Baby Geese in Des Moines Iowa

Tadpoles and Guppies

I found a storm drain full of guppies and tadpoles yesterday. So I returned there today with a net and some peanut butter jars. It isn't easy to get a photo of a hyperactive fish!

Three Tadpoles

Male and Female Guppies

Crocodile farm

Crocodiles don't like it when you poke them in the ribs.

We had a lot of fun visiting the crocodile farm at Assini. As you can see in this video, a crocodile is fast. When he snaps at the wood stick, he is just a flash of fearsome muscle. It really gets your adrenalin pumping. See how the crocodile uses his tail to attack. I felt like I jumped a foot when the crocodile fist jumped. I guess I didn't, since my camera stayed stable.

-Mike

Abidjan Zoo elephant

John is feeding Cany the elephant

Abidjan Zoo black Emperor scorpion

This black Emperor scorpion was on the ground at the zoo in one of the separation areas that keeps animals separate from the visitors. Joshua spotted it crawling around. It was larger than my size ten feet.

Abidjan Zoo

This turtle is over 60 years old.

Cany the elephant is 16 years old

Mike, Sue, Josh, John and George Assouf

George arrived to tour the zoo with us. This is a large Silk Cotton tree or Kapok (Ceiba pentrandra). Notice how the trunk branches out into supports. In French it is called a Fromager. Fromager is French for cheese tree, because the ripe seedpod smells like cheese.

John and Sue

The others were all on this bench that was on two piles of dirt a foot above the ground. Erosion had worn away the surrounding dirt.

Josh, John , Sue and Mike

As I joined them, the ground crumbled and it tipped forward. John caught the bench as we jumped from it. Then we took this photo.

Tunisian Camel ride

Aleria beach crab

Mike, Joshua, Nassif

I was able to capture this crab on the beach. He is actually holding on to my stick, so he thinks he captured me. When we set the stick down on the ground, he ran off into the ocean. We are at the Aleria Beach, a less expensive beach not far from Abidjan.

Joshua's 1st SCUBA Dive

Translation:
The Oceanium diving center and the fish of
Dakar had the pleasure of the first dive:
Joshua Farho
March 22, 2006

Joshua dived to 3 meters, about 9 feet, and saw many fish and even some sea urchins. He doesn't like them at all. His dive lasted about 20 minutes. He was too cold to continue on much longer. The water that day was cold, about 17C or 63F. I, Mike, dived at a different location that day. I wore two diving suits to stay warm.

Barracuda N'Gor Island Senegal

Josh is holding a Barracuda head he found on the beach at Dakar that faces Ngor Island, Senegal

Joshua and Rock Python