Nicaragua-An alternative Christmas!

Here we are again! It has been quite a while since my last entry, but the weeks leading up to Christmas and our Nicaragua trip were so busy that even wildlife had to take second place! And boy! What a trip it was!

This is a bit of a mammoth entry, but even so it only scratches the surface of what we achieved. I have split it into sections, and have tried to put in sections that will be of interest to everyone, so it is not all about the 'scary' stuff! As always, I would love to see some of your comments added at the end!

I have not named every photograph. To make a complete record of the trip would be far too long! I had over 1900 photos to choose from! If any of you want any information about anything here please let me know!

The sections are as follows:

Introduction.
Spiders
Scorpions
Ants
The Different Terrains (Rain, Cloud and Dry forest, Rivers, Volcanoes and Ocean)
Reptiles and Amphibians
Butterflies, Beetles and other bugs!
Birds
People, Places and food
Flowers, Fungii and other plants
Miscellaneous
Sunsets

INTRODUCTION
For this holiday, we had to balance wildlife with a desire to see as much of the country as possible, and so we spent a lot of time travelling about by car, boat and plane and only stayed one night in most places, with 2 nights at a couple of locations. During the trip, we took in Rain Forest, Cloud Forest, Dry Forest, Volcanoes, Villages and a Pacific Beach!

Apologies for the quality of some of the pictures, but, as those who have attended any of my talks will know, everything I do is done in a way that can be achieved by anyone. I do not have expensive equipment-just a lot of patience and a fascination with the diversity of life that is everywhere. We were also hampered by being in dark, wet rain and cloud forest much of the time!

We arrived at Managua Airport around 7.30pm. We were in a strange country, it was dark with masses of people milling around. When we could not see our contact holding up a card with our names on, we decided to give him a call, guessing that he was held up in traffic. However, on turning the phones on, we were presented with a message saying 'You have travelled to a country where you are not able to use this phone'! So, Goodbye to the outside world for the next 2 weeks!

After 10 minutes though, our guide (Juan) and driver (Erlun) arrived full of apologies. Yes, it was traffic-the only time during the whole trip that traffic was an issue! How different to the UK!

Over the next 2 weeks we became great friends with the 2 of them. We found their company (Green Pathways) though the Internet - and what a find it was! Everything they do focuses on 'Eco-Tourism'. This meant that many of the facilities we had were (to say the least) 'basic' but done in a way that benefits the natural environment. We were also very lucky to get paired up with Juan and Erlun, they were terrific fun, very knowledgeable and very organised!

 The Green Pathways office in Leon

We had presented them with a list of the things we wanted to see and they had arranged the itinerary faultlessly. No easy task in a country with such a limited infrastructure. We were also fortunate that Juan shared our love of searching for and photographing all manner of creatures and we think he was having as much fun throughout the trip as we were! Erlun also enjoyed it and had a remarkably good eye for spotting well camouflaged creatures.

For those unfamiliar with our 'Hobby' - we spend a lot of our lives, cameras in hand, looking for the things that most people miss, ignore, shrug off or scream at. There is an incredible world all around us if we just take the trouble to slow our lives down a little and look a little more closely!

The View from our first accomodation!

After travelling for 25 hours, we crashed out for a few hours before rising at 5am for our first rain forest walk. Although we had set an alarm, we need not have worried as the noise of Howler Monkeys close by did the job for us!

Howler Monkeys - a VERY distinctive noise!

SPIDERS

While getting up, we found our first 'House Guest'. A rather impressive spider, only surpassed by one we saw in Cuba a few years ago. Most people would be appalled at finding this sharing their space, but we get so many of our best photos from creatures inside accomodation. Remember, it is their home as well! And this from a  guy who grew up with a serious phobia about spiders - only conquered through photography!

Our little 'House Guest' - What a promising start to the holiday!

She was the first of many stunning spiders we saw. Some sharing our accomodation, some in the forests, but I never tire of searching them out and photographing them. Fears really can be beaten with effort and perseverance!

Here are a few of the other spiders we saw! Hope you like them!

The two pictures below show a really stunning spider we saw on our first walk. The web was enormous, making it hard to get the camera close (and the web was incredibly strong and sticky!). The colours were amazing though, a real rainbow when she caught the light!

We found this lady on the garden wall near our cabing when walking back after our evening meal. I cannot be certain, but I believe it may be a species of 'Huntsman' spider. Known for their aggression if annoyed (but not, I think (hope), dangerous).

