 |
 |
 |
 |
 
So we will drive past Agia Napa and according to my Guide this is the famous place for nightlife here on Cyprus. It is also the home for some of the famous beaches on the island. But we're not here for any nightlife. Birds and beautiful views so we just drove by and we were soon at Cape Greco. To see the map in a full window click HERE
 Leaving Limassol early morning
  We're on the right way
 Tourists at Cape Greco
We could see the tourist busses when we arrived. They were parked at the Cape Greco Environmental Centre. We continued on the dust road and when we came to the fence around the British radar station we had to turn around. We parked the car at the “Blue Lagoon” and it was darn cold in the wind. Gloom and grey for as long as we could see and it was a strong cold wind. We spotted an Isabelline Wheatear but we never got any pictures. We went to check out the cliff edge and we spotted a beautiful Blue rock thrush  Driving down the Kavo Greko Road on a gloomy and grey morning
 Driving down the Kavo Greko Road on a gloomy and grey morning
 Reaching the British Radar Station
 Parking at the Blue Lagoon
 We look over the cliff edge
 We look over the cliff edge and discover a Blue Rock Thrush
    Exploring the cliff edge
 Exploring the cliff edge
 We see a Chukar
 The bird is too far away
We walked up the coast line and we saw some birds, but the only picture we got was a Crested lark and a House Sparrow. On the way back to the car we ran in to a group of Chukars, but they are very shy so they just ran away. I thought it was three birds but when they were running I saw at there were at least 10 of them. We went back to the car and we passed the Stone Arch on the way to the Agioi Anargiroi Church We got out of the car and we could hear the Cyprus Warbler from the Stone Arch. We saw a few of them but it was too far away. We got back in to the car and we continued towards the Agioi Anargiroi Church to see if we can see any birds.  Stone Arch
 Stone Arch
 European Stonechat
 European Stonechat
We were lucky, a male European Stonechat was sitting just next to the road. But I was not lucky with the camera. The pictures turned out to be out of focus. We also managed to get close to one of the Spectacled warbler. 2 meters away but the bird was sitting in a bush so the pictures was all for nothing. We left Cape Greco do go look for birds at the Agia Napa Football Fields and we stopped to have a look at the Sea Caves. We saw some birds, of course the Crested Lark. I was out of the car to chase a few warblers in a bush but they got away. I saw a Common Kestrel sitting on a wire, but I have had better pictures.  Driving towards the Agia Napa Football Fields leaving Cape Greco behind
Of course, when we came to the soccer fields there was a tournament or something going on so they were playing on all the fields. So no birds and we left for the Oroklini Lake, just outside Larnaca. There is a bird hide and plenty information. A very nice place, well could have been. But they have placed the bird hide so you have the birds between you and the sun and it is impossible to take any pictures with the sun shining at you.
 You just know that you have come to the right place
 You just know that you have come to the right place
 You can see the hide from the road
 You can see the hide from the road
 Enough information
 Enough information
 They offer a little bit of fun as well
There were many birds in the lake and we could hear many birds in the bushes in front of the hide. We walked around for a bit and we decided to cross the road to check out the reeds across the road. Moorhens, afraid so no pictures. We spotted a White Wagtail in the reeds, and of course, Mallards. Otherwise there wasn't much in the reeds and we walked back to the car. There were plenty of the Greater Flamingos in the Oroklini Lake. My guide got excited when he spotted two White-winged Terns in Summer Plumage. He told me that they were very early, they usually don't arrive to Cyprus until closer to the summer.  Looking over Oroklini Lake against the sun
 Enough space to park your car
 Enough space to park your car
 Greater Flamingo
 Spur-winged lapwing or Spur-winged plover
We were getting hungry and we will have our picnic down at the beach. But first we want to check out a small stream and the other bird hide. We spotted a Sandpiper and mallards. There were also two Spur-winged lapwings in the reeds. We left the stream and we drove to the other bird hide on the other side of the Oroklini Lake. We spotted some warblers and coots... but none of them wanted to be on picture. We could see some other birds across the wetland, but I don't know what it was. And I didn't really care as they were too far away for any pictures. Well, anyway, time to leave to have some lunch.  The other hide
