Cuban Wildlife: A Jungle Expedition!

Ever since I was little I've been obsessed with wildlife; binge watching David Attenborough, going on woodland walks with my butterfly net or filling the boot of my dad's car with seaweed and shells. For years I was convinced I was going to be "an explorer" or failing that a biologist who would be lucky enough to go on field work around the world searching for strange animals and plants... but then life happened. I grew up and went to uni to study History and Spanish, two subjects I am incredibly passionate about and wouldn't have changed for the world, and the little naturalist part of me just got quieter and quieter fading into the background as exams, friendships, year abroads and job hunting took over.

This summer though something happened that re-awakened my inner wildlife lover in all her over-excited, jumping up and down, slightly nerdy, wonderfully happy glory. We went to Cuba. CUBA!!! A real caribbean island just crawling with crocodiles, bugs, frogs, birds and butterflies and surrounded by warm seas full to bursting with tropical fish. It was a childhood dream come true. After a lovely couple of days in Viñales we moved on down the coast to an area known as Playa Larga where we got up early one morning to bump down the road in a rickety old car and begin our Cuban jungle expedition!

There had been a storm the night before and clouds of mosquitoes were billowing through the trees in the sunlight. I had taken no chances and was drenched in repellent and wearing trousers tucked into socks and long sleeves...all to no avail as we'd find out later. We had been chatting to our guide for literally less than 10 minutes when he brought out a small gadget that played bird calls into the air and one of my favourite creatures of the whole trip appeared. The tiny Cuban Tody, (pictured above and below) also known as "fluffy butt" for a while as we forgot his real name, flitted around on his thorny branch then disappeared into the forest.

While we walked slowly through the trees we came across some beehives being attacked by crabs. Crabs are EVERYWHERE in Cuba; they dig burrows and live almost like rabbits along roadsides and in muddy banks.

 

 

Cicadas were whirring from the branches above us and we also spotted a strange corridor of mud running up a tree trunk to end in a football sized termite's nest.

After a short while we reached a hole in the ground between 2 great rocks and followed our guide down a ladder tacked together from bits of dead wood to stand in a real life bat cave.

An incredibly clear underground lake filled one corner of the cave while the air was filled with the squeaking and shuffling of hundreds of Cuban fruit bats that flew around our heads and clung to the ceiling in the pitch dark.

 

The flash from my camera lit up the cave walls and our guide spotted a baby Cuban Screech Owl crouching on a ledge:

I felt a bit sorry for him actually... his poor nocturnal eyes being blinded by the bright light! As we scrambled back up out of the cave our guide casually pointed out the body of a huge python that he explained had its head inside the cave stretched out in the dark with its mouth open to catch unwary bats.

Over the next hour or so we saw hermit crabs, countless lizards, woodpeckers, chocolate orchids and turtles.

Jungle expeditions are not quite as glamorous as I'd imagined when I was little...mosquitoes and stifling heat lead to some sweaty not so comfy situations...(we had not been swimming before this photo...)

 

 

 

 

We came upon a swampy area criss crossed with wooden walk ways and our guide suddenly pointed excitedly into the tree tops and hopped up onto a root for a better look. He had seen a "colibrí" or hummingbird; two of them sitting on a twig and preening each other, something you don't see everyday he explained. I can't describe to you how much I wanted to see a hummingbird! While the others carried on walking I was really reluctant to leave in case they reappeared and just as I was about to go I spotted a tiny flash of shining green amongst the leaves.

 

 

I only managed a few shots before he whizzed away but I was so happy that I finally saw one! Later in the market in Trinidad I bought a little wooden colibrí to hang in my window at home. We made our way back to the waiting taxi and were met with a lovely sight; Cuba's national bird the Cuban Trogon was peering down at us.

 

 

This trip was one of the highlights of the whole holiday for me; my childhood dream of exploring a tropical jungle came true! We headed back to our casa for a rest in our gloriously air conditioned room where we compared mosquito bites (the little whiny blood sucking bastards!) and later headed out onto the verandah to watch the sunset and sip mojitos.

 



 

El Palacio de Cristal

If any of you are planning on heading to Madrid over the Easter break and have a spare couple of hours I thoroughly recommend a visit to the Palacio de Cristal. This gorgeous glass building is nestled at the heart of Retiro Park alongside one of the park's prettiest lakes.

 

 

The building itself is essentially a huge glass conservatory (though much more beautiful than your average greenhouse!) and houses different art exhibitions throughout the year. I always used to love coming here on warm afternoons, watching the ducks paddle around and the sunlight casting rainbows on the floor of the palace.

 



 

 

 

The best thing is it's free to enter and with it being a popular tourist spot there's often a busker or two strumming away in the shade. If any of you do pay this place a visit I'd love to know what you thought - comment down below! :)

Spanish Wildlife!

Before I went to Madrid for my year abroad I was already really into photography. The only thing that's changed is that now I take more photos of actual people! Growing up I've always enjoyed wildlife watching and photographing the nature I found in my garden. I remember showing my dad my holiday snaps from Corfu, Greece and (after the 20th photo of a hermit crab) he asked me if I had any photos of the family at all or if everything was going to be either a twig or a snail!

Spain was a fantastic opportunity to test my photography skills and with so many gorgeous things to photograph I gradually expanded my repertoire... My love of nature remained though and here and there throughout my blog you can find the photos to prove it. I thought I'd put together a post with some of my wildlife snaps all in one place. So lets dive in!

Spain is of course not that far away from England so there is a lot of cross over in terms of the birds you can find. Here's a sweet little bluetit from Segovia:

And his mate the goldfinch:

This blackbird was warbling in the setting sun in Seville:

Spring springs early in Spain so the blossom was out in Toledo in full by early March:

There are some more exotic birds to see in Madrid as well - here are some of the quaker parrots that spend their days squawking in Retiro Park:

This Black Redstart was watching the world go by on the sea wall at San Sebastian:

There were also little wading birds scurrying along the beach:

A bird I was particularly happy to see was the Hoopoe - I first heard of this bird while playing a kind of top trump card game with my family when I was very small, I always wanted to see one with its huge crest and bright orange body with black and white stripes.

Córdoba was one of my favourite places that I visited while in Spain and this Gecko watched us one night as we ate dinner:

A gorgeous blue butterfly was sipping nectar in the garden of the Alcázar:

 Back in Madrid this was one of the splendid winter roses in the cemetery across the street:

Here's one of the hundreds of sleepy terrapins from Atocha train station:

And finally this little Sparrow was sheltering from the sun in a tree by the river on one of the hottest summer days I experienced in Spain!

I hope you enjoyed this collection of some of my wildlife shots from my year in Spain. I'm thinking this will be the start of a series of posts with roundups of the architecture, landscapes, food etc that I saw while away.

To see more of the photographs of all the wonderful things I saw in Spain then make sure to follow me on instagram @madridadrift!