about Langkawi online, and in the Lonely Planet for Malaysia. Sun, sea, sand, resorts, and a handful of desultory attractions to milk some money from those who tire of the beach; “come for the beaches, there’s nothing else here” was the verdict from pretty much everyone. That’s why our initial » » »
17 January 2011
Mr Cultural Sensitivity
15th January 2011 We arrived on Langkawi by ferry late morning, picked up a hire car that pretty much worked, drove around looking at fleapits and No Vacancy signs until we found a decent hotel with a room left. All this accomplished, we stopped for lunch in a very local little restaurant tucked away from » » »
16 January 2011
A day on Penang
13th January 2011 Today we started late and had some memorable meals and a pleasant encounter. Lazily leaving the guest house at twelve-ish we strolled to the Eastern & Oriental hotel for a posh luncheon. This colonial bastion and precursor to the Raffles of Singapore is certainly the place to be seen in Penang. There » » »
17 December 2010
Otter craze
Written by Maureen, 13th December 2010 Here’s a summary of our trip to find otters in Thailand. Where? At a secret location in the Narathiwat province, extreme south of the country. We got special permission to visit thanks to Jan and Tu who have excellent contacts Accommodation? At the Hala Bala wildlife sanctuary research station, » » »
17 December 2010
Hairy-nose, Part 2
12th December 2010 Again with the early start. Again watching the light grow over the mangrove. Again the otter appears out of nowhere. This time Jan and I follow the old adage “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” and we snap photos. Naturally, the camera-click alerts this incredibly alert and » » »
17 December 2010
Hairy-nose day
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. » » »
16 December 2010
Searching for hairy noses
8th December 2010 This is how you look for the world’s rarest otter. First: you wake up at 3:45 in the morning, in order to get going at 4:30 on the hour-and-a-half drive to the secret site (sssssh!). Then you get bitten half to death by mosquitoes while you unload the car. This is so » » »
16 December 2010
Training day
7th December 2010 Looong transit day today. The train leaves Bangkok’s Hualamphong station (which I can’t stop thinking of as hump-along station) at 13:00 and doesn’t reach Sungai-Kolok in the far south until 10:45 the next day. Our sleeper berth is of nifty and compact design, seats by day and bunk beds at night. The » » »
5 November 2010
Visiting Bardia
Bardia National Park is a seldom-visited wilderness in the West of Nepal, said to be the best place to see tigers. We were on the lookout for otters however… Related Images:
29 August 2010
Tillietudlem gallery
We stayed at beautiful, tranquil Tillietudlem in the Natal Midlands, went for lots of long walks and saw OTTERS. Related Images:
29 August 2010
Tillietudlem
Today there was a frost in the morning (as usual we were out for a walk by 6:30), yet by lunchtime the temperature was 30C. Anyway, Tillietudlem looked beautiful and more like a little slice of Scotland than ever. We’ve stayed an extra two days, going for a two hour dawn walk and a two » » »
29 August 2010
One month in
Written by Maureen on 26 August 2010 It has been exactly one month now since we left our cosy home in England to embark on this once-in-a-lifetime trip around the world. And it still feels like a holiday! I’m going to be honest (and risk the ire of serious travellers everywhere) and admit that I » » »
19 July 2010
Devon, archery, hiking and otters
Of course we needed one final holiday before travelling around the world for a year! We went down to Devon for a weekend on Dartmoor with Andy and Stewart. Beginning with a stopover in Bath and great breakfast at Jika Jika on George Street – top tip. The main event of the weekend was Dragon » » »
14 June 2010
Where we’ve been
To make the homepage look complete we’ve linked to galleries from our last four holidays, until we’ve been travelling enough to have four brand new ones. We’ve been to a few parts of the world already, but very definitely holidaying rather than travelling! Here’s a quick run-down of our explorations so far… We’ve been to » » »
Tags: otters, reflecting