An Alphabet of National Parks; #1 A to G

Hello and welcome back to Ian Fraser Talking Naturally after a bit of a hiatus while we've been in warmer climes. I haven't had time yet to edit all the photos from our trip, but this post is something I've been thinking about for a while. I've previously done an alphabet of (hopefully) interesting birds, which at least some of you found of interest, and I'm toying with the idea of an alphabet of mammals, but this alphabet is something a bit different. Apart from the obvious difference in topic, I'm not going to set myself any guidelines this time, so there will usually be several parks per letter, both Australian and overseas. (I'm consciously using the term 'national park' imprecisely here to refer to any formally declared reserve of natural habitats on public land.) Moreover there won't necessarily be only one photo per park if I see a good reason for two and occasionally even more than that. At this stage it looks like spreading over three posts, though they won't be consecutive so if this doesn't interest you come back next time for something different!

There's some nostalgia here for me - in many cases they are parks I almost certainly won't be seeing again (no, nothing sinister there, just too much more to see in a diminishing number of years) - and I hope there are both some memories for you, and suggestions of somewhere else to explore. It's basically all in the  form of a photo essay, with not much linking text. Within each letter the parks are alphabetical; no identifiable favouritism here! I've included basic maps with most of them, keeping them small so they don't interfere too much with the main narrative; just click on them to enlarge, or skip them altogether. And finally, where appropriate I've included a link to an earlier post that focussed on the park.

So here we go, 34 national parks and nature reserves across six continents, from A to G.

A

Embarrassingly I can't offer a single Australian park that I can illustrate for the very first letter, but I've got a couple of pretty good overseas ones, and things improve from an Australian viewpoint after that!

Amboseli NP in southern Kenya in the late afternoon, with a couple of young
Cheetahs playing in the foreground and mighty Mount Kilimanjaro, just over
the border in Tanzania, in the background. Though only 39,000ha, it was declared a 
UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1991. (For a lot more on Amboseli see here.)

Female Indri Indri indri (yep!) and baby, Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, eastern
Madagascar. This park covers only 15,500 hectares, and the magnificent Indri, 
almost the largest living lemur and the only one to be almost tailless, is
tragically Critically Endangered. My memories of this day are of exhilaration
at experiencing this wonderful animal, and grief for its terrible situation.

Gemsbok Oryx gazella, Augrabies Falls NP, north-western South Africa.
A superb 50,000ha arid land park surrounding the spectacular gorge
of the Orange River. More about it here.
The Gemsbok is a magnificent animal; a big male like this one
can weigh up to a quarter of a tonne.

B

Raffles' Pitcher Plant Nepenthes rafflesiana, Bako NP, Sarawak,
Malaysian Borneo. At only 2700ha it is one of Sarawak's smallest parks,
as well as the oldest, and is only accessible by boat. It is however very
rich and I'd highly recommend a stay there. More on it here.

Egyptian Plover Pluvianus aegyptius, Benoué NP, central Cameroon. This elegant
little bird is one of those select species that are the only living members of their 
entire family, and hence of great interest to birders! Benoué is a large (180,000 ha)
woodland national park which I found fascinating; Cameroon is not an 
easy country to visit however. More on Benoué here.

Common Bottlenose Dolphins Tursiops truncatus, part of a pod feeding actively just off a 
headland in Beowa National Park, far south coast of NSW. Beowa, formerly known as
Ben Boyd, is a favourite of ours; we've taken to spending a few days camping there
as soon as the school holidays end in February. The park is in two sections, north and
south of the port of Eden. We camp in the southern section, which comprises substantial
areas of coastal heathland and extensive eucalypt forests. You can read more about it here. 
And because it's a favourite, it gets two photos! (So much for lack of favouritism - oh well.)

Superb Lyrebird Menura novaehollandiae, on the edge of the campground; this is a regular event there.

Spotted Bowerbird Chlamydera maculata, Bladensburg NP, central Queensland near
the town of Winton. This fascinating dryland bird shared our campsite by the creek.
Bladensburg contains 85,000ha of grassy plains, braided creek lines and low
rocky ranges and 'jump-ups', or mesas. More on the park here.

Australian Logrunner Orthonyx temminckii, absorbed in a lengthy struggle to subdue
a big centipede on the walking track in Boorganna NR. This is a delightful small reserve
(400ha) inland from Port Macquarie on the mid north coast of NSW. This ground-dwelling
logrunner is one of only three members of its family, restricted to wet near-coastal 
forests of the northern half of NSW and southern Queensland. This is the only
photographable one I've even been fortunate enough to meet.

African Bush Elephants Loxodonta africana, coming to drink and wallow in the
shallow Ewaso Ng'iro River in Buffalo Springs Nature Reserve, central Kenya.
We spent a long time just watching and being absorbed in their behaviour. 
This is a small reserve but augmented by its proximity to two others and full of wildlife;
more on it here.

