August and September dry season cruising

Last year, we experienced an El Nino long dry season marked by smoke from land clearance fires. This year, with the promised La Nina weather effect, a few dry weeks in August may be giving way to an early onset of the rains. Today, as I write this, heavy rains are falling in Palangka Raya. A few days ago, I joined a cruise on board the Rahai'i Pangun and experienced the lower water levels and baking heat of the end of the dry. The clear skies and rich morning and evening light were the perfect conditions for photographs.

A special treat, in the slow, grinding heat of the afternoon, was glimpsing a family of otters on a nearby sandbank, come out of the forest for a spot of sunbathing, before skipping off in the direction of a fisherman's net. Goodluck little fellas!