I've had a nice week in the sun with my family, trying to catch up on a ridiculous amount of sleep, and generally try to relax after the crappyness of last year. Yes that is a word.
Specifically, I spent the last week in Taba Heights, Egypt. It's very nice, as long as you are happy not doing too much, which seemed to fit our needs. Would have liked to have seen the pyramids etc and the nile but it's a long way from Taba, so will have to add that to the long list of hypothetical holidays I'd like to have...
All very nice, but I'm sure you're wondering WHAT BIRDS DID I SEE? Well, there is a severe lack of vegetation of any kind, so the place was hardly abundant with a variety of birds, but the palm trees etc around where we stayed ensured an impressive population of sparrows, some house crows, white spectacled bulbuls, one very pretty dark blue sunbird, and some really cute laughing doves.
I want some of these, they do laugh (sounds like a chuckle), they like to eat chips and they're pocket sized. What's not to like?
Of course, the birds weren't really the main attraction, as it turns out the Red Sea is pretty much full of fish, and our hotel was right on top of a coral reef. We went out on a boat trip one day to go snorkeling (with an underwater camera- try to contain your excitement for a later post), but did a fair bit from the beach, and saw quite a lot just by walking along the jetty on calm days. Here are a few attempts at capturing the scene...
octopus
butterfly fish of some kind, I'm not sure which as there are loads.
cornetfish, and a marbled parrotfish I think. These are both pretty big, hard to tell though from this...
The dreaded lion fish, one of which caught me by surprise. As one of the most venomous fish, I wouldn't want to pick a fight with one...
All in all I had a nice holiday, and will try to be a bit more descriptive once I've got the underwater pics. Some more local trips are pending...
