18 Apr 18 - Atlantic Odyssey - Day Twenty: A Run Ashore At St Helena (Part 2)

Having got to the bottom of Jacob's Ladder, I realised that life on St Helena wasn't always as laid back as it appeared on the surface.

Parking infringements are taken very seriously: A cannonball is a bit extreme, but a good deterrent

Parking rules are quite detailed

The local nick

Napoleon Street: Named after the most famous visitor. Although he was incarcerated at the other side of the island

Napoleon statue: Putting on his best Gordon Brown smile

Cannon bollard: Just like Swanage back home which has a lot of Napoleonic era cannons as bollards

After a look around Jamestown, then I decided to head off to Anne's Place to meet up with Glenn for a cuppa & some lunch. The cafe/bar is easy to find as it is in the only small park in lower Jamestown.

The small park

White Tern: The trees in the park provided a shady nest site for some of the White Terns

I like the humour of the local Saints

St Helena Moggie

Old anchor & Fig Tree

Anne's Place

Anne's Place: It has a good atmosphere inside

Doc Laura: Catching up on news from the outside world

Common Myna: Another introduced species which originates in Iran to the India Subcontinent to South East Asia

African Monarch: There were a couple feeding in the small park next to Anne's Place

Sean Browne: Chimping the African Monarch photos

After lunch it was time to head back to the Plancius as Glenn & I were booked to go on a trip to the Sperry Islands to look for the local Band-rumped Storm-petrels & other Seabirds.

St Helena Roller: Apparently, it is owned by one of the hotel owners & must be horrendously expensive to run as we were told it managed 6 miles per gallon. Still it looked perfect for the island

Wirebird: The only surviving St Helena endemic Bird. There are sub-fossil remains of a Petrel, Shearwater, Crake, Swamphen, Dove, Cuckoo & Hoopoe

Michael Frauendorfer getting a short run ashore: Michael, along with Zsuzsanna, were the two hotel managers on the Plancius who was responsible for all the accommodation & catering onboard. Both put in long hours to ensure an excellent experience for the passengers

This check post box looks to have been around for many years

Another example of Saints humour: But a bit of reality as well, given Land Rovers are probably the best suited & maintainable vehicles on St Helena

Common Myna: These platforms were erected to replace the nesting ledges used by the White Terns before the cliffs were covered in the retaining wire

White Tern: A recently fledged White Tern

Sally Lightfoot Crab (Grapsus adscensionis): There were a few scrambling around the harbour rocks. This species occurs in the Eastern Atlantic, but has also colonised Ascension island & St Helena

Sally Lightfoot Crab: They have quite a variable colouration

While we were waiting after lunch for the boat there were a few Red-billed Tropicbirds & White Terns flying around the harbour.

Red-billed Tropicbird

White Tern: This is the nominate alba subspecies which occurs at the Brazilian Fernando de Noronha & Trindade Islands, as well as, St Helena & Ascension Island

White Tern: I like the shadows on the second individual

White Tern

We returned to Anne's Place for a meal & drinks ashore in the evening.

Kev Bollington (left) & Mike Deverell: Heading off for evening food & drinks

Jacob's Ladder

Common House Gecko: We were pleased to finally see this Gecko. Somebody had claimed one on Tristan da Cunha where they don't occur & it became a standing joke in ever log after that until we finally saw some in the toilets of Anne's Place

Common House Gecko: They are another introduced species. The nature range is India, South East Asia, Indonesia, New Guinea & Northern Australia

A number of the Wildwings punters returned to Anne's Place in the evening: Phil Hansbro was happy to get a chip buttie as apparently, they haven't worked out how to prepare this typical British cuisine in his adopted Australia

14 Jan 14 - Desert Coursers

Caught the flight from Cochin on the 13th & arrived close to dusk in the main Gujarat city of Ahmedabad. The hotel had arranged an airport pickup, so no need to play the 'does the taxi driver actually know where I want to go' game this time. Ahmedabad is a noisy, bustling city & not helped by it being a big celebration on the 14th for Eid-el-Maulud (the birth of the Prophet). Everywhere kids were flying kites around the town, but not sure if that was directly related to the celebrations or just normal for Ahmedabad.

Ahmedabad: Entering the old city

Ahmedabad: Looks like a different subspecies of tuk-tuk to those seen earlier in the trip

The following morning, after a lot of time & money wasted by a useless travel agent in Mumbai posing as an agent for Desert Coursers (see Back From India), I finally managed to contact Desert Coursers directly. This proved to be the best place I stayed in my 6.5 weeks in India & I thoroughly enjoyed the 4 nights I ended up staying here. The easiest way of getting there was a taxi the hotel sorted for the 2 hour or so journey.

Celebrations for the Phophet's birthday: There is a large Muslim population in Gujarat. Somehow I can't see Pakistan being so tolerant of Indian flags being waved on the streets in their country

Long distance train:  Surprisingly, I saw very few trains given the number in India. This was a very long train with many different carriages each labelled with their particular class

Desert Coursers is owned & run by the very likeable & knowledgeable owner, Dhanraj Malik. It has a number of rooms available & provides very good Indian food three times a day. Anybody thinking of staying would be well advised to contact Desert Coursers directly, instead of trying to book on line via other companies. The contact details are Zainabad@hotmail.com, www.desertcoursers.net, 94263 72113 or 94270 66070).

The open plan guest area & restaurant

The open plan guest area: All made with traditional materials

Desert Coursers: My room with an attached bathroom at the back 

Desert Coursers: The hut from the inside (with the bathroom behind the red door)

The Desert Coursers's drivers run twice daily jeep rides into the Little Rann of Kutch & neighbouring areas. The drivers do seem to know a lot of stakeouts for the birds & are good at picking up birds & mammals. Be warned that as it's a dusty place & the jeeps are open backed, that a pair of sunglasses are a useful thing to have with you to protect your eyes.

After a welcoming cup of tea, Dhanraj introduced me to one of his most popular & long staying guests, Bruce. On my last day there were some guys from the nearby Rann Riders who popped in to meet Bruce.

Bruce's Scops Owl: Apparently, Desert Coursers is apparently the only reliable, regular site for Bruce's Scops Owl in India

I had arrived too late to head out on a jeep ride, but was happy to potter around the camp & neighbouring countryside with the camera in the last couple of hours of the day.

Collared Dove: Could easily have been taken by my house in Dorset, except for the clear skies

Rufous-fronted Prinia: The long white brow, white lores & underparts help to identify this Prinia. The rufous forecrown is worn on this individual (& a second photo shows the pale tail tips)

Red-breasted Flycatcher

Jungle Babbler

Black Drongo

Common House Gecko: Good to have 2 or 3 around the hut

Local village ladies doing the laundry by the nearby lake

At dusk, British Birder & semi ex-pat, Bill Martin, who had also just arrived at Desert Coursers, returned from a jeep ride around the area. I think we successfully managed to bore the other non birding guests that evening with a lot of birding talk over & after dinner. But that's life when 2 keen birders meet!!! We were only stopped at one point when a Spotted Owlet started calling in the camp area & was quickly lured into a bare tree in the camp by Bill. It's always a good day when you see an Owl & even better when you see more than 1 species.

Spotted Owlet: One of the resident pair