I was lucky to meet Yaniel! He is the kind of friend you need when you come to an unknown place . Born and raised in Viñales, Cuba. He knows the valley as good as his own pocket. Lots of adventures thanks to him.
Category Archives: Animals
El Condor pasa!
Some weeks ago I shared the story about the Cuban Tocororo bird.
The bonus in that adventure was the encounter with the zunzuncito, hummingbird the smallest bird on the planet. Weigh 1,6g, length is 5,7cm, Half of that is tail and a beak.
I have also had the honor to meet the worlds biggest flying bird, The Condor!
It weights about 15 kilo and has a 3-meter wingspan.
It was a breathtaking moment to observe two of these giants dominating the sky!
As we are in superlative territory it´s also worth mentioning the Colca Canyon in the Andes, southern Peru, where this picture was taken. It is the deepest in the world (yes deeper than Grand Canyon).
And no.. I am not an ornithologist.. click on photo to see full size
Dead but happy!
The urge to share philosophical advice on social media seems endless.
Sometimes its interesting and thoughtful. A lot of the wisdom though are
more of the new age type and that´s when it starts to flip and get really amusing!
This is my contribution on this theme.. don´t worry be happy
Photo taken at Playa del este, Havana, Cuba.
Weekly Photo Challenge: Hidden
Me and my daughter made a lunch stop in the beautiful village of Valldemossa
in the Tramuntana mountains in Mallorca.
After eating we entered one of the many tourist shops to take a peek.
In one of the shelves there was a piece of red cloth. The funny thing is that it was something hidden moving around frantically beneath it.
This was definitely more intriguing than the souvenirs in the rest of the shop.
Suddenly the enigmatic being made a move towards the outside world. Cautiously the cloth opened on one side and something reddish peeped out. It was a bill and with it came an eye…
-Se llama Oscar, y es muy tímido! The owner explained.
His name is Oscar and he is very shy!
Amores Perros!
Biology lessons is fine but you can’t beat real life observations..
Plaza Vieja, Habana vieja, Cuba
Brazilian cat
Did a stop over at Manicoré when travelling the Amazon by boat between Porto Velho and Belém.
It´s a small settlers community at the Rio Madeira a couple of days
river journey from Manaus.
Me and my friends heard about a jaguar
that recently had been shot and decided to visit the family that had taken care of the kitten..
This beauty will grow to become the largest feline in this part of the world.
Bolivian cats
Photo taken 1985.. the technique isn´t perfect at all, but I like the colors (or lack of colors) in this one!
Air crash investigation
Poor visibility? failure of the navigation system? Nobody knows, this fatal disaster will probably remain a mystery!
Chasing the pig!
Every time when christmas and new year is approaching in Cuba you hear pigs screaming everywhere.
It is forbidden to slaughter cattle, so pork is one of the few options that remains!
In the (“el período especial”) ninetys, after the sovjetunion collapse and following deep crisis in Cuba there was even a dictate issued from highest authority, that the Cubans should keep pigs in their homes as emergency food.
Even in small apartments you could see persons feeding and nursing a couple of gigantic hogs .
This pig (above) made fierce resistance and tried to escape several times when transported to the slaughterers block..
Searching for the Tocororo
Went down to Playa Larga at the Cuban south coast to do some scuba diving in january 2008. In the evening I accidentally ran into a man in the street. He approached me and started to suggest an excursion out to the nearby Zapata swamps.
Suspecting he was another of these dealers that one has to get rid of, I made him a joke, – do you guarantee that we will spot the Tocororo..? (knowing that even for Cubans it´s a rare thing to see the national bird)
-not only will you see the Tocororo he said, you will also see the Zunzuncito!
(Bee Hummingbird, the smallest bird in the world)
If I don´t deliver you don’t pay me..
Well.. I had my friend, a Cuban journalist as a witness.
Next morning at five o´clock we headed by car towards La Ciénaga de Zapata.
I was thinking in the car looking at the mans equipment: tape recorders and stuff.. this guy at least looks like a serious ornithologist! Later on I realised I had been lucky to have met the acknowledged birdwatcher El Chino Orestes Martínez.
The swamps are located close to the Bay of pigs and it´s a well-known habitat for
a variety of animals.
The hunt for the Tocororo started of badly. We saw nothing the first hour or so. “El Chino” whistled and imitated the birds constantly but nothing, nada. We were almost about to give up..
Then suddenly the shy bird appeared. It’s a beautiful creature dressed in the colors of the Cuban flag. I managed to get some acceptable photos of it.
At the end of the excursion we had observed a dozen Tocororos a couple of
Zunzuncitos and some other birds as a bonus.
“El Chino” got his well deserved compensation with an extra tip..
Håkan Rönnblad 