Bigger than she looks, this one lived on the wooden wall inside our cabin, at the foot of the bed. A few years ago I would not have even entered the room, let alone slept there! As you can see, she has at some point lost 2 legs in an argument with something. We did not have the heart to disturb her.

The next 2 pictures are of another very large spider that lived in the communal area on the island where we spent Christmas. The first picture shows her on the wall, the second  shows her on the floor, right next to my foot as we were having dinner! She was the size of a medium/large tarantula!

This has to be one of the oddest spiders we have ever seen! Apart from the 2 obvious spikes at its rear end, it also had spikes protruding from the back (Not clear here). Nature never fails to amaze me!

 I have shown this one for it's wonderful camouflage! Almost invisible on the forest floor! Thanks to Erlun for spotting this one!

Unlike most of the spiders we saw, this one (in our bedroom) was VERY active, Very big and fairly aggressive. As I approached with my camera, she ran through the gaps in the wall to the next room, then back again several times. I eventually got her in the middl;e of the room for a picture, and have to admit I decided in this instance it may be better not to have her so close all night! I carefully caught her in a glass and re-located her to the next building! There were several of her relatives in the room, but the biggest of these was only about 1" across!

To finish off the spiders, here is another really wierd one! Don't ask, I don't know! lol.

CLOSE RELATIONS-SCORPIONS!

The following 2 pictures show 2 of the 3 scorpions we were lucky enough to find! The first is a 'tail-less'  scorpion that we found on the toilet wall at one accomodation. The second I found by lifting an old ceramic roof tile that had somehow found its way into the middle of a remote mangrove swamp. The first is harmless, the second is not! Despite their similarity and relationship to spiders, I have never had a problem with close encounters with these creatures. Beautiful and fascinating. The second one, below, has only been beaten for size by one we found in Borneo some years ago.

A good general guide to how dangerous a scorpion might be is to study its defenses. Claws at the front, sting at the back. A scorpion with big claws and a small (or no) poison sack by its stinger is generally not deadly - as in the first picture above.
If it has small claws, but a big poison sack, then it generally relies on this for defense and so is more dangerous. As in the second picture, below.

NOW-ONE MORE CREEPY SUBJECT BEFORE SOME LIGHT RELIEF-ANTS.

Scientists are always saying that the 'lesser' creatures do not posess intelligence, but act purely on instinct in everything they do. One only has to watch ants for a while to really question this statement. In the UK, I have studied wood ants in the New Forest as they gather material from the forest floor to build their impressive mounds. Beautifully rounded, air conditioned palaces that extend way below the visible extremities of the nest. I have lifted logs, to see hundreds of small white eggs that are quickly gathered up by their minders and taken below ground for protection.

In Nicaragua, we saw several types of ants. The most numerous, and far more impressive than we ever thought through seeing them on TV were the famous 'Leaf Cutter' ants. We saw dense processions marching hundreds of metres through the forest carrying the leaf sections they had carefull cut from a specific tree back to the nest, where they take them below ground to feed huge fungus farms to produce food. There are so many, that you can see the paths worn into the forest floor quite clearly. Regularly spaced out along the track are the larger soldiers that guard the workers. Armed with huge pincers on oversize heads they are truly built for the job! Sorry about the poor pictures, you really need a professional camera for these-they move so quickly! The third picture below shows one of the soldiers!

The one below is one of the soldiers, guarding the column! Look at those defenses!

A couple of unknowns:

The first picture below is courtesy of our guide, who allowed this ant to bite him so we could take a picture. Just look at the size and power of those jaws! The second picture is of a particulary large ant that happend to stroll along a fence I was leaning on near the top of a mountain!

AND FINALLY!!!!!

This really was the 'Piece de resistance' for me. OK, I know I am a bit wierd, but the one creature I wanted to see above all others in Nicaragua was the infamous 'Bullet' Ant! I have seen this on TV and they are reputed to have the most painful sting of any creature on earth.

Stings are classified using the 'Schmidt Pain Index. This has a range of 1 (Lowest pain) to 4 (Most intense). Bullet ants come in at 4+. To get a good idea of where familiar insect stings come into this, look on Wikipedia for 'Schmidt pain Index).

Our guide found a nest for us, and tapped it with a stick. These awesome ants attacked the stick and run up and down it - their jaws 'clacking' audibly as they tried to reach his hand (God was he being careful to avoid them!). Here it is below, not much to look at - but PLEASE stay on their good side!.