 View from the hide
We drove down to the Dolphin Rocks beach. There were several gulls and terns on the beach. But I started by checking out the restaurant, the Beach Place. And yes, they had Diet Pepsi in the mini mart. I bought a bag that I will keep in the car for the remaining days. 2 more days as we had decided to go bird watching on Friday as well. We will do a trip to Troodos in the mountains and then to the capital Nicosia. My Guide will drop me at the airport in the afternoon. So I will get 4 days of bird watching instead of 3. Anyway, on the beach we saw a big group of sea gulls and there were 5 Sandwich Terns among all the sea gulls. The birds was resting and bathing in the water just a few meters from the beach. The sea gulls were Black-headed Gull that I have seen on the River Ganges in Varanasi. There were 3 Mediterranean Gulls among them, and I noted that the Mediterranean Gulls, well, one of them was the only gull with a black head. None of the Black-headed Gulls had any black head. One of the reasons I don't care about sea birds, unless I have a guide that know how to identify them.  Sandwich tern at Dolphin Rocks beach
 Black-headed Gull at Dolphin Rocks beach
 Black-headed Gull at Dolphin Rocks beach
 Black-headed Gull at Dolphin Rocks beach
 Black-headed Gull at Dolphin Rocks beach
 We stop at the Menou Pools
We ate our picnic lunch while driving as we had a few more places to explore. Much to see and not so much time. We drove towards Larnaca Airport where we will check out the Sewage Pools. We made a stop at the Menou Pools. The pool/ slat lake was full of flamingos. But a wee bit far away. We took off towards the Sewage Pools at Larnaca Airport. Let me quote my Guide from his TRIP REPORT: The Sewage Pools were the quietest I had seen them. Only species of note here were 2 Northern Pintail, a few Common Pochard and around 30 Black-necked Grebe. Some in full summer plumage but too far for photo. As we were leaving a few Caspian Gulls flew in, also a Eurasian Curlew flew in and landed nearby.  Approaching the bird hide at Larnaca Airport Sewage Pools
 Not much happening at the Larnaca Airport Sewage Pools
 They start to fire some guns down at the beach
Actually, the only interesting thing happening was gun shots. My Guide thought I was getting  impatient and restless jumping up and down behind him. On the wood floor in the flimsy bird hide. The whole bird  hide was shaking. But it turned out that it was the military shooting with guns down at the beach. We got in to the car to go check it out. And believe me! It was nice to get in to  the car, it was a very strong and cold wind and I was freezing cold. Yes, as we have read above, there wasn't much to see at the Larnaca Airport Sewage Pools. A few exciting birds and I don't think about the weather. But now... take me out of here!
We were going to the Kamares Aqueduct, our last site for the day before returning to Limassol. We were going to drive along the Larnaca Salt Lake. We drove back along the coast until we reached the Menou Pools. We stopped and I decided to get out of the car trying to get down on the beach to get some pictures of a flamingo with two babies from last year.  My Guide is taking pictures from the car
 My Guide is taking pictures from the car
 My Guide is taking pictures from the car
 Greater Flamingo - Phoenicopterus roseus
 Greater Flamingo
 Greater Flamingo
We left the coast and the Greater Flamingos behind. My Guide had taken some pictures from the car while I was down on the beach. He use a 400mm lens and I use 300mm and it is quite a difference so I'm thinking about buying a 400mm lens. But it is a lot of equipment to carry around. So I will see what I will do. Anyway, we left the highway B4 and we drove on Tekke Road towards the Hala Sultan Tekke on the west side of the Larnaca Salt Lake.
We spotted many Golden Finches, Crested Larks and Magpies along the dust road. The Magpie is a very shy bird and I have tried many times but I had come up with zero pictures of the Magpie. We drove along the dust road but we were soon realising that we would never reach the Kamares Aqueduct on this road. So we turned around driving back to the B6 highway. We passed the Hala Sultan Tekke again and we spotted a few Common wood pigeons. We stopped to take a picture, not a very good picture, but better than nothing and the only picture from Larnaca Salt Lake. I really would like to have a picture of the Magpie and the Hooded Crow.  We left the Hala Sultan Tekke behind and we drove along the highway B6 towards the Kamares Aqueduct. We drove through the city and suddenly we spotted the Kamares Aqueduct. Compare with the picture from Wikipedia from 1973 below.
