Another Installment...

Our last couple days in the camp were productive, and we went to one final cave to look for swifts, bats, and cave fish. We found Glossy Swiftlets (Collocalia esculenta), two species of horseshoe bat (Hipposideros cervus and Rhinolophus euryotis), and a couple fish. This was also the only place where we found leeches, and they were plentiful along the passageway roofs where they hung down trying to latch onto bats. They looked very well fed. Also around camp we had some interesting insects, including this longicorn beetle, and this beautiful Christmas beetle. On our second to last day, rain started falling by 6:00pm, and it rained hard all night. I woke to the sound of men yelling at 4:00am, and several of us got up to see what was going on. The river flooded, a drum of petrol had already washed downstream, and they were working to keep control of our zodiacs and other supplies that had formerly been on the beach. Water was literally lapping at the generator stand. So we tied off the boats, tied up the remaining barrels, and prepared a runway to haul the generator uphill. In the end, the water reached its peak around 5:00am, and we relaxed with a cup of coffee and watched the water drop. But the flood did wash away our helipad and the beach remained underwater when it was time for our chopper to take us out. Luckily, the beach downstream was exposed enough to land on, so we ferried across and caught the chopper there, and headed to Moro on schedule.