Return of the rain

For the past month and a half, the country was punished by a severe draught, rather unawaited in its nature. The onset of the Equinox brought some relieves with light showers now and then but the dried-out under-storey of the forest floor came to life again when the rain finally came...

The Black Lily in various stages of flowering...

A flowering Hoya...

A cryptic hesperid by a pile of damp leaf litters.

A Bamboo Tree Brown...

An ixora with glorious flowers...

Beauty from the dark undergrowth

Puddlers of Nature

The recent rain brought reliefs to the extremely dry spell in March and nature seems to agree to it: butterflies came out in large numbers to puddle (drink) on moist spots along a jungle path in Raub...

Danse of the Plain Puffins

Plain Puffins in the tropical jungle are definitely not birds but butterflies of the Pieridae family, called whites and sulphurs in general. The fluctuating weather brought out a spurt of these butterflies and the dry weather made them congregrate in numbers by the water's edge...The Plain Puffin, Appias indra plana, is essentially a seasonal forest insect.

A long promenade in the forest

As a challenge to myself, and also encouraged by having someone to accompany me, we went for a 5km walk into the deep interiors normally reserved for Orang Asli and lumberjacks. It was the midst of an exceptionally dry season for March but the bonus was the non-existance of leeches and mosquitos...

A large clump of black lilies, Tacca spp with multiple inflorescens in the shades...

 Rich tapestry of green only to be found on untouched soil...

 Too lazy to change lenses - I took these with a 90mm macro lense on full focus...

 A denizen of the shades came out to the path...

 And another took advantage of the morning sun...

Where the open paths criss-crossed the deep forest, the canopy opens up with a view of the sky...

Ginger thickets flank the path where space is available under half-shades of the forest...

Mauve undersides of this unusual parasitic plant was found on fallen bamboo in midst of flowering...

Another creature of the deep shades: an Arhopala butterfly. Their cryptic undersides often surprises the observer when they take to the wings. That's when the beautiful deep blue or purple of its uppersides will show.

A toad sits silently by the water's edge...

Clear jungle brooks criss-cross the path and when conditions are favourable, patches of Cryptocorynes can be seen...

Château de Joux at the Jura's edge

These were pictures taken last summer at the Château de Joux, a fortified Vauban-designed (renovated) military castle at the edge of the Jura mountains near the Swiss border in the Franche-Comte region of France. It was supposedly be an impenetrable castle dated from middle age because of its position but nevertheless, taken it was. Incidently, Joux means "Jura" in French (regional).

 A drawbridge, designed to be totally renewable (it can be burnt down when enemy approaches) greets the visitors at its entrance.

 View of the Jura mountains from one of its sentry tower...

 The valley below (France)

 A royal decree.

Precariously sitting between the clifts on a mountain pass between France and Switzerland...