Monday, October 7, 2013

Harassing Lemurs

This morning proved to be just as dreary and overcast as yesterday. We decided to stick with our original plans despite the uncooperative weather so we ate breakfast and got into the car. 
First stop on the agenda, the FOTA Wildlife Reserve.
It's basically a zoo but instead of keeping the animals in separate cages, the whole park is a giant cage. 
Many of the animals have free range of the park so your able to get up close and personal with all sorts of furry and feathery friends.
Luckily for me, the lemurs were included on the free range list. I spent most of the morning trying to hunt them down but it was cold and windy and they were no where to be found. The Crazy Lady humored me and let me lead her around in circles while I searched in vain for one of my furry friends.
Just as I was about to give up all hope, we noticed someone standing under a tree across from the lemur house. We hurried over to where the man was standing and found one lonely lemur hanging out on a tree branch. 
Aha! So that's where they were hiding..... I made my way through the trees scouring each one as I went along until I hit the jackpot, the lemurs were curled up together high up in the branches of the tree. 

We waited a under the tree for a while but they didn't seem interested in coming down so we bid them farewell and went to find something else to play with.

 I looked at the map and noted that there were red pandas listed on it. I had always wanted to see one but despite my best efforts, they had always proved to be unnecessarily hard to find. We found the sign for the red pandas and were surprised to see the elusive creatures sitting out in plain sight.
It didn't last long though, we managed to get a couple of pictures before it scampered off to hide in its little house.
The path had led us back to the entrance of the park so we waved goodbye to the grumpy cheetah and got back in the car to head to our next destination. 

Our next stop was a little village on the coast called Ballycotton. I knew that there was supposed to be a gorgeous hike along the cliff side near the village but the GPS was not cooperating. 
We decided that we would just go to the village and hoped that we would find a sign to lead us to the trail. 
The drive was nice and relaxing until the GPS neglected to tell us to make a right onto the main road. The Crazy Lady looked distraught as the GPS repeated "recalculating route" multiple times. It finally finished recalculating and lead us onto a quaint one way road narrow two way road through the country side. Aside from the terror of trying to pass tractors and other large cars coming at us from the opposite direction, it was a lovely drive. 
We somehow made it back onto the main road and found the little village shortly thereafter. 
Our original tactic of "find a sign and follow it" didn't appear to be working, mainly due to the fact that weren't actually any signs for us to follow. 
The Crazy Lady came up with a new tactic, ask a local for directions. It was a sound plan in theory so we stopped the car and asked the only person that we saw on the street for directions. 
He thought about it for a moment and then informed us that he was just visiting and had no idea what we were talking about. 
The next person that we found was infinitely more helpful. She pointed straight ahead and told us to keep on driving until we couldn't drive no more. We followed her directions and arrived at the car park seconds later. We walked over to the edge of the cliff and followed the trail along the cliff side. As I mentioned in yesterdays post, The Crazy Lady isn't overly fond of heights. Luckily for her, we were walking along the side of a cliff and the trail lacked any form of railings along the side.
 
We followed the trail while taking in the amazing view. After about forty minutes of walking the trail led down the cliff and onto a beach.
The Crazy Lady came down part way and then opted to wait there for me while I went down to check out the beach.
The view was pretty breathtaking despite the overcast sky (the pictures hardly do it justice). I clambered over the giant red rocks and tried to imagine what it would look like on a clear day. 

The wind started to pick up again and it was getting late so I climbed back up to the trail and we started to head back to the car.
Thankfully, the GPS had no problem taking us back to Blarney. The drive back was smooth and uneventful.

Tomorrow we're heading to southwest Cork. Maybe we'll get lucky and see a little sun. :P

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