The slow process of scanning at 1,200 DPI, selected pictures from our 16,000 35mm slide library continues; the stored slides are not in any order so as I scan them, more pictures of a country turn up and can then be used. I have a lot of countries to cover and you will find some completed, some waiting for additional material and others only as far as the introduction. I am working on Parts 1&2 simultaneously to try and keep each of equal length; so check back now & then and you will find more countries, images and commentary have been added.
PART ONE COUNTRIES STARTED ON THUS FAR ARE; THOSE WITH A (C) ARE COMPLETED:
PAPUA NEW GUINEA(C); SPAIN; ICELAND(C); TAIWAN(C); AUSTRALIA(C) MACAU; TAHITI; PHILIPPINES(C); MALAWI; JAPAN; AFRICA JOURNAL & "BIG FIVE"(C); SOUTH-AFRICA; BERMUDA(C); MADEIRA(C); FAROES (C); MOROCCO(C) (C); EGYPT (C); SOUTH AMERICA, 10 COUNTRIES ARE COMPLETED;
PART ONE COUNTRIES STARTED ON THUS FAR ARE; THOSE WITH A (C) ARE COMPLETED:
PAPUA NEW GUINEA(C); SPAIN; ICELAND(C); TAIWAN(C); AUSTRALIA(C) MACAU; TAHITI; PHILIPPINES(C); MALAWI; JAPAN; AFRICA JOURNAL & "BIG FIVE"(C); SOUTH-AFRICA; BERMUDA(C); MADEIRA(C); FAROES (C); MOROCCO(C) (C); EGYPT (C); SOUTH AMERICA, 10 COUNTRIES ARE COMPLETED;
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
When we flew at 10,000 ft((1) above) the length of this tropical island including the Indonesian half, we were awestruck by the vast, rugged, undeveloped, mountainous terrain of this sometimes glaciated land; in this second largest island in the world, surely there are wonders yet undiscovered, far more so than Amazonia which pales in comparison. There are people in these highlands(9-14) that live as primitively as any you'll find in the world. Our second surprise came after we landed in Port Moresby (2) and took to the road in a rented car, (if you could call them roads)(3) ), and began driving through the extensive coffee plantations in the highlands; coffee is the countries second largest income earner which might not be the case if users met the motley coffee crew who walk through the beans as they are drying.(4-6)
When we flew at 10,000 ft((1) above) the length of this tropical island including the Indonesian half, we were awestruck by the vast, rugged, undeveloped, mountainous terrain of this sometimes glaciated land; in this second largest island in the world, surely there are wonders yet undiscovered, far more so than Amazonia which pales in comparison. There are people in these highlands(9-14) that live as primitively as any you'll find in the world. Our second surprise came after we landed in Port Moresby (2) and took to the road in a rented car, (if you could call them roads)(3) ), and began driving through the extensive coffee plantations in the highlands; coffee is the countries second largest income earner which might not be the case if users met the motley coffee crew who walk through the beans as they are drying.(4-6)
The Pidgin English(7-8) practiced in New Guinea was a never ending source of amusement to us; a novelty yes and a colourful attribute to the country's tourism..
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MORE NEW GUINEA COMMENTS AND PIX TO FOLLOW LATER
SPAIN
The spectacle of the bullfight (Corrida de Toros) is not pleasant to watch, downright cruel in fact but still practiced in some Latin countries like Mexico today but its highly revered in Spain; it's a diverse world we live in and we must learn to accept it. What annoyed us the most about the spectacle is that in the three stages of the so called bullfight, the bull is weakened so much by others associated with the Matador, that by the time he goes in for the kill, the bull is practically on it's last legs anyway, it's a merciless way for any animal to die and when it is dragged off after the kill, it's a sad sight to see!
The Corrida de Toros gets underway with Matadores strutting their stuff and then the Picadores on horseback, start jabbing away with a long lance trying to goad the bull and also, perform other tasks as outlined below.
1: To pierce the muscle on the back of the bull’s neck in order to straighten the bull's charge.
2: To fatigue the bull’s neck muscles and general stamina as it tries to lift the horse with its head.
3: To lower the bull’s head in preparation for the next stage.
The spectacle of the bullfight (Corrida de Toros) is not pleasant to watch, downright cruel in fact but still practiced in some Latin countries like Mexico today but its highly revered in Spain; it's a diverse world we live in and we must learn to accept it. What annoyed us the most about the spectacle is that in the three stages of the so called bullfight, the bull is weakened so much by others associated with the Matador, that by the time he goes in for the kill, the bull is practically on it's last legs anyway, it's a merciless way for any animal to die and when it is dragged off after the kill, it's a sad sight to see!
The Corrida de Toros gets underway with Matadores strutting their stuff and then the Picadores on horseback, start jabbing away with a long lance trying to goad the bull and also, perform other tasks as outlined below.
1: To pierce the muscle on the back of the bull’s neck in order to straighten the bull's charge.
2: To fatigue the bull’s neck muscles and general stamina as it tries to lift the horse with its head.
3: To lower the bull’s head in preparation for the next stage.
Stage 2: Next to have a go at making life for the bull miserable are the Banderilleros. Each matador has 3 banderilleros or “Flagmen” who are also considered as toreros or bullfighters. In the tercio de banderillas, the three banderilleros each attempt to plant two banderillas, or sharp barbed sticks, into the bull's shoulders. The banderillas further weaken the bull but also anger it, cause it to make more ferocious charges.
Stage 3 - Tercio de Muerte ("third of death") In this stage, the matador re-enters the ring with a red cape or muleta stretched over a wooden dowel in one hand and a sword in the other. From the moment the first pass is performed, the matador has 15 minutes to kill the bull. The spectacle is not a pleasant thing to photograph.
The matador will perform a series of tanda, different series of passes all with specific names that make up the faena, or entire performance with the muleta. The faena ends with a series of passes in which the Matador attempts to maneuver the bull into a position to kill it with an estocada, or the thrusting of the sword between the bull's shoulder blades and through the heart. A clumsy estocada can raise loud crowd protests.
MORE SPAIN COMMENTS AND PIX TO FOLLOW LATER
ICELAND
In Window on the World (2, I said in the opening prelude to New Zealand that few places in the world could equal the air clarity and its associated depth of colour we experienced there except for Iceland and the Faroes. Without doubt, Iceland will always remain in our minds as our most outstanding wilderness camping, hiking and photogenic travel experience; the island had just that 1977 season become a port of call for a Norwegian cruise ship/car ferry cruising via the Faroes from Thurso, northern Scotland. Located far to the north of the polluted European continent and sitting on the Arctic Circle, we virtually had the island to ourselves through spring & early summer that year, an unforgettable time in our lives. Often referred to as the “Land of Fire & Ice,” the island lived up to its name while we were there and in fact, where ice was concerned, Wendy had a near death glacier experience that left her very lucky to be alive. So let's check out some examples of this raw volcanic land of mighty waterfalls, geysers, lava fields, hot springs, picturesque fjords, snow capped mountains, emerald-green, glacier carved valleys, fish filled wild streams, glorious skies & clouds, fiery volcanic displays, idyllic farms and charming Reykjavik homes. We begin with 4 pix paying tribute to the Island's rich colour and glorious skies.
In Window on the World (2, I said in the opening prelude to New Zealand that few places in the world could equal the air clarity and its associated depth of colour we experienced there except for Iceland and the Faroes. Without doubt, Iceland will always remain in our minds as our most outstanding wilderness camping, hiking and photogenic travel experience; the island had just that 1977 season become a port of call for a Norwegian cruise ship/car ferry cruising via the Faroes from Thurso, northern Scotland. Located far to the north of the polluted European continent and sitting on the Arctic Circle, we virtually had the island to ourselves through spring & early summer that year, an unforgettable time in our lives. Often referred to as the “Land of Fire & Ice,” the island lived up to its name while we were there and in fact, where ice was concerned, Wendy had a near death glacier experience that left her very lucky to be alive. So let's check out some examples of this raw volcanic land of mighty waterfalls, geysers, lava fields, hot springs, picturesque fjords, snow capped mountains, emerald-green, glacier carved valleys, fish filled wild streams, glorious skies & clouds, fiery volcanic displays, idyllic farms and charming Reykjavik homes. We begin with 4 pix paying tribute to the Island's rich colour and glorious skies.
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Iceland has a high concentration of active volcanoes due to its location on the mid-Atlantic Ridge, a divergent tectonic plate boundary, and also due to its location over a hot spot. The island has 30 active volcanic systems, of which 13 have erupted since the settlement of Iceland in AD 874. We had two encounters of volcanic activity when on the island and in fact slept alongside the below still active lava flow providing us opportunities to use a long lens and get in close to the flaring fissures at night; what a sight to wake up to in the morning and not a soul around....unbelievable! Those were the days! The cooling lava was still hot enough to cook our eggs!
'Yes it was a risky if not foolhardy thing to do, sleeping alongside a lava flow but we were younger in those days and loved the adventure of it. Some however were not so lucky on the island of Westman when a volcano erupted from nowhere and within 48 hours part of the adjacent fishing village was either destroyed or half buried in ash. We took a car ferry over from the mainland to have a look-see. Some photographs from the Visitor Centre allowed us to see what it was like during the eruption We slept or at least tried to camped with our van on the six months old lava flow that overlooked the town but we were woken up in the early hours of the morning with the smell of hot rubber, very stinky, and we had to get off that flow ASAP before our tires caught on fire; amazing, even after six months the lava still had enough heat in it to fry our tires..... C'est la vie!
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Iceland remained unspoiled and untarnished by tourism for many years until they started operating car ferries from the European mainland. travelling via the Faroe Islands. We weren’t quite sure what to expect when we loaded our VW camper on the first car ferry to operate from Scotland. As it turned out, despite 20 years of travel since that time, Iceland still remains one of our most outstanding camping experiences, we virtually had the island to ourselves once we travelled away from Reykjavík, the capital. The island is fantastically scenic but the roads were exceptionally rugged when you dared venture into central Iceland(pix1) where you were on your own should you have trouble. Spring melt was well into progress providing the most spectacular waterfalls(see pix2) we had ever seen to date. Valleys were remarkably green which contradicted the term Iceland, but for sure, it is indeed a land of ice with massive glaciers flowing down out of the mountains almost to the roadway; either that or mighty walls of ice forming backdrops to many of the farms; the last two pictures (3-4) dramatically illustrate what I mean.
CENTRAL ICELAND; NO MAN's LAND.
The island did not disappoint when it came to volcanic activity even providing underground, thermally heated pools accessed via caves in the lava. Every evening wherever we settled provided us with picturesque settings and best of all, free camping and not a soul around. Three next three pictures will provide examples what I mean with the last one, taken in central Iceland and park on compressed volcanic ash, had to be one of the most lonely, secluded places on the planet….Unforgettable stuff!(1-3) Iceland is often termed as the “land of fire and ice” but I would go one step further and add the term waterfalls, some of them the most spectacular on the planet.(see pix4-5) When dealing with the locals, we encountered some resentment about our presence there; (see farmer pix) this we could understand, the islanders have had this wonderful place to themselves for so long and wanted it to stay that way. Tourists pouring into the island driving all manner of vehicles and most likely, leaving a mess wherever they spent the night is not what the Icelanders want to see and neither would we.
With no smog producing industry on the island and geographically a long way from the European mainland, air clarity here was pristine and the colours on the land leaped out and you. We only encountered one other place that was Iceland’s equal photographically speaking, and that was New Zealand in 1975, also virtually untouched by tourism at that time. Check the two following pix and take a guess at which one is New Zealand.
Iceland will forever be emblazoned in our memory as one of our best travel experiences; after six fabulous weeks we reluctantly left for new horizons but we wanted to leave before the European summer crowds began arriving.
MORE COMMENTS ON THE ICELAND PICTURES TO FOLLOW LATER
TAIWAN
What surprised us most about the island of Taiwan was how mountainous it is, fourth highest island in the world in fact with peaks reaching 12,966ft (3,952 metres. Because of the rugged terrain, our landing here by air was the roughest we have ever experienced. We spent one night only in the city at the very impressive but expensive "Grand Taipei" hotel and made up for the cost by buying food from the various street vendors. Leaving the glitz and frenzy of Taipei behind us, we rented a car and drove inland with in-trepidation along very narrow roads following winding river gorges that led us ever upwards into rugged, misty, mountain ranges and eventually to our intended destination “Sun Moon lake.” Spending time in this serene environment, staying at a charming oh-so-Chinese guest house cruising the lake and hiking tranquil, sodden trails under umbrellas are our best memories of Taiwan.
What surprised us most about the island of Taiwan was how mountainous it is, fourth highest island in the world in fact with peaks reaching 12,966ft (3,952 metres. Because of the rugged terrain, our landing here by air was the roughest we have ever experienced. We spent one night only in the city at the very impressive but expensive "Grand Taipei" hotel and made up for the cost by buying food from the various street vendors. Leaving the glitz and frenzy of Taipei behind us, we rented a car and drove inland with in-trepidation along very narrow roads following winding river gorges that led us ever upwards into rugged, misty, mountain ranges and eventually to our intended destination “Sun Moon lake.” Spending time in this serene environment, staying at a charming oh-so-Chinese guest house cruising the lake and hiking tranquil, sodden trails under umbrellas are our best memories of Taiwan.
MORE OF TAIWAN TO COME YET
AUSTRALIA (Now complete)
Land of our birth, we could fill this entire website with nothing else but highlights of the many camping trips we made in Australia during our early travel years and the first pix below was taken on one of them as they load our makeshift camper on a train to take us back across the Nullabor Plain west to east. These were "cutting-teeth" trips on what was to follow once we went overseas. We have made several return trips of late, renting motorhomes and trying to return to old haunts but alas, tourism has taken hold of this country in a big way and where once we could drive to a beach edge and spend a few relaxing days on our own has now either been gobbled up by high-rise, waterfront homes or strictly controlled by city or Park Authorities. Yes we still found some tall forest retreats and fern filled mountain hide-aways but had to look hard to find them. Nevertheless, rediscovering the splendor, colour, size and variety of form of the Eucalyptus trees, the ever present variety of flowers and above all, the superb early morning bird chorus so endemic to this land soon had us developing a much greater appreciation of what once seemed so ordinary to us when living there.
Land of our birth, we could fill this entire website with nothing else but highlights of the many camping trips we made in Australia during our early travel years and the first pix below was taken on one of them as they load our makeshift camper on a train to take us back across the Nullabor Plain west to east. These were "cutting-teeth" trips on what was to follow once we went overseas. We have made several return trips of late, renting motorhomes and trying to return to old haunts but alas, tourism has taken hold of this country in a big way and where once we could drive to a beach edge and spend a few relaxing days on our own has now either been gobbled up by high-rise, waterfront homes or strictly controlled by city or Park Authorities. Yes we still found some tall forest retreats and fern filled mountain hide-aways but had to look hard to find them. Nevertheless, rediscovering the splendor, colour, size and variety of form of the Eucalyptus trees, the ever present variety of flowers and above all, the superb early morning bird chorus so endemic to this land soon had us developing a much greater appreciation of what once seemed so ordinary to us when living there.
MOUNT CONNOR OR ‘‘FOOL-URU’’ DIFFERS FROM ULURU IN THAT IT HAS A DISTINCTIVE FLAT TOP WITH A SEPARATE TOP LAYER.
The vivid colours of Australia's "Outback" attracts tourists from all over the world; however, there's no need to take tours to see Australia's colors, take note of the polished stones, "Outback" colors are under the ground too.
Stay long enough in the land "Down Under" and you'll have to get used to regular blue skies and when you rent yourself a vehicle and head out to explore something of this great land, you'll likely discover red sand dunes and flowers galore, white trunked "Ghost Gum trees, brown sunburned ranges mottled with yellow spinifex grasses, green tree fern lined roadways, aqua colored inlets, cliff-lined seascapes, white sand beaches, strange wildlife (especially if you walk the bush at night) and of course, a never ending parade of birds as colorful as they are noisy and prolific and should it be winter, head for the Alpine Highway and discover Australia's snowy mountains.
RED SAND DUNES AND FLOWERS GALORE
STURT'S DESERT PEA WA
GHOST GUM
HAMMERSLEY RANGE WA
AERIAL VIEW QUEENSLAND NORTH COAST ENROUTE TO LIZARD ISLAND
BODALLA STATE FOREST SOUTH COAST NSW
BUNYIP STATE FOREST VICTORIA
RARE PIX OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA ABORIGINAL OUTBACK WALKABOUT
ULURU ABORIGINAL ROCK PAINTINGS NT
WHITE COCKATOO ON PAINTBRUSH
HAVE TO GO WALKING AT NIGHT AND HAVE CAMERA READY TO GET A PIX OF A QUOLL PLUS A WHOLE LOT OF LUCK. TASMANIAN HIGHLANDS
LAKES ENTRANCE SOUTH COAST NSW
GREAT OCEAN ROAD SEASCAPE VICTORIA
SOUTHERN ALPS VICTORIA, MT HOTHAM AREA
COLOURFUL SNOW GUMS IN THE THREDBO AREA OF NSW
THE COLOURED PATTERNS ON THE TRUNKS OF THE GIANT MOUNTAIN ASH FOUND IN THE SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS ARE WORKS OF ART IN THEMSELVES.
KURIONG SHEEP STATION BINALONG NSW
SYDNEY HARBOUR NSW
THE AUSTRALIAN GALLERY
Hope you enjoyed the introduction to Australia and I will be extending that Intro later but we have only scratched the surface of this nation and must move into a "GALLERY" mode to handle the many more sights & scenes to come. Click on the train to start the show and then move through the gallery using the arrows provided in the pictures, easier though to use your keyboard arrows. I have taken a lot of time to add commentary to the two GALLERIES which will give you a good introduction to our homeland often nicknamed "Down Under." Recognize the animals if you can, there are some odd ones and not often seen unless you go looking for them as we have done over many trips in our homeland. I will not even try to identify all the flowers, just enjoy them.
Hope you enjoyed the introduction to Australia and I will be extending that Intro later but we have only scratched the surface of this nation and must move into a "GALLERY" mode to handle the many more sights & scenes to come. Click on the train to start the show and then move through the gallery using the arrows provided in the pictures, easier though to use your keyboard arrows. I have taken a lot of time to add commentary to the two GALLERIES which will give you a good introduction to our homeland often nicknamed "Down Under." Recognize the animals if you can, there are some odd ones and not often seen unless you go looking for them as we have done over many trips in our homeland. I will not even try to identify all the flowers, just enjoy them.
THE "AUSSIE" WILDLIFE GALLERY
Australia is unique in many ways and its wildlife is no exception; in my early travel days, I wander far and wide on my motorbikes always camping wild as much as possible, I used to spend lots of nights on my own wandering the bush with a 12 volt spotlight and a camera looking for anything that moved; many of the pictures that follow here were taken on 25ASA Kodachrome film on such occasions and have now been scanned to digital. Other opportunities arose at times; for example, when travelling out west I encountered a lot of rain on one occasion and poor travelling conditions as well and a sheep station owner took pity on me camping in my secluded little tent by the wayside and offered his hospitality for a weekend; at that time I had my best chances for photographing kangaroos, even the big red kangaroos which are not so common these days. Living in the bush as we did, the wildlife came right to our open door at times or if there was a big tree close by, their antics would keep you awake, especially the possums and flying foxes. These days now travelling in rented motor-homes, we still head for the bush at night to camp if anyways possible but now Wendy holds the spotlight, leaving my camera hands free.
Click on the first Gallery picture and use the picture arrows to move on or better to use the L/R keyboard arrows.
Australia is unique in many ways and its wildlife is no exception; in my early travel days, I wander far and wide on my motorbikes always camping wild as much as possible, I used to spend lots of nights on my own wandering the bush with a 12 volt spotlight and a camera looking for anything that moved; many of the pictures that follow here were taken on 25ASA Kodachrome film on such occasions and have now been scanned to digital. Other opportunities arose at times; for example, when travelling out west I encountered a lot of rain on one occasion and poor travelling conditions as well and a sheep station owner took pity on me camping in my secluded little tent by the wayside and offered his hospitality for a weekend; at that time I had my best chances for photographing kangaroos, even the big red kangaroos which are not so common these days. Living in the bush as we did, the wildlife came right to our open door at times or if there was a big tree close by, their antics would keep you awake, especially the possums and flying foxes. These days now travelling in rented motor-homes, we still head for the bush at night to camp if anyways possible but now Wendy holds the spotlight, leaving my camera hands free.
Click on the first Gallery picture and use the picture arrows to move on or better to use the L/R keyboard arrows.
STAY TUNED FOR DESCRIPTIONS AND PHOTOS OF THE AUSTRALIA "OUTBACK."
MACAU
We took a run from Hong Kong on a super-fast hydrofoil, for another looksee at Macau after a previous visit there when it was in Portugal’s hands. Nowadays it’s a resort city in Southern China but still known for its casinos and luxury hotels. No we didn’t gamble but had without doubt, the finest Peking Duck meal we have ever had anywhere served by what seemed like an army of attendants with a never ending supply of hot towels. According to The World Factbook, Macau has the fourth highest life expectancy in the world. Moreover, it is one of the regions in Asia with a "very high Human Development Index", ranking 18th in the world as of 2014. The irony of our story against the facts presented here is that same evening, we took a stroll along a section of the waterfront that is away from the glitz and glamour and discovered boat living people living under the most horrific of conditions imaginable; unfortunately, it is the smell & sight of it that has stayed with us when we think of Macau.
We took a run from Hong Kong on a super-fast hydrofoil, for another looksee at Macau after a previous visit there when it was in Portugal’s hands. Nowadays it’s a resort city in Southern China but still known for its casinos and luxury hotels. No we didn’t gamble but had without doubt, the finest Peking Duck meal we have ever had anywhere served by what seemed like an army of attendants with a never ending supply of hot towels. According to The World Factbook, Macau has the fourth highest life expectancy in the world. Moreover, it is one of the regions in Asia with a "very high Human Development Index", ranking 18th in the world as of 2014. The irony of our story against the facts presented here is that same evening, we took a stroll along a section of the waterfront that is away from the glitz and glamour and discovered boat living people living under the most horrific of conditions imaginable; unfortunately, it is the smell & sight of it that has stayed with us when we think of Macau.
MORE OF MACAU TO COME YET
TAHITI
We had slept in, having been up late dancing but when we heard over the ship’s P.A. system that we had already arrived at Papeete, on the island of Tahiti Nui, we bolted out of bed and made haste to the main deck. What confronted us was like a scene from a movie with an armada of Amas (outriggers) overflowing with brown skinned bodies all fast paddling their way towards our ship. As if that scene wasn’t enough, the topography of the island was a staggering sight with deep green, pinnacle shaped, semi-forested volcanic peaks rising bolt upright above coconut palms and black sand beaches washed by an azure sea; believe me it was a sight to behold and unlike any other we had seen before; it was not till much later that we saw Bora-Bora, equally impressive and part of the French Polynesian group of islands. We stayed a couple of nights, watched a bevy of very attractive young women (as most of them are) dance their Otea; albeit they be also Polynesians, we did not find the Tahitians as warm and friendly as the Fijians but then, they are French and that's enough said. We rented a car and drove inland past dairy farms and citrus groves then over a winding interior road with awesome mountain views, lush rainforest and waterfalls; the scenery didn’t end there however as we took an outrigger over to the nearby equally impressive island of Moorea. Tahiti is a beautiful place but we found it very expensive.
We had slept in, having been up late dancing but when we heard over the ship’s P.A. system that we had already arrived at Papeete, on the island of Tahiti Nui, we bolted out of bed and made haste to the main deck. What confronted us was like a scene from a movie with an armada of Amas (outriggers) overflowing with brown skinned bodies all fast paddling their way towards our ship. As if that scene wasn’t enough, the topography of the island was a staggering sight with deep green, pinnacle shaped, semi-forested volcanic peaks rising bolt upright above coconut palms and black sand beaches washed by an azure sea; believe me it was a sight to behold and unlike any other we had seen before; it was not till much later that we saw Bora-Bora, equally impressive and part of the French Polynesian group of islands. We stayed a couple of nights, watched a bevy of very attractive young women (as most of them are) dance their Otea; albeit they be also Polynesians, we did not find the Tahitians as warm and friendly as the Fijians but then, they are French and that's enough said. We rented a car and drove inland past dairy farms and citrus groves then over a winding interior road with awesome mountain views, lush rainforest and waterfalls; the scenery didn’t end there however as we took an outrigger over to the nearby equally impressive island of Moorea. Tahiti is a beautiful place but we found it very expensive.