THE TERRAIN

OK, a bit of a break from the horrors that we love. Here are a few pictures of the different terrains we passed through on our tours.

RAIN FOREST

The 6 pictures below show the most remote area of rain forest that we visited. To get there we had to travel for 1 hour by air. (This took us to the last point accesible by land). Then up the river by fast, local river bus (this is the only route from here on) crowded with locals who hopped on and off at various points along the river, we sped for 4.5 hours along the river. At the end of the line, we had to jump into a motorised canoe for another hour. We were truly alone and isolated here. Not even a helicopter could have helped us! We trekked for almost 5 hours to our next pick up point. Every inch of the way was deep, sticky mud between 6 and 12 inches deep, intertwined with roots and often up and down steep slopes. It was dark, there were crocodiles just feet away in the creeks, herds of vicious peccaries (which thankfully we avoided) and mosquitoes that made you bleed when they bit! Added to that the heaviest rain we have ever encountered - it was a remarkable and memorable experience!

Near the start of the long walk!

A view from the canoe on the way up the river!

Walking along a very slippery path above a crocodile infested stream!

Not a good time to slip!!!

This last picture, above, shows a particulary deep and wet patch of mud - just a few yards from the river where our canoe was waiting for us!

CLOUD FOREST.

We visited 2 coffee plantations, both located in cloud forest, and both working hard to protect the environment while supporting a sustainable business. They grow coffee types that thrive in the shade of forest and are not affected by the ground dwelling plants. It is a fantastic example of how man can work with nature instead of against it. Cloud forest is so named because for most of the time it is - well - swathed with cloud! What did you expect!.

The picture above shows a beautiful plant just outside our cabin. The flowers have a powerful hallucinagenic affect! Best avoided

This picture shows a part of the half mile track, wet and muddy and steep in places that we had to negotiate in total darkness after our evening meal to get to our cabin! If you have never left the UK you have NOT experienced darkness! It is eerie!

DRY FOREST

Just as it sounds, forest more like our forests that do not need to be constantly drenched in water. These areas were much hotter, drier and dustier! Most of the dry forest we hiked through was by a large lagoon inside an extinct colcano crater! Here are a few pics!

RIVERS

As rivers were the only transport routes in some areas, we spent many hours with bums on hard seats skimming along through stunning scenery on everything from motorised river bus to paddled canoes. Here are a few of the views we had!

The picture above shows us approaching the group of islands in lake Nicaragua where we were to stay for Christmas day as guests of the resident family. We were the only guests and were invited to join in their festivities. A lovely gesture!

After a stunning trip along a river near the border with Costa Rica, this shows the view we had of the lake as we approached the river mouth.

While most of the river was beautifully calm, a few sections were quite fast. This shot (above) and the one below show a section of rapids close to a hotel where we stayed for one night.

Pictures above and below show a sample of the many Mangrove Swamps we had to negotiate.

The picture below shows a typical mangrove swamp resident!

VOLCANOES

Nicaragua stands on a part of the 'Ring of Fire', a very active part of the Pacific tectonic plate and has several active volcanoes. None are in a dangerous state at the moment, but they are impressive nonetheless! We climbed up, and into, several of them including 2 that are active but stable! Breathtaking experience!

This was an awesome experience! The side of the volcano was very steep and composed of hot volcanic ash. Our jaws dropped when Juan just said 'Follow me' and proceeded to run down the side! After a few tentative steps, which we expected to start a landslide, we soon found that the traction was amazing and we could quite easily run! It was a drop of over 1200 feet!

Pacific Ocean
Despite our extensive travels, we had actually never seen the Pacific Ocean before! How? We stopped here at a beach resort supposedly for a rest on our last full day to recover for the journey home. But we are not beach people and were soon walking and boating around the mangrove swamps! We did have a couple of paddles in the sea though so we can say we have been in the ocean! Here are just a few shots!

REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS

OK, more horrors, but included in this section are some stunning little frogs. Reptiles have been my greatest wildlife obsession from a very early age. Not restricted by the fear involved with spiders, some of my best and riskiest (stupidest? Yes, probably) shots have been of snakes and crocodiles, but that is another story. Apart from fairly close proximity to small crocodiles, a scorpion and a poisonous frog, no schulz's took great risks or were harmed in the taking of these shots.

Note that the iguanas in the trees were amazing! mostly 4-6 feet long and in numbers I would never have believed! Enjoy!

