(This blog first appeared on 10000birds.com) To the uninitiated, Africa conjures up images of underdevelopment, poverty and hardship. Yet after a first visit, so many travelers become Afrophiles and return again and again to explore the Dark Continent, sometimes even to the exclusion of all other destinations! My...

Whilst leading a birding tour to Sri Lanka last year, I spotted a flash of bright white in a lily-choked wetland near Ambalantota in the south-east of this verdant island. Closer investigation revealed a stunning male Pheasant-tailed Jacana perched atop a female.    Pheasant-tailed Jacana pair near Ambalantota...