Female Sunda Colugo Galeopterus variegatus with baby, Bukit Batok Nature Park Singapore.
Bukit Batok is a small rainforest reserve (36ha) but with much to see; the small city-state
of Singapore has an admirable and perhaps unexpected system of reserves.
Colugos (there is one other species in the Philippines) are fascinating gliding 
mammals with no close relations at all, though they have been 
erroneously referred to as 'flying lemurs'. This sighting was a real thrill.

Blue Tiger Tirumala hamata Bundjalung NP, north coast NSW.
A striking butterfly, though not especially uncommon and found well beyond Australia.
However it was one highlight among many during our stay in this lovely coastal park.
It covers only 21,000ha but is part of a not quite continuous 100km long stretch
of conserved coastline. More on it here. 

Mother and 18 month baby Eastern Mountain Gorilla Gorilla beringei,
Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is in south-western Uganda on the border with the 
Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. This was one of the natural history 
highlights of my life, of which I've been lucky enough to have had a few. 
There are probably only about 1000 of this highland subspecies left in the world.
More on this wonderful park here.

C

New Holland honeyeater Phylidonyris novaehollandiae in Cape Le Grand National Park,
in south-western Western Australia. This is one of the commonest birds across 
south-eastern and south-western Australia, especially in heathlands. This one is taking 
nectar from - and pollinating, see the dusting of pollen on its forehead - Calothamnus quadrifidus, 
or One-sided Bottlebrush, a genus endemic to Western Australia.
Cape Le Grand is a relatively remote park some 60km east of Esperance (WA's 
eastern-most coastal town), protecting 32,000ha of glorious coastal heathland.

Spiny-tailed Iguana Ctenosaura similis in the carpark of Carara NP close to the mid-western
(Pacific) coast of Costa Rica, only 50k west of the inland capital, San José. 
This is a big Central American iguana, and a group of these were dominating the carpark when we visited. Carara covers only 5200ha of rainforest and the River Tárcoles catchment but, astonishingly, well
over 400 bird species have been recorded there. 

Representatives of three ancient plant groups growing together along the main walking
track into the gorge in the Carnarvon Gorge section of Carnarvon NP in central Queensland.
Front left is a big old cycad, Macrozamia moorei, which is endemic to this area of inland
Queensland. It is the tallest of the Australian cycads, but above it here are Carnarvon Gorge
Cabbage Palms Livistona nitida, restricted to an even smaller area around Carnarvon. 
Below them at the back are the bright green fronds of the tree-ferns, either Cyathea australis
or C.cooperi (and yes I know that they've both been assigned to different genera now, but
I'm going to stick with the familiar for now).
The park is huge - some 300,000 ha - and while it is formally divided into seven sections,
only four of these are readily accessible. These are (roughly) in the east (the gorge), 
north-west (Salvator Rosa), north (Ka Ka Mundi) and south-east (Mount Moffat) of the range.
Below is an example of the very different landscape of Salvator Rosa.

 

Yellow Jacket Corymbia leichhardtii grassy woodland among sandstone outcrops,
Salvator Rosa section of Carnarvon NP.

Some of the spectacular sandstone landscape, including some pretty impressive
waterfalls, of the Chapada dos Guimarães National Park in south-western Brazil.
This is a little north of the more famous (but not formally conserved) Pantanal area.

Giant Yellow Robber Fly Blepharotes coriarius, Cocoparra NP, southern central NSW.
This park, based on a semi-arid range near the Riverina town of Griffith, is one of our favourites
within a day's drive of home; in fact when we finally took possession of our camper trailer a
few years ago, we headed off for Cocoparra the very next day!
This is an impressively big fly, nearly 5cm long, and a fierce aerial predator. From this
typical hunting position it will dart out after passing insects, especially wasps, bees and beetles.
(The yellow is not visible here.)

Australian Pelicans Pelecanus conspicillatus roosting at dawn, Coorong National Park,
South Australia. The Coorong is a remarkable 130km long coastal lagoon, beginning at the
mouth of the River Murray in Lake Alexandrina, and separated from the sea only by the
sand dunes in the background (which form the Younghusband Peninsula). I spent quite a
bit of time there in my younger days. Reduced freshwater inflow, especially from the 
increasingly strangled Murray itself,  has caused dangerously rising salinity levels and 
seriously threatens the important values of the complex, which includes the only 
permanent pelican breeding colony in Australia.

