We are now in Batu putih village at the of Tangkoko National Park.
We have two Guided tours booked.
Our guide Roy met us at 6am wearing rubber boots my new word rubber boots -sepatu tinggi translates as tall shoes.
Not far from the entry Roy pointed out our this palm being tapped for making palm toddy or captikus
I came resigned that we may see none of the animals on the guides list so half an hour seeing the monkeys was great.
These are Black macaque Monkeys unique to north Sulawesi .The guide says there are 3 groups and this one has about 80 members. We’ve seen monkeys before but not like this there is movement everywhere grass twitching branches bobbing the little ones are playing like puppies wrestling and dive bombing each other. So close, one just a few metres away from us .
A short time later I began to feel seriously underdressed, and under accessorised. Darn it, I didn’t bring a camera with a lens as long my arm. That’s one very serious looking photography group.
After tramping up another hill the guide finds finding brown lumps high up in the trees-cuscus. We also saw Kingfisher , red backed thrush and what may or may not have been a maleo. What I would like to see is the hornbill..they are nesting at the moment so the male should return to feed the family. We stay within a hoy of the nest. We wait and wait.
I’ve got one of those blow up plane pillow in my day pack ..never work on planes but does wonders for my bum on these tall narrow ficus roots
We see several very skinny stripey snakes maybe a metre long. Like stripey shoe laces . It sticks its head up and shimmies. A moment. Lovely bopping movements. Makes me think we might have it wrong about snake charmers doing the training, it may be a case of the human copying the snake
It’s almost 11am and our stamina is waning we are getting close to packing it in.
When suddenly Steve calls, there it is. My photos can’t do it justice.
Perched on the side of the hollow with his head in the hole and his tail fanned out and then he pulls his head out, bunches his neck up, jerks it back and forth to regurgitate and then stick his head back in the hole . He is a spectacular bird.
And the movements are distinct and the beak and casque so bold vivid that even from this distance It was captivating
The female stays in nest for 5 months says our guide..but the guide book says 40 days..
And the wind blows it rustles high above us and leaves and yellow berries rain down all around us . Lovely
On our work back our guide says he is always looking for a big python here in the forest. To eat. And talking about eating that’s our next journey