A shot of Tracey at the entrance to the lodge grounds. The entrance was quite close to the Lemur Island - more on this here.

This is a view (only very slightly obscured by Sebastian) of the main building at Vakona Lodge, as seen from the entrance of our bungalow. The main building includes the dining room and bar. There were 17 separate bungalows, all set around the sides of the lake.

Sebastian again, in front of the very lush vegetation. It was the wet season, and this was in the cloud forest!

Vakona Lodge in the rain.

Another shot of Vakona Lodge in the rain. The waterproofs were a very good idea!

Tracey and Sebastian on a little rickety bridge, part of the train that lead from the Lodge itself to the entrance. We had quite a selection of iffy bridges by the end of the holiday!

Of course, the lush foliage meant that all sorts of creatures could be found in the undergrowth. You can just see the little green frog peeping out of this plant.

And a large bug in the greenery.

Some of the flowers were wonderfully brightly coloured.

You can just see the snake underneath the flowers here.

One of the things we did while staying at Vakona lodge was a riding trip. This was run from a nearby establishment which was primarily a mill for refining graphite.

The mill was not in use when we visited, but clearly had been in use fairly regularly. Apparently, world demand for graphite (for pencils and lubrication) is falling.

Sebastian meeting the horses.

Sebastian and his father practice riding - before getting on the horses.

And now you can see why I needed the practice!

You can tell I'm not a very experienced horseman! Sebastian is much more confident on horseback than I am.

The view was pretty impressive, though.