david korte photographs

Today I cycled back to the lowland forest to check on a stealth camera. Last week I set the camera along one of the elephant trails where it passed close to an ozouga tree.  The base of the tree is huge, approximately three meters diameter at the point where buttresses meet the soil.  The soil has been pulled away, apparently by elephants, for their tracks are everywhere.  Possibly they were eating the roots of lianas that had been growing at the base of the ozouga.  Or maybe there is some mineral present that they find attractive.  After making some minor adjustments in positioning of the camera, I left it to record another week of activity.

I am pleased to have recorded an elephant in daylight.  The “boots” are watermarks from crossing a stream that drains through the forest to lagoon preceding this section of trail.

The rumble of thunder in the eastern sky warns of an approaching storm.  The mangabeys that had been feeding discreetly in the canopy above my head have moved deeper into the forest.  The shells of fruits they have found are raining down through the leaves, some plunking into pools scattered about.  Other than a disturbance of an eagle circling above, the forest has been quiet today.