Tiger, Taronga Zoo, Sydney

During our visit to Taronga Zoo in Sydney last year we had good views of the tiger shown in the photo above. I was carrying my 19 month old grandson at the time and he delighted in growling like a tiger while pointing at the animal – much to the amusement of the many people nearby. I was amazed at how low his growl was, considering his age. We had a good laugh about it. Fortunately the tiger slept on.

On my trip to Nepal in 2006 I went on an elephant safari ride through the jungle in Chitwan National Park in the south of the country. Although there are tigers in this area, sightings are quite rare. By way of compensation for not seeing one, we had excellent views of several rhinos, as well as many other animals and birds.

Further reading:

• Travels in Nepal - an archive of articles about my time in Nepal
• Tigers in Nepal

Himalayan Tahr, Taronga Zoo, Sydney

One of the animals featured on exhibit at Taronga Zoo in Sydney is the Himalayan Tahr, a close relative of the wild goat. I like seeing these animals for they remind me of the wonderful experiences I had when I trekked in Nepal a few years ago. I was fortunate to be able to see this animal in its wild state in the mountains there.

Further reading:

• Travels in Nepal: Himalayan Tahr
• Travels in Nepal

Himalayan Tahr, Taronga Zoo, Sydney

Ama Dablam, Nepal

This blog about my travels is now four years old.

I started this blog exactly four years ago in the dining room of my son in Sydney. He had just set up the domain name and busily went about teaching me how to blog. He was a good teacher for I was soon off and away with blog entries. And I haven’t let up in the intervening years. I try to post every day but during the last two years I have also been trying to complete my Master of Arts in Creative Writing which has impacted on how frequently I have been able to write articles here. I’m also in the last stages of completing the writing of a novel for children as part of those studies. It has all taken a lot of my time.

During the life of this blog I have written about many places, including a visit to Thailand and trekking in Nepal. By far the majority of the nearly 600 articles are as a result of travelling here in Australia, including New South Wales, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory and my home state of South Australia of course.

I’d like to thank all my many regular readers, those who have occasionally dipped into various pages and especially those who have taken the trouble to leave comments. I value you all – you people make this blog a worthwhile endeavour.

A special thanks to my son Sim’ who looks after the background administration of this and my other blogs, keeping them ticking over nicely.

Mt Lofty Botanic Gardens

Silver Pheasant, Central Zoo, Kathmandu

On my visit to the Central Zoo in Kathmandu I was interested to see some of the animal and bird species I had missed seeing out in their natural habitat. One of these species was the beautiful Silver Pheasant. This species is widespread in mountain forests of south east Asia, including Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam as well as China.

It is a widespread and common species in its natural habitat. It has also become a common species kept by aviculturalists.

I was disappointed that the above photo was spoiled by the wire mesh of the cage. Many exhibits in the Kathmandu Zoo are spoiled in this way.

Kalij Pheasant, Central Zoo, Kathmandu

One of the birds I saw on my visit to the Central Zoo in Kathmandu was this Kalij Pheasant. It was actually labelled “Kaliz Pheasant” but I assume they meant the former. Some of the other labels also showed variations in spelling of species names.

I am not at all familiar with the species and haven’t seen it in the wild. My research has shown me that this pheasant is native to the northern parts of the Indian sub-continent, particularly the slopes of the Himalayas in Nepal. I didn’t have the opportunity to see this species in its natural habitat during my stay in Nepal.

I have also discovered that this species is widely kept by aviculturalists and that there are several distinct races.

Cattle Egret, Central Zoo, Kathmandu

One of the beautiful birds I saw on display during my visit to the Central Zoo in Kathmandu was this Cattle Egret. This species was quite familiar to me as it occurs locally here in South Australia. I’ve also seen this species on display in various zoological collections here in Australia.

This species has an interesting history here in Australia. It began colonizing parts of Australia during the 1940s, probably coming from Indonesia. Since then it has spread throughout northern Australia, down through eastern Australia as far as Tasmania and southern Western and South Australia.

It has a wide range of preferred habitats, including pastures, croplands, paddocks, swamps, wetlands, estuaries and tidal mudflats. The individual shown in the photo is showing a little orange plumage on the forehead. In full breeding plumage this species can be spectacular with the whole of the head, throat and front a bright orange colour.

