Rabida is dominated by the color red. Red beach, red paths, red rocks everywhere.
We hiked up above the beach and had a nice view back down.
Along the way, we got to see the Galapagos dove. It's a pretty bird, with iridescent purple along the side of its neck.
More Darwin finch sightings, and it is today's artist inspiration.
I found the Darwin Finch fascinating. Basically you could look at a finch and tell what kind of food it eats by its shape. A parrot beak? It's a fruit eater. A grasping beak? Insects. A probing beak could mean either insects or cactus eater. A crushing beak identifies a seed eater. There is also a vampire finch! They think it used to eat the ticks off the animals, then transitioned to just picking open the skin and sipping!
We saw some other small creatures, like the hermit crab.
And a snake eating a lava lizard...
We drove by Daphne Island, where we could see boobies nesting in the fading light. It had some interesting lava formations as well.
We saw dolphins from the boat, but I wasn't fast enough with the camera...More photos in the album!
The trip was not only memorable for the amount of animals we saw but also for the people and accommodations at the two camps where we stayed. Our first guide, BK, was a wealth of information about the animals, landscape and down to the plants and what they were used for. Everyday out was a learning experience with him. All the people at the camps were gracious and the food was excellent.
Our second camp in the Okavanga was just as good as the first as far as the staff, accommodations, food and animals. After our experience at the first camp we amazed that the high quality remained the same. Our guide, G, made sure we were able to enjoy every experience including a rush through the bush to witness a cheetah and an ensuing hunt that he heard over his radio.
In both camps there were enough guides out that if they saw something the other guides were informed which helped in seeing as much as possible. It was also nice that the concessions were large enough that we did not have vehicles following each other throughout the day.
Normally there is always something in a trip of this length that we think could be improved upon but this is the rare case where we cannot think of anything. From the time we left the States to when we returned it was one of the most hassle free vacations we took.
Perhaps emphasizing the use of the laundry facilities at the camps would be useful because of the luggage restrictions would be the only thing I can think of as an improvement to future clients.
Kenneth Dropek
1 day ago
Mary was so pleasant and professional. She made sure all of our questions were answered.