The timber of the Antarctic Beech tree was once highly prized for its commercial value, but is now protected in national parks in New South Wales. Barrington Tops National Park has been given World Heritage status because of its ancient and isolated remnants of rainforest, and great variety of plant and animal species. The reserve forms part of the ‘Gondwana Rainforests of Australia’, which are a chain of more than 50 rainforest parks, spreading along the coastal escarpment of north-east NSW and south-east Queensland including Barrington Tops, New England, Wollumbin and Lamington national parks. They protect the most extensive areas of sub-tropical rainforest in the world, significant areas of warm temperate rainforest, and pretty much all of Australia’s remaining Antarctic beech cool temperate rainforest.

The Gloucester Tops section of the park is particularly stunning with its mix of snow gums, tree ferns & Antarctic Beech. The summit area is often shrouded in mist adding to its beauty. I particularly wanted to get some photos of the moss-covered trunks of the great beech trees.

Officially called the “Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas Natural Park”, Cazorla is a protected reserve in Jaen province in Andalucia, Spain. With an area of over 2,000 km2, it is the largest protected area in Spain and the second largest in Europe. It was declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1983.

Two of the Spain’s most important rivers, the Río Guadalquivir and the Segura, have their sources in the Sierra de Cazorla. Water is abundant in the park, with innumerable crystal clear, trout-filled rivers winding their way through some of the wildest scenery on the Iberian Peninsula.

There is a particularly beautiful walk (22km return) following the Rio Borosa up to its source high in the sierra. I was blown away by the scenery along this trail, particularly on the ascent where, as I came around each corner, it revealed an even more spectacular view than the last. The sound of rushing water & birdsong echoes through the deep valleys. Magnificent limestone karst formations & snow capped peaks form a stunnning backdrop, enhanced by the towering black pines & hidden waterfalls & gorges.

The park is home to a huge variety of plants, in fact, over 2170 species have been recorded, 34 of which are endemic to the region. The mountains of Cazorla also protect Spain’s largest continuous area of pine forest, with representatives of nearly all pine species found in the Iberian Peninsula.

The variety of fauna is also impressive, 51 species of mammals, 185 birds, 21 reptiles (including an endemic lizard), 12 amphibians, 11 fish and one of the highest number of butterfly species in the Iberian peninsula, with 112 varieties found here. The park supports healthy populations of the ‘big five’ Spanish mammals – Red Deer (Cervus elaphus), Fallow Deer (Dama dama), Spanish Ibex (Capra pyrenaica) Wild boar (Sus scrofa) and Mouflon (Ovis aries orientalis). Cazorla is probably the best area in Spain for seeing and photographing wildlife at close quarters & I saw all five of these larger mammals fairly easily.

Our first village was a Karen “long-neck” or Padaung tribe, where the women were coils around their necks. The coils depress the collarbone and rib cage, which makes their necks look unnaturally stretched. Its a myth that if the coils are removed the womens neck will collapse & their heads topple over. In fact the women attach & remove the coils regularly & its claimed that there is no evidence of ill health effects at all – although I can’t see how it doesn’t cause complications to other parts of the back & shoulders. Nobody knows for sure how the coil custom got started. One theory is that it was meant to make the women unattractive to men of other tribes. Another story says it was so tigers wouldn’t carry the women off by their throats!

I had the bright idea to get up to the summit for sunrise, when the wildlife is normally most active & the humans are not. It turns out that the Thai people are unusually fond of visiting mountain tops at sunrise, especially in the icy cold (which is a novelty for them). It was also an unfortunate coincidence that our trip to this national park fell on the same weekend as the King’s birthday, which is one of the biggest holiday weekends in Thailand. So as we drove to the summit we were disheartened to see hordes of cars & tourists. We were also a bit surprised by the rather chilly 5 degrees celsius, so we quickly went into one of the tacky souvenir shops for a cuppa & to buy some gloves & spicy pot noodle, msg flavour.

After warming up, it turned out that the much anticipated early morning views turned out to be not so idyllic & the light was drab, so I decided to take a walk on the Ang Ka summit trail which is a board walk through a peat bog. Sounds extremely unappealing I know, but its actually a beautiful place with rhododendrons & other trees dripping in lichen. Orchids seem to be growing on every branch on every tree & the wildlife is unique to this altitude. The photo opportunites were looking much better & I was happy to capture some images of this beautiful environment. Montane forest in a damp sphagnum bog, Ang Ka Nature Trail, Doi Inthanon National Park, Thailand (Marc Anderson)

You can see more photos of Doi Inthanon & Doi Chiang Dao National Park in the Thailand National Parks gallery of my stock image archive.

Philippine Tarsier, Tarsius syrichta, Bohol, Philippines

The Philippine Tarsier (Tarsius syrichta), is a delightful little creature which lives in the disappearing forests of Bohol, Samar-Leyte & Mindanao in the southern Philippines. Sadly, because of hunting for the tourist & pet trade, as well as heavy deforestation, the Philippine Tarsier is on the endangered species list.

I visited Bohol in 2006 & had the chance to photograph the tarsier in a protected forest near the town of Corella. The Philippine Tarsier Foundation manages the reserve & they run a captive breeding & rehabilitation project. The rangers were more than happy to take me to see some resting Tarsiers (they are nocturnal), a rare opportunity to get close to & photograph these normally shy creatures.

If you ever visit this area, avoid visiting the tarsiers kept in cages along the Loboc river. These caged animals have been taken from the wild & put in captivity to attract tourists. I saw a few of these places near to Loboc. Here, these tiny, intelligent animals have miserable lives, and normally don’t survive for long.

Go to the sanctuary instead at:

The Philippine Tarsier Foundation,
Km. 14 Canapnapan Corella, Bohol 6300 Philippines
Tel: (0912) 5163375
Mobile: (0918) 6021326
Email: tarsier@mozcom.com
Website: http://www.tarsierfoundation.org/

You can see more stock photos taken in Bohol & the Philippines by going to the Philippines gallery in my stock image archive.