MORE OF TAHITI TO COME YET
PHILIPPINES
So if someone says to you they have been to the Philippines best ask them which island considering there are over 7500 of them. We went to the main island of Luzon to see the volcanoes Pinatubu & Taal. As it turned out, Pinatubu was playing up and they were keeping people away from the area but we did get to see the Taal albeit so hazy and smoggy around the lake we could barely see the crater…win some lose some I guess. Well over a 100 million souls live in the Philippines and after being in the Capital Manila for a day, it seemed like they all lived there and drove “Jeepneys” covered from top to bottom in kitsch decorations. So, we rented a car and headed north for the hills stopping regularly at the most fabulous roadside fruit stalls we have ever seen and also eventually stumbled on the amazing region of Banaue, considered to be the "Eighth Wonder of the World." We were astounded by the depth and extent of the 2,000-year-old rice terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao by ancestors of the indigenous people; it was these terraces, the out of city lifestyle of the people on the land, the picturesque countryside and the variety of cheap, fresh fruit that we remember the most about our visit.
So if someone says to you they have been to the Philippines best ask them which island considering there are over 7500 of them. We went to the main island of Luzon to see the volcanoes Pinatubu & Taal. As it turned out, Pinatubu was playing up and they were keeping people away from the area but we did get to see the Taal albeit so hazy and smoggy around the lake we could barely see the crater…win some lose some I guess. Well over a 100 million souls live in the Philippines and after being in the Capital Manila for a day, it seemed like they all lived there and drove “Jeepneys” covered from top to bottom in kitsch decorations. So, we rented a car and headed north for the hills stopping regularly at the most fabulous roadside fruit stalls we have ever seen and also eventually stumbled on the amazing region of Banaue, considered to be the "Eighth Wonder of the World." We were astounded by the depth and extent of the 2,000-year-old rice terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao by ancestors of the indigenous people; it was these terraces, the out of city lifestyle of the people on the land, the picturesque countryside and the variety of cheap, fresh fruit that we remember the most about our visit.
MORE OF THE PHILIPPINES TO COME YET
THIS PHOTO OF A WEARY WENDY DOING HER BEST TO SMILE WITH HER HANDS FULL AND STANDING IN FRONT OF OUR DUST COVERED LUGGAGE VERY WELL. DEPICTS THE ABOVE TITLE PICTURE.
-This feature covers some 9 countries explored in two different stages over a period of six months. Literature that we had studied before we ventured onto the continent (see Wendy below) indicated that we would open up a large can of worms if we took our beloved VW camper onto that continent because of the documentation required to get the vehicle across the border checkpoints, not the least of which was the notorious Carnet De Passage which caused us so much grief throughout our 3 years in Africa. We had planned to explore this little visited continent seeking out public transport and accommodation as we went along. Our research however did not fully prepare us for the reality of what lay ahead of us; of the 28 buses in all that we used in Sth. America, not a single one made it to its destination without at least one problem or breakdown. Planes-boats-trains-ferries etc never left on time or more often than not, failed to operate at all or a plane take off when scheduled. This created havoc with our attempts to align our movements to any pre-booked accommodation. Finding ourselves dropped off and left alone at night in the very worst of neighborhoods at times provided anxious moments because of many unknown factors. Our original time frame plan for South America was 3 months....it took over double that as we wended our weary way through a mountain of obstacles far too complicated to relate here; we did however discover what we now believe to be the most fascinating of the two Americas, so much so, that it took two trips years apart before we felt that we had covered the continent well.......
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Before we move on to Venezuela, I'll include just a few pictures indicative of our two journeys across this great continent. Beginning with Wendy waiting oh so patiently for our bus to Rio that arrived two hours late; an annoyance that we soon had to learn to live with throughout South America when it came to Public transport and if you needing to use a toilet while waiting, the toilet that was picture earlier was the only one available at Wendy's Rio Station. C'est la vie! Staying healthy was a key factor and as the picture above indicates, Wendy's skill at creating good meals using a minimum of cooking facilities(alcohol stove) that we often secretly smuggled, against house rules, into our hotel rooms which was a little tricky at times because we both love spicy food and that has a distinct odour. When on the road, bus lunch stops(see pix) left a lot to be desired in hygiene standards and the two pictures included here illustrate some roadside meals in the making. Local markets provided vegetables and fruit which all had to be washed in chlorinated water, especially the fruit. Pix shows that Wendy at a market bargaining for the best deals. Of course I have to include here the inevitable bus breakdown and the equally inevitable barrier "checkpoints" that could delay your schedule's four hours as buses were searched by the military for contraband.
CARACAS BUS DEPOT, VENEZUELA
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VENEZUELA
Both of our Sth. American trips began in Venezuela. In trip one, after island hopping through the Caribbean to the isle of Trinidad; we ferried the short distance from Port of Spain to Venezuela's northern sea port of Maracaibo set on the shores of Lake Maracaibo (pictured below). Some sources consider the water body to be the largest natural lake in South America, covering an area of about 5,130 square miles (13,280 square km), extending southward for 130 miles (210 km) from the Gulf of Venezuela and reaching a width of 75 miles (121 km). We arrived at a time when gasoline was government subsidized @ 10 cents a gallon. Already a troubled country when we first arrived in 1970, Venezuela has since deteriorated into a state of economic chaos and revolt with inflation at an all time high. We are thankful that at least we got to see, at considerable risk to ourselves at times, the highest waterfall in the world and also be carried into the clouds on the highest cable car in the world before it closed for repairs....more on that later.There was a lot of unfriendly military around as we travelled outside of the larger towns and at checkpoint, we were glad we had not brought our VW.
Both of our Sth. American trips began in Venezuela. In trip one, after island hopping through the Caribbean to the isle of Trinidad; we ferried the short distance from Port of Spain to Venezuela's northern sea port of Maracaibo set on the shores of Lake Maracaibo (pictured below). Some sources consider the water body to be the largest natural lake in South America, covering an area of about 5,130 square miles (13,280 square km), extending southward for 130 miles (210 km) from the Gulf of Venezuela and reaching a width of 75 miles (121 km). We arrived at a time when gasoline was government subsidized @ 10 cents a gallon. Already a troubled country when we first arrived in 1970, Venezuela has since deteriorated into a state of economic chaos and revolt with inflation at an all time high. We are thankful that at least we got to see, at considerable risk to ourselves at times, the highest waterfall in the world and also be carried into the clouds on the highest cable car in the world before it closed for repairs....more on that later.There was a lot of unfriendly military around as we travelled outside of the larger towns and at checkpoint, we were glad we had not brought our VW.
The cross country terrain in Venezuela and in many other parts of Sth. America, was incredibly up heaved and convoluted prodding hazardous, mostly gravel road road conditions much of the times as the above picture well illustrates but this was only just the beginning of a lot more hazards to come in this still developing continent.
Through South America, you will see a lot more of Wendy doing what she does best and that is making great meals using the simplest of portable cooking utensil made up of a Swedish made, alcohol powered cooking stove-kit inside of which was cleverly packed multi purpose cooking bowls and a frying pan all with a slot to attach a universal carry handle. This simple device kept us fed & healthy and away from having to use the atrocious roadside restaurants practicing the very worst of hygiene standards. Picture shows Wendy brewing up a storm under freezing conditions on the Pico El Aguila, a mountain pass, Venezuela's highest at an elevation of 4.119m (13,511 ft) above sea level and located in the Merida región of the Venezuela Andes. Our rented vehicle lost a lot of power here because the engine was starving for air. To us, The topography of Venezuela looked like the entire country had been up heaved and split asunder many times over in the past leaving a terrain today that had us agape at the scale of it. We were to discoverer later however, that half of the continent is like that with the gran daddy of all upheavals being the Andes themselves the scale of which surpassed the North American Rockies. Roads were hair raising at time in Venezuela as some of the pix indicate and especially so when using their rattle traps they called buses; as we progressed south on the continent, roads got worse at times, especially in Bolivia. Venezuela introduced us to the need to have patience whenever dealing with authority whether they be police, military, border control or whatever; bite your lip and suffer it and in Chile, we were pushed to our limits. More about that later. Rules about what not to point a camera at were archaic to say the least but beware if you did!
Fingers crossed we board our plane in the hope of seeing the world's highest waterfall so often hidden in cloud.
Locals warned that the trail to the falls was very wet, boggy, slippery with tree roots & leeches; thank God, Wendy said "No Way!."
After years of closure, the world’s highest and second-longest cable car reopened April 2016. This epic piece of engineering was built in the 1960s to take passengers on the 12.5km journey from Mérida to 4,756-metre Espejo Peak. It was closed in 2008 but modernization did not begin until 2011. It's worth noting here that we experienced a power failure, (not unusual in South America), that left us hanging apprehensively in mist for 2 hours.
VENEZUELA GALLERY
Click on the church tower to open the Gallery and use the picture arrows to move on or better to use the L/R keyboard arrows. Picture captions will be added later
Click on the church tower to open the Gallery and use the picture arrows to move on or better to use the L/R keyboard arrows. Picture captions will be added later
Wendy, warmly clad, stands by The "Christ the Redeemer" (Portuguese: Cristo Redentor, that overlooks Rio De Janeiro. Constructed between 1922 and 1931, the statue is 30 metres (98 ft) high, excluding its 8-metre (26 ft) pedestal. The arms stretch 28 metres (92 ft) wide.
BRAZIL
Make no mistake, Brazil is a big country, 5th largest in the world in fact and because of its extremely varied topography, we didn't even try to rent and explore it by road. When wet, the unpaved jungle roads were a nightmare, so we used local buses and if they couldn't make it, we resorted to river craft, planes, ferries and even a helicopter to get around which believe me, with our limited Spanish in a mainly Portuguese speaking country, was an experience in itself. Our visit to Brazil began with us flying into Manaus airport at 1am and we immediately ran into trouble with two somewhat slovenly immigration officials who decided among themselves that our entry visas were not good enough (issued by their own consulate in Miami) and so wanted $50 US each to set things straight. Bullshit we thought and refused to pay them anything but after sitting alone in the deserted airport for 4 hrs., and watching our luggage disappear off the roundabout, we paid them their damn $100, located our luggage in a back room and got the hell out of their airport. Our problems did not end there however and they tried to hit us again when leaving and we had to bring in a British Embassy Rep who gave us a VIP clearance to put them in their place.
As for Manaus & Belem, both important Amazon river ports, we thought them to be two of the filthiest riverfront areas we had encountered anywhere, second only to Asia's Macau, also Portuguese. Pictures speak louder than words so I'll include a few more taken along the Belem and Manaus waterfront; the hotels weren't great either but regardless, the Amazon may have its drawbacks but it's still a fascinating place to visit, especially if you stay a few days and take some river craft into the adjoining waterways to witness the life of those that live there. To be fair, South America was still in its earlier days of development from a tourist point of view but I'm glad we saw it that way for it was far more interesting and adventurous; tourism may benefit the locals but wherever it goes it takes away a lot of the originality of the place. If we were to return now in 2020, Public transport may likely be far more developed than it was in the mid-70s and early 80s, perhaps even air-conditioned and on better, possibly sealed roads. However, it is a rugged continent that inhibits development and and most likely, will never reach the standards of North America but perhaps, that will have its appeal too. In the last pix, Wendy near pukes on the smell as she awaits our water taxi picking its way through the murky slop.
Make no mistake, Brazil is a big country, 5th largest in the world in fact and because of its extremely varied topography, we didn't even try to rent and explore it by road. When wet, the unpaved jungle roads were a nightmare, so we used local buses and if they couldn't make it, we resorted to river craft, planes, ferries and even a helicopter to get around which believe me, with our limited Spanish in a mainly Portuguese speaking country, was an experience in itself. Our visit to Brazil began with us flying into Manaus airport at 1am and we immediately ran into trouble with two somewhat slovenly immigration officials who decided among themselves that our entry visas were not good enough (issued by their own consulate in Miami) and so wanted $50 US each to set things straight. Bullshit we thought and refused to pay them anything but after sitting alone in the deserted airport for 4 hrs., and watching our luggage disappear off the roundabout, we paid them their damn $100, located our luggage in a back room and got the hell out of their airport. Our problems did not end there however and they tried to hit us again when leaving and we had to bring in a British Embassy Rep who gave us a VIP clearance to put them in their place.
As for Manaus & Belem, both important Amazon river ports, we thought them to be two of the filthiest riverfront areas we had encountered anywhere, second only to Asia's Macau, also Portuguese. Pictures speak louder than words so I'll include a few more taken along the Belem and Manaus waterfront; the hotels weren't great either but regardless, the Amazon may have its drawbacks but it's still a fascinating place to visit, especially if you stay a few days and take some river craft into the adjoining waterways to witness the life of those that live there. To be fair, South America was still in its earlier days of development from a tourist point of view but I'm glad we saw it that way for it was far more interesting and adventurous; tourism may benefit the locals but wherever it goes it takes away a lot of the originality of the place. If we were to return now in 2020, Public transport may likely be far more developed than it was in the mid-70s and early 80s, perhaps even air-conditioned and on better, possibly sealed roads. However, it is a rugged continent that inhibits development and and most likely, will never reach the standards of North America but perhaps, that will have its appeal too. In the last pix, Wendy near pukes on the smell as she awaits our water taxi picking its way through the murky slop.
Visitors to Brazil should not say they have seen Brazil until they have at least visited (1) Iguazu Falls, (2) viewed Rio De Janeiro from Mt. Corcovado and (3) Sugar Loaf summits, (4) hiked in an Amazonian rain-forest, (5) ventured into the jungle clad mountains by road, (6) cruised the Amazon river from Manaus, (7) explored the North-Eastern beaches of Recife & Salvador, (8) visited some of the colourful historic towns and lastly, (9) take a plane flight over to see the western Tepui region, the closest thing we have seen on this earth resembling what could be imagined as another planet; photos were forbidden over this "Lost World" because of some ratbag army exercise in the area; yes archaic thinking but similarly rank throughout Sth. America. Of course, at some risk, I sneaked one pix.
(1) Visitors to Brazil should not say they have seen Brazil until they have at least visited Iguassu Falls, seen here in silt-red flood.
(2)>Visitors to Brazil should not say they have seen Brazil until they have at least seen Rio De Janeiro from Mt Corcovado.
(3) Visitors to Brazil should not say they have seen Brazil until they have ascended the "Sugarloaf" preferably both night & day.
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(4) Visitors to Brazil should not say they have seen Brazil until they have hiked at least one forest trail in the Amazon jungle. Once you head into the jungle on foot without the sound of a motor vehicle, every sound that you may hear coming from the undergrowth becomes a source of concern for this is Jaguar environment and one of the creatures that it preys on, is a tiny deer with tusks unique to the Amazon and on this trail, we were lucky to spot one hiding in the undergrowth.(left)
(5) Visitors to Brazil should not say they have seen Brazil until they have at least travelled by road into the mountainous interior.
(6) Visitors to Brazil should not say they have seen the Amazon until they have explored the river's wilderness areas by boat.
(7) Visitors to Brazil should not say they have seen Brazil until they have at least enjoyed some of its lovely northeastern beaches
(8) Visitors to Brazil should not say they have seen Brazil until they have at least visited some of the grand old historic towns
(9) Visitors to Brazil should not say they have seen Brazil until they have flown over the "Lost World" of its western tepui region.
A visit to Brazil without seeing Rio-De-Janeiro would be a crime and the giant Statue of Christ visible (above) in the far distance on Mt Corcovado, offers the very best view of the amazing topography of this vibrant but notorious city. And notorious it was too for us one evening while on our way home after a show in a local bus; at one intersection, the bus stopped at a red light and was quickly surrounded by a large unruly mob who tried to force their way into the bus but thank God, the driver would not let them in but their response to that was to rock the bus violently trying to turn it on its side and they would have succeeded were it not for the driver who accelerated through the red light dragging some of them with him still hanging on to the door handles. We may have died that day were it not for our driver as we were the only occupants on the bus. When he dropped us at our hotel, we gave him all the money we had that happened to be around 100$ U.S. which was a great deal of money to him, we thought he had earned it. Yes the beach below is a famous 3 mile long beach but to me the Copacabana is overrated; of course as Australians growing up with many crowd free, dazzling white beaches, we thought the Copacabana was way too crowded, the surf was poor and the water not very clear; give me the Pacific Ocean anytime but if its pulchritude you are after, the Ipanema is an eye opener of scantily clad humanity but here at the Copacabana, the water quality was crap; maybe they cleaned it up for the Olympics.
The Brazilians are a fascinating lot of all colors and ethnicity; the women where often attractive and in some parts of the country their dresses certainly captured my searching camera lens but the real photographic gems where the children who were often especially lovely as my two below examples well illustrate.
There was so much to see in this country with its varied terrain ranging from golden beaches to equatorial jungle, home of the jaguar and vast wetlands where giant lily pads that could support a small child can be found ,. There were always something new discoveries like historic church gilded with real gold, magnificent waterfalls, exotic animals that we had never seen before and of course, the Portuguese people themselves who are as varied a lot of humanity as you will find anywhere. Also, the Amazonian way of life fascinated us with its native mixture and the unique jungle flora & fauna so different again hat I am not even going to try and deal with it all in detail here, it would take forever so I am going to let a picture gallery do a he talking; when time allows, I'll come back and add some captions but in the interim, and before the gallery, I'll include a few full page "teases" that will help to illustrate some of the comments that I have made in this paragraph; the pictures look so much better full page rather than the gallery format.
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GALLERY OF BRAZIL CLICK ON THE "kick boxer" AND THEN MOVE THROUGH WITH THE PICTURE ARROWS OR KEYBOARD. SPECIAL FEATURES ON IGUASSU AND THE AMAZON FOLLOW
IGUASSU
However, before Amazonia and Gallery of the Amazon Brazil and because it is so spectacular in itself, I will begin with some views of the truly amazing Iguassu Falls as we saw it in September and in full flood. The sound of it could be heard km's away and the ground trembled under your feet whenever you went anywhere near it; the true magnitude of these falls can only be realized from the air and as our helicopter dipped low as if falling into the "Devils Throat," our hearts said a prayer. Our photos show the Iguazu River with its Sediment-laden flood waters stained brownish-red. The waterfall system consists of 275, 82 mtr. falls along 2.7 kilometers (1.67 miles) of the river which forms the border between Brazil & Argentina. The opportunities provided to come to grips with the power of these falls are second to none and at times only for the brave heated but for sure......you are gonna get very wet. For comparison I will include a pix sent me by a friend at another time of year.
E"The real extent of these falls can only be realized from the air and as our helicopter dipped low as if diving into the "Devils Throat," our hearts almost stopped as our pilot tried his best to suppress a broad grin. The above photo was taken through his helicopter windscreen......scary stuff! WE ARE ONLY 200 FT ABOVE THE EDGE.
FALLS GALLERY.....CLICK ON THE HOTELS PIX AND MOVE THROUGH WITH THE PICTURE ARROWS OR KEYBOARD L/R ARROWS. PICTURE CAPTIONS WILL BE ADDED LATER.
THE AMAZON
By some definitions the Amazon is the longest river in the world. At an average discharge of about 209,000 cubic metres per second the Amazon represents 20% of the global riverine discharge to the ocean. The Amazon basin has the largest drainage basin of any river which covers an area of approx. 7,050,000 square kilometres. When the river enters Brazil, it has only one-fifth of its flow but by the time it finally discharges into the Atlantic, it has a greater discharge than any other river. The below GALLERY features some of the facets associated with this river basin including those people that live there, their homes, river craft and the animals that live around them.
By some definitions the Amazon is the longest river in the world. At an average discharge of about 209,000 cubic metres per second the Amazon represents 20% of the global riverine discharge to the ocean. The Amazon basin has the largest drainage basin of any river which covers an area of approx. 7,050,000 square kilometres. When the river enters Brazil, it has only one-fifth of its flow but by the time it finally discharges into the Atlantic, it has a greater discharge than any other river. The below GALLERY features some of the facets associated with this river basin including those people that live there, their homes, river craft and the animals that live around them.
With Manaus as our base, we made several exploratory trips on the Amazon itself venturing off the main river at times into tributaries where most of the photographs you see here were taken. Leaving our river craft for periods, we hiked several trails into the jungle meeting some Amazonians along the way some of whom are pictured below including the charcoal carriers. The aerial picture was taken from our plane as we flew over the Amazon area on Route to Belem at the mouth of the river; it would have taken four days to get there by boat. I'll feature a few full page photos first and then proceed to the gallery.. The below pix illustrates the "Meeting of the Waters" where the muddy Rio Negro joins the Amazon but is reluctant to mingle.
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AMAZONIA GALLERY
CLICK ON THE BEACH AND PROGRESS USING THE PICTURE ARROWS OR KEYBOARD ARROWS. (Captions will be added later)
CLICK ON THE BEACH AND PROGRESS USING THE PICTURE ARROWS OR KEYBOARD ARROWS. (Captions will be added later)
PARAGUAY
To access Argentina from Brazil we took a ferry to Paraguay(beware passport hassles). Paraguay also shares the spectacle of the Iguazu Falls with both Brazil and Argentina but the accessibility of the false turned out to be a bit of a letdown although to be fair, any view of the Iguazu Falls is always worth seeing.We could have crossed into Argentina at Iguazu but decided instead to see something of Paraguay while we were in the area. In retrospect, Paraguay turned out to be the least interesting of any country we visited in South America. For one thing it didn't have the Andes although our bus driver (pix) informed us that the Andes was the main reason why in this part of the world it's very windy especially across the grass plains which make up a good part of the country. Travelling into the interior in the dry season we did see a lot of Rhea (pix) roaming across a dry, wide open landscape. We travel through some forested valleys (pix) but really, we could've saved the bus fares although the buses seem to be of a better standard than we had been used to elsewhere.
Standard of living was quite low in Paraguay and even though the capital Asuncion,(above) had some charm, it also had its fair share of slum areas (3 pix below) but at least the climate was semi tropical; never gets too cold here we were told but on the grassy plains in winter, it can drop to zero thanks to the biting cold winds that sweep down from the distant Andes; fortunately during our visit we did not experience any of that and as there are only two climatically seasons (wet and dry) we were lucky to avoid that as well. There was a lot of military around in Paraguay, so what else is new, it seemed that the local population which is mostly the indigenous Mestizos natives,(pix) were not too happy with their Presidente. We only spent two weeks in Paraguay and could've stayed longer but we found little of interest here in comparison to its neighbors as the few pictures that we did take while there would indicate. Mind you, when we thought of taking pictures there always seemed to be military around which led to great caution on our part. We had a strong feeling when there that Paraguay was not a country for you to end up in jail.
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Our most vivid memory of Paraguay turned out to be an encounter with the Blue Morph butterfly, surely one of God's most beautiful creations. We first saw them when climbing a staircase (pix)e to view Iguassu falls and they seem to be everywhere but only in momentary flashes of brilliant iridescent blue that passed us by before we could realize what it was. Trying to photograph one was quite frustrating as they were always on the move and never paused long enough for a photograph. Three young children coming back from the falls stopped and watched my attempts to photograph the butterfly and were great amusement. Surprisingly, rather than move on they motioned for us to follow them which we did because they looked harmless; they took us along a along a dark sidetrack which led us into a small glen. They then sat quietly together on a log and and motioned for to do the same on a nearby seat which we did. It was a strange situation to say the least but we felt that these kids seem to know what they were doing and sure enough, within minutes some butterflies s appeared making their way along the narrow track but nary a one paused for a moment. We got up as if to leave because it seemed a waste of time to be there but one of the of the three got up(right in pix) and pointed to a particular shrub on the track and motioned for us to stay and we did so, and waited. We didn't have to wait for long because not one but two Blue Morphs appeared and amazingly, they both settled on the very bush that the young girl had pointed to. We spent a half hour with those kids and wondered the whole time where their parents were but they seem to show no concern about the situation and I wanted so badly to be able to speak to them and thank them but we thought it best not fraternize with them any longer so we wave and motioned to to leave; they looked a little disappointed so we gave each one of them a new American dollar and after that, I have never seen such happy kids in all my life They ran off down the track waving goodbye but not before I managed to get a photograph of all three of them together. I wonder where they are now and what happened to them; in retrospect, there was likely a residue on that shrub which attracted the "morphs" and the kids knew that. I treasure their memory.
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As an interesting footnote to Paraguay, Wendy was preparing lunch in the grounds of a guesthouse located on the banks of a river outside of Buenos Aires, Argentina; checking out a nearby signpost I noticed that the river was the Parana and I realize then that Paraguay was not necessarily a land locked country as we thought because really, we could have taken a boat in Asuncion and traveled all the way from there to the sea which technically meant that Paraguay has an Atlantic beachfront…… C'est la vie question!
