Ranomafana and on the road to tana
Portrait of Rita
FKE Exhibition
Really happy with the opening today of the exhibition in the St. Aegtenkapel in Amersfoort, the Netherlands, of our photoclub FKE. A bunch of great photographers with so much creativity! Former chairman Rob Renshoff has succeeded in realizing this exhibition – what a succes!
Fall
Ameria
Bye bye 2023!
Madagascar 5: Chameleons, geckos, snakes and frogs
Back to Madagascar. Lots and lots of chameleons, lizards, frogs and snakes. Too much, I’d say. So here’s a whole bunch of them. Pay attention to the perfect disguise of the different chameleons (the smallest less than 5 cm!), the mossy leaf-tailed gecko’s, the beautiful frogs…
And did you know they even have Nile crocodiles? It’s all too much!
And now: Birds
Yes, it was a birding trip to Madagascar. So it’s about time to show some of the beautiful birds that live there. Almost all of them endemic to the island as well, just as the lemurs. First the Madagascar Pygmy kingfisher Corythornis madagascariensis. An amazing success of our guide ‘Jacana’, who was able to spot this tiny bird in the trees of the rainforest
There is another kingfisher that looks a lot like our Eurasian kingfisher. At first glance they appear to be the same. But look closely: there is no blue cheek and less white on the chin. It’s a Madagascar malachite kingfisher Corythornis vintsioides
Incredibly graceful these Madagascar paradise flycatchers (Terpsiphone mutata mutata). Same species, white and brown morph
The Madagascar crested ibis Lophotibis cristata; quite shy and difficult to find. It took several days of searching before he showed up. “It has always been an endangered species,” the guide said, “but when the Covid pandemic broke out and tourists didn’t come anymore, lots of them were eaten…”
The hoopoe! And again an endemic: the Madagascar hoopoe Upupa marginata. I’m afraid I don’t see the difference with the Eurasian hoopoe
Souimanga sunbird – Cinnyris souimanga. That reflection of light on the feathers!
Another colourful bird: the Pitta-like ground-roller Atelornis pittiodes. Also very difficult to find, as he is walking in dense dark forests. So many colours: Green wings, ruby breast, blue spotted head… truly amazing
The family of rollers is one of my favourites. This is a Broad-billed roller Eurystomus glaucurus, mostly brown but it has beautiful blue feathers in the wings and tail
Last one for now: two Madagascar scops owls Otus rutilus happy together
Madagascar lemurs
Lemurs are prosimians (halfapen) – they belong to the primates with probably the same common ancestors as apes, but as the apes continued to develop larger brains and a flatter snout, the lemurs kept their original character. Lemurs only live in Madagascar and surrounding islands; they are endemic there. There are five families still alive with dozens of species – often seriously endangered, as the total number of lemurs is estimated to have fallen with more than 95% in the last two decades
Rufous mouse lemur (Microcebus rufus)
Petter’s sportive lemur (Lepilemur petteri)
Crossley’s dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus crossleyi)
Small-toothed sportive lemur (Lepilemur microdon)
Brown lemur (Eulemur fulvus)
Woolly lemur (Avahi spp.)
Ring tailed lemur (Lemur catta)
Ring tailed lemur (Lemur catta)
Brown lemur (Eulemur fulvus)
Red-bellied lemur (Eulemur rubriventer)
Coquerel’s Sifaka (Propithecus coquereli)
Diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema)
Black and white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata)
Grey bamboo lemur (Hapalemur griseus)
Grey bamboo lemur (Hapalemur griseus)
Indri (Indri indri)
Very curious Red-bellied lemurs (Eulemur rubriventer)
Just too cute! One last Coquerel’s sifaka (Propithecus coquereli)
Village of thoughts 9: The old graveyard
“The old graveyard belonged to the van Reenens. They had bought the Heerlijkheid Bergen and decided to make a cemetery there. Their grave is there too. There is a Catholic part and a part for non-Catholics. We sometimes went there for a stroll, but as everyone is now buried in the new cemetery, I had actually forgotten about the old one. Until I started helping cleaning it up, and I found a few of my ancestors. On the Catholic part of course, because the family used to be very pious.”
“De oude begraafplaats was van de van Reenens. Zij hadden de Heerlijkheid Bergen gekocht en besloten daar een begraafplaats te maken. Ze liggen er zelf ook. Er is een Katholiek deel en een deel voor niet-katholieken. We gingen er wel eens kijken, maar door de nieuwe begraafplaats waar iedereen nu ligt, was ik die oude eigenlijk vergeten. Tot ik ging helpen met schoonhouden en ik een paar van mijn voorouders vond. Op het katholieke deel natuurlijk, want de familie was vroeger zeer gelovig.”
Village of thoughts 5: Steam train Bello
“When I was young we never took the steam train. There was no money for that. We often went to the station watching the train to arrive and the passengers getting on and off. That was good enough for us children.
Shortly after the war I went to the beach with Bello, at Bergen aan Zee. With the Miltenburg girls, for example. Taking the steam tram to the beach was our way of going out.”
“Toen ik jong was gingen we nooit met Bello. Daar was geen geld voor. We gingen wel vaak kijken op het station naar de aankomst van de stoomtrein en het in- en uitstappen van de reizigers. Voor ons kinderen was dat feest genoeg.
Kort na de oorlog ben ik wel eens met Bello naar het strand gegaan in Bergen aan Zee. Met de meisjes Miltenburg bijvoorbeeld. Met de stoomtram naar het strand was onze manier van uitgaan.”
De Portrettenmaker 