The House(s) of Fran_mart

 The start of the drive was not pleasant with 8/8ths cloud and drizzle to about Bruthen. A Forest Kingfisher has been reported many times in the last 2 weeks from MacLeod's Morass in Bairnsdale so we invested some time in checking the are out.  There were a few other folk also looking but no one got lucky until just after we left .  It reads as though this guy drove up, ticked the bird and left!  We put in a bit over 90 minutes but didn't see it although it was good seeing all the Dotterels out from the boardwalk.  One of the observers the previous day noted that " S pent 4 hours patiently waiting with a group of people trying to search for the bird to then have it perch in a tree next to the road and then fly to the power lines."   C'est la twitch.  We enjoyed the break and will likely do it again.  The Red-kneed Dotterel was an East Gippsland tick (taking me to 261 species for the Shire, 13th on the eBird list for the Shire and only 66 spe...

 A friend who is hoping to get out of hospital soon suggested that people's prayers might help.  That made me think of the tree I drove past every day in Dar es Salaam. People put all sorts of items up on this Baobab to get their message through to the spirits that were in the tree.  I added to the collection as a friend back in Australia was having some health problems.  As I was putting my message up an old chap appeared explaining that he looked after the tree and would appreciate a little "chakula" - Kiswahili for food, but he was actually after shillings which were duly provided.   A nice illustration of religion in Tanzania.  40% are Christian; 40 % Islamic; and 100% believe in witchcraft.  Here is another snap of the site, with a witchcraft ceremony in progress. The red cloaks are the traditional attire of witches.  We went to a performance of Macbeth at an amateur dramatic society.  Half the performance was in Kiswahili and there...