For our last night we stayed again at the wonderful Refugio de Reyes Guesthouse in Holguin (the best place to stay in the city imho). Two week holidays go all too quickly and it was soon time to say our goodbyes to Doug who had been a great companion and friend during the trip not to mention a great source of knowledge. Our thanks go to him and to our excellent driver Leandro as between them they had made the trip.
We spent our last couple of hours on top of the Hill of the Cross (Loma de la Cruz) overlooking the city. On our previous visit we had walked up and down the 458 steps but on this occasion Leandro drove us to the top. There had been a few changes here and a small restaurant had been built by the cross, and many of the Lantana bushes which had had lots of butterflies nectaring had been removed which was a shame. We still saw twenty butterfly species there with small numbers of Chestnut Leafwing Cymatogramma echemus, Florida Purplewing Eunica tatila and Gray Cracker Hamadryas februa amongst others all flying in a north-westerly direction over the summit. Some new flowering shrubs had been planted which attracted several De Villiers' Swallowtails Battus devilliers which were surprisingly aware of my presence and each time I went to one side of the bush it would go the other.
We spent our last couple of hours on top of the Hill of the Cross (Loma de la Cruz) overlooking the city. On our previous visit we had walked up and down the 458 steps but on this occasion Leandro drove us to the top. There had been a few changes here and a small restaurant had been built by the cross, and many of the Lantana bushes which had had lots of butterflies nectaring had been removed which was a shame. We still saw twenty butterfly species there with small numbers of Chestnut Leafwing Cymatogramma echemus, Florida Purplewing Eunica tatila and Gray Cracker Hamadryas februa amongst others all flying in a north-westerly direction over the summit. Some new flowering shrubs had been planted which attracted several De Villiers' Swallowtails Battus devilliers which were surprisingly aware of my presence and each time I went to one side of the bush it would go the other.
What a great trip. 113 species of butterflies and 44 of these also recorded as immature stages! All this plus some excellent birds and several new reptiles. Thank you Doug and Leandro.
Doug, me, Lynn and Leandro
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