ARGENTINA
Make no mistake, as our opening "Tierra del Fueg" picture(1) well illustrates, Argentina, home of the Rhea & Gaucho (2/3), takes some getting around! Okay, it may not be as big as Brazil but there is much to see here and the Andes figures a lot in its topography. Trains, boats, ferries, buses, planes, rental car and even a helicopter; we used them all to get around and see this wonderfully varied country (2-4). So much wide open, often dry, colorful unspoiled space reminded us at times of "Outback" Australia (pix 5) except that it was the home of the rhea rather than the emu. So many times in such wild places we wished we had brought our RR2 VW camper . Instead we made do with local, rattletrap buses and a rental vehicle (pix-6) that ran far better than it looked. Part of our second venture into S. Am., we continued south from Argentina and on into Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile following its long coastline around Cape Horn and up to its west coast border with Peru.
Make no mistake, as our opening "Tierra del Fueg" picture(1) well illustrates, Argentina, home of the Rhea & Gaucho (2/3), takes some getting around! Okay, it may not be as big as Brazil but there is much to see here and the Andes figures a lot in its topography. Trains, boats, ferries, buses, planes, rental car and even a helicopter; we used them all to get around and see this wonderfully varied country (2-4). So much wide open, often dry, colorful unspoiled space reminded us at times of "Outback" Australia (pix 5) except that it was the home of the rhea rather than the emu. So many times in such wild places we wished we had brought our RR2 VW camper . Instead we made do with local, rattletrap buses and a rental vehicle (pix-6) that ran far better than it looked. Part of our second venture into S. Am., we continued south from Argentina and on into Uruguay, Paraguay and Chile following its long coastline around Cape Horn and up to its west coast border with Peru.
RHEA
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GAUCHO
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"often dry, colorful unspoiled space reminded us at times of "Outback" Australia"
Scoff at our rental car but it didn't fail us; more than I can say for the buses; they may have looked fancy outside but that didn't help. One of the crazy things that we had to deal with when travelling in Argentina, was the outrageous inflation rate as Wendy demonstrates below; buses were relatively cheap in Argentina and Wendy is pictured with a handful of notes equivalent to $.50c which he needed to board a local bus a short distance to a local market. Imagine what we would have to carry for a much longer trip and on top of that, you needed to remain alert because there were old notes and new notes with the new notes correctly designating the true value as printed but the old ones with the same printed value, where worth 1/10 of the new notes….It could drive you crazy except Wendy taught mathematics at school….Oh what fun!
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Apart from some of the best steak & wine in the world (our opinion), Argentina has spectacular glaciers(pix-1 below), scenic lakes & mountains(pix-2), sub-tropical & sub-arctic forests(pix-3), extensive wildlife (pix-4) and shares the greatest waterfall spectacle in the world with Brazil(pix-5). Obviously, we needed to spend a lot of time here and we did from its Brazilian borders to as far south as Ushuaia, nicknamed “End of the World” and situated in the notoriously windy Tierra del Fuego” where Wendy(pix-6) hid behind rocks to keep our alcohol stove alight.
Forgetting its politics and infamous history, Argentina remains on our list as one of our favourite world countries to visit. However, there was not a country in South America that did not give us problems one way or another and Argentina was no different with its ludicrous inflation that had us having to deal with hundreds of notes that equaled only a few cents in the US dollar but a bigger hassle was the bomb threat on some of the bus lines and we never found out why. Local paper headlines told of a bus & passengers blown up including a couple of German tourists. The lineup of full page images pictures below are but a few spectacular samples of this out of the ordinary country with many more highlights featured in several following Galleries.
From some of the most spectacular lake scenery in the world to "In your face" glaciers, Argentina beckons the adventurer. Above: After a tough climb, Wendy takes in part of the fabulous Bariloche lake district and below, she gets maybe too close to the awesome, unstable, 200 ft high, ice-blue face of the Perito Merino glacier.
Argentina, ranks number one in our experience that allowed us to drive up to, park, and then stroll over to such close proximity of crumbling glacial ice faces with no restriction. For the most part, there was never anyone around and we thought this experience was amazing but we also realized, that if a large enough piece of ice collapsed off the face, a wall of ice laden water would sweep us off our feet….Great pictures though but I am sure that nowadays such freedom would never be allowed; yet another example of why we are so glad we travelled in the late 70s and early 80s as we did.
When I said Wendy was too close to the glacier, these two photos illustrate why; with a loud creaking sound that startled the hell out of both of us, a massive slab of ice broke away from the glacier face and with 2/3 of it already underwater, I just had time with my still camera to catch the last of it (above) before it too went underwater. We were far enough away to avoid the falling ice but but the water displaced by the ice, sent a wall of icy water racing across to Wendy, who was near water level; fortunately she had made it out of the picture when I snapped the below photo of the impact against the rock where she had just been standing.
You can be sure that conditions have changed now but in the five days (m-f) we spent on the Valdez peninsula, half a century ago, we mingled unhindered and slept alongside a million penguins and hundreds of Sea Lions/Elephant seals at close quarters almost as if we belonged there; during the week, we were the only humans there; come weekend we left. ....so wonderful by day but cold sleeping in the car at night and always very windy.
A lover of mountains, we knew we could not leave Argentina until we at least got a glimpse of the awesome 6,962 Meter, (22,837 ft) Aconcagua. But, to even get near it, we had to rent a vehicle from Mendoza and tackle an arduous, winding gravelled, 10,499 ft mountain pass (pictured below). The “Los Libertadores” (Chile) or “Uspallata” (Argentina) stands in the vicinity of Aconcagua. The mountain is the highest in both the Western and Southern Hemispheres, followed by Mount McKinley, the highest peak in North America. Approaching the summit of Uspallata, we were thrilled to discover the mountain slowly clearing of clouds so we parked our wheels and hiked as close as we could in the limited time we had. It was worth the effort. Heavily glaciated, it was indeed a monster(see below). The picture (left) is a good example of what not to do when you are miles from anywhere, in a foreign country where no one knows who or where you are nor gives a damn anyway. What you can't hear is Wendy screaming at me to come back and get off the bridge (if you can call it that). A sudden strong wind started to cause the whole thing to swing and pitch violently and I was having difficulty staying upright. Try to imagine Wendy's plight had I gone into the fast flowing, very cold stream. Meanwhile I'm yelling back to her to get a picture. Wendy, sensibly had refused to go any further but of course I had to show her it was safe; in reality, it scared the hell out of me, for Wendy's sake, I should have known better.
Nowadays, visitors to this spectacular area get it a lot easier than we did with the road widened and asphalted and at it's highest altitude, a 3082 meter long tunnel takes away some of the winter grief but still, it closes often with the tunnel blocked both ends. As torturous as this road may appear it's a piece of cake compared to the Chilean side which fortunate, we didn't have to tackle. Chile and Argentina share some 5000 miles of border along the spine of the Andes with some 40 other crossings; example below.
Generally speaking, Argentina did not offer the same viewing opportunities of the mighty Iguassu Falls as its neighbor Brazil but we did wonder at times as to how often that anyone checked the foundations of some of the walkways and viewing platforms that were erected within the Falls themselves right to the very edge of the cauldrons...awesome stuff and of course we went anyway but it was scary and we got soaked doing it
ARGENTINA GALLERY
Hope you enjoyed the introduction to Argentina and I will be adding descriptions to each GALLERY pic when I have time and that will be a task in itself; some of the material I will have already covered in the Intro so for the moment, enjoy the pix. click on the Vina del Mar holiday apartments and then move on through using the picture arrows but if your L/R keyboard do the job, that's much easier than the mouse; so for now, browse and enjoy!
Hope you enjoyed the introduction to Argentina and I will be adding descriptions to each GALLERY pic when I have time and that will be a task in itself; some of the material I will have already covered in the Intro so for the moment, enjoy the pix. click on the Vina del Mar holiday apartments and then move on through using the picture arrows but if your L/R keyboard do the job, that's much easier than the mouse; so for now, browse and enjoy!
Chile
SPINE OF THE ANDES SEEN FROM OUR FLIGHT BETWEEN PUERTO WILLIAMS AND PUNTA ARENAS, CHILE.
South America generally, for us anyway, is the most fascinating and varied continent on earth with so much to see and most often on a grand scale be it lakes, rain forest, deserts, mountains, waterfalls, fauna, glaciers, wild rivers, volcanoes etc-etc., the variety is endless and Chile has its fair share of them all many of which you will find pictured as this page continues including Cape Horn, southernmost point on the S.A continent. With the exception of the Tibetan plateau, no aerial flight we have ever made over mountain and glacier has yet to equal our 3 hour flight along the spine of the Chilean Andes between Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas. Flying this route in a small plane at approximately 13,000ft (3960mtrs) on a clear day such as we had, is an experience once seen never forgotten, especially considering we stood all the way behind the pilots but that is another story. But as I said earlier, there's a lot more to Chile than that including our favourite mountains on the planet, the Torres Del Paine; again, once seen never forgotten. In total contrast to all I have said thus far re snow & ice, Chile also has the amazing Atacama desert; reputed to be the driest in the world, it occupies vast areas of the country's NW coastline,(below pix). Ocean cruising from Punta Arenas back to Puerto Williams past massive volcanoes was an added bonus.
THE CONTRAST BETWEEN CHILE'S NW COASTLINE AND IT'S CENTRAL LAKE DISTRICT IS PHENOMENAL TO SAY THE LEAST.
BUT THEN SO TOO IS THE CONTRAST BETWEEN ITS LAKES, THE COUNTRY NEVER FAILS TO IMPRESS.
THE CONTRAST CONTINUES WITH NEAR ZERO RAINFALL ON THE WEST COAST (ABOVE) AND ON THE SOUTH COAST.(BELOW)
AND THE MOUNTAINS VARY BETWEEN AWESOME GLACIER FORMED TO THOSE SPAWNED FROM FIRE
WENDY WAITS FOR AN AFTERNOON FLIGHT TO CAPE HORN, HAVING MISSED OUR MORNING FLIGHT, (SEE STORY BELOW).
We thought Chile to be a superlative country in every respect; the people were very European in appearance a lot of the time and overall, very friendly except maybe for those wearing a uniform (see pix). At our time of travel, the paranoia in most South American countries about photographing bridges, airports or anything military was ludicrous to say the least which we mostly ignored but remained careful. However, when we stopped over on the island of Navarino (Chile) I did sneak a picture of a gun pilgrim across the channel to Argentina and someone reported it to the local police. We never made our Cape Horn connection because we were detained at the airport and separately interrogated in dingy, poorly lit rooms for over an hour; yes, the experience scared the heck out of us; we had to surrender our camera film but as luck would have it, we had just changed it ready for our Cape Horn flight so they got nothing. Hesitantly, we pushed that luck a little further by staying around for the afternoon flight that took us around the Cape and back to Punta Arenas. Having previously reached the northern place in the world that you can drive a car, we had finally made it to the southern most point at least by air! We have yet to make it to the Antarctic Peninsula....one day maybe?
THE INFAMOUS CAPE HORN LOOKING MUSH CALMER THAN IT USUALLY IS.
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We first discovered the "Torres del Paine" (above)in a National Geographic magazine many years before we finally got to Chile to see the mountains in person and we were not disappointed. In fact, as we gazed across the rust coloured Pampas for our first encounter with Paine, we were simply overawed by this unique, solitary mountain range and how it dominated the skyline in front of us, our thoughts were it just shouldn't be there,(pix coming up) Arriving in Punta Arenas, we were lucky to find a Notice Board advertising accommodation close by the mountains and were relieved to find it vacant. we stocked up with previsions and managed to rent another vehicle because we had surrender our Argentinian "Body shop Dream" wagon to the Automobile Association Office at the border back in the Bariloche Lakes area. The only thing we could find in "Punta" that was driveable was an absolute "Shocker" of a Camper that a garage owner agreed to let us use for a week; it was his own vehicle and it looked like it had been to hell and back (see pix below) but the engine ticked over okay. Fortunately the owner knew the people who were going to put us up at the Park and obligingly, he drew us a map to find the place.
It took us over 5 hrs to drive the 420 km from "Punta" to get our first classic photo of Wendy & Paine and with that in mind, we took our time on the rough road and soon encountering guanacos which scurried across our path a number of times introducing us to their high pitched bleating calls a first for us in the animal world. Having also seen Rheas in Argentina, but only from a distance we were able to stop and approach them enough to get closer and even lucky enough to discover one with chicks. unlike the noisy Guanacos, the Rheas made little sound except maybe like a very low booming noise. Not near as large as their cousins the Ostrich, they nevertheless were around 170cm tall (67") and when they made a run at you, you thought it best to got out of their way.
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Using trees as wind-breaks, we have our first picnic at Paine with a beckoning backdrop that we had yet to explore. From home base in the below B & B/store/bakery, we hiked daily throughout the region in almost perfect weather and really, that's all I need to say because I'm going to let the following 9 trail pictures speak for the sheer beauty of this magnificent Park . We had to forego a 4 day camp-out hike for lack of visa time. There was no shortage of bread for trail sandwiches at our B & B bakery, they were the largest loaves of bread we had ever seen (see pix)..
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Wendy (above) takes in another of the stunning lakes of the area. Below, some of the many guanacos we encountered in the Park.
(Above) Some of the many glaciers of the range and when the wind swept down off the Mts, we needed warm clothes just to picnic.
Wendy, (above) wishes we had a kayak to reach the glacier on the other side of the lake and below, guanacos scatter before us.
The three towers, (above left), many have tried to climb them only a few have succeed.(Below) A Paine sunrise to end this series.
After our Cape Horn fiasco we didn't feel like hanging around Punta Arenas (above); trying to get on a plane back to Puerto Montt gave us the usual problems (seats always seemed to be "Completo" until some money was exchanged); so, we jumped at the chance to get accommodation on a cargo boat ( in port see above) that cruised the Chilean Archipelago from "Punta" to Puerto Montt, calling in at Castro on the big island of Chiloe and other ports along the way. The trip far exceeded any expectations we may have had with the coastal scenery en route simply awesome to say the least including spectacular volcanoes(below), waterfalls & glacier covered mountains (below) that seemed to fall straight into the sea. Ports of call gave us the opportunity to realize that the archipelago had an old world charm of its own with its wooden churches & house (below)s. fishing villages on piers, picturesque bays & coves; had we our beloved VW camper, we could have dined like kings on cheap wine & the incredible array of sea food on sale at local markets.The next 11 pictures are just a small sample of the interest offered on this four day cruise that I would recommend to anyone, quite fascinating really and the scenery is extraordinary. Mind you it is a cargo ship not that it really well set up for passengers but any inconvenience is more than compensated by the Chilean coastline.
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This being our last independent venture into South America, we bade farewell to Chile at Santiago's airport with the Andes barely visible through the Capital City's smog; flying from there to Miami, we rejoined our beloved RR2 waiting patiently in a friend's backyard for our return. That was nearly fifty years ago and we have no interest to ever return to the continent. Yes there were problems for us at times when we toured there but there was also a wonderful, unspoiled, originality to the many places we visited that has long since been swallowed up into commercialized tourism; even on Peru's celebrated Inca Trail, you are either closely following someone or being followed by someone and at Machu Picchu, a clutter of hotels encroach on areas that were once wild and unspoiled. Access to the ruins is now strictly controlled requiring ID to purchase tickets to visit at scheduled times. Now if you haven't done that already, read of our own experience at Machu Picchu in our Peru section.
GALLERIA OF CHILE
CLICK ON THE WASHING LINE AND USE THE PICTURE OR KEYBOARD ARROWS TO PROCEED. (Captions will be added later)
CLICK ON THE WASHING LINE AND USE THE PICTURE OR KEYBOARD ARROWS TO PROCEED. (Captions will be added later)
BOLIVIA
Not a large country (5th) on Sth. American standards, landlocked Bolivia grabbed our attention right off with the need for our light plane to ascend in order to land at La Paz's airport located at 4,061m. (13, 325ft) above sea level. The more we travelled around Bolivia the more it impressed us with its varied terrain including the Andes Mountains, the high Atacama Desert (below-2), the 12,300ft Altiplano plateau(above-1) and even low level Amazon (8) Basin rain fores. The Andean plateau (3) of Bolivian is the area where the Andes are at their widest. It is the most extensive area of high plateau on Earth outside Tibet. The bulk of the plateau lies in Bolivia but its northern part lies in Peru and its southern parts extend into Chile and Argentina. At more than 3,500m, its administrative capital, La Paz (4), sits on the Altiplano plateau with snow-capped (21,463 ft) Mt. Illimani in the background. Nearby is Lake Titicaca, the continent’s largest lake, straddling the border with Peru. The longer we stayed in Bolivia the more it impressed us and Lake Titicaca was no exception; It sits 3812 m (12507 ft) above sea level making it the highest commercially navigable lake in the world. As if that wasn't enough, when we travelled by bus down what is reputed to be one of the most dangerous roads in the world, we descended from 3,500m to nearly 70 meters (230 ft) along the Paraguay river. That road to put it mildly, was a bloody nightmare but all the same, the "Road of Death") is what we most remember about Bolivia especially considering the fact it "dead ended" near the Chilean border and we had to reverse our tracks back to La Paz. What we would rather forget about Bolivia is the annoying "everybody out" bus searches for who knows what (see pix), but it ad became a way of life for us
Bolivia surprised us with how its varied terrain occurred over short distances such as the high altitude city of La Paz, with snow-capped (21,463 ft) Mt. Illimani in the background but with the Amazon Basin rain forest (pictured below) only an hours drive away.
As in many cases in S.A., bu stops (see below), roadside restaurant & toilet facilities (if any) left a lot to be desired especially for females, Stay healthy was critical; getting sick in a foreign country where you know no one and barely speak the language is not fun, believe me and best avoided at all costs. We rarely ate locally and when the conditions are allowed, Wendy did much of our cooking and meal preparation and soon became an expert using her little alcohol stove. Many times that was done during the inevitable bus breakdown's that occurred on a daily basis and our pictures illustrate typical situations.
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The longer we spent in Bolivia the more it impressed us and Lake Titicaca (above) was no exception; It sits 3812 m (12507 ft) above sea level making it the highest commercially navigable lake in the world. Most unusual on the lake was a floating village held above the waterline by a spreading platform of reeds; their watercraft (above) was made from the same material As if that wasn't enough, when we left the high country by bus, we travelled down what is reputed to be one of the most dangerous roads (below) in the world referred to as the ("Road of Death"). Encountering oncoming traffic on this road proved to be a nightmare ; note the maneuvering below as our bus driver backed to within a few centimeter of a 2000 ft drop in order to allow a logging truck to get by.....insane, even the road has a crack in it! Many people have died negotiating the Yungas, 2-300 a yr, before they improved it.
GALLERY OF BOLIVIA
CLICK ON THE ROAD VEHICLES AND USE THE PICTURE OR KEYBOARD ARROWS TO PROCEED. (Captions will be added later)
CLICK ON THE ROAD VEHICLES AND USE THE PICTURE OR KEYBOARD ARROWS TO PROCEED. (Captions will be added later)
MORE OF BOLIVIA GALLERY TO COME
WE EXPLORE THE LAND OF THE INCA
PERU
Home to a section of Amazon rain forest, the Altiplano, Lake Titicaca, the Inca Trail and the 11,000 + ft, colonial city of Cuzco, Peru is rich in archaeological sites the most famous being Machu Picchu, high in the Andes mountains and undoubtedly in our humble opinion, one of the great wonders of the world; few places we have seen impressed us more than the magnificent setting of this ancient city. Taking a train in the early hours of the morning from frosty Cuzco, we followed the Rio Urubamba to the station Aguas Caliente and from there hiked the scenic 9k track/road up to the ruins arriving there just as the sun fell upon the ancient city creating a magical scene that had us feeling like we were the first to discover the ruins, especially when there was not a soul to be seen; it was all quite eerie really in the silence that we found there and a far cry 48 years ago compared to the tourist hub that it has become now. The town of Puno (or should I say "Dump") on the shores of Lake Titicaca, was a good example of the drawbacks we encountered by travelling without pre booked accommodation. Off loaded from a bus at 2:30 am in the seediest of light-less neighborhoods, we knew we had to get off the street ASAP and accordingly, found ourselves staying in what turned out to be a brothel; it was a sleepless night for us listening to the sounds of creaking, shaking beds and various orgasms, the giant cockroaches on the walls beside us was no help either. Peru held the record for the greatest number of bus breakdowns with buses that literally fell apart at times; okay, by now (2020) 2 transportation has improved and also the standard of hotel accommodation but any discomfort we endured was worth it to see sights like Machu Picchu without ticket collectors, loads of bus driver tourists plus on site hotels, gift stores & hawkers; it will never be the same as is the case now on the strictly controlled fauna of Argentina's Valdez peninsula and Ecuador's Galapagos islands.
Home to a section of Amazon rain forest, the Altiplano, Lake Titicaca, the Inca Trail and the 11,000 + ft, colonial city of Cuzco, Peru is rich in archaeological sites the most famous being Machu Picchu, high in the Andes mountains and undoubtedly in our humble opinion, one of the great wonders of the world; few places we have seen impressed us more than the magnificent setting of this ancient city. Taking a train in the early hours of the morning from frosty Cuzco, we followed the Rio Urubamba to the station Aguas Caliente and from there hiked the scenic 9k track/road up to the ruins arriving there just as the sun fell upon the ancient city creating a magical scene that had us feeling like we were the first to discover the ruins, especially when there was not a soul to be seen; it was all quite eerie really in the silence that we found there and a far cry 48 years ago compared to the tourist hub that it has become now. The town of Puno (or should I say "Dump") on the shores of Lake Titicaca, was a good example of the drawbacks we encountered by travelling without pre booked accommodation. Off loaded from a bus at 2:30 am in the seediest of light-less neighborhoods, we knew we had to get off the street ASAP and accordingly, found ourselves staying in what turned out to be a brothel; it was a sleepless night for us listening to the sounds of creaking, shaking beds and various orgasms, the giant cockroaches on the walls beside us was no help either. Peru held the record for the greatest number of bus breakdowns with buses that literally fell apart at times; okay, by now (2020) 2 transportation has improved and also the standard of hotel accommodation but any discomfort we endured was worth it to see sights like Machu Picchu without ticket collectors, loads of bus driver tourists plus on site hotels, gift stores & hawkers; it will never be the same as is the case now on the strictly controlled fauna of Argentina's Valdez peninsula and Ecuador's Galapagos islands.
We wearied of the constant authoritative presence (above) in Peru with their road barriers, toll gates, passport & document checks. Peru also held the record for the greatest number of bus breakdowns (below) with buses that literally fell apart at times with parts of the floor giving way under our feet choking us with road dust from below; in one bus, the floor to ceiling bars that supported the roof were buckling under the excess weight loaded above us.
"Travelling north up the Atacama desert coastline from Chilean border to Peru via the "goat track" road between Arica and Tacna (Peru) was like travelling to the ends of the earth. Roadside crosses with flowers often marked the spots where vehicles had met their demise. As you can see, there's nothing below bot rocks & ocean.
About halfway up the Peruvian coastline and located on a small sandy escarpment (below) overlooking the sea, the capital city of Lima (above to us at the time was an absolute dump and we couldn't get out of it fast enough. To be fair, it has modernized a lot since we were there but really, Wendy and en big on cities and so we headed higher to Arequipa which turned out to be worse.
Heading inland from Lima, we in our ignorance and still wearing shorts, boarded an Arequipa bound bus (luggage went on top of the bus); climbing from semi tropical Mataran into the high desert, we near froze to death at 2,500 mtrs. Our "Rattletrap" bus was missing a lot of its windows and those that it did have, wouldn't close. It was a long, punishingly miserable night trip arriving in Arequipa after midnight. Yes we found a hotel but had to spray the beds with DDT to hopeful ward off the bugs. Not one of our best S.American night experiences! Next morning we were amazed by a 19,100ft volcano outside our window.
As colourful as the Atacama desert can be (above) one does tire of the heat, dust and haze and it was refreshing to keep climbing and eventually reach the Altiplano (next two pix), highest and most extensive land plateau on the planet exceeded only by that in Tibet. Bitterly cold and windy in the winter, it is extensively cultivated by the locals in the summer many living in primitive conditions.
Life is hard on the Altaplano, averaging about 12,000 ft above sea level and even the summers are cool, cold in the morning's, often rainy and windy; this takes its toll on the people living there as the next two pictures well illustrate.