OK, everyone knows Gheckos! Every talk about every country I have ever visited includes pictures! They are lovely though and their loud chirping in the room at night is so impressive!

As I mentioned, the Iguanas were truly stunning. I was hoping to be lucky enough to maybe catch a sight of one, but in fact we were rewarded with views of large numbers of these impressive beasts as they warmed themselves on tree branches in the morning sun.

Another type of iguana below. Much smaller but equally beautiful. We almost missed this one and only caught sight of it as it caught a ray of sunlight!

This baby (above) lived underneath one of the places we slept in! Good job the building was on stilts!

Here is gerry taking a picture of our fellow resident. You can just see its head below Gerrys elbow if you look carefully.

The picture above is of the aptly named 'Blue Jean' frog. Can you see why???

Disappointingly, this was the only snake we saw - but what a show as it caught and ate a frog while we watched. Very hard to get close enough for a picture as the ground was deep in dry leaves and very noisy to walk on! We had to climb along a large fallen tree and look down from above! We saw the whole process of the frogs demise though!

BUTTERFLIES, BEETLES AND OTHER BUGS
Following is a collection of some of the other wierd, beautiful, fascinating and other bugs. Just a bit of pick and mix! There are too many for long descriptions and comments, so just a few with comments above the appropriate picture!

There were so many beautiful butterflies in Nicaragua! We managed to photograph quite a few, but as we have found in so many places, the biggest and best just never land long enough to snap! Grrrrrrrr!

Thanks (and admiration) to Gerry for holding her arm so still while this monster had her over for lunch! We both fed quite a few of these during the trip - the worst of which made us bleed when they bit! Thank goodness we had our malaria tablets!

I THINK this one may be related to the 'Robber' fly that we get in the UK. If so, they can give a rather unpleasant bite!

Praying Mantis - One of my favourite insects! Such ruthless hunters. Not poisonous, but many species do have powerful jaws and can 'nip'! We have yet to find any really big ones in the wild, but these small ones are still really beautiful!

We found 2 of these millipedes close together in the corner of one of our bedrooms! About 2" long. Some giant millipedes have a very dangerous bite, but we didnt think these looked too threatening, so let them be.

We saw a few of these, living on coffee plants in the plantation! They are a ghostly white colour and really stand out against the green foliage!The plantation owners work hard at p[rotecting the environment, and just like we do in our garden at home, they allow the wildlife to live side by side with their plants and tolerate the small amount of damage-and they still produce, and export a lot of the finest coffee in the world!

OK, it is a bug! but isn't it stunning?

Didn't haver to pick this one up! It just landed on Juans arm!

Yet more thanks to Gerry for her courage! This little devil was starting to burrow into her arm, but she just 'grinned and beared' it while I quickly got the camera out!

Now this one was really cute! It was the smallest snail I have ever seen! Only about 4mm total length from feeler to end of tail!

A very small wasps nest, about 4" across, but the inhabitants were starting to get mad just by us standing close! So a quick photo and then we moved on!

This evil looking, and angry wasp flew in through the car window and landed on my drinks can. It was released back into the wild VERY quickly after I had taken the photo!

A very average shield bug. We find these everywhere we go. They are common in our garden at home. This one (below), and many of its 'friends' however were living in the sterile moonscape on top of an active volcano! No plants and the ground is hot to the touch! At the bottom of the volcano is lush vegetation so why are they here?

A better praying mantis picture - and although by no means one of the biggest, still quite impressive. You can also see why they get their name in this shot!

By far the most impressive wasps we saw in Nicaragua - and we saw a few! Fow some reason the colours dont really show in this picture byt they are vivid yellow mand black with green showing through. This one was tunneling into the sand next to where we were sitting with our iced passion fruit drinks on a pacific beach (Yes, we did spoil ourselves occasionally!).

BIRDS
Less controversial than most of our subjects, the birds in Nicaragua are stunning! Especially along the rivers, where a surprising number of different species of herons can be seen every few yards! Also included here are Toucans! We did not expect to be lucky enough to see one, but managed to find 2 different species. The photos are not very good, but conditions were poor and the toucans were high in the canopy meaning I needed full zoom and a steady hand!

The shot above is a Turkey Vulture. These were EVERYWHERE!

The picture above is of a humming bird on her nest! The nest was only about 2 inches across, so you can see how tiny she is.

So this is where they grow herons! A 'Heron Tree'!

Another humming bird. We saw so many of these stunning, tiny birds. They keep on the move though so are really hard to snap!

