It has been slow going in the garden these past months with hardly anything worth showing or blogging about here.
Instead of gardening, I have been doing a bit of "in-bound" traveling in Malaysia, mainly on weekend day-trips visiting some places of interest with my family.
The 1st place we visited was Paya Indah Wetlands in the State of Selangor.
A 'wetland' is primarily an area usually saturated with water and with its own ecosystem [go here for more information] Paya Indah Wetlands is mainly a mangrove wetland with freshwater catchments.
And what did we see/do there ?
From the top picture clockwise:
- a freshwater lake filled to the brim with blooming and healthy lotus plants! The water level was low and I could see the muddy bottom.
- close up of a lotus seed pod.
- bird's eye view of a section of the wetlands from a look-out tower.
I found the leave of this plant interesting for its reddish bubble-like protrusions. The blobs were quite hard and did not yield when I pressed on one. Maybe it is diseased?
This tall & skinny bird really gave off a chilling-aura!! It was just calmly, and I MUST add, menacingly, eye-ing my family the whole time we stood outside its cage. I think its a type of vulture (unfortunately, there wasn't any write-up/signboard). There was another bird sitting on the floor to the left of this scary bird.UPDATE: Thanks to Denise, this bird is identified as a Marabou Stork, also called, much more aptly in my opinion, an 'Undertaker Bird' (Leptoptilos crumeniferus).
A pair of pelicans chilling-out by the muddy lake. They share the lake with a goose and some ducks.
Hey, the calm of this lake is disturbed by air bubbles popping at the surface! What's underneath?
A monster with a horse-like head??
Aha, mystery solved! A family of African hippopotamus(es?). There are 3 of them, 2 female and a male...all flew to Malaysia in an Army plane a few years back from Africa. In Greek, the word "hippopotamus" (Hippopotamus amphibius) means 'river horse'. They excrete a red oily substance from their skin to protect themselves from the sun.
Two hippos emerged from the lake, a big male and a smaller female (at the far end in the picture). Where's the other female hippo?
It was inside the concrete enclosure nursing a BABY hippo!! You can JUST make out its small snout behind the iron grill sniffing out a greeting to its daddy!
There is another lake opposite the "hippo" lake housing about 16 river crocodiles. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of the crocs...but they were magnificient and were just lolling about catching the last rays of sunshine.
Paya Indah Wetlands is a big place and only a small section of it is open to the public with the rest off-limits and for research purposes only. Entry to the park is currently free but one needs to register self at the counter.
If you are visiting soon, please DO pack some snacks/food and drinks as there is only 1 food kiosk in the park!