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You'll be wondering why when the topic is the Altiplano, we are suddenly confronted by a Jaguar a denizen of the Amazon rainforest; I have simply used it here to indicate the amazing diversity of this country for it is in the Peruvian Andes where the mighty Amazon begins and the house pictured below is another example of the diverse living conditions between those living on the lower Amazon(below) and those pictured above on the Altiplano. The Peruvian Amazon area is easily the biggest of them all, encompassing approximately 60% of the country. The fourth largest rainforest in the world, the Peruvian Amazon boasts remarkable biodiversity. In terms of flora, the area has 700 types of ferns and more than 7,300 different species of flowering plants (above).
An interesting part of the world to visit, the high plateau is not a pleasant place to live and the wind is a primary factor; in the two pix examples, and alpaca training strives to make headway against the oncoming wind so strong, that the bus driver and his sidekick,while descending to the city of Cusco, (11,000 feet) must apply pressure against the windshield to prevent it from imploding.
For us anyway, Cusco ii the most fascinating cities to visit in Peru, full of narrow cobbled streets and interesting houses built on the still visible Inca stonewalls; set in a magnificent mountain environment, the city is bustling with colourful indigenous people and also the main departure point to visit nearby Inca ruins the most notable of which is Machu Picchu. We spent several days here checking out churches and local markets and near "froze to death" while doing it; spoken in jest for us yes but in reality, we did see some street children huddled together and frozen in the shop doorways overnight. Sadly, little notice was taken of them and we were had to do the same. A horse & cart removed them later. The next picture selection are some of the sights in and around this absorbing city of the Inca. As you will see, what attracted the attention of my telephoto lens the most was the great variety of indigenous people that flooded into the town on market day; I will never know how far many of them had come to be there. We soon realized that the type of had these people wore identified them as to what the group or village they came from. Most notable was the number of women that had the burden of children on their back be they young or old; very often the hardship of their lives showing in their faces.
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We were greatly troubled when in Cusco by the number of street living children in need of help (above); young children often carrying babies with nothing in the way of parents in sight was not unusual and on two occasions when we did dine in a restaurant, a child came in off the street and stood by our table hoping that we would leave something on our plates that they could consume; it was distressing to say the least and as we walked past the below group to board a train to Ollantaytambo our frame of mind was one of"guilt" that on their standards, we had so much and they who live there had so little.
We timed our train schedule to get us to the Machu Picchu access station two hours before the first access us went up the mountain; it was an hour on foot to the site which would give us an hour to ourselves before somebody else arrived. The train trip from Cusco is an awesome experience as of the rail line clings precariously to the edge of the Rio Bamba River as it winds its way through a narrow gorge enclosed on both sides white jungle clad mountain's; to us, it was like we were travelling into a "Lost World".
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The road from the river climbs relentlessly up with a grade that had our lungs wanting for more air at 8000 feet but somehow we didn't mind that because of the growing feeling of anticipation and excitement of seeing for the first time an ancient city or at least the remnants of one perched upon a plateau encircled on all sides by mist shrouded mountains
When we first arrived, Machu Picchu was dark and gloomy with a light mist weaving its way in and out of the ruins but when the sun appeared above the Mountain skyline the the mist magically vanished and finally, what we had been reading about for years was there below us with not a soul in sight and a deathly silence added an additional aura of mystery to the scene. Yes, in our travels we had seen ruins in better shape but the awesome location of the site was unmatched in our experience; how these Inca manage to transport to this precipitous location all the necessary materials to construct the town is where the true wonder of Machu Picchu lies. We explored the ruins in silence trying to establish in our minds what the original reason for constructing the individual buildings were or at least what was left of them. It was an eerie experience for us, there alone in the mountains, almost like we were the first ones to discover the place but inevitably, the distant sound of a bus choking up the mountainside fractured the aura of the place. In no time at all, the purity of the mountain air was permeated by the smell of diesel fumes created by the idling bus and adding to that, evidence that humanity had arrived. It was our cue to leave preferring to walk back down the mountain in peace. To finally reach Machu Picchu, was a milestone achieved in our travels and it will be remembered as that.
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Arriving in and exiting Peru were both dramatic and memorable experiences. The ferry trip from Ecuador to Peru was a horrible overnight experience described in more detail later; needless to say we set huddled together on a surprisingly vacant deck seat and stayed that way throughout the trip not wishing to fall asleep and keep an eye on our luggage at our feet. Most of the locals spent the night swaying backwards and forwards in hammocks (above left) that they had erected themselves. As for exiting Peru back to Ecuador, it was also a dramatic experience on a different scale as our steam locomotive brought us down in a series of precipitous switchbacks that eventually brought us down to a station where we could access a bus back to Quito. This notorious journey has had a series of mishaps over the years leaving me in doubt that it still operates today.
GALLERY OF PERU
CLICK ON THE CACTUS AND USE THE PICTURE OR KEYBOARD L/R ARROWS TO PROCEED THROUGH THE GALLERY. (Captions will be added later)
ECUADOR
Bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific on the west, Ecuador impressed with its varied landscape in a relatively small country as did Bolivia although, Ecuador excels with its many volcanoes with a dramatic example pictured above. Unlike La Paz, Quito proved to be a charming capital city with lots of old well preserved buildings and a lovely, shady central squarewell populated by the usual lounging man seemingly with little else to do but watch passesers by.(below). The highlands were impressive with their chain of volcanoes and yet tucked into another corner, the country still managed to provide a small pocket of Amazon rain forest. Ecuador's trump card is the volcanic Galapagos Islands about 1,000 k's (620 mi) west of the mainland; we found unusual creatures there but what really caught our attention in Ecuador was the diversity and colour found within the indigenous population, so much so, my camera was more often pointed at the locals rather than the landscapes & historic sights. Ecuador now is made up of a variety of Amerindian groups that infiltrated the Inca Empire which was later colonized by Spain during the 16th century. The legacy of both empires is reflected in Ecuador's ethnically diverse population, with most of its people being mestizos, followed by large minorities of European, Amerindian, and African descendants. Like any country in South America, we had our set of problems and Ecuador was no exception. In Quito we got caught up in street protests; it was scary to say the least as was a simply dreadful overnight ferry trip out of Guayaquil that was way, way overcrowded & carrying every type of rif-raf imaginable. We seemed to be the only Caucasians on board and guarding our luggage was paramount which meant I had to let Wendy go off unaccompanied to use the toilet which as it turned out, she never used anyway because as she informed me later, it was not even suitable for pigs. We soon learned to stay well away from the open deck to avoid the urine spray from those pissing over the side from the upper decks. It was a sweaty, filthy, depressing, exhausting, sleepless night we are not likely to forget. If you have been following South America in the order that it has been written you will recall this ferry was mentioned in Peru.
Ecuador takes first prize on our South American trips as having the most ramshackle buses with the one pictured above a prime example. Most of the windows had long since fallen out and with the roads being dirt most of the time it made for a very dusty trip. The holes in the bus floor were the worst source of dust however and in some cases, so much dust came up through the floor we could barely make out the driver. Our seat if we can call it that, both had holes in the floor under our feet and a narrow wooden plank had been secured to the floor for us to rest our feet on rather than them dangle below floor level. This particular bus had two full 44 gallon drums on the roof which in themselves was a huge weight for the roof to support; to accommodate that situation, a 6 inch diameter wooden support pole had been attached to the interior floor and similarly to the ceiling giving the original already buckled roof stanchions the extra support they needed. The whole thing was definitely worth a photograph but as so often in South America, we were unsure as to the reaction of the driver and his cohort so we refrained from doing so. As was the case throughout South America, we were told that luggage goes on the roof which we were always reluctant to surrender mainly because we never knew how well it was secured and whether it would still be there when we got to our destination. On some occasions an assistant stayed up on the roof throughout the trip supposedly to keep an eye on the luggage but we were always wondering if he was going through our luggage contents while he was up there….And that's the way it was for us in South America.t
Busing it around Ecuador was an eye opener as South America so often was; at times, the terrain was incredibly convoluted (above), as if several earthquakes had passed by and the villages also were equally variable, at times it seemed we were in Africa (see below) but without doubt, some of the bus lunch stops left a lot to be desired (last picture).
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Quito was one of the more pleasant cities that we visited in South America; our hotel (above) was one of our more agreeable stays on this continent; the rooms were clean and presentable although the door to our apartment did not lock which means we had to carry a small suitcase with us whenever we went out so that if we lost the rest of our possessions we at least had a "starter". At night in order to get something like a decent sleep, we balanced several coins on the top of our door frame so that if the door was opened, no matter how carefully, the coins would fall off and make one hell of a rattle on the wooden floor; it's a trick we have used many times in the past. In our Quito Hotel, we had one fright as coins rattled to the floor but we saw no one meaning that our alarm had worked. The only other drawback with our Quito Hotel was that there was only one toilet that serve the entire hallway; at least it did flush but there was nary a sign of toilet paper as per usual. We felt relatively safe in Ecuador with not too much presence of military but on one day in Quito, we inadvertently got caught up with a protest march which wasn't brutally charged on horseback by hard hat military flailing the backs of the protesters with swords that soon cause considerable panic resulting in the trampling of some unlucky souls and of cause screams from women and children. We managed to extricate ourselves ASAP as we wanted no bar of that….We were lucky but it sure did scare the heck out of us !
Running for 200 miles south of Quito between two parallel cordilleras, Ecuador's “Avenue of the Volcanoes” contains seven peaks more than 17,000 feet high. The tallest, is 20,565-foot Chimborazo but alas, we never got to see it because we only made it 60 miles along the avenue because of the atrocious road (see pix) that were more suited to a Land Rover than our rented Datsun sedan; we at least got to see the most famous Cotopaxi, one of the most active volcanoes in the world (pictured above) but there were others adding to, at least in our experience, one of the most scenic drives of its kind in the world.
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After the fact, we question the value of flying to the Galapagos, will yes there were lots of blue footed birds, even greater numbers of swimming iguanas that spend more time soaking up the sunshine and occasionally spitting at you; and of course we can't forget the rather large turtles. For a wildlife experience, we preferred the Valdez Peninsula in Argentina, a truly amazing place.
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From a photographic point of view, people throughout South America most often where interesting photographic subjects but trying to capture them on film was no easy task especially around the equator where the sun is directly overhead. Especially in Ecuador and Peru, the variety of hats that everyone seemed to wear cast a deep shadow over their already dark faces which in turn created a problem for my Kodachrome film that didn't have the latitude to deal with the contrast of bright exterior and dark faces. And there was always the problem of trying to grab a picture without the subject noticing it and if they did, I certainly got more than one rebuff; locals were never enthusiastic about being filmed especially the women. Trying to get at least some detail in their faces, I generally had to overexpose the rest; modern day digital cameras would have made life so much easier.ard.
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GALLERY OF ECUADOR
CLICK ON THE BRIDGE AND USE THE PICTURE OR KEYBOARD L/R ARROWS TO PROCEED THROUGH THE GALLERY. (Captions will be added later)
COLOMBIA
We didn't get to see that much of Columbia when compared to the other countries in South America that we visited. We obtained our Colombian visa in Miami, Florida and were warned at that time by the consulate for Columbia that travel in that country Overland was dangerous and not recommended at that time. The alternative was to fly between points of interest and to facilitate that their national airline "Avianca" was offering a "fly Columbia" for $50 US which seemed like a pretty good deal to us so we obtained a ticket before we left USA. Much later when arriving in Columbia, Avianca did honour the ticket but we soon found that obtaining a seat on their airplanes was a headache for us throughout the time we spent in the country that is of course, unless we paid a little extra for the service; it seemed the planes were always completely booked but we knew darn well they were not. After missing two days in a row, Wendy had had enough and in her limited Spanish gave the airport staff a "piece of her mind" which resulted in the Gen. Manager assuring us that he will provide us with space on the next plane. The above picture illustrates Wendy being escorted by a stewardess who took us to the head of the line up and placed us in the cockpit with the pilots where we stood for the entire journey; the fact that we had to stand all the way was well compensated by the wonderful views that we obtained by standing behind the pilots. We were amused by the fact that the pilot set the controls to automatic past multitude 12,000 feet then studied his music lessons for most of the trip; however, we were not amused by the fact that he chain smoked the whole way and we are NOT smokers.
Flying over Colombia (and we did our fair share of that), once again illustrates the diversity of this continent. In the very mountainous terrain in the West, we flew over vast areas of coffee plantations picturesquely set in the Highlands and from the air all looking like a never ending patchwork quilt (above). It was easy to see that coffee is one of the countries major exports; Colombia's average annual coffee production of 11.5 million bags is the third total highest in the world, after Brazil and Vietnam, though highest in terms of the Arabica bean. The beans are exported to United States, Germany, France, Japan, and Italy. In a National Park showcasing Colombia's coffee, we did get a chance to check out a plantation and even chew on a bean or two. Drying coffee beans (below)
When travelling in South America, the Andes mountains never ceased to amaze us and Columbia was no exception; flying over jungle clad mountains tended to deceive you that they were no longer the Andes; however, on one flight we could see in the far distance snow capped peaks that were in excess of 16,800 feet, incredible, yet just moments later the terrain had dropped to 3,000ft rainforest home many rivers one of them being the Orinoco, one of the world's longest rivers (above);a couple of days later and through no fault of our own, we ended up on the very banks of that river in the flooded village market called Puerto Carreño. What surprised me about that experience is that life seemed to carry on oblivious to the conditions; even more surprising was the fact that on the other side of the river was Venezuela….It's a long story but in Sth. America, our outlook soon had to be c'est la vie!
During our 20 years of travel, we have experienced sleepless nights for a multitude of reasons mostly because we felt our lives were in danger for one reason or another but one of the worst had to be in Colombia. En route to Bogota from Barranquilla, we made a stop at Medellin to change planes for Bogota but in typical Avianca fashion, we arrived too late to make our connection and was then faced with spending a night in Medellin, reputed at that time to be the most dangerous cities in the world. Our alternative was to take an overnight bus to to Bogota with the bus already at the airport picking up other disgruntled passengers. An attendant at the airport who spoke some English advised us against taking the bus that travelled over a mountainous route that has experienced banditry and in one case, a bus had been intercepted and forced to stop with the end result all the women being raped and the men decapitated. In our broken Spanish we ask the bus driver about this incident and he explained that's why he travelled at night to minimize that risk; it was then going on dusk and the thought of finding our way into the city and looking for a a safe hotel (if such a thing existed) was a daunting task in itself, so we kept our fingers crossed and decided to take the bus. It was a five hour non-stop, rough and dusty trip and what the bus driver had not told us was that in some sections he travelled without headlights in order to minimize detection; undoubtedly, with the worry of being stopped or rolling down the mountain after having misjudged one of the many hairpin bends in the dark, easily qualifies for one of our worst overnight experiences ever….But not the worst; the above supporting picture well illustrates the rugged mountainous terrain that is typical of this area of Colo; it was taken as we flew out of Bogota two days later and thankful to be alive.The two most hair-raising moments during that dreadful night was on two occasions a group of people who appeared in the bus headlights motioning for him to stop which he did not; in fact he drove straight through them seemingly unconcerned whether he hit somebody or not; when we disembarked at Bogota and after we collected our luggage still intact, we tipped that driver $100 US and thanked him heartily for keeping us safe…… he was most appreciative and I can still see the grin.
To say that travelling in Colombia proved to be challenging for us would be an understatement; that being said, it did distract us from the true natural beauty of the country and its people. The primary reason for our problem was with the National airline Avianca; trying to get a seat on their planes played havoc with our attempts to plan any kind of organized itinerary. Sometimes it seemed to us that their 50$ ticket was part of a deal between the government and the airlines to keep us staying longer than anticipated in towns thus spending more money while we were there. Perhaps the most annoying part of the situation was that if we ran into some kind of problem in Colombia, be it airlines, buses, ferries or military/police checkpoints some money needed to be exchanged to get us anywhere, we had to learn that corruption was a way of life throughout South America with some countries much worse than others. We have only touched briefly on some of these issues while travelling in this part of the world and suffice to say we managed but it did take a toll on us with the end result being that before we left the country, we felt we needed a break so we took a bus from Barranquilla to Cartagena then rented a car and found ourselves a quiet beach where we just hung out, slept in a grass shack, cooked our own meals, lay in the sun and surfed; it did us a world of good and prepared us for our next venture an overnight ferry from Barranquilla to Tumbes in Peru which turned out to be a horrific experience, but that's another story (see Peru).
WENDY REVELS IN THE WARMTH OF THE SUN ON HER CHEST.
MALAWI
Our first picture of Malawi is a paradox really because the thin animals at the drying up waterhole and rag-a-muffin children are typical of what we saw a lot of while in the country yet Malawi has within its borders, the third largest and second deepest lake in Africa its waters teeming with fish, especially cichlids touted to be over 700 varieties or more. With all that water and such a food source, Malawi still is one of the least developed countries in the world thanks mostly to the usual "creaming off the top" governments that the country has suffered over the years. President Bandar was a good example of that, draining the country's coffers by at least $100 million to build a 300 room palace while his subjects lived in chronic poverty. For several days we camped by the lake with water so clear and so pure it could used as drinking water a very special memory indeed because to be able to SAFELY bathe, swim in temperate water, wash hair and clothes and dry out in continually sunny days, is a rare opportunity in inland Africa and a boon to overlanders such as we were. We liked Malawi a lot, the people were friendly and despite being a small country, we were surprised by the geographical diversity of the land with its rolling grasslands on a the raised Nyika plateau of the north, high 3000+mtr (10,000+ft) mountains in the south and the unusual, forested, mist shrouded, flower decked Zomba plateau endowed with rivers & waterfalls and rising 1,800+mtr (6000+ft). up from the plains; a lot to see in a small nation, we spent three weeks there and made friends with the locals.
Our first picture of Malawi is a paradox really because the thin animals at the drying up waterhole and rag-a-muffin children are typical of what we saw a lot of while in the country yet Malawi has within its borders, the third largest and second deepest lake in Africa its waters teeming with fish, especially cichlids touted to be over 700 varieties or more. With all that water and such a food source, Malawi still is one of the least developed countries in the world thanks mostly to the usual "creaming off the top" governments that the country has suffered over the years. President Bandar was a good example of that, draining the country's coffers by at least $100 million to build a 300 room palace while his subjects lived in chronic poverty. For several days we camped by the lake with water so clear and so pure it could used as drinking water a very special memory indeed because to be able to SAFELY bathe, swim in temperate water, wash hair and clothes and dry out in continually sunny days, is a rare opportunity in inland Africa and a boon to overlanders such as we were. We liked Malawi a lot, the people were friendly and despite being a small country, we were surprised by the geographical diversity of the land with its rolling grasslands on a the raised Nyika plateau of the north, high 3000+mtr (10,000+ft) mountains in the south and the unusual, forested, mist shrouded, flower decked Zomba plateau endowed with rivers & waterfalls and rising 1,800+mtr (6000+ft). up from the plains; a lot to see in a small nation, we spent three weeks there and made friends with the locals.
MUCH MORE OF MALAWI TO COME YET
JAPAN
Everything about the below picture speaks to you about Japan; the clean, uncluttered, décor of the room, the simple charm of the young ladies dress, her welcoming but demure pose at the door, the ever present garden green outside the patio and of course the attractiveness of the young lady herself, so often typical of her gender in Japan. Yes, we loved Japan, its varied geography & climate, its culture, the people’s desire for order and neatness, their love of nature and its use both in and outside their homes, their high respect for their history, traditions, elders and above all, their ever present politeness towards strangers. It’s difficult to imagine today the cruelty the Japanese inflicted upon us during the dark days of war, especially when you see how their children react to us now.
Everything about the below picture speaks to you about Japan; the clean, uncluttered, décor of the room, the simple charm of the young ladies dress, her welcoming but demure pose at the door, the ever present garden green outside the patio and of course the attractiveness of the young lady herself, so often typical of her gender in Japan. Yes, we loved Japan, its varied geography & climate, its culture, the people’s desire for order and neatness, their love of nature and its use both in and outside their homes, their high respect for their history, traditions, elders and above all, their ever present politeness towards strangers. It’s difficult to imagine today the cruelty the Japanese inflicted upon us during the dark days of war, especially when you see how their children react to us now.
This was our first visit to Japan, back in 1970 I believe,and Western tourists were quite a novelty at that time. We were so impressed by how polite the Japanese were; he photo above is a good example; this group of children had been assembled for a class photo but by the time I came upon the scene they had been dismissed and were scattering, the teacher spotted me with my camera and immediately called the whole class back to pose for a photo'; the children all thought it was a big joke; when you look at all those laughing smiling faces, you can really see they all thought it was a privilege to do so.
We did not spend a lot of time in Japan on our first visit but we love the place so much we returned many years later and spent a lot more time there using the excellent bullet train system that took you to all parts of the country. Of course on our first visit, we had to take in a geisha show as pictured above but the picture below has a story to it. On a rainy night in Tokyo, we wandered into a Ryocan which is the Japanese equivalent for a hotel. The female proprietor answered the door and was awestruck to see two Western tourists standing on their doorstep; of course we will graciously welcomed and ushered to a room where of course we went through the usual tea service before bidding down. Fortunately, before we got undressed for the night, I spotted a small hole in the wall and going up to it, I looking through it I surprised an eye on the other side which quickly withdrew. We looked around for other holes but there only appeared to be the one so we hung a raincoat over it thinking it was so funny that we had been watched; most likely it was the first Western tourists ever to use their establishment and one can understand the curiosity. Of course there was no bed or mattress, Japanese-style, and what was supplied was on the floor. It wasn't that comfortable but it was a novelty for us but but the rice packed pillow was like a rock so we bypass that.
MUCH MORE OF JAPAN TO COME YET
AFRICA (as we endured it)
"TRAVELLING ON A RAPIDLY DETERIORATING ROAD APPARENTLY GOING NOWHERE"
It daunts me just look at the map of Africa, after all, we spent three years there and accumulated such a wealth of material and memories, my mind boggles as to where to begin. The South is so different to the north, the east so different to the west and the centre far removed from all four; eventually as time allows I will get to all aspects of this fascinating continent, that is, if I live that long; I should have started on this project years ago. The wonderful freedom that we enjoyed in Europe to roam in relative safety, explore at will and camp when and where we felt inclined was not generally the case in Africa although we got better at it. Africa did not treat us well with our plan being to drive the 10,000 miles (16093km) from Tangiers to Cape Town via Zaire and Kenya; an alternative was to follow the shorter west coast route through the Spanish Sahara, Senegal, Gambia and Mali. Morocco was a fascinating, very colorful country but our plans to head down the west coast were cut short by the Moroccan Army who were attempting to deal with Algerian backed Polisario Front guerrillas that had attacked Tan-Tan, a border town only 50 km south of where we were camped in the desert and where the army discovered us. Initially, the army regarded us with great suspicion and with guns drawn, they ordered us out of our vehicle while they searched it thoroughly. It was a very tense situation for us more so because of the language barrier and us not knowing what was going to happen next and I didn't like the way some of them were looking/leering at Wendy who was wearing a pair of shorts. But our documents were in order and finally it appeared they were going to leave us be but we were not that lucky. In fact, a small contingent escorted us out of Morocco across an unmarked border into Algeria (supposedly for our safety), then left us to our own ends. For one thing we shouldn't even be there without an entry stamp in our visa and also, the Army had confiscated our precious Michelin maps because they didn’t like the way the border had been drawn between Morocco and adjacent countries. So much for our thoughts of entering the Spanish Sahara, or Mauritania as it was known to some but also, we found ourselves travelling on a rapidly deteriorating road apparently going nowhere; goddamned useless army, but how can you argue with armed uniforms especially if you don't speak Arabic; for me, I was relieved to get Wendy out of their sight.
If you have never been in a situation similar to our Moroccan Army experience, it would be very difficult to get you to understand what a nerve racking experience it was. We were alone in a foreign country camping in the middle of the desert and suddenly we are surrounded by Army with guns drawn and ordered out of the vehicle, at that moment we had no idea what was going to happen to us. Everyone was babbling in Arabic which of course we couldn't understand but thank God the person apparently in charge spoke a little French but it was very limited. But it was the ending of this scenario that was really worry some and I refer to us being escorted further out into the desert with thoughts in our mind that when we got far enough into nowhere they were going to stop us, shoot us or perhaps rape Wendy first and then shoot us; after that set fire to the vehicle perhaps with us in it and that would be the end of our story, who would ever know what happened to us or who would care anyway? Now you may think that this is an overreaction but out there in that very isolated part of the world, it was very-very real and even when our escort suddenly turned round in front of us then drove by and left us in a cloud of dust, we were not convinced then that they weren't coming back. Although we didn't know it at the time, that there would be at least two more incidents's somewhat like this that would befall us in Africa before we finally left the continent.
