Snakes alive... I thought this was a trip to the butterfly farm!

It's the school holidays at the moment, so we're doing a lot of trips out and exciting things for the kids... today it's a trip to the butterfly farm. 

   Most of the butterflies here I have seen out in the wild, including some of the bigger ones, but its not just butterflies... there's a range of insects and lizards, and the snake that you can see me holding in the picture. 

   There are loads of insects here on Palawan... even as I am typing this a big Praying Mantis has just flown into the room, and if any food is left out there will very quickly be a mass of ants covering it and a long ant line leading back to their nest. 

   Oh... and there is a big ugly-looking bug that is incredibly noisy – the kids don't care, they love to catch them and shake them like very loud living rattles!
   To see more photos, click on the pic!

Narra lot of people on the beach here

A short visit to an area called Narra, further south on the island, to a beautiful long empty beach. I would have swam in the sea but... because of the tides at the moment it is full of jellyfish. Click on the picture to see more photos.

   While there I visited Johnrey's family which lives on the coconut plantations. The ponds in the pictures are their fish farm. They catch small fish from the sea and let them grow in the ponds, then when they are the right size they are easy to catch and sell at the market.

   I tried a lot of different coconuts while I was there. At different ages they have different uses... when they are younger they have no flesh but are full of clear, pure, slightly sweet water. A little older and they still have the water but also the flesh is soft and sweet like a coconut jelly. Only when they are fully grown are they like the coconut that we would recognise in England. They use the leaves to make roofing sheets and make all kinds of things from the shells... very useful trees. Their seeds are carried by the sea and they grow right on the beach. God knew what he was doing, because even if you are on a small island with no water the coconut trees will thrive and they are a source of fresh water food and building materials, so it is still possible to survive.

Plenty of teeth at the croc farm

It was my day off, so I went with Johnrey to the crocodile farm, a small zoo in the jungle with mostly, er, crocodiles.

   Crocs live in the wild on Palawan, but if they go anywhere near where people live, they are either killed or captured and taken to the crocodile farm.

   I was amazed to find out how old they can get... the biggest croc there was 116 years old!

   I love Health & Safety here... all the younger crocodiles were kept in open tanks which we could walk between. Except for one small sign, there was nothing to stop people from reaching in and touching them if they wanted – they where easily within reach.

   In the photo gallery, the animal you can see me holding is called a Palawan bear-cat, I have seen several in tourist areas kept as pets for people to hold and have their picture taken for a small charge. For that and more shots... click on the pic...