Cradle Mountain and Dove Lake with flowering teatree Leptospermum sp. flowering
in the foreground, in Cradle Mountain - Lake St Clair NP, in central north-western Tasmania. 
It might look a little hazy but in fact it's quite unusual for the mountain to be visible at all, 
and it's more often than not shrouded in rain. We were lucky this day and it's one of our 
favourite Australian day walks. The park is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area

Two big male Lace Monitors Varanus varius struggling for territorial - ie mating -
supremacy in Croajingalong NP in far eastern Victoria. We were visiting on a day
trip from Beowa NP across the border in NSW (see under B above) and stumbled
on this epic battle, in which skin was torn, which was continuing when we eventually
had to move on. Croajingalong is a big park - 87,000ha - protecting some 80km
of coastline and hinterland.

D

Greater Racket-tailed Drongo Dicrurus paradiseus, silhouetted at dawn 
in Dairy Farm NR, Singapore. This reserve epitomises to me what Singapore
has achieved in the restoration of its rainforests. The area was cleared for
crops (especially pepper) in the 19th century and by the 1930s the land was turned to
what was claimed to be the world's first tropical dairy farm. In the 1980s the
National Parks Board began the process of regeneration and today it is a
rich pocket of rainforest, with lots of wildlife and many residents using
the walking tracks for recreation and exercise.

Early morning on Shell Beach, Dhilba Guuranda–Innes National Park at the foot of Yorke Peninusula,
South Australia. This park has some of the best coastal scenery we know of, as well as
extensive mallee and woodland vegetation and saline lakes; it's a gem. 
I first went there 50 years ago in another life and it was a joy to go back and to share it.
Here's an entire post on it. And below is someone I shared the beach with that early morning.

Hooded Dotterel (or Plovers) Thinornis cucullatus, a listed threatened species
nationally and in South Australia, though it seems a bit more secure there than
it does on the east coast.

E

View from the information centre at El Cajas National Park, above the town of Cuenca
high in the Andes of southern Ecuador. The park protects some 30,000ha of alpine and
subalpine habitats including many lakes, from 3000 to 4500masl. Breathing can 
become a serious challenge when walking up there! More on the park here. 

Blue-mantled Thornbill Chalcostigma stanleyi, at 4200 metres in El Cajas. I love the
iridescence on its throat! The plant looks like a daisy, but if I ever knew it I'm afraid
I've forgotten it. I haven't forgotten the pleasure I got from looking at both of them though.

Turquoise-fronted Amazon Amazona aestiva on a termite mound in Emas NP,
south-western Brazil, east of the Pantanal. This is a huge park of 130,000ha in the Cerrado, 
a vast but heavily threatened region of moist savanna woodland and grassland in central Brazil.
Few visitors go to Emas and our stay sticks firmly in my mind. We even saw in the distance
the almost mythical Maned Wolf but I was so enthralled I forgot to take even a 'record' photo!

Palm-studded montane tropical rainforest in Eungella NP, west of Mackay
in central east Queensland. (It's pronounced 'yung-gela' by the way.) It is most famous as the 
home of the endemic Eungella Honeyeater which is found only here. I'd seen it but
had hoped to rectify my lack of photos recently on the way home from northern Queensland,
when we'd booked a couple of nights there, but the universe intervened 
and I had to drive past the turnoff. Next time...

F

On this occasion I couldn't find any overseas 'F' parks to illustrate, but can offer three very different and very nice Australian ones

Red Cabbage Palms Livistona mariae in Palm Valley, part of the Finke Gorge NP
in central Australia, south-west of Alice Springs. These palms were until recently assumed
to be relics from a wetter time, but genetic analysis shows that they are the same
species as Mataranka Palms, 1000km to the north, and separated from them
only 15,000 years ago. The current conclusion is that people brought the seeds here. 
They grow here along only two kilometres of the river bed. Finke Gorge NP is
much larger than this, covering 46,000ha including the ancient Finke River bed.

Royal Hakea H. victoria is a large colourful leafy hakea found primarily in the 
sandy heaths of Fitzgerald River NP, as here, in the south-west of Western Australia.
The white flowers are quite inconspicuous but grow in the leaf axils; presumably the
coloured leaves draw attention to them.This is but one of some 250 plant species which
are almost restricted to the park, but another 75 are only found within its boundaries.
The huge 330,000ha park protects swathes of heathland and the low outcrops
of the Barren Range, halfway between Albany and Esperance. It is absolutely remarkable.

Drooping Sheoak Allocasuarina verticillata, struggling but surviving on a
granite platform between two huge boulders in Freycinet NP on the 
east coast of Tasmania. This is a very rugged and beautiful 17,000ha
peninsular park with high visitation. The main attraction for most of us is the
steep but rewarding walk over 'The Hazards' to the very aesthetic Wineglass Bay.

G

We start G with the incomparable Galápagos NP, 1000km off the west coast of Ecuador. A vast literature has been written about this extraordinary archipelago, which is being on the whole pretty well-protected by the Ecuadorian government, but it's probably still not enough. However I'm not going to add much, except for including an unprecedented five photos if it! I couldn't help it.