If you have never been in a situation similar to our Moroccan Army experience, it would be very difficult to get you to understand what a nerve racking experience it was. We were alone in a foreign country camping in the middle of the desert and suddenly we are surrounded by Army with guns drawn and ordered out of the vehicle, at that moment we had no idea what was going to happen to us. Everyone was babbling in Arabic which of course we couldn't understand but thank God the person apparently in charge spoke a little French but it was very limited. But it was the ending of this scenario that was really worry some and I refer to us being escorted further out into the desert with thoughts in our mind that when we got far enough into nowhere they were going to stop us, shoot us or perhaps rape Wendy first and then shoot us; after that set fire to the vehicle perhaps with us in it and that would be the end of our story, who would ever know what happened to us or who would care anyway? Now you may think that this is an overreaction but out there in that very isolated part of the world, it was very-very real and even when our escort suddenly turned round in front of us then drove by and left us in a cloud of dust, we were not convinced then that they weren't coming back. Although we didn't know it at the time, that there would be at least two more incidents's somewhat like this that would befall us in Africa before we finally left the continent.
So what did we do next? First of all we had to find out if we were indeed in Algeria and get the hell out if we were because the Algerians would like nothing better than encountering two infidels that have entered their country illegally. So we attempted to follow the road we were already on hoping to get some information as to where we were but alas, the road became untrafficable so we spent a sleepless night where we were and next morning, turned round and headed back into Morocco hoping to God we didn't encounter the army again. Following an eastern route north through very mountainous country, we saw some amazing sights but did not tarry until we arrived at the Mediterranean then turned east and headed for Algeria hoping not to encounter any familiar faces. Algeria was no safe place to be at that time either, civil unrest was brewing in that country with various armed Islamic groups making sporadic attacks on Government forces and a general suspicion of the “West” created some tense moments for us while we there at least until we crossed the border at Tamanrasset and headed south for Central Africa via the Sahara. We avoided the current problems in Mali and survived Niger, Nigeria, Cameroons and CAR but by the time we made it to Zaire (now the DR-Congo), France was flying in troops to try and suppress riots and uprising against Presidents Mobutu’s thugs and it was rumored that if we weren’t careful, particularly if we went anywhere near Benghazi, we were prime candidates for arrest if we were spotted carrying a camera, worse still if Security suspected we were journalists and found the typewriter we had hidden in our vehicle. We did our best to avoid anything that looked military enroute to Bangui but alas, multiple security checks found us anyway and we were arrested for a period and that, is another story. Meanwhile in Rwanda, the next country after Zaire, tensions were simmering between the Tutsis and Hutus and stories of these rival tribes hacking off limbs with machetes was too much for us and so with the help of some pygmies pulling us out of a quagmire, we turned round at Bangui and headed north out of the sticky, red mud roads that was Central Africa at that time; so much for our hopes of seeing the mountain gorillas. Yes, we could have avoided Rwanda by travelling through Uganda but it was still under the brutal rule of Idi Amin rumoured to be eating his enemies according to the BBC. Our lifeline in Africa was the African broadcast versions of the BBC and Voice of America. In the evening’s, our powerful, Swedish made shortwave vehicle radio usually managed to pick these two stations up somewhere and it was through them that we tried to keep in touch with what was going on in Africa. The BBC had informed us what was happening in Rwanda and also that a long standing border disagreement between Kenya and Tanzania had fired up once again so even if we somehow made it through Rwanda, with our limbs attached or Ugandan cannibalism and made it into Kenya, most likely we would not get further south than the Tanzanian border; yet another reason to get the hell out of Central Africa.
Heading north again, we thought of taking a different route through Chad figuring that the long running Civil War in that country had finally quietened down under the leadership of a coalition of armed forces “GUNT but internal rivalry in that group was developing into armed conflict as well so reluctantly, back across the Sahara we went but by then it was sandstorm season, a misery if ever there was one! Tunisia provided a welcome break from heat and blowing sand and we relaxed on the Mediterranean planning to head east to Egypt via Libya because locals told us that the Libya/Egypt border which Colonel Qaddafi closed when Anwar Sadat signed a peace treaty with Israel, had reopened. After much more difficulty than usual, we managed to get visas for Libya and Egypt, the biggest headache being the Libyan application had to be all done in Arabic. Libya was not a pleasant country to be in because as Westerners, we seem to be regarded with great suspicion and at every checkpoint (of which there were many), we were harassed. We simply could not believe it when on arrival at the Egyptian border point (Sallum) we were informed there was no entry for us despite our pleading, it appeared that the border was only open to Egyptians working in Libya going home to visit their families. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about that situation, was that the Egyptian Consulate in Tunis had seen fit to issue us with a visa (and charge for it) yet most likely was aware that we would never be able to use it anyway at Sallum. Caught between a rock and a hard place, we had to go through hell, again all in Arabic, to obtain a re-entry visa to Libya for which they charged us plenty (no doubt border control kept that for themselves). So, hoping to reach Alexandria in Egypt via Tunisia and Italy we wearily retraced our steps across Libya to Tunis with a new plan to head south through the Sudan to reach Kenya. So we made it to Egypt via Italy; the Nile was fascinating, Cairo was an eye opener albeit chaotic, Luxor and Karnack were amazing but we never made it past the ruins of Abu Simbel because the local car/passenger ferry across Lake Nasser to the Sudan border was out of service and no one seemed to be able to tell us if and when it will likely be back in service, if ever! It mattered little really because by the time we had reached Aswan, a NO TRAVEL advisory had been issued warning against renewed violence between the North and South Sudan; once again we were reminded by the idiocy of consulates who still saw fit to issue us with visas (and charge for of course) and in this case, neglect to mention the renewal of a civil war between North and South Sudan. We thought of routing through North Sudan only and reaching Kenya via Ethiopia but a civil war between the EPRDF and the Government was still in full swing and mountainous Ethiopia was not a place to be driving through, it just wasn’t worth the risk! So Kenya would have to wait but then again, who knew whether the border dispute between Kenya and Tanzania had been resolved anyway.
Determined to reach Southern Africa somehow we ferried across the Red Sea from Nuweiba to Aquaba and carried on through Jordan and Israel to Cyprus all three of which had their own set of “RED TAPE “problems that we had to overcome. After resting up in Nicosia, we ferried across the Aegean to Turkey and relaxed in Antalya, a quiet, delightful beach resort (bet it’s not that way now). It would appear that the only way we were ever going to reach Southern Africa was to ship RR2 and ourselves there and the best place to arrange that was from the Port city Piraeus in Greece. Enroute to Greece, we found ourselves for hours looking down the gun barrels of a massive Turkish military convoy congregating at the Turkish border town of Ipsala. A long running border dispute between these two countries had become more serious and when we did finally cross the Greece/Turkey border, we soon became embroiled in long lines of Greek military vehicles bound for their side of the border; one thing is for sure, if war did break out, it was obvious to us that Greece would lose; the Turkish forces looked very militant while the Greeks looked like they were going to a picnic. Finally, we loaded our beloved RR2 and ourselves onto a Greek passenger/freighter bound for Cape Town and unless you have experienced it for yourself, it’s difficult for me to describe the excitement that Wendy and I felt, after weeks at sea, to see Cape Town’s fabled Table Mountain slowly materializing out of the fog in front of our ships bow…..Southern Africa at last!
Heading north again, we thought of taking a different route through Chad figuring that the long running Civil War in that country had finally quietened down under the leadership of a coalition of armed forces “GUNT but internal rivalry in that group was developing into armed conflict as well so reluctantly, back across the Sahara we went but by then it was sandstorm season, a misery if ever there was one! Tunisia provided a welcome break from heat and blowing sand and we relaxed on the Mediterranean planning to head east to Egypt via Libya because locals told us that the Libya/Egypt border which Colonel Qaddafi closed when Anwar Sadat signed a peace treaty with Israel, had reopened. After much more difficulty than usual, we managed to get visas for Libya and Egypt, the biggest headache being the Libyan application had to be all done in Arabic. Libya was not a pleasant country to be in because as Westerners, we seem to be regarded with great suspicion and at every checkpoint (of which there were many), we were harassed. We simply could not believe it when on arrival at the Egyptian border point (Sallum) we were informed there was no entry for us despite our pleading, it appeared that the border was only open to Egyptians working in Libya going home to visit their families. Perhaps the most frustrating thing about that situation, was that the Egyptian Consulate in Tunis had seen fit to issue us with a visa (and charge for it) yet most likely was aware that we would never be able to use it anyway at Sallum. Caught between a rock and a hard place, we had to go through hell, again all in Arabic, to obtain a re-entry visa to Libya for which they charged us plenty (no doubt border control kept that for themselves). So, hoping to reach Alexandria in Egypt via Tunisia and Italy we wearily retraced our steps across Libya to Tunis with a new plan to head south through the Sudan to reach Kenya. So we made it to Egypt via Italy; the Nile was fascinating, Cairo was an eye opener albeit chaotic, Luxor and Karnack were amazing but we never made it past the ruins of Abu Simbel because the local car/passenger ferry across Lake Nasser to the Sudan border was out of service and no one seemed to be able to tell us if and when it will likely be back in service, if ever! It mattered little really because by the time we had reached Aswan, a NO TRAVEL advisory had been issued warning against renewed violence between the North and South Sudan; once again we were reminded by the idiocy of consulates who still saw fit to issue us with visas (and charge for of course) and in this case, neglect to mention the renewal of a civil war between North and South Sudan. We thought of routing through North Sudan only and reaching Kenya via Ethiopia but a civil war between the EPRDF and the Government was still in full swing and mountainous Ethiopia was not a place to be driving through, it just wasn’t worth the risk! So Kenya would have to wait but then again, who knew whether the border dispute between Kenya and Tanzania had been resolved anyway.
Determined to reach Southern Africa somehow we ferried across the Red Sea from Nuweiba to Aquaba and carried on through Jordan and Israel to Cyprus all three of which had their own set of “RED TAPE “problems that we had to overcome. After resting up in Nicosia, we ferried across the Aegean to Turkey and relaxed in Antalya, a quiet, delightful beach resort (bet it’s not that way now). It would appear that the only way we were ever going to reach Southern Africa was to ship RR2 and ourselves there and the best place to arrange that was from the Port city Piraeus in Greece. Enroute to Greece, we found ourselves for hours looking down the gun barrels of a massive Turkish military convoy congregating at the Turkish border town of Ipsala. A long running border dispute between these two countries had become more serious and when we did finally cross the Greece/Turkey border, we soon became embroiled in long lines of Greek military vehicles bound for their side of the border; one thing is for sure, if war did break out, it was obvious to us that Greece would lose; the Turkish forces looked very militant while the Greeks looked like they were going to a picnic. Finally, we loaded our beloved RR2 and ourselves onto a Greek passenger/freighter bound for Cape Town and unless you have experienced it for yourself, it’s difficult for me to describe the excitement that Wendy and I felt, after weeks at sea, to see Cape Town’s fabled Table Mountain slowly materializing out of the fog in front of our ships bow…..Southern Africa at last!
But our euphoria was short-lived, we did not disembark immediately and hove to offshore overnight until a docking space was made available for us that next morning. Meanwhile, the Captain had asked that all 20 passengers (we were a freighter not a cruise ship) be in attendance for breakfast because he had information he wished to pass on. At breakfast we were informed that another rebellion had broken out in Soweto and many people had been arrested and two killed by South African police; resentment against this was running high in Cape Town and a large protest march had been scheduled for that day despite warnings against it by the local authorities. The captain went on to say that we were at liberty to disembark if we wished but also, if anyone wanted to avoid the civil unrest in the country, they could stay on board and disembark at Mombasa in Kenya, their last port of call. Fearing that the situation could get ugly on land, 15 passengers decided to remain on board, the other five including Wendy and myself disembarked.
Finally we made it ashore after some very tense moments watching our little home swinging in the breeze 100 feet above the water and supported only by a very fragile looking cradle held in place by the ship’ s rusting crane. Immigration was a pain as expected but customs was much worse because we had a vehicle and it was very late in the day by the time we took possession of our RR2; fortunately customs did not find the gun that we had hidden there and we wondered if we might need it because we had heard sirens and seen a single clouds of dark smoke rising from somewhere in the town. By dusk we had refueled, topped up with water, bought provisions and by instinct (and with the aid of binoculars), we found and followed a rough track that climbed to a 1000ft above the town onto lion’s Rump where the view of the city lights was fantastic but we felt very isolated and alone up there and was so rattled by the current circumstances below us, we didn’t dare get out of the vehicle for fear of someone coming out of the bush with a machete or whatever….so much for our euphoric arrival in Southern Africa! Overreaction you may be thinking? Bear in mind that the night before we were out on the water in the safety of the boat, in familiar surroundings, with friends around us to turn to and even a ship crew on hand if we needed help. In less than 24 hours we were now camped in pitch black and alone on a windswept escarpment, in a strange land, with no one to turn to or help if needs be; imagine if it was you there and not us then ask yourself, how would you fare? In our defense, that type of scenario was not new to us for we had faced similar situations many times before and usually, after first night jitters, we were up and running, anxious to explore. Nevertheless, we left Cape Town in a hurry figuring that we would return at a better time and was soon relaxing over a hot, Wendy made, breakfast while parked at Bloubergstrand and facing a fabulous view across Table Bay to Table Mountain beyond Cape Town.
Finally we made it ashore after some very tense moments watching our little home swinging in the breeze 100 feet above the water and supported only by a very fragile looking cradle held in place by the ship’ s rusting crane. Immigration was a pain as expected but customs was much worse because we had a vehicle and it was very late in the day by the time we took possession of our RR2; fortunately customs did not find the gun that we had hidden there and we wondered if we might need it because we had heard sirens and seen a single clouds of dark smoke rising from somewhere in the town. By dusk we had refueled, topped up with water, bought provisions and by instinct (and with the aid of binoculars), we found and followed a rough track that climbed to a 1000ft above the town onto lion’s Rump where the view of the city lights was fantastic but we felt very isolated and alone up there and was so rattled by the current circumstances below us, we didn’t dare get out of the vehicle for fear of someone coming out of the bush with a machete or whatever….so much for our euphoric arrival in Southern Africa! Overreaction you may be thinking? Bear in mind that the night before we were out on the water in the safety of the boat, in familiar surroundings, with friends around us to turn to and even a ship crew on hand if we needed help. In less than 24 hours we were now camped in pitch black and alone on a windswept escarpment, in a strange land, with no one to turn to or help if needs be; imagine if it was you there and not us then ask yourself, how would you fare? In our defense, that type of scenario was not new to us for we had faced similar situations many times before and usually, after first night jitters, we were up and running, anxious to explore. Nevertheless, we left Cape Town in a hurry figuring that we would return at a better time and was soon relaxing over a hot, Wendy made, breakfast while parked at Bloubergstrand and facing a fabulous view across Table Bay to Table Mountain beyond Cape Town.
But Africa had not finished with us yet, not by a long shot for there was so much more to come and none of it that easy as we were soon to find out as we headed north through SW Africa (Namibia) enroute to the Etosha game Park. Namibia was deserted, hardly a car to be seen anywhere which was just the way we like it but we soon became concerned as we found ourselves dodging in and out of armoured military vehicles as we approached the park; of course we asked “what gives” and were informed that SADF forces were planning an offensive to eliminate PLAN's forward operating bases in Angola, (whatever the heck that meant); to us it seemed we could never escape from war in Africa no matter where we went. We were surprised that the park ranger even lets us enter the park but it’s a massive place and he advised to circulate only in the southern section and at night it was mandatory to use the park’s stockade camping at night. We did exactly that, I mean stay in the stockade that first night but we hated that restriction and decided that we would run the risk and instead camped by waterholes at night for the next few days. Yes we were a little nervous doing this but we had already spent a long time in Africa and had long since learned that if you listened too closely to what people had to say, you would likely never go anywhere or see anything; that decision was one of the best we have ever made because it was a fabulous park and our wildlife experiences there were memorable and on top of that, we never saw anyone that looked threatening. We really liked Namibia, so much so we returned later to see the flowering in Namaqualand, hike into the Fish Creek Canyon, climb the dunes at Sossusvlei and visit Etosha again where a young couple, also VW enthusiasts, shouted us to a steak dinner; their friendship proved invaluable to us at a later time and we are still in contact even today.
As for East Africa, we did eventually get to Kenya but as this intro to Africa is already far too long I won’t even attempt to tell in full detail of the extreme difficulties (and I mean extreme) encountered along the way including trying to get through Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland and avoid the fighting between the Ndebels and Mugabe backed Shona troops part of which had spilled over the border into Botswana giving us grief there as well; most dangerous part of this mess for us was our sightseeing flight over Victoria Falls being used for target practice providing the pilot with a single bullet hole in the plane fuselage, I guess the others missed. Meanwhile, an English overland “Africa-Adventure” truck did not fare so well with some of the occupants taken into the bush as hostages; they were never heard of again. Even getting into Zimbabwe was a problem as immigration at Beitbridge wanted nothing to do with us because we had spent so long in South Africa; we had to bribe our way out of that one with a full case of whiskey donated to some officials at a minor, Game Park border point in Botswana.
As for East Africa, we did eventually get to Kenya but as this intro to Africa is already far too long I won’t even attempt to tell in full detail of the extreme difficulties (and I mean extreme) encountered along the way including trying to get through Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland and avoid the fighting between the Ndebels and Mugabe backed Shona troops part of which had spilled over the border into Botswana giving us grief there as well; most dangerous part of this mess for us was our sightseeing flight over Victoria Falls being used for target practice providing the pilot with a single bullet hole in the plane fuselage, I guess the others missed. Meanwhile, an English overland “Africa-Adventure” truck did not fare so well with some of the occupants taken into the bush as hostages; they were never heard of again. Even getting into Zimbabwe was a problem as immigration at Beitbridge wanted nothing to do with us because we had spent so long in South Africa; we had to bribe our way out of that one with a full case of whiskey donated to some officials at a minor, Game Park border point in Botswana.
It’s unfortunate that Zimbabwe was in such a state of unrest when we visited there because the country has some interesting sights to see like the Matopo area and the Zimbabwe ruins themselves which we did visit but sleeping with a gun under my pillow. Politically, Nkomo’s followers were at loggerheads with Mugabe’s Zanu henchmen; also, Zimbabwe backed FRELIMO was crossing swords with Mozambique’s rebel group RENAMO who were carrying out cross border raids into Zimbabwe and attacking vehicles on a main corridor through Mozambique used by Zimbabwe; all of this meant from our point of view anyway, that we should not hang around the Mozambique border so we missed out on Mana Pools, one of the country’s leading a game Parks. We did however spend a rainy, very dark night parked on the top of a mist enshrouded escarpment forming the border of Mozambique in the Nyanga National Park. It was a spooky very lonely place to be but we really did want to see the second highest waterfall in Africa, the 762 metre Mutarazi. The fall, set in a spectacular setting, proved to be a splendid sight and worth the risk but we didn’t sleep in bed that night, choosing instead to doze in the driver’s cab seats with key in the ignition ready to move quickly if we had to. We did however drive into the Chimanimani mts. before heading north hoping to do at least one hike in the National Park but on arrival, found the park deserted except for a lone Park ranger who advised the area was not safe as RENAMO rebels were in the area.
Zambia was not a problem but we had heard from fellow travellers that Malawi could be difficult at the border if you did not have plenty of money. As it was we did not have a lot of money at that time planning to pick up more in Nairobi so we got around that situation by producing our 5000/10,000 and 50,000 Italian lira notes which duly impressed the border authorities who had absolutely no idea of the real value of the currency (about 100 U.S. dollars). One fellow even warned us about the dangers of carrying so much cash rather than travellers checks……Africa! Feeling pleased about ourselves we enjoyed Malawi very much especially along the lake but soon things took a bad turn when we found out that a German couple had been butchered while forest camping in the Mt Mulanje massif area; unfortunately, we did not find this out until we ourselves were camped hiking in the area nearby where it occurred; we left in a hurry and headed for the safer Zomba plateau an amazing place.
Zambia was not a problem but we had heard from fellow travellers that Malawi could be difficult at the border if you did not have plenty of money. As it was we did not have a lot of money at that time planning to pick up more in Nairobi so we got around that situation by producing our 5000/10,000 and 50,000 Italian lira notes which duly impressed the border authorities who had absolutely no idea of the real value of the currency (about 100 U.S. dollars). One fellow even warned us about the dangers of carrying so much cash rather than travellers checks……Africa! Feeling pleased about ourselves we enjoyed Malawi very much especially along the lake but soon things took a bad turn when we found out that a German couple had been butchered while forest camping in the Mt Mulanje massif area; unfortunately, we did not find this out until we ourselves were camped hiking in the area nearby where it occurred; we left in a hurry and headed for the safer Zomba plateau an amazing place.
Tanzania gave us little trouble except for the Masai who seem to find us wherever we tried to camp in the Serengeti; we tried to stop alongside or as near to lions as possible and that seemed to help, at least long enough for us to brew up a cup of coffee and make a sandwich. Currency control was a bit of a problem in Tanzania but we got around that by having a street vendor in Dar es Salaam make us up some authentic looking rubber stamps resembling those of some Tanzanian banks. As for getting into Kenya, our plan number one was to cross into the country via an obscure road that we had been told of which linked Tanzania’s Serengeti Park to Kenya’s Maasai Mara nature reserve; things look promising until we encountered an old wooden bridge that was in such a bad state of repair we simply could not risk crossing it because of RR2’s weight……so much for that plan but we did get to cross the Serengeti twice, few tourists have done that I’m sure but the dampener on that issue was that it was a 100 miles (160ks) of gravel road and a lot of it corrugated!
The border crossing rules that applied in Kenya at that time was that you may enter the country from Tanzanian as long as you could furnish proof that you intended to visit only in transit to an adjoining country; don’t ask me to make any sense of that one. We were ready for this one with backup plan number two and furnished the border authorities with a letter, typed on Zambian Coca-Cola letterhead paper (deviously obtained while visiting the Coca-Cola Plant in Zambia). The letter written by us of course and duly signed also, requested that the Kenyan border authorities allow the bearer to transit the country to take up employment in the Coca-Cola factory in Khartoum, northern Sudan; of course when in the Cola factory, we ascertained they had a factory in Khartoum but nothing in Nairobi. What we hadn’t bargained on was that the letter was couriered on to Police headquarters in Nairobi for approval. Unaware of what might be going to happen to us next, especially if Nairobi picked up a phone and contacted Zambia, we didn’t dare hang around the border so we did some more sightseeing instead and apprehensively returned a few days later. We simply could not believe our luck when told that approval to transit had been granted and before you could say “Jack Robinson,” we were in Kenya but the irony of that fiasco was that there was no apparent specified time limit for the transit to take place, that made no sense either……… Africa!
Kenya had some great game parks and we camped wild in them all discovering different animals along the way like Gerenuks, Grevy’s zebras and the reticulated giraffe; we could have stayed much longer but we were scheduled to leave Africa on a passenger/freighter out of Mombasa on a prebooked passage that we had arranged while in South Africa. But now for the “Mother of all African disasters.” We were calmly informed by the Nairobi shipping agent that we could use the ticket for ourselves but there was NO WAY of loading a vehicle of RR2’s size and weight onto a freighter in Mombasa, there were no facilities for it!!!!!! But the disaster didn’t end there; yes we could ship it out of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania but there was NO WAY the shipping authorities in Tanzania would ever accept a passage ticket issued in South Africa!!!!!! And last but not least, there was NO WAY we could get a refund in Kenya because the passage had been booked in South Africa.
I’m not even going to try to explain in detail the nightmares we went through to overcome the Kenya/Tanzania border fiasco and return to South Africa but return we did and our friends in Johannesburg were dumbfounded to see us back on their doorstep; we used their shoulders to cry on, they were very good to us. To cut an already long story shorter, yes we did finally get our money returned but only in the form of passage out of the country. With RR2 shipped off on a slow boat to New York, we flew off to the Canary Islands. I must admit as we rose up and away from Cape Town and watched Table Mountain slip away from my window seat view, my mood was melancholy and full of mixed emotions; in fact, I felt a little teary. Overall, we spent nearly three years on the “Dark Continent” and at times it frustrated us to the point of near exhaustion and also tested our patience to levels that we never knew we had but in retrospect, Wen & I both agreed that the good times outweighed the bad and it is those experiences that will linger in our memories till we can remember them no more.
