Greetings bush lovers!

It is summertime and it is hot. Just to cool things down I have introduced beaches in to the Scenes category and butterflies into the Insects category.

South Africa, Namibia and Mozambique are fortunate to have breath-takingly beautiful beaches. They are wide, clean and go for miles and away from the big cities they are quiet. I have  included some landscapes of the southern Mozambique coastline. Long standing wonderful family friends, Dave and Mon Condy, have a superb Lodge on top of the sand dunes at Ponte Malongane. The beach shots are taken around Ponte Malongane, some from their Lodge.

This is a view looking from Dave and Mon’s lodge toward the dive centre at Ponte Malongane.

The beach  goes for miles. The sand is clean and squeaky, the colour of the sea water is azzure blue in the sunshine and the temperature is hot and perfect for the beach. The breeze normally comes up in the afternoon and becomes a good time for a long walk before an ice cold drink to watch the sunset with.

The beaches along the southern Mozambique coast are just exquisite. The sand is squeaky clean, the water azzure blue and the temperature balmy.

From the lodge’s viewing deck you can see a huge sea vista looking east and the viewing deck from the other side of the lodge gives a beautiful bush view – a bit of paradise.

I have include butterflies in the Insects category.

Butterflies certainly rival birds for colour and variety. What I really like is that Lepidopertists have created some wonderful names for our butterflies.

We have Playboys, Emperors, Monarchs, Admirals and Commodores

and Guinea Fowl, Gliders and Sailers,

also Pipers, Pirates and Jokers

to Pansies, Painted Ladies, Beauties, Widows and BlackHearts,

there are also Blues, Browns, Sapphires and Coppers  – to name just a few.

They are wonderful names and can make a conversation about our winged friends very funny.

Common Vagrant feeding off a purple Statis flower.

We have had a summer where I have noticed an unusually large number of butterflies flying around. Put colourful butterflies and gorgeous bee-eaters into the mix  and you can have great fun trying to get unusual shots.

Forest Swallowtail feeding on a Bride of the Forest at Ponte Malongane.

There are more bird and mammal categories to come. I hope you find it fun scrolling through the images.

For those of my friends from afar in the northern hemisphere climes – I hope the images bring many good memories.

Have fun

Mike