Lava Cactus Brachycereus nesioticus growing on a lava field in Fernandina, a remarkably 
tough environment. The archipelago is moving to the south-east on the edge of the Nazca
Plate. As it moves over a 'hot spot' in the earth's crust molten material bubbles
up and forms islands - the oldest ones are thus to the south-east of the archipelago
and are the most vegetated. As you'll see on the map Fernandina is in the far west, so is one |
of the newest and starkest of the islands. Like very many other Galápagos species,
Lava Cactus grows nowhere else.

Male Magnificent Frigatebird Fregata magnificens displaying spectacularly on 
North Seymour. The extraordinary inflatable throat pouch is a modified air sac,
an integral part of their respiratory system and a key to birds' success, but
that's a different story. Frigatebirds often accompany boats between the islands,
soaring along without ever apparently flapping.

Marine Iguanas Amblyrhynchus cristatus on Española, where the males typically
display these pink patterns. This is the only living marine lizard, and lives
almost exclusively on seaweed which it dives for. After a while in the archipelago
the ridiculously unlikely starts to seem normal.

American flamingos Phoenicopterus ruber at sunset on Floreana.
This is an outlying population of a species which otherwise is found in the 
far north of South America and the Caribbean.

Sunset from the spectacular lookout on Bartolomé, looking towards the larger island of San Salvador.

Back in Australia... Looking north from the Boroka Lookout in Gariwerd
(or Grampians) NP in western Victoria, a huge park of 170,000ha,
much of it accessible only on foot. Another favourite of ours, though some
85% of it has burnt in recent years, including just last summer.

Blue Tinsel Lily Calectasia intermedia at Heatherlie Quarry, a noted wildflower
hotspot. All other Calectasia live only in Western Australia; this one is not quite
restricted to the Gariwerd range, but nearly 50 species are (various numbers are cited,
but 49 is the one most commonly used).

Grampians Thryptomene T. calycina, Mount Zero, in the far north of the range.
This one is endemic to the park, and cloaks swathes of it in spring.

Old Grasstrees Xanthorrhoea glauca Gibraltar Range NP, north-eastern NSW.
This mountainous park protects some 25,000ha of forest. Along with the adjacent
Washpool NP, famed for and saved by strenuous protest action in the 1980s,
it is part of the Gondwana Rainforest of Australia World Heritage Site.

Lough Beagh, Glenveagh NP, County Donegal, Ireland. With 17,000ha
it is the second-largest national park in Ireland.

White-Tailed Bumblebee Bombus lucorum, Glenveagh NP. I was intrigued
by the Irish bumblebees, as we have none (native) in Australia. I was pleasantly
surprised when I got home to discover that I'd photographed four of them.

Young wild Bornean Orangutan Pongo pygmaeus, Gomantong Forest Reserve, Sabah,
Malaysian Borneo. The reserve covers just 3300ha, and the focus is on the impressive 
cave system, but this was the highlight of our visit there. The mother was much 
more circumspect and stayed high in the trees, but this youngster was very curious.

Homoranthus darwinioides Goulburn River NP, at the north-western end of
the Blue Mountains system in the central Great Dividing Range in NSW.
I'm a big fan of sandstone country, and this wild park is one I always stop
at when passing that way. This plant is regarded as being at risk, though
is not yet formally listed as threatened.

Sooty Terns Onychoprion fuscatus, Michaelmas Cay, Great Barrier Reef Marine NP, 
northern Queensland. The vast marine park covers some 34,000,000ha along 2300km of 
the Queensland coast. This tiny narrow sandy cay (less than two hectares in area and 
350 metres long, just above sea level) supports important numbers of nesting seabirds.
It is visited daily by tourist boats from Cairns, 40k away, but under admirably
strict conditions - only for a few hours each day and visitors are restricted to a
small area of roped-off beach. We loved our time there, including snorkelling.

The last park in today's park odyssey is Gundabooka NP in far northern central NSW. This is the
view from Little Mountain Lookout across to Mount Gunderbooka (not a typo, this is what 
happens when unfamiliar names get written down in different contexts). The mulga woodland
that covers this plain is typical of much of this 94,000ha dryland park.
There's a whole post on Gundabooka here.

White-browed Treecreeper Climacteris affinis, the only solely arid-land Australian
treecreeper, and probably the least known, here right alongside our camp in the
Dry Tank campground.

And that's our national park alphabet odyssey for today! If you're still reading, thank you. And I hope you've been rewarded for your diligence with a mix of good memories and some curiosity which may produce more good memories in the future, as I suggested at the start.

As I also suggested I'll give you a break from this next time and post on something else. Hope we meet again then. 

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 16 OCTOBER

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