Lembeh Straights - Indonesia - A macro photographers paradise - Finale
The last couple of days came far too quickly which was an awful shame but I had had a brilliant time! I had seen some incredible species during this trip but one that was really quite peculiar was the Bobbit Worm (Eunice aphroditois) it hides under sand and when a fish passes over its whisker like structures it launches up and pierces the body of its prey dragging it down under the sea floor to be devoured. Its body can be over a meter long and its truly a prehistoric looking beast.
Litter from the main land is regularly chucked into the sea. Some can be claimed by nature and turned into homes. We found a Coconut Octopus which made its home inside this bottle but was perched on the outside eating. The bottle truly gives size to this tiny little octopus.
Due to the rules of diving and flying, on our last day we were not allowed to fly. So, we decided we wanted to explore the surrounding rainforest to find some of its most interesting terrestrial species. Specifically, the Celebes Crested Macaque and the Tarsius Spectrum, the world’s smallest primate. Unfortunately, these could only be found in the evening so the light would be getting worse for my camera.
The afternoon came and we sat down for our last lunch before climbing into one of the cars and being driven to the rain forest. We were given some super strong bug repellent and started our walk into this protected national park, the one place left you could find the endangered Macaques. Before long the guide took us off the main part down some smaller tracks until he started pointing into the trees. The Macaques were starting to walk towards us, I started snapping away as they got closer and closer jumping off trees and picking fruit up on their way. Some went around but a few took interest in my lens looking in at the front element and filter. They were poking it. (Thank goodness I always put a filter on the end of every lens!) The guide kept looking at me watching to see if I got worried but all he saw was a massive beaming grin on my face! All of a sudden one of the Macaques swung up onto my back and started playing with my hair. This was quite a shock but I stayed still and let it. The guide was now looking a bit concerned asking if I was okay but I told him I was fine and happy. This went on for a bit until a second one tried to get on my back but the first one told it to go away. The guide did finally persuade the one on my back to move on as we were limited by time.
Meandering on through the tracks I saw a troop of macaques perched in a tree. One with a baby! It was truly magical.
As the sun set we arrived at a hollow with two trees in the middle. Several guides were shining their torches into this vine encrusted tree where a Tarsier was perched looking out. They had just started to wake up and were plucking insects off the tree for food. They were very hard to photograph but a spectacle to see!
This marked the end of my trip which has been so incredible and one I hope to go back to once again!
All images will be up on the gallery from my blog along with quite a few others soon!
