Wiebe Gortmaker

In February of 2023 I was able to join an old friend, Martin Bailey, for a winter wildlife tour of northern Japan. Martin runs tours in Japan and western Africa, and I last joined him for a tour of Morocco in 2018. Japan had been closed since early 2020 because of Covid-19 and had just reopened in October of last year. I had been waiting five years to take this tour! The group of ten met in Tokyo where, after a night’s rest at the airport hotel, we boarded a bus for Nagano, northwest of Tokyo on the opposite side of the Island of Honshu. After a beautiful three-hour drive through the country with spectacular views of Mount Fuji, we checked into our hotel in Nagano. This hotel has been owned by the same family for over 400 years and in addition to the wildlife and scenery of Japan we were able to witness the customs and hospitality of the Japanese people. For the next three days we hiked into the deciduous and evergreen forests of central Japan to an area of hot springs where the Japanese Macaque, or Snow Monkeys, like to gather in winter. When the temperature is right a mist forms over the hot pools. Dozens of monkeys will soak in the water and then take a break to romp around the snow covered hillsides around the pools. Trying to capture an image of the antics of the monkeys with the movement of the mist can present quite a challenge. We also stumbled upon a Japanese Komoshika or Serow. This is a kind of antelope, that is rarely seen up close. He was hiding in the woods waiting for a chance to cross the trail we were hiking on.

After three days we returned to the Tokyo airport to spend the night and catch an early flight to the northernmost island of Hokkaido where we would spend the rest of our two-week trip. In the next issue of Focal Points I will show some images of the Red Crowned Cranes and Whooper Swans of the southern and central part of that island.

© Wiebe Gortmaker

All photographs

All photographs © Rebecca Wilks

I'll confess to being a little obsessed with my new toy. Here are a few of the early drone favorites. I live at about a 5,000-foot elevation in Central Arizona, and love the bright green cottonwoods we see in the spring. One image depicts a historic bridge over the Hassayampa River, and the other a cottonwood tree tunnel leading to a posh racehorse training ranch just up the road. The water feature is a swimming pool for the equine guests. The others came from a Utah road trip; Goosenecks State Park, the Moki Dugway, and Valley of the Gods.