I’m not even going to try to explain in detail the nightmares we went through to overcome the Kenya/Tanzania border fiasco and return to South Africa but return we did and our friends in Johannesburg were dumbfounded to see us back on their doorstep; we used their shoulders to cry on, they were very good to us. To cut an already long story shorter, yes we did finally get our money returned but only in the form of passage out of the country. With RR2 shipped off on a slow boat to New York, we flew off to the Canary Islands. I must admit as we rose up and away from Cape Town and watched Table Mountain slip away from my window seat view, my mood was melancholy and full of mixed emotions; in fact, I felt a little teary. Overall, we spent nearly three years on the “Dark Continent” and at times it frustrated us to the point of near exhaustion and also tested our patience to levels that we never knew we had but in retrospect, Wen & I both agreed that the good times outweighed the bad and it is those experiences that will linger in our memories till we can remember them no more.
"AFRICA, the way it was." CLICK ON FIRST PIX AND TRAVEL THROUGH THE GALLERY; USE KEYBOARD ARROWS OR PICTURE ARROWS. INDIVIDUAL CAPTIONS WILL FOLLOW LATER.
THE BIG FIVE
"ELS": No doubt about one thing though, our best memories of Africa are our experiences with the animals and there are many, far more than I can ever mention on this website and I open this feature with a picture taken from our lunch table through the open VW sliding door; the pix illustrates but a fragment of the wonderful times we spent with the wild animals of Africa. Most tourist travel to Africa in the hopes of seeing what has been termed the Big Five, a term that has arisen from the many years that hunters have decimated this continent looking for and shooting the best of what Africa had to offer. We became so familiar with the Big Five(Elephants, Buffaloes, Rhinos, Lions, Leopards) we gave them all nicknames and to us they were Els, Buffs, Blacks or Whites, Leos & Leps; this kind of craziness we carried on through all the wildlife we encountered and still remember them all even today. For example, can you guess what animals we referred to as "Gerries," "Cheets" and Hipps"; easy questions perhaps but how about "Wateries" & "Tops"; to us they were all just as important as the "Big Five but fortunately, not usually hunted by man and I will deal with them all later.
One of the most sort after trophies and likely the first on a Hunter's list was of course the elephant and it’s hard to imagine that anyone would shoot and kill these wonderful animals, most often for their tusks. Our memories with elephant are many, mostly brought about by the fact that we camped by night at waterholes throughout Africa observing the largest land animal in the world and admiring their gentleness, their concern for family as well as others of their kind. Being around waterholes at night with elephants around did wake us on a couple of occasions but not because they were noisy, actually at night they were usually very quiet, but they did like to scratch their backsides on a metal trunk we had on the rear of RR2 and that was disconcerting to say the least for the first time we thought we were in an earthquake. On another occasion, Wendy awoke me in the early hours of the morning to tell me that something was trying to get in our open side window. Camped in low scrub somewhere in the vastness of the Serengeti, I couldn’t imagine what it was until our flashlight lit up the strangest looking pink colored creature working its way along the insect screen looking for a way in. Wendy was the first one to realise that it was the end of an elephant’s trunk sniffing out the contents of our bedroom; more likely he/she could smell the fruit we had in a dish on the sink bench. It would be hard for anyone to realise how strange this experience was; it was pitch black outside the van so the only thing we could see was the very tip of the trunk against the screen which diffused its appearance even more. By habit I hit our Master Light switch which turned on all 16 external lights in a flashing mode (including the headlights) and the elephant made a hasty withdrawal from the situation but immediately, I cursed myself for doing that. In the openness of the Serengeti terrain, those light could be seen for miles revealing our presence there; we spent the rest of the night hoping we did not get some unwelcome visitors; camping in the wilderness throughout Africa as we did, we were extremely vulnerable in that regard and so used the lights with great caution.
As for the elephants, we never bothered them nor did they bother us but we learned also if you get on the wrong side of an elephant and they start flaring their ears, trumpeting, stamping a front foot, thumping the trunk on the ground or even kicking dirt at you then you had better make yourself scarce and if he/she has flattened her ears back against her head, then you had better make it fast; when 12,000 pounds of bulk starts sprinting towards you at 25mph it’s a terrifying sight. Yes we did have some scary moments if we invaded their space, got too close to their young or challenged their right of way on the roadways as some of our pictures will indicate. An elephant fears no one or anything although ironically, the only thing that we witnessed chasing an elephant from his waterhole was a pint-size Honey Badger, fearless little things. Easily one of the great experiences of our world travels was having as many as 100 elephants (3 separate herds) or more surrounding our small VW home while drinking their fill, spraying mud over their backs, sparring with each other, copulating and mothering their young. All the while we would sit with our sliding door open having either breakfast, lunch or dinner as they walked by within metres of us unconcerned with our presence. As poachers take their toll (See Gallery) and regulations become stricter within the wildlife Parks such experiences as we had, have become a thing of the past for that kind of freedom is long gone; yes tourists can stay in their Safari Parks and go out by day and see these wonderful animals but never on the intimate terms that Wendy and I experienced against the rules or otherwise. Like most of the wild animals in Africa, I fear for the elephants, we will remember our time with them always.
"ELS": No doubt about one thing though, our best memories of Africa are our experiences with the animals and there are many, far more than I can ever mention on this website and I open this feature with a picture taken from our lunch table through the open VW sliding door; the pix illustrates but a fragment of the wonderful times we spent with the wild animals of Africa. Most tourist travel to Africa in the hopes of seeing what has been termed the Big Five, a term that has arisen from the many years that hunters have decimated this continent looking for and shooting the best of what Africa had to offer. We became so familiar with the Big Five(Elephants, Buffaloes, Rhinos, Lions, Leopards) we gave them all nicknames and to us they were Els, Buffs, Blacks or Whites, Leos & Leps; this kind of craziness we carried on through all the wildlife we encountered and still remember them all even today. For example, can you guess what animals we referred to as "Gerries," "Cheets" and Hipps"; easy questions perhaps but how about "Wateries" & "Tops"; to us they were all just as important as the "Big Five but fortunately, not usually hunted by man and I will deal with them all later.
One of the most sort after trophies and likely the first on a Hunter's list was of course the elephant and it’s hard to imagine that anyone would shoot and kill these wonderful animals, most often for their tusks. Our memories with elephant are many, mostly brought about by the fact that we camped by night at waterholes throughout Africa observing the largest land animal in the world and admiring their gentleness, their concern for family as well as others of their kind. Being around waterholes at night with elephants around did wake us on a couple of occasions but not because they were noisy, actually at night they were usually very quiet, but they did like to scratch their backsides on a metal trunk we had on the rear of RR2 and that was disconcerting to say the least for the first time we thought we were in an earthquake. On another occasion, Wendy awoke me in the early hours of the morning to tell me that something was trying to get in our open side window. Camped in low scrub somewhere in the vastness of the Serengeti, I couldn’t imagine what it was until our flashlight lit up the strangest looking pink colored creature working its way along the insect screen looking for a way in. Wendy was the first one to realise that it was the end of an elephant’s trunk sniffing out the contents of our bedroom; more likely he/she could smell the fruit we had in a dish on the sink bench. It would be hard for anyone to realise how strange this experience was; it was pitch black outside the van so the only thing we could see was the very tip of the trunk against the screen which diffused its appearance even more. By habit I hit our Master Light switch which turned on all 16 external lights in a flashing mode (including the headlights) and the elephant made a hasty withdrawal from the situation but immediately, I cursed myself for doing that. In the openness of the Serengeti terrain, those light could be seen for miles revealing our presence there; we spent the rest of the night hoping we did not get some unwelcome visitors; camping in the wilderness throughout Africa as we did, we were extremely vulnerable in that regard and so used the lights with great caution.
As for the elephants, we never bothered them nor did they bother us but we learned also if you get on the wrong side of an elephant and they start flaring their ears, trumpeting, stamping a front foot, thumping the trunk on the ground or even kicking dirt at you then you had better make yourself scarce and if he/she has flattened her ears back against her head, then you had better make it fast; when 12,000 pounds of bulk starts sprinting towards you at 25mph it’s a terrifying sight. Yes we did have some scary moments if we invaded their space, got too close to their young or challenged their right of way on the roadways as some of our pictures will indicate. An elephant fears no one or anything although ironically, the only thing that we witnessed chasing an elephant from his waterhole was a pint-size Honey Badger, fearless little things. Easily one of the great experiences of our world travels was having as many as 100 elephants (3 separate herds) or more surrounding our small VW home while drinking their fill, spraying mud over their backs, sparring with each other, copulating and mothering their young. All the while we would sit with our sliding door open having either breakfast, lunch or dinner as they walked by within metres of us unconcerned with our presence. As poachers take their toll (See Gallery) and regulations become stricter within the wildlife Parks such experiences as we had, have become a thing of the past for that kind of freedom is long gone; yes tourists can stay in their Safari Parks and go out by day and see these wonderful animals but never on the intimate terms that Wendy and I experienced against the rules or otherwise. Like most of the wild animals in Africa, I fear for the elephants, we will remember our time with them always.
WENDY IS NOT SURE WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT AS THE LARGEST LAND ANIMAL ON EARTH SHOWS ITS DISPLEASURE WITH OUR PRESENCE.
OUR TIME WITH THE ELEPHANTS. CLICK ON FIRST PIX AND TRAVEL THROUGH THE GALLERY; USE KEYBOARD ARROWS OR PICTURE ARROWS.
"BUFFS": There are several species of African Buffalo and in our time in Africa we encountered them all but unlike the elephants, we were very wary when about them for they are one of Africa’s most dangerous animals, in fact, they have killed more hunters than any other African animal. Mostly congregating in large herds very often around water or mud holes, they would all swing as one to face us if we approach them and always looked very mean with their pincer sharp horns curved inward at the ready; even a lion wouldn’t dare to attack a full grown Buffalo unless he/she is backed up by numbers of their own kind. Thanks to an opening roof hatch in our van we were able to approach (Wendy driving) a watering group much closer than we ever would dare on foot and with a zoom lens, and me standing in the van with torso above roof level, I was able to get good pictures of them sometimes with an ox pecker bird perched on their backs; Buffaloes are a good photographic subjects but oh so dangerous; my close encounter came one time when we paused in bushland and I nicked out to pee for a moment but at midstream I noticed some unnatural bush movement on my left and momentarily froze until I heard a very slight snort at which time I bolted for the open van door and had barely got it closed when a rogue buffalo came charging out of the bush with such momentum he collided violently, either that or deliberately rammed our heavy duty, prefabricated Aussie styled “Kangaroo-Bumper.” He immediately took off swinging his head from side to side (headache maybe?) but we have never forgotten how much our van shook when 2000lbs of temperamental animal collided with it; I try not to think how I would have fared had it been me and not the “Bumper; the bumper remained bent inwards towards our left headlamp for the rest of our time in RR2; it was far too difficult to straighten because it was made of 3 inch diameter, welded steel pipe so it remained as a good reminder that one can never take safety in Africa for granted. We spotted that same rogue buffalo lurking in the bush shortly after my encounter (see pix). Although I made light of that situation, one thing I am sure of, had I not noticed that slight movement in the brush and moved quickly because of it, I would likely be a dead man; in reality, Africa is a serious place and should never be taken lightly.
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"LEPS": Second only to my favourite animal the tiger, the leopard remains my favoured member of the African cat family and we had three notable experiences with them. Unlike the commercial Safari groups most often accompanied by experienced guides who had local knowledge of the area and where certain leopards like to spend the day, or even what trees they would likely be in, we had to fend for ourselves hoping for a leopard encounter or even seeing one. Elusive, solitary, mostly a night hunter and masters of disguise to the point where you could be within 20ft (6.5m) of them and not even know they’re there and the above pix illustrates that fact perfectly. We had very few satisfactory leopard encounters other than early morning or late evening glimpses as they crossed our path which was excitement in itself but excitement quickly lost as they vanished into undergrowth like ghosts.
But if you stay in Africa long enough things do happen, especially if you do some research beforehand. Stopping on a small concrete causeway partially covered with river overflow in HluHluwem game park Reserve, we poked around an adjacent pool looking for animal spore and in some soft moist sand, we spotted at least what appeared to be fresh leopard tracks; we had been in Africa long enough to differentiate between lion and cheetah spore. That was enough for us and because it was very late in the day, we stayed right where we were, ever watchful. With dinner over and coffee on the way, it became too dark to see anything and so we decided to spend the night on the causeway hoping there wasn’t a downpour somewhere in the park overnight. It was a quiet peaceful night serenaded by running water and rising from sleep before sun up, I suddenly remembered where we were and rose quietly to look outside our open side window and could not believe my eyes when I finally realized there was a leopard sitting on a rock calmly and quietly overlooking the river pool….incredible! Wendy stirred and I held my fingers to lips to caution her something was going on outside; ever so gently Wendy lifted our mosquito screen up and away from the window while I, with trembling hands fitted my zoom lens and then focused on the leopard knowing he could up and leave any second. With relief I pressed the shutter release but that was the end of our leopard moment as the whirr of the camera’s auto film advance sent him packing and he was gone in the blink of an eye but he had left us with an image (below) that we treasure even today.
But if you stay in Africa long enough things do happen, especially if you do some research beforehand. Stopping on a small concrete causeway partially covered with river overflow in HluHluwem game park Reserve, we poked around an adjacent pool looking for animal spore and in some soft moist sand, we spotted at least what appeared to be fresh leopard tracks; we had been in Africa long enough to differentiate between lion and cheetah spore. That was enough for us and because it was very late in the day, we stayed right where we were, ever watchful. With dinner over and coffee on the way, it became too dark to see anything and so we decided to spend the night on the causeway hoping there wasn’t a downpour somewhere in the park overnight. It was a quiet peaceful night serenaded by running water and rising from sleep before sun up, I suddenly remembered where we were and rose quietly to look outside our open side window and could not believe my eyes when I finally realized there was a leopard sitting on a rock calmly and quietly overlooking the river pool….incredible! Wendy stirred and I held my fingers to lips to caution her something was going on outside; ever so gently Wendy lifted our mosquito screen up and away from the window while I, with trembling hands fitted my zoom lens and then focused on the leopard knowing he could up and leave any second. With relief I pressed the shutter release but that was the end of our leopard moment as the whirr of the camera’s auto film advance sent him packing and he was gone in the blink of an eye but he had left us with an image (below) that we treasure even today.
Brought about by the fact that we lived in our RR2 throughout most of our time in Africa and for the most part always camped by waterholes whenever possible, a second memorable leopard encounter was of a nature that very few visitors to Africa would have had if at all. RR2 had a 3 x 1’ hole cut in the fiberglass roof which was mosquito proofed and covered by a hinged skylight that we often left propped open during the night for fresh air; sometimes if there were leftovers from dinner, Wendy would place them in a plastic bowl, reach through the skylight and place the bowl on the roof to cool. Normal procedure was to bring the bowl in and place it in the fridge before bed but on this one occasion it was forgotten until about 3 AM in the morning when we were awoken by a sudden ominous thump on the roof followed by silence. While Wendy’s hand hovered over our three (3) alarm switches just above the bed, I retrieved our powerful, 12 V Spotlight from a shelf above me and waited; there was just enough starlight to reveal a large shadow that suddenly appeared over our open skylight and at that moment, I used the spotlight to illuminate a leopard looking straight down at us with only a flimsy mosquito netting between him and us; neither the animal or ourselves didn’t quite know what to do next; by instinct I started to fumble in a cupboard in front of me for a camera but Wendy solved that issue by hitting all three alarm switches at once scaring the heck out of all three of us at the same time. In an instant he was gone and all Wendy could think to say was “shit, we nearly lost our stew.” Doubt if either one of us got too much sleep after that, it was hard to forget those two yellow, piercing eyes seemingly looking into our souls. Sometime later, maybe an hour, Wendy suddenly said, “you know, we only heard a single thump when he landed on the roof and we’re not under a tree; how high is the van again? “8ft 6’’, I replied. “Amazing” she said and that’s all I heard from her for the rest of the night.
"WE HAD VERY FEW SATISFACTORY "LEOPARD ENCOUNTERS OTHER THAN EARLY MORNING OR LATE EVENING GLIMPSES AS THEY CROSSED OUR PATH WHICH WAS EXCITEMENT IN ITSELF"..............
WE SPOT ONE GOING UP A TREE.....
BUT IF WE SLOWER TO A GENTLE STOP, DOWN HE WOULD GO AGAIN....
......AND HIDE IN THE UNDERGROWTH LIKE GHOST." CAN YOU SEE HIM?
“WENDY CALLED OUT THAT THERE WAS SOMETHING MOVING IN THE TREE”
Like my first giraffe experience in the Etosha Park (see "Gerries), one must never forget that you are in Africa no matter where you are or what you are doing. It being around midday, we had followed a track into the bush off the main road to have lunch which we did undisturbed; nearby there was a splendid tree of great size and worth a photograph so before we drove on, I sent Wendy down to stand under the tree for scale; we were not in a game Park in fact while having lunch we heard children playing some distance away no doubt in a small village. As I took the picture, Wendy called out that there was something moving in the tree but she couldn’t make it out; curious I went down to check it out taking my camera with me; it was dark up in the tree so I looked through my camera viewfinder with the lens set on full zoom and got one heck of a surprise to see a leopard reclining on a branch and with his tail twitching and with us directly under him; “Jesus,” I blurted to Wendy, “it’s a damn leopard!” Wendy took off back to the van, I held the shutter button down and fired off three quick shots and then got the hell out of there feeling quite shaken, leopards love to pounce on prey from above. Well we had finally found our leopard sitting in a tree something we had hoped to do but certainly not under such circumstances; as I said at the beginning of this little anecdote, one must never forget that you are in Africa!
" I FIRED OFF THREE QUICK SHOTS AND THEN GOT THE HELL OUT OF THERE FEELING QUITE SHAKEN, LEOPARDS LOVE TO POUNCE ON PREY FROM ABOVE."
NOT A CLEAR PICTURE BECAUSE OF SOME CAMERA SHAKE; WITH WENDY TAKING THE PICTURE, I CAN'T IMAGINE WHY SHE'S SHAKING; IF THE RHINOS DECIDE TO CHARGE, I'M THE ONE THAT'S GONNA GET IT FIRST.
"BLACKS & WHITES": There are two types of rhinos, one referred to as Black and the other is white square lipped. When we first started visiting a game Parks we didn’t know one from the other and on our first sighting of a rhino the animal took off into the bush; we left the main track and followed him in the van until finally he stopped, swiveled on the spot to face us. Excited we turn the van side on to him and feeling safe enough inside but unaware of the idiotic thing that we were doing, I opened the sliding door to get the below photos. Although we did know rhinos had very poor eyesight, Wendy became concerned with the fact that he was a starting to snort and shuffle his feet; “better close the door,” she said, “he might charge”; mesmerized by the moment, I ignored her but when he suddenly moved forward about a foot, that was enough for me and I noisily slammed the sliding door shut; that was enough for him too and turning on a sixpence he took off into the bush. We recounted our story to a park ranger the following day and he was aghast; “you people don’t know how lucky you were” he said, “that was a black rhino the most dangerous animal we have in the park, if he had decided to charge he could’ve pushed your van over and pulverized your door at the same time.” Yes we were very naïve but we soon learned to respect the difference in appearance between the black rhino and the more docile white; both however, equally unpredictable in temperament as we were to find out later.
- Perhaps our best White rhino experience was in Kafue Nat. Park in Zambia; we hadn’t seen a single rhino throughout the day so in late afternoon, we decided to park our van by a mudhole (pix left) in the hopes that one might turn up for a wallow; with the sliding door open and me on the watch, Wendy got on with the dinner. With dinner over, we were sitting quietly drinking our coffee and just on dusk, a big male “white” materialized out of the bush and headed for our mudhole; they don’t see so well but have good hearing so we stayed quiet and watched this massive animal wallow in mud only 30 feet from us. He was probably the biggest of his kind we had seen and must’ve been at least 13 feet long, at a guess up to 7 feet from hoof to shoulder and probably would’ve weighed in around 5000 pounds. Like the black rhinos, he had two horns and the front one must’ve been at least 3 feet long with the other about half that; he was a sight to behold indeed and being so close to us and unaware of our presence, the experience will remain one of the highlights of our African animal experiences but it wasn’t over yet. Determined to get the best picture possible and as he had his back to me at the time, I stepped very quietly out of the van and walked to within 20 feet of him while wondering what the hell am I doing, after all, he was a wild animal; so, just as I had him framed in my viewfinder, Wendy altered her position in the van for a better view and that slight movement caused our two dinner plates drying in the sink to fall sideways with a clatter. The White’s reaction was instantaneous and he reared violently up out of the wallow scaring the living daylights out of me and Wendy too who quickly dived into the driver’s seat, started the engine and with me still trying to jump back into the sliding door, headed for safety; I half expected he would come after us but more likely, we scared him more than he did us. The one picture that I did managed to get (shown below) tells it all, this is one animal you don’t want to mess with, especially when startled!
Idiots you are probably thinking, well, yes and no; we had been in many game Parks before we reached Zambia and had learned a lot about the habits of rhinos. Had the rhino in the mudhole been a Black I would never have ventured outside the van and most likely would have ventured out of the way before he reached the wallow. We had learned however that the Whites will not automatically charge at everything in sight unless of course you are threatening its young; instead, they would stand off and interpret the situation as to whether you were of danger to them as they are doing in the below pix; after all, they are a very large animal and have very few predators; their poor eyesight is a drawback to them and as long as you made no sudden movements towards them, they would after a while, most likely wander off and leave you alone. All African animals have a certain pattern they follow if disturbed which for the most part is predictable and the longer we stayed in Africa, the more we learned.
OUR TIME WITH THE RHINOS. CLICK ON FIRST PIX AND TRAVEL THROUGH THE GALLERY; USE KEYBOARD ARROWS OR PICTURE ARROWS.
"LEOS": Lions are the animals that most all game Park visitors hope to see but luck is not always with you in that regard; on the other hand we had so many lion encounters in our time in Africa, it would be foolhardy to even attempt to describe them in any detail here. I opened this feature with a splendid example of the "King of Beasts" but really, the main workhorses in the lion family are the Queens, not unlike their human counterparts in Africa generally. Because lions are primarily night hunter’s and the fact that we camped by waterholes at night whenever possible, we had the opportunity to not only hear a kill being made but being first on hand in the morning to see what had been killed and where provided some great photo opportunities. Night kills close by the van in South Africa’s Kruger and Kalahari Hemsbok National Parks provided us with unforgettable experiences just with the sound alone; the anguished cries, gargling and pitiful moans of the animal brought down coupled with the constant, deep throat snarling and frenzied grunts of the lions squabbling between themselves in the excitement of the kill was gut wrenching to hear to say the least; this was wild Africa at its wildest for us as we huddled together in the dark, shaking with the drama of what was going on around us yet lying safely & warm in our beds protected in the confines of our tiny RR2 home. With the kill being consumed, it wasn’t too long before we started to hear Africa’s most ghoulish sound, the high-pitched, maniacal-like laughter of hyenas as they gathered nearby in the dark but never too close as the lions would kill them. In both the Kruger & Kalahari kills, neither the lions nor the kill were anywhere in sight come daylight; the kills had been dragged into the bush but it was never too difficult to find their locations because vultures gathered in a nearby tree usually pinpointed that for us, either that or just look for then follow the hyenas, mean looking "critters" if there ever was one. (below)
Our best daylight lion experience was undoubtably in the Serengeti where, because of the openness of the terrain, we kept relocating a pride of 15 lions all females and some with young. We watched two unsuccessful hunts but were right there on the day they brought down a wildebeest providing us with a grandstand view of the kill within feet of our open side window as Wendy indicates in the following pix; being that close and with such an unobstructed view, I was able to grab pictures like the bloody faced lion cub that follows and I use the word "grab" because with wildlife photography, such moments are fleeting at best.
We saw lions so often that we became totally accustomed to them most often at waterholes or catching some shade under a tree somewhere, after all, they sleep up to 20 hours a day. After a while, when having breakfast, lunch or whatever and if lions were nearby, we would open our sliding door and dine within 30 ft of them but always with a watchful eye as they did us; the picture you see below of a pride of eight at a waterhole was taken out our open sliding door from our lunch table; it's worth mentioning here that a VW sliding door can be slammed shut in an instant if necessary.
