09 Apr 2013

Kolombangara

This morning we landed at the mouth of a small river at Kukudu, home to a secondary school and elementary school established by the Seventh Day Adventists on the island of Kolombangara. From there we headed off into the surrounding forest and saw a number of endemic birds, the highlight being the rarely seen and highly localised Roviana Rail which was described in the early 1990's. A selection of high-quality wooden bowls, masks and other handcrafted items were for sale beneath the shade of an enormous Rain Tree.

For three hours we cruised the shores of a magnificent lagoon, and explored various tributeries amongst the giant mangroves and forest in the Zodiacs. Overhead we had excellent sightings of numerous birds including the Red-knobbed Imperial Pigeon and the elegant Moustached Treeswift.