|
One day while staying in Nan we drove about 45 miles north and east into the high mountains of Doi Phu Ka National Park; some of the mountain road was indeed quite steep and winding. Through the park's information center we hired a local bird guide who, though he spoke no English, was said to be an expert of birds of the area. Yes, he was (in a way...). He is a member of the Lu'a hill tribe, and has lived in this area his entire life (he's now 36). He guided us on a 4 km walk on narrow, steep trails through deep forest. The guide indeed pointed out several birds to us (they are really hard to spot in the thick green jungle); but in most cases he didn't know their names....and at other times knew their names only in Thai (our bird book lists names only in English). So we couldn't identify what we were seeing.
At one point on the hike, our guide took our bird book, opened it to a certain page, circled two birds that he said were frequently found in this area, and reported that they are "very delicious." Now we knew why he was so capable at spotting the birds. Thank goodness he did not bring his handy slingshot with him on the hike.
The adventure became even more striking when both Janet and David discovered that we had leeches attached to our bodies. Both of us ended up with two bloody leech-bites, very bloody affairs. Yikes! We are not eager to repeat that birding experience.
|
|