The species is native to Africa and Asia but it has spread to both north and south America as well as to Australia.

The photo below was taken of a bird in a walk through aviary at the Adelaide Zoo in South Australia. It shows the orange breeding plumage.

Cattle Egret, Adelaide Zoo

Wild Water Buffalo, Central Zoo, Kathmandu

The buffalo is used in many parts of Nepal’s agricultural areas. They are also common as a beast of burden throughout Asia. Very few – perhaps as few as 4000 individuals – remain as truly wild animals. Throughout my travels in Thailand and Nepal I witnessed the use of this animal on farms, but farmers are turning to what one guide called “Japanese buffaloes” (tractors made in Japan).

There are small populations in the wild throughout its former range, and can now be found in India, Bhutan, Vietnam and Thailand. It has been widely domesticated and feral populations have established in many places. One of these populations includes a huge feral presence in northern Australia where they have been responsible for much environmental damage. In recent years there has been an active eradication programme. Over recent decades large numbers have been shot from helicopters and the population is now under control with only small pockets surviving.

Himalayan Black Bear

The Himalayan Black Bear is also known as the Asiatic Black Bear, the Tibetan Black Bear or the Moon Bear. It is a medium sized sharp clawed black coloured bear. It has a distinctive white or cream V marking on its chest. It is closely related to the American Black Bear.

The Asiatic Black Bear has a wide distribution range spanning from the east to west of the Asian continent. This bear can be found in the forests of hilly and mountainous areas in East Asia and South Asia, including South Korea, North Korea, Afghanistan, Pakistan, northern India, Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, Burma, southern Siberia in Russia, northeastern China, Taiwan and Japan.

I found it very sad to observe the bear shown in the photo above on display in the Central Zoo in Kathmandu. Its cage was rather small and very uninteresting to the bear who was constantly on the move, obviously very bored with its enclosure. At least Australian zoos try to display this species in large airy enclosures that try to simulate its normal habitat. The keepers here also go to great lengths to keep the animals stimulated in many ways.

In today’s more enlightened world there is no excuse for displaying animals in the way shown in Kathmandu.

Nilgai, Central Zoo, Kathmandu

The Nilgai is also known as a Blue Bull. The animal shown in my picture taken in the central Zoo in Kathmandu is a female. The male is a bluish-grey in colour. Why I didn’t get a photo of the male I don’t know. I must try to get a good photo at the Monarto Zoo which is just a ten minute drive from my home here in South Australia.

Nilgai are members of the antelope family of animals. They are relatively common in northern India and eastern Pakistan. There are also small populations of Nilgai in the Terai region of southern Nepal, mainly in the Royal Bardia National Park.

Nilgai are large animals, standing at about 1.5 metres tall and 2 metres long. They can weight between 120 and 240 kilograms.

For more information click here (Wikipedia) .

There is also a large feral population in parts of the United States, mainly Texas. These populations have thrived from animals that escaped from private collections. Nilgai in Texas are a prized animal amongst hunters.

I find it horrific that such a beautiful animal can be allowed to be hunted just for sport.

Leopard, Central Zoo, Kathmandu

The above photo of a Leopard was taken at the Central Zoo in Kathmandu. It was sad to see such a magnificent animal caged up like that in a very inadequate enclosure. Added to this was the fact that it wouldn’t give me a full face shot. Never mind.

Indian Leopards are a subspecies of leopards found throughout the Indian subcontinent.

The Indian leopard is one of the most successful members of Indian big cats. The animal is distributed throughout the subcontinent, including in the border nations of Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and southern China. Habitat varies from dry deciduous forests, desert ecosystems, tropical rainforests, northern coniferous forests, to near human habitation. (fromWikipedia)

On our elephant rides through the Royal Chitwan National Park in the Terai area of southern Nepal I was aware of the possibility of seeing leopards as well as tigers. Sadly we saw neither. To have seen these magnificent animals in their natural habitat would have been wonderful.

The leopard’s diet varies on all sorts of creatures from small animals, to larger quarry such as, monkeys, deer, and antelope. The animal silently stalks its prey, ending with a quick bite to the throat. It then stores its prey up in the tree to keep it safe from scavengers. (Wikipedia article)