We parked the car and we went down to check out the area. There is a pond south of the Kamares Aqueduct but impossible to look over the pond as it is covered with reeds. We could see a pair of Spur-winged lapwings. But this is a very scared bird so there were no pictures. We could see mallards flying over the reeds so we could tell that there must be water in there behind the reeds.      The area around the Kamares Aqueduct seemed to be a disappointment. We decided to go check out the area on the other side of the reeds. A beautiful area, or could have been. As on all the other places I have been on here on Cyprus. Garbage and every place looks like a construction site. What a shame! A paradise around the Kamares Aqueduct, well, a destroyed paradise. What a waste and it wasn't really enjoyable to do the bird watching here. We spotted a Little Egret sitting on a high fence, a few Common Kingfishers and some pipits. I tried to sneak up on two Moorhens but as with the other Moorhens, they disappeared in to the reeds.  Little Egret
 Seems like the Cypriotes like to destroy everything they get their hands on
 Can you see the Common Kingfisher?
 Moorhens
 Spur-winged Lapwing or Spur-winged Plover
 Spur-winged Lapwing or Spur-winged Plover
Moorhen
It was time to drive back to Limassol. I never got any good pictures of the Moorhen. And the Hooded Crow and Magpie had managed to escape every time. But it had been a gorgeous day. And I can't help but being happy that I have picked up the bird watching hobby. I go around looking for birds and we get to see all the sceneries and historical sites. And the Guide provide the car so it is an excellent way of touristing. Imagine sitting on a coach and you would have seen duck all. My Guide Matt at the CYPRUS BIRD WATCHING TOURS - BIRD IS THE WORD www.birdingtourscyprus-bitw.com had made yet another day interesting. This is a tour operator that I can recommend if you ever come to Cyprus. Check out his web page and book a tour. I paid 150 € per day. Very cheap: • Excellent guide • Guide that identify all the birds for you • No need to rent a car • No need to drive the car • Just to sit down relaxing enjoying the sights Check out CYPRUS BIRD WATCHING TOURS - BIRD IS THE WORD on You Tube and Flickr   CYPRUS BIRD WATCHING TOURS - BIRD IS THE WORD is Highly recommended by Aladdin! So if you ever come to Cyprus, and he is also making trip reports with all the birds we had seen. Well, I only count the birds I have got on photo. Anyway, here is Matt's trip report for the second day. Click HERE for Day 2 Trip Report. We passed Pepperoni Pizza on the way back to my hotel. Not too far away so I decided to go there for my dinner in the evening. I said good bye to my Guide. He will be here at 07:15 tomorrow and we will go to the Paphos area to look for birds. I checked today's pictures in my room and at 7 I went to have my dinner at Pepperoni Pizza, turned out to be a disappointment. This was not what I had expected.  Pepperoni Pizza
 Pepperoni Pizza
 Tea from the pot
 Spinach crepes
 Chocolate cake
Pepperoni Pizza in Limassol, I will not come back. OK, tea from the pot and it was a plus. I had asked for spinach crepes for starter, they were drenched in cheese, and not any good tasting cheese. The pizza, it was huge, but the cheese was burnt on the top, not what you want on a pizza. The chocolate cake was OK, but the whipped cream was from a spray can. I went to bed early and I'm kind of excited over tomorrows birding adventure. Click HERE to find out if we find any birds in Paphos and the surrounding areas. 
  
  You are visitor no.
To www.aladdin.st since December 2005
Visitors from different countries since 26th of September 2011
|
of Larnaca. Its population in 2011 was 6,134.
Marunong ka mag-tagalog? Walang problema! Magpunta sa kabilang pahina pindutin ang “NEXT” button sa itaas
Faites vous parlez le français? Pas de problème! Pour arriver à la page suivante faites s'il vous plaît un déclic le bouton “Next” ci-dessus!
Haga usted dice el español? No hay problema! Ver la siguiente página sólo hacer clic el botón “Next” encima!
Farla parla l'italiano? Non problemi! Per vedere la prossima pagina lo scatto per favore giusto Il bottone “Next” sopra
Sprechen sie Deutsch! Kein problem! Wenn Sie die folgende Seite sehen wollen gerade klicken der Knopf “Next” oben!
คุณพูดภาษาไทยได้ไหม ไม่มีปัญหา ถ้าคุณต้องการไปหน้าถัดไป ให้กดปุ่ม “Next” ข้างบนนี้
Вы говорите по-русски? Просто нажмите синюю кнопку "Next" с левой стороны и Вы моментально переместитесь на следующую страницу!
E ni Svenskar och inte förstår Engelska så ska ni skämmas. J och Björn, med det menar jag inte att alla mina stavfel ska ältas varje gång vi träffas.
Well, the flag of Skåne, just a BONUS flag.
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
||||