Floods

This was covered in bananas until the river ripped through it, totally destroying the crops. Most of it was washed away.

The banana plantation, now totally destroyed.

The bridge we had to cross on Christmas Eve. We were stranded the other side for hours as the water had come over. Karen was absolutely terrified when we drove over it. There were trees on it that had been ripped up, and most of the banana plants were wedged in the railings. On the other side, the locals had come to have a look, there were 1000's of them. They had never seen floods before.

This road collapsed as we were driving on it, it was turning into a nightmare of a holiday. I like excitement but this was becoming so dangerous. On the other side, houses had been washed away and we later learned that 3 people had lost their lives in the floods.

BUT even though it was raining, the birding was fantastic. It did stop after 5 days and the sun shone. Within a day it was as if these floods had never happened, everything had dried up. The locals came out in their 100's and everyone mucked in shovelling and clearing up.