Knuckles Range Birding Tour

I decided to go on a three day guided birding/ trekking tour in the Knuckles Range. It was just us a van , a driver and guide. Our first day we were picked up at our hotel at 0530. We arrived at a decrepit hotel perched above a massive reservoir. We birded off the back porch of this hotel overlooking a relatively nondescript tree. Over the next couple of hours about fifty species of birds either perched in or flew past that tree. The tree was not blooming or fruiting so who knows why it was so popular. After a stop in some rice paddies for some common birds we drove up into the mountains. There we walked up a trail in the Knuckles Park. We got some seriously good birds. From there we went to our camp which turned out to be a comfortable A frame perched on a high mountain ridge. Then we went on an evening hike which took us a few kilometers down the mountain to see a brown fish owl perched over a waterfall. Thankfully we were able to hitch a ride about halfway back up the mountain. At this point I had decided our guide thought we were in our teens rather than our seventies. Back at camp my flu bug descended with a vengeance and I plucked off the first few swollen leeches off my legs.





The next morning we were told we were going to walk 14 kilometers down the mountain. It turned into a beautiful walk. We saw lots of birds as we walked through a mix of jungle and rural countryside . After a hearty meal at somebodies home , we headed off to some more birding sights. Seemingly at random our driver and guide stopped by the side of the highway. We were told we were going to walk into a waterfall where some kind of nightjar had been seen. Pretty soon we were bushwhacking through some serious jungle . We arrived on top of a seriously great waterfall. Unfortunately no night jar. What we did find was about a dozen leeches attached to our lower legs. I went down to the waters edge and started pulling them off . It was creepy as soon as you grabbed one it would clamp on to your hand . Anyways soon it was time to head back. When we reached the pavement we took off our shoes and socks and removed another whack of leeches. Then it was off to some more birding sights. Later in the evening we arrived at a pretty pristine guesthouse . The floors were polished marble so clean you could eat off the floor. We took off our shoes and tromped to our room only to hear cries of alarm. I had laid down a trail of bloody footprints all over his clean floor. A quick retreat to a garden tap to remove more leeches and clean my bloody shoes and socks. Our next hurdle was that we only had three or four dried up bandaids to quench the bleeding in my feet. Our guide ended up bandaging my lower leg so that I looked like a mummy. 
Then it was off to go jack lighting at a local reservoir where we terrorized a bunch of local waterfowl and did get to spot an owl.
The next day was more of the same until we arrived at our hotel around dark.

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