Desert God is the fifth book in Wilbur Smith’s series of novels set in Ancient Egypt. The novels follow the rise of the Eunuch slave, Taita, who is the main protagonist of the series. I will try not to include any plot spoilers here, but there is necessary reference to the four previous books, so if you haven’t read those, stop now! I highly recommend River God, the first of the series, which introduces us to Taita and the world of Ancient Egypt that is split asunder by the invasion of the Hyksos Hordes.
The Blue Iguana is endemic to the Cayman Islands. It survived for years on this small island but is since European colonisation they have suffered from predation by feral cats and dogs and the recent arrival of the much more common Green Iguana, which seems to be a more adaptable and less lazy breed. When I first arrived in Grand Cayman I thought the variety of lizard and iguanas were very cool, like mini-prehistoric dragons that have survived throughout the years. The locals treat the Green Iguana as an invasive pest, perhaps not quite as bad as the Lionfish, but subject to curbing and control. Read more…
It’s been a little while since I’ve been out diving due to holidays and various work commitments. To remedy this I signed up for an “Earth Day” Lionfish cull on Saturday with Dive Tech and a two tank Sunday morning “strictly no spears” dive with Don Fosters.
This was partly because I have one friend who won’t dive unless he is spearing Lionfish, and another friend who won’t dive if we are. They otherwise get along fine and invite each other to the dives they are interested in, but I usually have to make a choice. This weekend I decided to do both. Read more…
My first encounter with hippos was barely more than spotting what looked like rocks in a lake. I was then fortunate enough to see them on a night safari, when they come out to feed, and surprised to see how nimble they are.
Okay, diving and skiing are both fun in their own way, they both provide a good excuse to travel to exotic destinations with friends, and provide have a certain friendly relationship with drinking and relaxation. Here are my reasons why diving is better than skiing (warning, old man alert)… Read more…
We were in the Ngorogoro Crater, a conservation area and UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Crater Highlands area of Tanzania. The crater is phenomenal, an inactive, intact and unfilled volcanic caldera. The wide sides of the crater prevent the migration of wildlife (other than leopards who roam wherever they want), meaning that the crater has herds of wildlife that can be more readily protected than other national parks. We camped on the rim of the crater overnight (see the blog post “African night time adventures”). After a short rain shower in the morning, this Cheetah approached the game vehicle as bold as brass and began a stretching routine! Read more…
As part of our travels in 2012, before getting to Cayman, we visited Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan, in the hope of seeing tigers (it was billed as a tiger safari and 60 square miles is a tiger sanctuary). Sadly, we didn’t get to see any of these beautiful creatures in the wild. Admittedly it is a large national park, and we only took two “safaris” but I have to wonder whether the poaching has left the park bereft of any tigers. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised by the array of antelope and we were entertained by playful monkeys. The national park is set around the Ranthambore Fort, so you see monkeys cavorting on cannons. I would recommend a morning tour, which can be atmospheric with the mist across the valley (we went in a January, and it was very cold so this is likely not a year round phenomenon!). We also saw a bear in the distance, and there are reported to be leopards (always hard to see), crocodiles and “Indian False Vampires” so this may appeal to all sorts! Read more…
It is said that Cayman has one of seven bioluminescence bays in the world, but as the guide fairly pointed out, this is a natural phenomenon that occurs around the world – sometimes in the open ocean. However, it’s great to have it captive in a bay easily accessible by Kayak. Read more…
I made a resolution last year to eat more fish. Being a lawyer, I sometimes get obsessed with targets, so I set myself a target to eat fish. Initially it was 75 fish in the year (i.e. 1.5 times a week) but after some heckling from friends I increased it to 100 fish in the year.
Now, I’ve never had a good relationship with eating fish. In part it’s because I don’t like the taste, I even went so far as to claim that I was allergic to fish for some time, just in case anyone thought they would try to convince me to like it. I think it was in part because my parents never cooked fish, other than cod and parsley sauce, which I’m sure would put most people off fish.
But it’s also the ethical reasons…I won’t get into those here.
Anyway, I had decided to eat more fish, I had also started Lionfish culling (see here). That was an obvious answer to my moral objections, the Lionfish are an invasive menace that damages the ecosystem of Cayman, and provided a handy answer to my taste one as well. There has been a major drive in Cayman and other parts of the Caribbean to encourage people to eat Lionfish – humans have wiped out plenty of other species this way… Read more…
I’m very keen on animals, and love a chance to take them in on any trip. For me, a perfect trip will involve some animals and an activity. One particular animal that I was very keen to see was a Canadian moose. I can’t quite say why, but after failing to hunt one down on our honeymoon in Alaska and Canada, we were very keen to find one for our recent trip to Canada for Easter. Fortunately for me, my ever diligent wife found Parc Omega, about an hour outside of Montreal, and sort of on the way to Mont Tremblant (warning, if visiting in Winter make sure the GPS is set to avoid ferries as ferries don’t operate on frozen lakes…).
I didn’t know what to expect, but I was very keen to see a Moose. Parc Omega doesn’t really explain itself as an overall concept too well, so we weren’t sure what it would be like, but it turned out to be a great experience and well worth the visit! Read more…
Tubbyman Tales 