Hornbill hunting

[Samuel]
Yesterday, in the afternoon, we booked another walk in the forest and set out with the aim of seeing a giant hornbill.

To me the birds are fascinating, but the forest is also very impressive. Here are some tree pictures:

The trees are often covered with creepers, strangling figs, orchids and ferns.

To start with,  we saw a woolly-necked stork on what remains of the lake (drought has drastically reduced levels). Then we went into the forest and looked for the hornbill. The guide used the noise made by the bird to track it and eventually found it in a tee, but we could not see it. Eventually the bird flew off and we were able to see it in flight. It is a large bird (130 cm long) and the noise made by its flight was distinctly audible.
 We did'nt get a picture, unfortunantly. We saw a racket tailed drongo (see picture at right) and several other birds, but in the dense forest, the birds are hard to spot, and there are fewer than at Thekaddy.
The forest is alive with the sound of birds monkeys and cicadas.
Below right is a picture of a cicada in the forest.
The cicadas seem to go quite and then all start up in unison.

An attempt to show the size of the trees - they are higher than in an english wood.

Today we are having a rest day as we are both feeling slightly unwell. Originally we'd planned to go to Madurai today, but as it will be very hot and involves a four hour bus journey, we'll wait until we are feeling fit. Someone here went to Madurai earlier and came back after one day as it was so hot.

Note: I have added some photos to earlier posts in the last few days.