But there comes a time when this casual approach can lead to your demise and such a near miss did occur in Botswana on the Makgadikgadi pans(above pix). The terrain was exceptionally flat there and you could see for miles in any direction; safe enough we thought to do a spot of washing and we had a line set up with clothes drying when Wendy decided to get on with the lunch. In the distance on the saltpan were a herd of wildebeest that appeared like dark, fuzzy blobs through the heat haze so I decided to take a short walk and get a close up photograph of them.
Grabbing my camera I told Wendy what I was doing and set off towards the wildebeest and had walked about 50 m when I came upon a slight depression in the terrain and was shocked to discover a rogue male lion, no doubt lying in wait for the wildebeest’s to get a little closer; he had his back to me when I crested a small rise but he quickly turned to look me in the eye;
.........this was one mean looking, old, battle scarred lion and I knew immediately I was in a lot of trouble. I froze on the spot and unintentionally pressed my camera shutter button which fired off a number of pictures at waist level before I realized what was happening; in the stillness, the whirr of the camera advance disturbed the lion even more and his suddenly twitching tail was a distinct warning sign. A lot flashed through my mind at that moment with the first thought being what a hell of a way to die followed by oddly enough, what on earth would Wendy do left alone on a continent inhospitable at best. Making a dash back to the van was a ludicrous idea as the lion would run me down in a matter of seconds and 50 m (160ft) is a long way to try and outrun a lion. Instinctively I started to back up slowly and it was this action that possibly saved my life because Wendy, always a little concerned when I wandered off somewhere, had been keeping an eye on me and knew straight away that something serious was up. Even though Wendy could not see the lion, she knew that in the dry, shrubless, treeless terrain it could be very little else other than lions that would make me act that way. I didn’t dare take my eyes off the lion when I heard RR’s engine start and the lion responded by crouching low to the ground a definite sign that he was about to charge but it was the sound of our blaring alarm system activated by Wendy that momentarily changed his mind. Our alarm system was made up of three, individually controlled units one being a high pitched, oscillating electronic screech, another very similar to a wartime air raid siren and the third a series of brassy sounding air horns that I had installed in place of the very feeble, original VW horn; all three sounding off together was unlike anything my lion had heard before and he rose to his feet to see an 8ft high, screaming, mechanical monster heading his way; it was too much for him to handle and he took off as did the distant herd of wildebeest. Wendy did not stop until she reached me but it was torture to hear the punishment she was giving RR2’s suspension over uneven, rocky terrain that normally I wouldn’t consider crossing. Wendy’s alertness and quick thinking saved my life that day as she did three times over during our 20 years on the road and as I did hers equally so. We spent days after the lion event discussing what she would have done had the lion got to me first. Having to replace a broken front torsion bar later in Gaborone was a small price to pay for Wendy’s cross country dash although trying to locate one in Botswana was another adventure in itself as was doing the work surrounded by over a dozen curious, but light fingered locals; Wendy acted as security as she often did on our overland travels. Oddly enough, the thing that came up the most later on about the Makgadikgadi lion experience was the fact that Wendy dragged her washing line attached to RR2 across open ground and we were fresh out of water to do the washing again.
MEMORIES OF THE LIONS & HYENAS. CLICK ON FIRST PIX AND TRAVEL THROUGH THE GALLERY; USE KEYBOARD OR PICTURE ARROWS.
"GERRIES": What a splendid animal the giraffe is, tallest animal on earth; biggest we saw we guessed at 20 ft. (4.8-6m); so colourful, so stately and poetry in motion when on the run which they never did whenever we approach them; we could spot them so far away and because of that, they often led us to hidden waterholes.
We constantly marvelled how easily they fed off the thorn ridden Acacia trees somehow getting their 20 inch (50cm) tongues around the tender leaves but avoiding the horrific thorns that are very prevalent in that tree.
There were several varieties but the dark brown vividly white patterned, reticulated Kenyan giraffe was our favourite even though we saw so few of them; look carefully at the pix above and below and note the differences.
The giraffe was the very first large animal that we spotted on our first visit to a Game Patk and strangely enough he was sitting down in the company of a lone zebra. Of course I was out of the van immediately hoping to get a good picture of him before he decided to stand up which he did very quickly. Still trying to get closer for a better picture I followed him but he just kept leading me further into the bush. It seemed every time I got him almost fully framed in my lens, he would turn and start to move further away again, frustrating really but that’s wildlife for you. Reason for this little story is that finally I gave up on trying to get a perfect shot and started to head back to the van but soon noticed that I had walked past a small WARNING sign which read “This is lion country, do not venture into this area unless accompanied by an armed" park ranger.” The long walk back to the van was the most nerve wracking that I have done in my lifetime for it seemed that every minor rustle (mostly disturbed lizards) in the brush that I heard on the way back to RR2 could have meant a concealed lion was about to attack. I knew the giraffe was harmless but in the excitement of the occasion, I forgot that we were now in Africa, not Europe or Australia but I soon learned to take more heed of our environment but all the same, I still ran into trouble later as you have just seen in the previous Makgadikgadi pan rogue lion escapade. Speaking of lions, they are the Giraffe's biggest concern because the position a giraffe must take to drink at a waterhole leaves it very prone to lion attack; as you can see, it's much easier for lion to spring onto the Giraffe's back and with his weight, overturn/ it to the ground although still easier said than done. This giraffe took great risk drinking with his back to the bush.
Of course, nature being adaptable as it is the giraffes often get around the drinking problem by forming into small groups with a minimum of three individuals with two of then acting as lookouts while they take it in turns to drink. Extremely cautious animals as they should be, we have seen them take as much as an hour to approach a waterhole before finally taking the risk to drink; their long neck may make drinking awkward but on the other hand, their height is a great advantage for spotting predators. The next two pictures illustrate very well what I have been saying; it was 45 mins after the first picture was taken before the trio chose it safe to drink. We have seen giraffe carcasses at waterholes but never seen a giraffe brought down; a well-placed kick from a giraffe can kill a lion so even they must take great care if tackling this elite animal.
FOR MORE TIME WITH THE GIRAFFES, CLICK ON FIRST PIX AND TRAVEL THROUGH THE GALLERY; USE KEYBOARD OR PICTURE ARROWS.
Hipps:
Hippopotamus or “hipps” as we called them generally presented no problem for us although when we slept nights by rivers and waterfronts, the noisy critters kept us awake at times with their consistent night long squabbling and grunting. Mind you in retrospect, I think Wendy and I had more fearful moments with hippos than with any other African animal and that came about because we left the safety of our RR2 and entered the Okavango river delta in Botswana to spend some time at a crocodile safari camp. To reach the camp meant flying into the delta area from Maun then a journey in a 12ft (6m) mokoro, a very unstable canoe like craft hewn out of a single tree trunk. Commonly used by the locals in the area for delta navigation, our “Poler” propelled the mokoro with a single, long pole (Ngashi). It took about 45 minutes to reach the riverside safari camp during which time we encountered pods of hippos in some cases within 50ft of us. I must admit both Wendy and I were extremely nervous at the close proximity of these massive animals even more so when they would open their mouths and show off their huge 40CM (1.8FT) lower jaw tusks. Always squabbling between themselves they would disappear underwater and re-emerge in a different place and all Wendy and I could do was hope to God they didn’t decide to come up under the canoe. Our “poler’ standing in the rear of the canoe didn’t seem to be bothered by the hippos; one thing I am sure of is the fact that had we gone in the water, we would never have survived the experience, hippos are very territorial and certainly they were not happy with our intrusion on their territory; Wen and I were both surprised that our mokoro handler took us so close to such a dangerous and unpredictable animals. The two close-up pictures that follow, taken from the mokoro, are indicative of how close we came to these behemoths in open water.
Hippopotamus or “hipps” as we called them generally presented no problem for us although when we slept nights by rivers and waterfronts, the noisy critters kept us awake at times with their consistent night long squabbling and grunting. Mind you in retrospect, I think Wendy and I had more fearful moments with hippos than with any other African animal and that came about because we left the safety of our RR2 and entered the Okavango river delta in Botswana to spend some time at a crocodile safari camp. To reach the camp meant flying into the delta area from Maun then a journey in a 12ft (6m) mokoro, a very unstable canoe like craft hewn out of a single tree trunk. Commonly used by the locals in the area for delta navigation, our “Poler” propelled the mokoro with a single, long pole (Ngashi). It took about 45 minutes to reach the riverside safari camp during which time we encountered pods of hippos in some cases within 50ft of us. I must admit both Wendy and I were extremely nervous at the close proximity of these massive animals even more so when they would open their mouths and show off their huge 40CM (1.8FT) lower jaw tusks. Always squabbling between themselves they would disappear underwater and re-emerge in a different place and all Wendy and I could do was hope to God they didn’t decide to come up under the canoe. Our “poler’ standing in the rear of the canoe didn’t seem to be bothered by the hippos; one thing I am sure of is the fact that had we gone in the water, we would never have survived the experience, hippos are very territorial and certainly they were not happy with our intrusion on their territory; Wen and I were both surprised that our mokoro handler took us so close to such a dangerous and unpredictable animals. The two close-up pictures that follow, taken from the mokoro, are indicative of how close we came to these behemoths in open water.
But survive we did although I must admit, we were more uneasy during that experience than any other one of its kind that we had while in Africa; adding to our concern was the sight of crocodiles taking it easy on the river banks but always prepared to slip into the water the moment they hear a splash.
Strangely enough the time to really worry about hippos is when you encounter them on land as 2-300 Africans do every year to their demise. Because its the norm to encounter hippos in the water one tends to forget that they are herbivorous and need to graze on land (mostly at night) for their daily food intake which is around 1.5 percent of their body weight in grasses a day. To repeat myself as I have done elsewhere when referring to our animal experiences, “If you hang around Africa long enough camping in the outdoors as we did, something is bound to happen. We were camping in Zambia on a high bank overlooking the Kafue River some 20-30 ft below us and during the late afternoon had enjoyed watching several large pods of hippos doing their usual disgruntled thing. Around 11am just before bed, I put on a small external nightlight and ducked out side for a quick pee; while I was doing my business I noticed a rather unpleasant smell in the air but couldn’t see anything unusual although our small night light had a very limited range. It was a glorious, clear, full moon African night with a slight nip in the air and I was so taken by the exhilaration of it, I walked 10 paces or so over to the river bank edge to see what the hippos were up to down below; couldn’t see much, too dark down there but I could hear them still and it was then I started to hear what seemed like a deep sounding African drum being played somewhere nearby, "da-dum, da-um, da-dum." Puzzled but not alarmed I peered into the night in the direction of the sound and honestly near pooped my pants when in the moonlight my eyes focused on the dark bulk of something very large running full pelt towards me and shaking the very ground beneath my feet as well, that was the answer to my "da-du, da-dum" puzzle. The whole incident took seconds but thank God for RR2; before I got run down, I manage to duck behind it and hide from view and then peering up one side, it looked clear so I ran to the driver’s door, opened it and jumped in. Meanwhile, just as I had opened the driver’s door, Wendy, wondering why I was taking so long to pee had opened the sliding door to check on me and at that moment I hear a loud “Shit” from Wendy who was confronted by a 4000 LB, stinky hippo standing outside the door; I think both RR2 doors slammed closed at the same moment and then, still shaken by what had just happened, I had a lot of explaining to do. Two things surprised me about that experience one being the speed that big lump of lard could run and also, how smelly they are out of water…..oh phew! I read later that they can reach speeds of 25mph and kill more people than any other animal in Africa which also surprised me as we thought that honor was relegated to the buffalo. More interesting was what we learned later elsewhere and that was, “on land, a hippo usually will ignore you if you give them their space but never-never get between them and the water, their principal source of safety.” By the time we left Africa we felt were tuned into the animal Sykes but thankful that Africa had allowed us some mistakes.
Strangely enough the time to really worry about hippos is when you encounter them on land as 2-300 Africans do every year to their demise. Because its the norm to encounter hippos in the water one tends to forget that they are herbivorous and need to graze on land (mostly at night) for their daily food intake which is around 1.5 percent of their body weight in grasses a day. To repeat myself as I have done elsewhere when referring to our animal experiences, “If you hang around Africa long enough camping in the outdoors as we did, something is bound to happen. We were camping in Zambia on a high bank overlooking the Kafue River some 20-30 ft below us and during the late afternoon had enjoyed watching several large pods of hippos doing their usual disgruntled thing. Around 11am just before bed, I put on a small external nightlight and ducked out side for a quick pee; while I was doing my business I noticed a rather unpleasant smell in the air but couldn’t see anything unusual although our small night light had a very limited range. It was a glorious, clear, full moon African night with a slight nip in the air and I was so taken by the exhilaration of it, I walked 10 paces or so over to the river bank edge to see what the hippos were up to down below; couldn’t see much, too dark down there but I could hear them still and it was then I started to hear what seemed like a deep sounding African drum being played somewhere nearby, "da-dum, da-um, da-dum." Puzzled but not alarmed I peered into the night in the direction of the sound and honestly near pooped my pants when in the moonlight my eyes focused on the dark bulk of something very large running full pelt towards me and shaking the very ground beneath my feet as well, that was the answer to my "da-du, da-dum" puzzle. The whole incident took seconds but thank God for RR2; before I got run down, I manage to duck behind it and hide from view and then peering up one side, it looked clear so I ran to the driver’s door, opened it and jumped in. Meanwhile, just as I had opened the driver’s door, Wendy, wondering why I was taking so long to pee had opened the sliding door to check on me and at that moment I hear a loud “Shit” from Wendy who was confronted by a 4000 LB, stinky hippo standing outside the door; I think both RR2 doors slammed closed at the same moment and then, still shaken by what had just happened, I had a lot of explaining to do. Two things surprised me about that experience one being the speed that big lump of lard could run and also, how smelly they are out of water…..oh phew! I read later that they can reach speeds of 25mph and kill more people than any other animal in Africa which also surprised me as we thought that honor was relegated to the buffalo. More interesting was what we learned later elsewhere and that was, “on land, a hippo usually will ignore you if you give them their space but never-never get between them and the water, their principal source of safety.” By the time we left Africa we felt were tuned into the animal Sykes but thankful that Africa had allowed us some mistakes.
OUR TIME WITH THE HIPPOS. CLICK ON FIRST PIX AND TRAVEL THROUGH THE GALLERY; USE KEYBOARD ARROWS OR PICTURE Arrows; commentate will follow later.
"A THING OF BEAUTY TO BEHOLD"
CHEETS:
We encountered cheetah in almost every game Park we visited because their range is very widespread, we photograph them throughout East Africa all the way south into Namibia where perhaps we had our best opportunities to watch them hunt and it is a thing of beauty to behold the stealth and great patients shown by these animals in their quest to get a meal.
Unlike lions, cheetah mostly hunt on their own although it can be a family affair with the onus on the mom to feed the kids or should I say kittens. Best time to get near them and photograph them a little close was after they made a kill because they are reluctant to leave it and show quite a bit of tolerance towards humans in that regard; so many times however we felt sorry for them because after making a successful kill, damn hyenas or a lion/s turned up and took over the kill which makes it hard for the mom who’s trying to feed family. Never really felt afraid of cheetah, they are basically docile by nature but I must admit on one occasion one scared the hell out of me as I approached two of them on a kill; one got to its feet, arched its back and started uttering a guttural growl which only made me more determined to keep my camera trained on the animal but then suddenly, it charged which looked ominous in my telephoto lens and as I backed away, it leapt into the air baring its teeth which fortunately for me, turned out to be a mock attack because it stopped short of taking a bite out of me.
We encountered cheetah in almost every game Park we visited because their range is very widespread, we photograph them throughout East Africa all the way south into Namibia where perhaps we had our best opportunities to watch them hunt and it is a thing of beauty to behold the stealth and great patients shown by these animals in their quest to get a meal.
Unlike lions, cheetah mostly hunt on their own although it can be a family affair with the onus on the mom to feed the kids or should I say kittens. Best time to get near them and photograph them a little close was after they made a kill because they are reluctant to leave it and show quite a bit of tolerance towards humans in that regard; so many times however we felt sorry for them because after making a successful kill, damn hyenas or a lion/s turned up and took over the kill which makes it hard for the mom who’s trying to feed family. Never really felt afraid of cheetah, they are basically docile by nature but I must admit on one occasion one scared the hell out of me as I approached two of them on a kill; one got to its feet, arched its back and started uttering a guttural growl which only made me more determined to keep my camera trained on the animal but then suddenly, it charged which looked ominous in my telephoto lens and as I backed away, it leapt into the air baring its teeth which fortunately for me, turned out to be a mock attack because it stopped short of taking a bite out of me.
I had much more respect for cheetahs after that and took more care when approaching them for with those teeth they could really take a chunk out of you; got some great pictures though. On one occasion in the Serengeti, we got to see just what a cheetah can do when faced with adversity when one faced off against a large male baboon, a fierce-some animal in itself; the cheetah won but no blood was shed and it was one of the times I dearly wished I had a video camera. One thing that really surprised me about cheetahs was their most un-catlike calls which sounded more like a bird than an animal; very high pitched and almost inaudible chirp; it was not what you would expect from a wily predator of the cat family; their kittens however are as cute looking and cuddle-some as any domestic kitten, that is, if you could ever get near them to do that as the mom is very protective of them and now that I say that, it could very well be that the one who made a mock charge at me may have had young nearby and that was who she was protecting. In the gallery, there are 3-4 pictures taken on a single hunt where we watched one animal slowly, patiently stalk a group of springbok (favourite prey) for 45 mins before she made her strike and like most cheetah hunts we observed both animals sprinted out of our view before she brought it down; last pix shows her taking the kill back to her young family but as always, remaining well camouflaged to avoid discovery and avoid pilfering.
OUR TIME WITH THE CHEETAHS. CLICK ON FIRST PIX AND TRAVEL THROUGH THE GALLERY; USE KEYBOARD ARROWS OR PICTURE ARROWS. COMMENTARIES WILL FOLLOW LATER
Africa really opened our eyes in so many ways; a continent rife with political upheaval, corruption, civil war and un-predictability all of which we expected to some degree or other but what we didn't expect, and were pleasantly surprised with, were the amazing variety of antelopes that exist on this diverse continent and the longer we stayed, the more we discovered. The example shown here is the Bongo, a mostly nocturnal forest ungulate. It is among the largest of the African forest antelope species; they are unusual in that both sexes have horns and inhabit lowland jungles of the Congo as well as the high country up to 8,000 ft in central Kenya where we encountered them If you would like to see more of the weird and wonderful antelopes of Africa (a variety of some 40 others), click on the picture and that will take you to our "Wildlife Encounters" section of the website. Ignore Part One and scroll through Part Two to the "Africa Gallery". With so many of our African wildlife pictures, the use of our RR2 as a Hide was invaluable.
There are very few places in the world other than New Zealand, Australia & Canada that we would want to live in but South Africa was the exception, so much so that we actually immigrated there with the intention to stay but alas, it was under apartheid rule at the time with little hope of political stability so we had to abandon the otherwise positive attributes of the country and move on. Table Mountain picture below is one of the most photographed mountains in the world.
Having already spent at least two years in Africa before our arrival in South Africa, the disparity between the "have and have-nots" was something we had already become accustomed to throughout the continent. However, the one part of South Africa's apartheid policy that irritated us above all others was the signs indicating that certain areas were for whites only (like the beaches). The Cango caves pictured above, had entrance signs indicating that certain hours were for blacks and others for whites only; such restrictions annoyed us considerably but South Africa was not our country and we had to accept it as it was. Years later, the government changed and apartheid was no more; it was a complicated issue with some pros but mostly cons.
Very few countries offer the variety of interest that South Africa has to offer which at the time when we were there also included its south western territory (above pix) that has since become Namibia. Why did we love South Africa so much? Perhaps some pictures with commentary will best answer that question….
Firstly, its accommodating climate especially in the above pix of Johannesburg (1,753 meters) rarely intolerably hot or unbearably cold.
Love the sea? South Africa has it all; wild, scenic, dual ocean coastlines and uncrowded beaches; (above and below)
Flower nerd? S. Africa's abundant wildflowers 1-2 include its incomparable protea.(3)
Hiking enthusiast? S. Africa has many challenging mountains and awesome sand dunes; climb them if you can, they are some of highest (1,256 ft.) dunes in the world; more about the mountains later!
If sand dunes are not your thing then S, Africa has canyons waiting to be explored including the Fish River, second in size only to U.S.A.’s Grand Canyon.
So much more to explore like verdant rain forests, host to many a waterfall and in contrast, desert where rain never falls.
Always of interest are the colourful, indigenous tribal entities and the variety of their homes that are all part of the fascinating makeup of South Africa; (1-6 pix)
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Homes of the Cape Province featuring the Cape Dutch architecture have great charm and add yet another facet to the appeal S. Africa (above/ below); Stellenbosch wine country.
And perhaps the most appealing feature of all when exploring S.A. would have to be its prolific wildlife some in reserves, others roaming free. e.g. up close with rhino & giraffe.
With RR2 shipping off on a slow boat to New York, we flew off to the Canary Islands in 1985. I must admit as we waited to board our flight to leave Africa my mood was melancholy and full of mixed emotions. We were leaving behind what we now know as one of the most widely diverse countries on the planet, a country that our admitting immigration officer described to us as “God’s own country.” In fact, I felt a little teary eyed as our home was hoisted off African soil for the last time. In retrospect, Africa had taught us a great deal more about life and how best to deal with it.
We were leaving a continent that had provided us with so many wonderful memories but Africa was changing and we knew it would never be the same if we returned expecting the same level of unrestricted freedom we had so enjoyed in the past. Pix shows Wendy breakfasting with the "hippos" and overnight camping with a herd of wild roan antelope.
Bottom line? We loved the place and stayed long enough to experience its every corner. Under indigenous control now, South African living standards have gone down considerably in recent years and crime & corruption have escalated.
UKHALAMBA
As we did so often in our travels before arriving in a new country, we had done a lot of research on South Africa prior to our arrival there by sea(above). At the time our interest was primarily aimed at researching the wildlife Parks and we gave little thought to the Drakensberg ("Berg" for short); in fact, initially we had regarded it as a mediocre mountain area that hardly compared to what we had already hiked in the past; how wrong we were!! Hiking the Drakensburg turned out to be the highlight of our time spent in Sth. Africa and this special feature will try to explain why.
Wendy and I have always loved being around mountains and better still, following a mountain trail to wherever it may lead us; together we have spent many hundreds of hours throughout our lifetime on mountain trails scattered across the globe. Now in our 80s, our hiking days have slowed down a lot and we content ourselves with short hikes to favourite serene picnic locations usually alongside some rollicking mountain stream and is there a better sound in nature than that? Such venues always evoke memories of days gone by and the companionship we enjoyed on mountain trails “far from the Madding crowd”: cherished memories of the Rockies, Andes, European Alps, Southern Alps of New Zealand, the Himalayas and where it all began, in the Snowy Mountains of Australia, place of our birth. Wendy (above) overlooks Montana state U.S.A., from a high ridge in Alberta, Canada and Trevor below) struggles to maintain balance against wind gusts (Mt Aconcagua trail, Argentina, S. America.)
As famous and well-known as the aforementioned hiking venues may be, when we think of the ultimate rewards that hiking in mountains has provided us in past years, our minds are immediately drawn back to the time we spent exploring/hiking in the Ukhalamba mountains; few people would know it by that name unless they were familiar with the Zulu language that perhaps better describes the escarpment that rises above the heart of South Africa. To the Zulu, it appears as a “Barrier of Spears” (above pix); to the Afrikaner, it is the “Drakensberg” ("Dragon Mountains”) and the longer we stayed in this part of the world the more challenges we discovered........
To begin with, the Drakensberg range is a 200km long mountain escarpment with the tallest peak highest in Africa south of Kilimanjaro. The mountains are also home to many nature reserves with waterfalls and abundant wildlife and it was these features that set the Drakensberg apart from our mountain experiences in the past. Approximately 182 million years ago the Drakensberg Group was formed during the early Jurassic period. Many of the peaks in the range are over two thousand metres (above pix) the highest being Thabana Ntlenyana, rising to 11,424 feet (3,482 m.) These facts alone made it obvious there was a lot more to the "Dragon" mts. than what we had anticipated.
Deciding to do at least a couple of trails in the mountains, we drove to the Royal Natal National Park and on first sight of the escarpment, we were staggered by the awesome beauty of what would indeed be a formidable challenge to climb, unlike anything we had seen before; so much so we could not wait to come to grips with the Drakensberg.
After our arrival at Royal Natal, we spent a couple of days reconnoitering and familiarizing ourselves with the area; our primary goal was to work out just how we could climb the escarpment hopefully to its summit.
