A Short Swing Through Southeast Asia

[michael-ibk]

Thank you Kit, a splendid report with lots of interesting information. Very educational. So cool that you were able to find almost all your targets. I particularly like the Leaf Monkeys and the Gibbons of course. And I agree, love their mournful calls - only heard it in Kaziranga! And that Snake is very, very cool indeed.

[marg]

@KitsafariHI Kit!  Great travels and photos!

[Kitsafari]

Thanks much @michael-ibk - I had you and @AndMic in mind when i saw the primates in Vietnam, and thought what a cool place Andreas would enjoy. well except for those dozens of leeeeches in the off-trails!

 

Thanks @marg - so good to hear from you!

[marg]

@Kitsafariyes!  Much too long.  We are sitting in the Los Angeles airport waiting for our flight to Australia.

[Kitsafari]

18 minutes ago, marg said:

@Kitsafariyes!  Much too long.  We are sitting in the Los Angeles airport waiting for our flight to Australia.

 

@marg a very long flight! have a safe and enjoyable flight - and have great fun in australia - which part of the country are you going to? 

[Atravelynn]

That ruby-eyed green pit viper is a impressive.  The red-shanked douc langur is indeed regal looking, deserving of the name Queen of Primates.  Maybe the black-shanked could be a duke or something.  The Ebony Leaf Monkey is rather spooky looking.  Yellow-cheeked crested/ Red-cheeked Gibbon is stunning.  Interesting coloration between the sexes, similar to Howler Monkeys on the other side of the world.

 

You do get around and out and about!  Perhaps you should be named the Queen of Primate Viewing!

 

[Kitsafari]

Hi @Atravelynn great to hear from you too!

 

I was just monkeying around while seeking birds! but it paid dividends.  

[johnweir]

Hi Kit @Kitsafari

Yet another highly informative and deeply interesting report. The images are a credit to you both. A primate / birding trip to Vietnam has been on our wish list for several years but the vile practice you allude to in your 29/11 entry has kept us away. Naively I thought it had been stopped and was being effectively policed, clearly not. So for the time being Vietnam remains well down our list. It is interesting that you will be in Borneo in April, we will be there also for most of the month, hopefully our paths will cross. Ours is mainly a mammal trip and involves lots of night drives, possibly a slightly different emphasis to yours. Regards and thanks for posting, the information will come in very useful for future planning.

[Kitsafari]

On 12/15/2023 at 3:46 AM, johnweir said:

Hi Kit @Kitsafari

Yet another highly informative and deeply interesting report. The images are a credit to you both. A primate / birding trip to Vietnam has been on our wish list for several years but the vile practice you allude to in your 29/11 entry has kept us away. Naively I thought it had been stopped and was being effectively policed, clearly not. So for the time being Vietnam remains well down our list. It is interesting that you will be in Borneo in April, we will be there also for most of the month, hopefully our paths will cross. Ours is mainly a mammal trip and involves lots of night drives, possibly a slightly different emphasis to yours. Regards and thanks for posting, the information will come in very useful for future planning.

 

@johnweir

 

Thanks much. 

I would encourage you to do otherwise. I'm disappointed that my report may turn people away from Vietnam - I was hoping for the opposite. Dat my guide for Tan Phu, who used to be a ranger for both Tan Phu reserve and Cat Tien National Park, told me that things are slowly improving. Conservation groups have made a concerted effort to go to schools and involve younger kids on nature. In Son Tra, the local population are now more aware of the precarious state the red-shanked douc species is in, and are using the social media to raise awareness and protection of the species. The more wildlife and birdlife tourism flourishes, the more incentive it is for the poachers to turn to a more sustainable route of providing hides and/or protecting the species for tourism. This is happening in Thailand and Cambodia. Birding tour agencies are now giving monetary tips to villagers who find the location of the birds or eggs, and now provide info to the birding guides. IN the past, the villagers would pick the eggs to eat. In Thailand, ex-poachers have turned into guides and/or hide operators. So there is still some positive news there. 

 

Edited December 16, 2023 by Kitsafari

[xelas]

A great collection of mammals and one very photogenic snake! SE Asia has so much to offer beside birds and temples (and food).