No, the water lily isn’t real. ‘Tis a facsimile I brought home from North Thailand.
The leaf is real though.
This is about where the weird positions started…
As I got closer and closer…
But it was so worth it!!
The Himalayan Red-Bottomed Bumble Bee
No! Just NO!!!
Rajasthani Town Water Supply Buffalo Filtration System (TM). Bundi, Rajasthan.
‘Airy coo with a bad fringe cut.
‘Airy coo too.
Mount Taranaki, West Coast, North Island. Also featuring in the foreground, ‘Betsy’, of New Zealand Bovine Models Inc, TM. The Tariki Schoolhouse lives under this mountain.
Mount Taranakai, with a conveniently placed, really large chicken in the foreground.
Tokay Lizard. A mixture of an Asian cuckoo clock and a pitbull.
So durned cute and cuddly.
Isn’t it gorgeous?!
Evil personified! This one took a jandal hostage and wouldn’t give it back until lots of food was thrown at it. Bundi, Rajasthan.
Amazing what you miss if you don’t look up. Madhya Pradesh, India.
You want to do What with my pooh? Nah, I don’t care. Just make sure you drive around me.
Don’t laugh. We don’t have squirrels and stuff in New Zealand, so I got all excited when I saw my first chipmunk.
See what I mean about that mad schoolteacher thing?
Not an elephant. One of the many critters to be found at Elephant Nature Park.
A lily with its pet terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusc.
Shut up, you cheerful little shite!
ENP buffalo in the beauty spa.
Our mountain dog friend, who we named ‘Bruce’.
Cool little lizard at Wat Umong, Chiang Mai
King cobra. According to the Thai people, touch one of these and have good luck for life. Personally, I think it’s better luck not to go near one at all…
Barbary Lion, now extinct in the wild.
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Vulture – Orchha, Madhya Pradesh, India.
At a monastery in Rewalsar, Himachal Pradesh, India. I was spying on him while he was spying on people below.
Mandatory panda photo, Chiang Mai Zoo.
Snake at Chiang Mai Zoo. Creepy…
Creepy Crawly Exhibit A.
Yeah well, I tried eating people, but it just didn’t agree with my digestive system…
Gather ye around and I’ll tell ye the latest…
You all behave yourselves this year ‘cos I WILL be watching.
Yin Dee – 2 weeks old. A very distracting factor indeed…
Peter’s first moment up close and personal with a banana-hoover.
An Australian of particular interest to a banana-hoover.
A baby banana-hoover learns how to do it.
The End
Faa Mai and Dok Mai having a blast ditch-diving at Elephant Nature Park.
Early morning walk, Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai
Elephants gossiping. Typical!
An example of a Polyderm. Not to be mistaken for a Pachyderm.
Every day we share this space for a little while with Medo, Mae Lanna and Sri Prae. This is Medo – Ayla’s foster ele.
Playing with Faa Mai. Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
‘But I don’t want to go to bed yet. If I look cute, can I go play again?’ Chang Yim, still wanting to play and create general havoc.
Two BFF’s at the elephant clinic, Elephant Nature Park.
‘I’ve just been for my mud-pack – does it make my trunk look big?’
Luckily, elephants are vegetarians. One of the Park residents, Pom, giving an ele a treat.
One giant step for pachyderm, half a dozen steps for mankind.
Close-up of a Pachyderm Banana Hoover in action.
Although they don’t compare with elephants, buffalo are still impressively-sized beasties who can eliminate pesky humans if annoyed enough.
Mong Dee keeps bananas at the ready while Sao Yai bathes in ecstacy…
Mong Dee, mahout, and his elephant friend Sao Yai out for a walk. Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Chang Yim – young male elephant and all around ratbag. Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Medo (left) and Mae Lanna. From behind you can see the extent of Medo’s injuries from the past.
Try having one of these very close to your own…
Elephant Bff’s bathing together
Faa Mai laughs while stealing food
Faa Mai being told off for stealing food.
Faa Mai shows Jungle Boy her stolen goods.
Chang Yim in the river, eyeing up the people on the bank – mischief abounds in this guy.
Faa Mai leads some of the elephants towards the skywalk at Elephant Nature Park.
In Which I Get a Baby Elephant Kiss
Chang Yim – likeable wee rascal at Elephant Nature Park.
raveburbleblog 
Wow! Deb you have really captured all the moments and spirits of your animal subjects, very inspiring 🙂
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Thank you so much Gemma. It’s pretty time-consuming trying to get the right ‘snap’, as they move so durned quickly, just as kids do. But I can think of much, much worse ways to pass the time… 😀
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