by Arthur Evans
Two years ago in _____ Crow and I started planning an expedition to Madagascar, Kenya, and Uganda to take place in Nov/Dec. It was to be primarily a birding trip, but as you know, there are also orchids in these areas, many of which are seldom seen in the US. Then came the great troubles on Wall St. If the trip had not been paid for way in advance, we might have gotten cold feet, but we are glad we went, anyway.
Our guides were birders, not botanists, so most of the non-blooming species remain nameless, but perhaps Tom and some of you can help me sort out these three species which were blooming just at the end of the dry season. The green and the white species were in Zombitse NP in very dry part shade. The brown and yellow-green species was in a more shady, humid area next to a small lake. All had terete stems and foliage similar to Phals or Ascocendas.
Other than the orchids, we saw over 400 species of birds, most of them new to me. The high point of the trip was, without doubt, tracking and finding a family of wild gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest Preserve. We got to sit with them for one hour at a range of 10 feet, and it was magical! Every time we look at my high-def video of the Mubare family, with Crow and Muyambi, one of the adult females, in the same frame, it thrills us all over again. To see other short film clips of the gorillas, Google: Bwindi, gorillas, Uganda .