We wake up in a cloud. Everything is much wetter up here, just 500m above the trailhead. Julio has a hard time starting the fire but manages to start it. We take our time and enjoy our breakfast with a splendid view as the clouds dissipate; rice left over from yesterday with coffee and some bread with jam.
Our goal today is first to find the Grand Lake and then try to find the path to the summit. We pack and go. After a couple of hours the trail ends at the lake. Easy. The view is very similar to yesterday's, it looks like a crater lake surrounded by the rain forest. Leeches are a bit more annoying and we set up the tent where they seem less active, closer to the lake and away from the vegetation. Now it's time to find the path to the summit. After some scouting we find it. It's only 200m up but what a trail! So many hanging mosses, ferns, and orchids, everything just got greener and greener, with many contortioned trees. It looks like Harry Potter's forest! Suddenly a crowned Ubu startles us just a few meters in front of us. It's huge! Like a big goose. It's mostly white with many colors near its head. Julio got scared!
The summit, 1475m, welcomes us with just a few clouds. Guides have cut a bit the vegetation for the view. We see Mozambique Canal, and Ankanara's mountains to the south.
We also take advantage of this little clearing to dry our feet and remove the few leeches still on.
Nap under the sun, feels good!
So far we haven't seen that many chameleons, I hope we'll see some tonight. Julio keeps smiling...
No wonder he was smiling! Within just 50m we find tens of them!! Small ones, big ones, green, orange, blue, even a tree frog 4m up above our heads, wow!!!! Never seen this much in the wild! It's like a reptilian zoo!! Well, with some leeches also... Still, I keep looking for new looking reptiles and Julio (he's really good at finding them) finds the cherry on the cake: a short tailed gecko. This one is active at night and nicely crawls to our stick so we can take it down and get some pics.
Again, what a day!
Our goal today is first to find the Grand Lake and then try to find the path to the summit. We pack and go. After a couple of hours the trail ends at the lake. Easy. The view is very similar to yesterday's, it looks like a crater lake surrounded by the rain forest. Leeches are a bit more annoying and we set up the tent where they seem less active, closer to the lake and away from the vegetation. Now it's time to find the path to the summit. After some scouting we find it. It's only 200m up but what a trail! So many hanging mosses, ferns, and orchids, everything just got greener and greener, with many contortioned trees. It looks like Harry Potter's forest! Suddenly a crowned Ubu startles us just a few meters in front of us. It's huge! Like a big goose. It's mostly white with many colors near its head. Julio got scared!
The summit, 1475m, welcomes us with just a few clouds. Guides have cut a bit the vegetation for the view. We see Mozambique Canal, and Ankanara's mountains to the south.
We also take advantage of this little clearing to dry our feet and remove the few leeches still on.
Nap under the sun, feels good!
So far we haven't seen that many chameleons, I hope we'll see some tonight. Julio keeps smiling...
No wonder he was smiling! Within just 50m we find tens of them!! Small ones, big ones, green, orange, blue, even a tree frog 4m up above our heads, wow!!!! Never seen this much in the wild! It's like a reptilian zoo!! Well, with some leeches also... Still, I keep looking for new looking reptiles and Julio (he's really good at finding them) finds the cherry on the cake: a short tailed gecko. This one is active at night and nicely crawls to our stick so we can take it down and get some pics.
Again, what a day!
No comments:
Post a Comment