Our first Toucan in the wild. This was a special moment for us as we had only ever seen them in captivity before this day!

This McCaw lived on the island we stayed at. Although free to come and go as he pleased, he lived with the family on the island.

My best Humming Bird shot on this trip. There is one further down that is clearer, but he is on a feeder and so although both are wild birds, the other one it looks a little more 'contrived', so I prefer this one.

2 of the 3 pelicans we saw skimming the waves on the Pacific Ocean. These are Gerry's favourite bird so this was another magic moment.

PEOPLE, PLACES AND FOOD

Although included a long way down the blog, the people and places we visited we a very important part of this trip!

Christmas away from home is not without its difficulties. We missed our family terribly, especially on Christmas day. Our Daughter, Son in Law and Grandson were visiting relatives in Ireland, our Son was 'Home Alone' and because we were in such a remote spot for Christmas I could not even lake my customary phone calls to my Brother and Sister.

However, everyone we met during the trip were so friendly, they certainly eased the pain. Christmas day was spent on a remote tropical island. We were the only visitors and were invited to join in the families festivities. A lovely gesture! Here are a few pics on the topic!

Gerry with Juan and Erlun enjoying our first proper breakfast in Nicaragua. The food was simple, wholesome and very tasty all through the trip! This was 'Gallo Pinto' (rice with beans), scrambled eggs and fried plantain. A very popular breakfast over there and one we have adopted now we are back home!

Gerry roasting cocoa beans as we both made chocolate from scratch. Not usually great fans of this type of stop-off on holiday, this was fun, fascinating and not at all commercialised. A lovely diversion.

Ready to board the small aircraft to start the journey to the most remote region we have ever been to.

Christmas entertainment Nicaraguan style. Simple fun and very 'children orientated'.

Eating the traditional Nicaraguan christmas meal! Pork, Corn meal and spices slow cooked while wrapped in a banana leaf! When we finished we were stuffed - then they told us it was only the starter!

The river bus! Packed with locals it took us for over 3.5 hours past the last point of civilisation to the last village before the most remote stay of our visit.

We have become real experts at packing for holidays. We have to be as we often have to carry everything like this from place to place!

This is the remains of what they call a 'Shrimp'!!!

More 'Shrimps'! Yummmmm

The darker side of mankind. Although our passports were checked regularly, even the armed soldiers were really friendly.

Above - even the livestock live in style!

One of the high tech kitchens where our tasty meals were pre;pared. Despite the appearance, they were all clean and the food beautifully prepared.

A 'Fast Food' outlet!

New Years eve entertainment by a bonfire!.

All mod cons here!

Our last accomodation. Completely made of bamboo (even the furniture). As you can see, the shower just runs out of the floor and the bucket on the right is the urinal! The picture below show the loo!!! Complete with bucket of sand to bury your ''ermmmmm...poo!!!

I made very short work of this incredible fish dish. In a jalapeno sauce, it tasted so much better than any of the bland fish we get over here!

FLOWERS, FUNGII AND OTHER PLANTS
It has to be said that Gerry has far more talent at taking shots of flowers and landscapes than I have! Maybe one day she will start a blog of her own! In the meantime however, here are a few of mine!

The one above is known as 'The Lung Plant'. Can you see why?

This one is called (by the locals) the 'Donkeys Testicals' tree (sorry, their words, not mine).

Look VERY closely (above)! This 'tree' is in fact creepers that have killed the original host tree leaving a hollow 'cave'. You can just see Gerry peeping out of one hole, and waving through another.
The shot below is one I took from inside the 'cave' looking straight up! Very tempting to climb, but it was unfortunately very wet and slippery inside!

SUNSETS

Last but by no means least, here are a few shots of some of the stunning sunsets we were priviledged enough to witness! Maybe not quite as stunning as those in the Sahara, but still among the best we have seen!

Well, thats all for now. I really am sorry if this was too long, but what to leave out? I could have written a whole lot more and included a lot more photos. BUT! I would love you to be able to read this all and had to try and find some sort of balance.

Nicaragua brings to mind political unrest and violent uprisings in many peoples minds. This part of their history is now in the past and they are working hard to encourage visitors. The people are friendly, the towns fascinating, the forests and other scenery are stunning and the food is safe, simple and tasty. Give it a chance?

We are still buzzing from the trip, so I am more than happy to give more information to anyone who asks!!!

Take care, and a Happy 2012 to everyone.