H and Kenneth continued on their walk down from the dam through the rain forrest and we followed in the jeep at 30 – 40 minute intervals to keep them supplied with refreshments if they required them.
We had a break for lunch just after midday at Number Two river. This beautiful beach has white, white sand and the small resaurant development is run by the community for the community. needless to say it sells the freshest of fish. The plan was to return back to Guma Valley for 4.00 pm in order for H and Kenneth to climb up a pathway that Kenneth knew which was advantageous for seeing the white-necked picathartes.
We were hoping that H’s quest would be successful. In the meantime we were content to make everything run as smoothly as possible. we also took the opportunity to take pictures of some of the amazing sights., the lush greenery, the butterflies and the flowers. (The latter being decidely easier than the butterflies!).
Before that h and kenneth walked of up Number ttwo River and along the beach side, where kenneth said there were usually plenty of sea birds and waders but on their return h said it had been slightly disappointing, probably because as it was Sunday the beach did have a number of people on it.
We returned in the jeep to the Guma Valley dam as planned. the guard on the gate there knows Kenneth well. he also knew his walking habits because he immediately greeted us saying I know you won’t be back until 7.00pm and then had a laugh and a joke with us about kenneth always keeping him late because it was the time to see his birds.
H and Kenneth set off together of to Kenneth’s secret track up the cliff face to where the white necked Picarthes could possibly be spotted. We went and relaxed at the top of the main track up above the dam once more. We had to return to our meeting point by 6.45pm. We finished our day watching the sunset descending over the other side of the same mountain range that we had seen it rising behind in the morning. Again a stunning experience.
We returned to the meeting place and saw H and Kenneth approach. It was only when they were right back at the jeep that H said “yes he had seen the bird he had come to see, the white-necked Picathartes. he was very pleased. His only disappointment was that the bird had been too elusive to photgraph because it had kept it self behind various brances of the trees but all in all his quest had been successful.
we returned home to eat and have a few Star beers before retiring for the night in preparation for tomorrow’s outing.
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