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| Intha fisherman on Inle Lake |
Thurs 22 Feb 2018
We crept quietly out of the unsound-proofed Little Eco Lodge at 05.00, collected our packed-breakfast and then woke everyone as our Tuk-Tuk set off to take us to our boat rendezvous. We clambered aboard one of the Inle “long-tailed” wooden speed-machines, with an inboard Chinese diesel engine connected to a swing-arm propeller designed to lift in the weeds.
Our driver Nyi piloted us deftly out of town in the dark towards a peaceful section of the northern end of Inle Lake where he switched off the thumping diesel and we watched the sun rise above the hills we had hiked in yesterday.
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| Cattle Egrets |
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| An Intha fisherman using the unique leg-rowing technique, balanced on the end of his tiny boat |
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| Inle long-tailed speedboat (same as one we were in) |
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| Balloon rides available over Inle |
We were treated to impressive selection of birds as the lake came to life, making up for the dearth of wildlife in my recent reports (see end of blog for much more detail - and thanks if course to Barnaby for naming!!)
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| Yellow-billed Egret |
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| Asian Openbilled Stork |
Inle Lake is actually two lakes: we were in the northern one. We motored past the famous “floating gardens” which you expect to be Burmese waterlogged allotments. In fact they are about 25sq km of super-fertile vegetable growing (tomatoes etc), just farmed by boat!
We made our way up a river, crossing bamboo ‘weirs’ , and spent a happy hour shopping at the In Devin market and wandering up to nearby temples that had relatively recently been recovered from the undergrowth.
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| Heading upstream crossing ‘weirs’ |
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| In Dein is popular on market days! |
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| A charming scarf vendor |
Back to the boat and after the mandatory silver and lotus & silk weaving, stops we had a lovely lunch at the Inle Heritage Centre (if you want a deluxe but environmentally savvy stay on Inle Lake - check this out!).
After lunch, we made our way back to Nyaungshwe via an older part of a floating village - with no other tourist boats. It was entrancing to be able to glide quietly through looking at the beautiful houses on the serene water.
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| Village Post Office... |
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| ...and post box! |
And as a perfect end to an amazing day on the Lake, we passed more birds and fishermen
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| Cattle Egret |
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Impossible to resist photo of Inthe fisherman in traditional garb & old style net,
but this one is staged for tourists as they enter/ leave Nyaungshwe! |
BIRD SECTION
(Thanks Baranaby!)
[Having connectivity issues so will name later]
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