Bubbling kassinas

No blog yesterday - because we had thunder and lightning, and our internet gets switched off in a flash - if you'll pardon the pun!

So another littlke bit of nature today. I actually thought that my daughter Courtney had provided me with material because she came running into the hotel this morning and announced that she has pulled out a 'very green little snake' from the pool. By all accounts it sounds like a baby boemslang - or tree snake. But a very baby one - possibly within a day or two of hatching.

However........she had fished it out from the pool to 'save' it, and it had coiled around the twig she and her friend had used. They then placed the twig on the grass and came running in to tell me their news. By the time I reached the pool - and the really green grass where they had placed the really green snake - nada. Completely vanished! They walked very carefully for the rest of their time at the pool!

So today - we have Bubbling kassinas.

The Bubbling kassina is a rather remarkable frog - and their sound is one of the distinctive sounds of Africa at night. Their call sounds like a bubble 'popping' - a sort of high-pitched phweep, and as each frog calls it is answered almost instantly by another frog - until the effect is like listening to a pot of thick liquid boiling rapidly. Hence......Bubbling kassina.

They always call from concealed locations - and they are able to call......ventriloquistically (not even remotely sure if that was spelled right??) as they are able to project the sound of their call. The rocks in which they hide obviously help distort the sound, and they are fairly small frogs making fairly loud noises. If you hear a bubbling sound in the African night - you now know it is a Bubbling kassina. Here are two pics - both obviously the same frog (they are darn hard to find) but both taken with different settings on the camera. And.....taken at the same pond where the Grey tree frog (the foam nest frogs of the blog two days ago) had built their nests. Busy pond!

I am having trouble uploading pics tonight (maybe something to do with 14 Americans in-house all trying to get online at the same time?) so will come back a load pics later