Thankyou for all your appreciative comments, I try my best! I am sorry about the delay for this blog (computer issues) and although I hate to disappoint you as I am aware of how eager you are to see our suprise photo guest I’m afraid I am going to have to test your patience for our guest a little longer. Please bear with me. In the mean time I have accumulated a series of photos I would like to share with you from some of my routine wonderings of the park. I am glad to be able to finally display this clever camouflage trick displayed by a butterfly (a prize from all that chasing I did previously). Take a thorough look among the dead leaves…….can you spot it?

Ok so it wasn't too hard

This is commonly known as the African Queen. (Im sure the male butterflies have something to say about that).

The outer sides of the wings (when folded) blend perfectly with dead leaves and twigs therefore when a butterfly is perched with its wings folded on the ground it is not immediately obvious to predators. Some butterflies have large spots like painted eyes used to deter predators while some mimic other butterflies that may be known by predators to be foul tasting or poisonous so they are left alone. Whereas the brighter and more vivid colours of a butterflies wings on the inner sides (when folded) are used to attract mates. The males are more brightly coloured than the females, the same is true for most animal species.

This particular female was rather tame and allowed me to approach her at quite a close distance, giving me her version of a ‘dazzling smile’. I spotted her grazing outside Mzee’s Kaya. She is part of a family of eight individuals that roams free throughout the park. They can be seen during the day in most of the ponds feeding on the water lilies. Waterbucks are able to go into water frequently due to a ‘smelly’ secretion that covers their hides making them waterproof and are for the most part a last resort for many predators especially lions due to their repulsive taste. According to some sources they are not the most intelligent of animals.

I caughtthis Cleo moment on camera while she was playing with a branch. She usually picks branches from the bottom of the pond and on one occasion, much to my surprise a small tree trunk and grasps them between her teeth shaking her head from side to side much like a playful dog. She submerges with the branches and re-emerges with them resting on her back, thereafter she falls asleep only to reawaken minutes later to do it all over again. In the photo it looks like Cleo is preparing for a scuba diving lesson as she is holding one of these branches in a position that reminds me of a snorkel. Cleo and Owen have formed a whole routine which they follow on an almost day to day basis which shows that they seem to have accepted one another rather well. Talk about being like an old married couple!

To finish this edition of the update I thought it was about time to post a photo of a spider, something that has been much debated in the past. All the arachnophobes I advise you to look away now!

Can you identify which species this is?

Hello bloggers! After frantically chasing butterflies for a photo, I had a long visit with Mzee and Toto, perhaps to some degree outstaying my welcome when the tortoise outside the kaya began to move towards me (in tortoise lightening speed) hissing. I am glad to inform you that both Mzee and Toto looked well, going about their daily routine; Toto’s consisting of a day long mud bath and Mzee wondering around in his corner eating bits of grass, twigs and leaves. The next time I visited him he was in the middle of a mid-morning nap under the shade as the heat has been intense for the past couple of weeks here. Unfortunately bloggers you will have to be patient about receiving a photo of the old guy because a ‘special someone’ wants to be featured with Mzee in the next ‘photo shoot’. What I will show you is my ‘attacker’ at the peak of the potential assault.

Since there were requests to see certain animals in the upcoming blogs I have tried my best to satisfy the preferences as much as possible and included a picture of 2 vervet monkeys in the middle of a good scratch. They normally hang around the enclosure in abundance during the late afternoon prior to Cleo and Owens meal times eagerly awaiting any remnants from the hippo feast. Once in a while one may even get the chance to sneak a whole dairy cube right from under Cleo or Owens nose. Vervet monkeys are regarded as pests where they occur in urban areas and are by far the most skillful animal ‘Pick pockets’. The best advice I can give you is never, and I mean never, turn your back on your food when vervets are near.

Above: Owen and Cleo enjoying their dinner together.

In the heat of the morning sun Cleo rests at the edge of the pond with her sleepy gaze on me while next to her Owen every now and again bobs up to the surface for some air exposing two pink nostrils after heavily blowing bubbles from under the water. Things have been rather peaceful at the enclosure with Owen and Cleo. The pair have been getting along rather well and Cleo seems to be taking good care of little Owen since the move of his friend Mzee. Cleo restless as ever goes on her rounds of the pond in search of the ideal resting spot but never lingers too long in one place and is constantly returning to Owens side if only briefly, just to make sure that he is ok or so it appears that way. Although the pair seem like a tranquil duo in the water the bully in Cleo emerges when they are on land. This was quite obvious at feeding time. Cleo was the first to get out of the water cautiously followed by Owen. She began eating her pile of dairy cubes but when she had had enough of that she moved towards Owen, nudged him away and started eating his food making him eat her leftovers. I think she uses her size to her advantage a little too much. Owen is still shy and perhaps a little afraid of his roommate. If ever during the course of the day I want to find Owen there is a high chance he is either underwater by Cleo's side or  hiding in his favorite spot under the shelter of the mangroves while spotting Cleo, is almost an effortless job.

This past week saw a turn of events in the Owen and Cleo enclosure. Until now, Owen, Cleo, Mzee and Tortoise 11 were living quite peacefully together and it looked as though things were settling down into a routine. However we noticed that Cleo was beginning to harass tortoise 11 and push him around. She kept doing this until we became concerned for his wellbeing. When we removed tortoise 11, he had bruises along the edges and undersides of his shell as a result of Cleo’s rough behaviour. It takes quite a bit of pushing around to injure a giant Aldabran tortoise! We realised that it would be risky for Mzee to stay in there also. So as a matter of safety, we had to remove Mzee from the enclosure. This was a heavy decision for us to make in the light of Owen and Mzee’s friendship. A lot of our blog readers have also expressed concern about Owen and Mzee’s friendship being affected. Although we sincerely wanted nothing to affect the friendship, it would not have been correct for us to push the course of events and risk Mzee being injured by Cleo.

However we are pleased to report that Mzee and Tortoise 11 are doing well. We returned Mzee back to his old enclosure with Toto and surprisingly he has already settled right back into his old routine and locations. Toto seemed as though she had missed Mzee, and was happy to have him back.