Obviously, the Natal Park was the crown jewel of the Ukhalamba. What really interested us at first was the waterfall that cascaded down the face of the escarpment and we just knew we had get to the top of it somehow and that was our first challenge; don’t ask me why that was necessary except for the fact it was in our makeup that we needed to do it. We had read in National Geographic Magazine that the Tugela falls (above) was the second tallest waterfall in the world but since then, it has been reassessed as the tallest waterfall in the world, rather than Venezuela's Angel Falls. The Tugela’s combined total drop of its five distinct free-leaping falls is officially 948 m (3,110 ft).
After a couple more days reconnoitering the escarpment area we soon realized that reaching the top of the waterfall was going to take a lot longer than we thought; the above terrain approaching the escarpment was extremely rugged; it would not give up its secrets that easily and we would have to earn our objectives.
After a lot of ups and downs and backtracking, it took us a whole day to get this close to the escarpment and even at this distance the task of climbing it seemed formidable; we thought perhaps that climbing one of the many watercourses tumbling down the face could well be beyond our capability. Nonetheless, it was worth a try. The whole area was particularly beautiful with lots of flowering protea shrubs; these handsome flowers bloom in many colours and are native to South Africa. We also had our first experience with the Bishop bird on this day; flocks of them would settle into a bush to feed without us noticing them but as we approached the bush, they erupted together in a dense cloud of red and black and moved on. It was a sight we saw many times when in South Africa and never tired of seeing them. It was a good day but as cloud began to move in, we decided to leave the task of climbing the escarpment for another day.
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We picked a good day weatherwise (or at least we thought so) for our first attempt to scale the escarpment. The plan was if we could get to the top, we could hike westward and reach the waterfall that way; an optimistic endeavor indeed but not based on the reality of what the terrain was like. We had only been hiking for an hour and mist started to spill over the escarpment; we weren't sure what that meant but we kept on going. With binoculars we had previously scouted our route up the watercourse which we thought was possible but we soon learned otherwise; the route soon became exceptionally steep(above /below pix) and at times we had no idea where it was leading us.
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After two hours of wear and tear on our bodies, we heard a distant rumble of thunder, a sound that you do not want to hear when you are in the middle of a waterfall having a cool drink. That sound, distant as it may be, was enough to make us realize that what we were doing was a very bad idea because if heavy rain was heading towards the escarpment, and with no escape to higher ground, we could be engulfed in a raging torrent. Disappointed, we hastily headed back down our watercourse at a much faster rate than we went up, but at the same time taking great care; there was a lot of loose rock and a fall or a twisted ankle would be a calamity in our circumstances. By the time we reached our original starting point (above right), it had started to sprinkle and the rumble of thunder was much closer; frustrating yes but it was a lesson we needed to learn. In the 80's, there was no such thing as a cell phone and we were a long way from any help.
After that scare, we needed to rest up and there was always clothes washing to be done. As was our usual practice, we avoided the restriction of campgrounds and had no trouble each night finding a place to sleep and better still, with a rollicking mountain stream nearby. Surprisingly, a park ranger (Mario) on horseback discovered us; he was the first individual that we encountered since our arrival in the park. We fully expected a reprimand of some sort but as was often the case, our overseas license plate gave us a lot of leeway but he did warn us that it was not safe to stay where we were being so isolated as it was. Mario listened (shaking his head) as we recounted our attempts to climb the escarpment then he went on to say that the easiest way to get to the top was to drive through a native township several miles away and continue on for a few k’s to reach a dead end where we could park and then access a trail from there that would get us to the top; problem with that advice was that he wouldn't recommend that idea because “whites” were not welcome in the area and there would also be concern for the safety of our vehicle if left unattended. Mario further informed us that there was a forestry road not far from where we were camped and we could drive up that road to an old fire tower and from there, we could reach the top on a rough trail via a long route but he doubted if we could reach the fall & back before dark.
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Hoping to glean as much information as possible from Mario, Wendy delayed him further by offering him a piece of freshly baked pie; after a second piece of pie and much prompting on our part, Mario did give us sketchy details on where we could locate another trail-head from where we could climb the escarpment with difficulty to the top but the route was old and had not been maintained. Evidently, there were metal ladders attached to the rock face in places but they were in need of repair and definitely not safe to use. Coffee over, Mario finally wished us good luck and moved on and we never saw him again but he did leave us with a series of doubts as to what best to do next.
What should we do? Take the forestry Road that the Ranger suggested meant a possible 25 km, one way trail but could we get back before dark; spending the night on the mountain that was out of question leaving our home without protection and also, our altitude was high, meaning that it would be very cold on the mountain. However, we were in good shape physically and so decided to leave early as possible to see if we could reach our objective, that being, access the top of the waterfall. The first half hour was very steep and tough on the legs and the trail eventually took us into into a dark, shadowy, strangely silent, non-inviting forest.
Ten minutes into the forest any semblance of a trail became difficult and before long, we were not sure where the hell we were going. Trying to decide what to do next, we were jolted out of our senses by a loud deep guttural, animal like call that reverberated throughout the forest leaving us with our hair standing on end, such was the the a shock of it. We scarcely had the time to wonder what it was when the animal called again but this time much louder and closer. We had not spent very much time in Africa and our experience of animal calls was limited but we thought it might be a leopard, not the sort of creature you would want to meet in a dark, shadowy forest. Oh what to do? With little choice, we kept on pushing uphill figuring that it would get us out of the forest sooner or later as long as we didn't get attacked from above, or behind, we just didn't know what to expect.
Nowadays, when thinking about our forest experience I can't help but smile at our naivety; after three years in Africa we would have instantly recognized this mystery call as that of a male baboon, not a leopard as we then thought. However, as the picture would indicate, (taken later), a fearsome animal indeed if you get on the wrong side of him but not one that would attack you unless provoked..Nevertheless, he still gave us a few grey hairs until we found our way out of the forest despite the fact, that we never at that time caught sight of him.
After three weeks hiking in the Drakensberg, we soon became accustomed to roaming packs of baboons, pictured on the ridge above, that seemed to follow us everywhere but at a respectable distance which suited us fine as an angry pack of baboons is definitely not what you want to experience should their young be threatened in any way.
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Once out of the forest, the weather brightened considerably and the trail became non-relentingly steep, following a now dry water course with lots of loose rock slowing our progress considerably; looking back behind us, beyond the foothills, the approaching weather did not look good and it was coming our way.
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It wasn't long before thunder rolled and roared throughout the peaks around us and it was then we really understood why the mountains were called the Drakensburg, (Dragon Mountains); soon the crackling of lightning strikes around us sent us hurriedly towards shelter, such as it was but at least dry.
It was at times like this that I questioned our existence, all alone at 9000 feet, sitting together out of the rain in an obscure mountain range in Africa. We were far far from what we once called home on another continent where nobody including friends and family had any idea of where the hell we were. Before the advent of cell phones and the Internet there was no way here that we could contact any one; I thought at the time we could die here and no one would ever know what happened to us. Did I ever worry too much about it? Not really as long as I had my buddy, it was all the consolation I needed to carry on with our adventurous life. Risky maybe but as I write now, as a survivor, we sure have many memories, that have cemented a bond between us to this very day.
But alas, at this time the deteriorating weather conditions dictated that we must head back to our VW home while we still had some daylight and reaching the top of the Tugela Falls would have to wait for another day or more; I must admit we were both becoming somewhat weary about the possibility of yet another trip back up the mountain.
Not wanting to trek through the forest again, we took what we thought was a shortcut that soon led us into thickets where we were suddenly confronted by a herd of Eiand, a welcome sight although as it turned out, they were not particularly friendly, in fact resented our presence especially as I moved towards some of the younger ones to photograph them; Wendy called "watch it" as the biggest of the herd seen here on the left moved menacingly forward; we left in a hurry giving them their space!
We were up really early the next morning determined to reach our goal before any rain turned up; by this time we had worked out a few shortcuts to avoid travelling through the forest and any likelihood of encountering more Eland. On the trail earlier than usual we had to be extra alert because it was at this time the puff adders were out sunning themselves after a cold night on the mountain. These snakes were a problem at any time because you always had to look where you were putting your feet as they were often hard to see coiled up between the grassy undergrowth on either side of the narrow foot track.The puff adder is not a big snake and a lazy one at that in the sense that they are not in a hurry to move if you walk by them but there is hell to pay if you step on one. Lightning fast when they strike, one of the quickest of snakes in that regard, you don't want to be bitten by one in the middle of nowhere on a mountain trail miles and miles from any assistance to treat the venom. Reaction to the bite is extremely painful and the foot swells up making it difficult to walk and if you get too much venom you are a "dead man walking".
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That narrow foot trail is well illustrated on the left with the undergrowth enshrouding it from both sides making it easier for the puff adder to remain concealed until "Oops", I just stepped over or walked past the snake and didn't see it until the last moment. I tried not to think about what either of us could have done if we were bitten; it was just one of those many risks that Wendy and I took over the many years we travelled around the globe hiking mountain trails.
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We started to get excited when we reached 8000 feet, higher than we had been before in the mountains but we were a little wary about the mist that seemed to be creeping in around us; surely we thought we must be very close to the top of the fall by now. And then suddenly, after making our way through a narrow gap, our destination appeared before our very eyes.
But alas we were so near yet so far from reaching the very brink of the fall and we were facing a longer hike around a narrow canyon in front of us and then a descent to the top of the fall; it was now late in the afternoon and we still had a long trek back to our little home. It was a tough decision but one we had to make when we realized we really had to turn back and get off the mountain, especially with the mist rising below us most likely surrounding us if we hung around on the mountain much longer. Disappointed once again but at least happy that we got this far, we decided to turn back. It was here that we saw the one and only fellow hiker (in blue above) when in the mountains; he/she appeared suddenly out of the mist above us but then, was soon enveloped in mist again before we could make contact.
Before we left to return to our VW home, we decided to make a short walk along the edge enabling us to look down into the rugged throat of what is the Royal Natal National Park and what an awesome place it is; the Drakensberg is indeed an amazing mountain range in so many ways. It was now late in the afternoon and with the mist rising, we needed to get off the mountain. Disappointed once again but at least happy that we got this far, we decided to turn back. From this vantage point looking down into a labyrinth of ravines made us realize that our original idea of finding our way through this almost surreal landscape to reach the falls was absolutely ludicrous; at that time, from our starting point at lower elevation we had no idea what was in front of us. Fortunately it was the threat of rain that sent us back to where we had started up a rocky watercourse. The scene below us was almost like something from another world where you could likely find a dinosaur or two; such is the aura of Royal Natal National Park, at least when it's in shrouded in mist anyway.
We did the last mile home in the dark using our flashlights but fortunately it was a gravel road that we had been on before. Had we been in other parts of South Africa, we may have been risking our lives but fortunately the Drakensberg is not lion country. Over a welcome cup of coffee we talked on until our fire was a single glowing coal; we had some serious thinking about what to do next. It was very disappointing for us to have to turn back without reaching our goal of getting to the brink of the fall; perhaps it was silly of us to be annoyed by our lack of achievement but any mountaineer would know the disappointment of not reaching his goal will stay with you forever. Several days ago when Ranger Mario had visited us here, he mentioned an old hiking trail up the escarpment but now disused and banned because of lack of maintenance. Using the trail now could result in people injuring themselves trying to use old stairways, improvised ladders, rusting handrails and crumbling foot paths. Although Mario did not reveal the very location of the area, he did mention a wooded area that led to the old trailhead. This sparked my interest because I did recall such an area when we were attempting our first climb up to the escarpment. Bearing this in mind, and rather than retracing our steps of the day, we decided to look for this old trailhead; of course we had been warned about it being banned but we just had to give it a go, thinking the old trail couldn't be that bad.
Locking up our little VW home, still parked by this same stream where we had been camped for several days now, we headed off early, determined to find the trail secluded in a wooded area that Mario had spoke of. It was a beautiful day although we tried to ignore the mist spilling over the Berg and we hoped then the sun would burn it off. It was quite a hike back to the area where we had first attempted to climb the escarpment but turned back because of the impending rain threatening the watercourse.
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Back in familiar territory again and after some searching, we did discover a little wooded area tucked into a small ravine so we ventured into it looking for some mystery trailhead. Finding what did appear to be an old trail, we followed it for a while and became excited when it led us into a another small ravine where we found some old spikes driven into rock and also a cable to assist climbers. Following this trail, we came upon a rusty and harrowingly loose ladder precariously clinging (in places) to a vertical rock face that disappeared into a mist that had suddenly appeared from nowhere.........we pushed on.
As the mist thickened, the temperature dropped considerably and we were glad of the extra clothes that we had brought with us as we mostly did anyway; now we were caught "between a rock and a hard place" with little choice but to continue on;. Going up the ladder was far less hazardous than trying to go back down; more frustrating was the fact that the mist was so dense we were not able to see what was ahead, might as well be climbing through clouds to heaven. It seemed that the higher we climbed, more and more rusting spikes pulled out of the rock to the point where we were left hanging on to a dangling ladder with just a few rungs still secured….Why oh why do we attempt to do such stupid things I kept thinking. Wendy, obviously thinking similar thoughts, called out "This is ridiculous. I'm not going on." But, we had no choice except to continue up the ladder to the point where we could finally get off the damn thing. Reaching the top we couldn't see any further than two meters in front of us.
And so there we stayed in the mist; we were now at considerable altitude and feared that we may be stuck on the mountain overnight; after sitting for an hour and a half we were already very cold. My main concern was for Wendy, being egged on by my "let's give it a go" attitude and so she followed, faithful companion that she is and a gutsy one at that. Another troubling thought was the fact that time was passing us by and we still had to get to the waterfall and then find our way back to our tiny home.
Later in the afternoon, the sun began working on the mist and slowly it started to lift to the point where we could see to climb higher taking us away from the previous trail, finally reaching sunshine; the change in temperature from below was dramatic. The view was awesome but our waterfall was still hidden in the mist. As we warmed up, I scanned the area ahead with my binoculars and it appeared to me that if we kept going from where we were, staying above the mist, we could reach an area where after a short climb up a relatively steep but negotiable rock face, we could reach a level that would allow us to access the top of the fall. Handing the binoculars to Wendy, I asked "do you think we could make it up that rock face?" Her answer was simply "let's get started". Hence we set off along the edge and reaching the rock face, I led the way climbing up showing her that it was possible if we went steadily. We were now at a point where we couldn't go back anyway and had no choice but to continue as best we could, wondering at the same time if we were ever going to get off the mountain.
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As always, I had climbed above Wendy to indicate what I thought was the best route for her to follow; Wendy was a strong young lady. In her teaching career she had coached volleyball, basketball and gymnastics so she had a good sense of balance, strong grip and with more endurance than the average female. My climbing buddy for many years she was able to tackle most everything yet I often felt that I was asking too much of her during our time in the Drakensberg. Shortly after I took the picture on the left, I heard a shriek from Wendy such as I had never heard from her before; it was truly out of character for her. Expecting the worst I looked back down to where I had seen her last and she was gone! Traumatized over what may have just happened, I suddenly felt sick to my stomach as I visualized her falling back down the mountain to God knows where, most likely landing on jagged rocks . Fearing the worst, and trying not to accept the fact that I had lost her, I kept looking down hoping she would reappear.
Trying to deal with the situation and feeling quite nauseated, I had to sit down before I fell down but I was still very much at a loss as to what to do next; no such thing as a mobile phone or 911 in those days. I shall never forget that moment when I heard a familiar voice call out from below "where the hell are you"? I simply could never be able to describe the relief that I felt when I looked below and there was my climbing buddy coming up from a completely different location from where I had seen her last "(above left). "Oh my God" was all I could yell back still wondering what the heck had happened to her. Wendy had no idea of the trauma that she had caused me because she was too busy dealing with her situation which as it turned out, was understandable. Later, she went on to explain she had suddenly been confronted face-to-face with a Ringhals snake that had shot out of a hole in front of her, rearing up cobra style in attack mode which scared the "living daylights" out of her causing the shriek that I had heard earlier. Wendy was very lucky that the darn thing had not spat at her projecting venom into her eyes. Realizing the danger, Wendy had quickly retreated down the rocky face, appearing to me she had fallen off the escarpment. More intent on continuing her climb elsewhere, well away from the snake, she eventually resurfaced in a different location without knowing she had nearly caused me a heart attack. When we got to talking about it later she thought the whole thing was rather funny but I assure you, it was far from that. It was still wonderful that my best friend and companion over so many years had not left me.
We had two other encounters with the ringhals snake; it was hard to get a decent photograph of one as they appeared so suddenly from their holes in the ground and always aggressively; all you had time to do is to retreat and get out of its way. I can only imagine what it must've been like for Wendy to suddenly come face to face with one at eye level less than 3 feet away; she is so fortunate that the snake did not strike her in the face, that would have been enough to send her off the mountain completely.
With the toughest part of the climb over, all we wanted to do was relax in the sunshine and recover from the trauma of it. At the top of the climb we had a great view around the escarpment especially since a lot of the mist had lifted and we could see our way around to the fall area but there was no time to relax; we still had quite a hike to reach the fall but first there was a steep scramble to reach escarpment level. It was now late in the afternoon and we had such a long way back to our little home hopefully before dark.
Finally we reached the fall area but as is often the case in mountainous terrain, nothing is ever as simple as you may have thought; we still had a steep descent from the top of the escarpment to the brink of the fall and when we got there, after a couple of photos to record our achievement, we had a heck of a steep ascent back to the top and and then head for our VW home.
So here she is, Wendy posing at the very brink of the Tugela Falls, reputed to be the highest waterfall in the world; that is, taking into account its length from the beginning to reach the valley below. Likely, there is a cable car there now to make it easy for tourists but in our day, we did it our way, albeit on our third attempt, and nearly losing my "dearly beloved" in the process.
As we had done before, we did the last 4 kms in the dark with flashlights which really were not necessary at all because the moon was up and at that altitude, in the thin, clear air, the moonlight was all that was needed to show the way on a now familiar gravel road. We were just too tired to prepare a meal so settled for a glass of wine at a warm fire reminiscing on the day's events.
In retrospect, hiking in the Drakensberg provided some of our most memorable trail experiences but also some of the scariest; scariest in the sense that at times we were taking on more difficulty than we were really capable of but somehow the aura of this place just kept drawing us in to see what else we could discover and there was much more that we did in the mountains that I have not the space to include here. Probably the stiffest climb we faced in the Berg was 3004 m Cathedral Peak, one of the highest mountains in the Drakensberg, a very exposed trail with little cover against the elements especially the wind that can blow you out of balance in gusty conditions that can suddenly arrive seemingly from nowhere; it wasn't an easy ascent and at times more tricky going down.....very steep, very tiring, and very slippery after rain. Here, Wendy enjoys a cup of coffee after descending from Cathedral which was our last challenge before we headed off to explore the many other features that South Africa had to offer.
We spent a lot of time in South Africa and explored it's very soul sometimes good sometimes bad but making many memories as we did so. I have no time or the space in this website to cover it in detail but a gallery of pictures will give you an insight to some of them; mouse click any one of them for full page viewing and scroll through at full page if you choose. Basically I should add a commentary for each one but that's for another time….Happy travels!
WALKING TO OUR GUESTHOUSE FROM AIRPORT
BERMUDA
What a delightful island this is, surrounded by a crystal clear sea, pink sand beaches (pix1-2) and blessed with near constant sunshine and packed full of charm and colour (see guesthouse pix); a mixture of English & American cultures with some novel accents to boot, we stayed but two days and nights there but made good use of our time by covering every captivating corner of this British territory on foot. Would we live there? Well not really, the island is small and our interests would soon become exhausted but it's a memorable place to visit albeit hellishly expensive. The island is a paradisaical place in many respects but unless they get good rains, they do have a water shortage problem; what rain they do get they tried to channel down their whitewashed grooves into water tanks but at times, they have had to have their water shipped in which makes it an even more expensive place to live in. The gorgeous creature that I have chosen as our third featured was a young lady that we met on a hiking track; she was local and so of course we got chatting and we enjoyed her company so much we asked her if there was a place we could get a hamburger in town so she obligingly took us there. Of course we had to buy her one too along with coffee; it was a great experience and we loved her company but we are still paying for the hamburgers years later, (just kidding) but you get my drift. Enjoy the images but we have yet to add commentary (24-07-2017)
OUR GUESTHOUSE MAIN ENTRANCE
OUR TIME IN BERMUDA. CLICK ON FIRST PIX AND TRAVEL THROUGH THE GALLERY; USE KEYBOARD ARROWS OR PICTURE ARROWS.
MADEIRA
With it's spectacular almost primal topography, sub tropical climate and rich volcanic soil, there is no doubt in my mind that Madeira is one of the most amazing islands on earth. Visit there, walk its Levadas, drive its maze-like roadways that have you questioning the sanity of those who put them there and also, marvel at its patchwork of green, precipitous terraces that appear to defy logic and gravity; do all of that and see if you don't agree with me. Make no mistake Madeira is the remnant of a monster volcano and there is plenty evidence of that (drive the summit road to Pico do Arieiro) but it is also the greenest ex-volcano you'll ever see. We loved its local Mateus wine produced by back-breaking toil in vineyards not much bigger than back gardens; vineyards clinging to slopes that defy the use of any mechanization. You'll find this autonomous region of Portugal off the coast of NW Africa.
With it's spectacular almost primal topography, sub tropical climate and rich volcanic soil, there is no doubt in my mind that Madeira is one of the most amazing islands on earth. Visit there, walk its Levadas, drive its maze-like roadways that have you questioning the sanity of those who put them there and also, marvel at its patchwork of green, precipitous terraces that appear to defy logic and gravity; do all of that and see if you don't agree with me. Make no mistake Madeira is the remnant of a monster volcano and there is plenty evidence of that (drive the summit road to Pico do Arieiro) but it is also the greenest ex-volcano you'll ever see. We loved its local Mateus wine produced by back-breaking toil in vineyards not much bigger than back gardens; vineyards clinging to slopes that defy the use of any mechanization. You'll find this autonomous region of Portugal off the coast of NW Africa.
25-07-2017......Enjoy the pix but still working on the script for the GALLERY photos; click on Wendy and the two local girls to open the GALLERY pix and move though them with the mouse or keyboard arrows
NO BETTER PICTURE CAN I OFFER OF THIS SPECTACULARLY CULTIVATED ISLAND THAN THIS ONE SHOWING A VALLEY CLEAVED SO DEEP INTO THE LAND IT WOULD TAKE A DAY TO HIKE TO ITS BOTTOM AND SCRAMBLE OUT AGAIN.
GALLERY
THE FAROES
En-route to Iceland, we were ever so glad we decided to stop off with our RR2 to see something of Denmark's archipelago of volcanic islands, an absolute mecca for hikers lusting for its mountain trails, grassy heathland and fiord views, waterfalls and steep coastal cliffs bedecked with bird life. We spent several June days here exploring the islands connected by road tunnels, ferries, causeways and bridges. The Faroes may be of volcanic origin but nowadays, the landscapes have been tamed and smoothed by glaciers that must have passed right over them leaving behind magical fiords, inlets, bays and valleys so green, they even surpass those of the "Emerald" Ireland. Our time in the Faro's, ranks high in our memories of island experiences; we saw one other tourist camping out in a tiny tent, other than that, we had the island's to ourselves and we reveled in the vistas that we were able to obtain by hiking the mist shrouded ridges of this beautiful escape from the European mainland.
En-route to Iceland, we were ever so glad we decided to stop off with our RR2 to see something of Denmark's archipelago of volcanic islands, an absolute mecca for hikers lusting for its mountain trails, grassy heathland and fiord views, waterfalls and steep coastal cliffs bedecked with bird life. We spent several June days here exploring the islands connected by road tunnels, ferries, causeways and bridges. The Faroes may be of volcanic origin but nowadays, the landscapes have been tamed and smoothed by glaciers that must have passed right over them leaving behind magical fiords, inlets, bays and valleys so green, they even surpass those of the "Emerald" Ireland. Our time in the Faro's, ranks high in our memories of island experiences; we saw one other tourist camping out in a tiny tent, other than that, we had the island's to ourselves and we reveled in the vistas that we were able to obtain by hiking the mist shrouded ridges of this beautiful escape from the European mainland.
NO BETTER PICTURE CAN I OFFER OF THESE WONDERFUL, OFTEN MISTY, WELL WATERED, VISTA FILLED, EMERALD COLORED ISLANDS THAN THIS ONE AND WITH THE ADDED BONUS OF OUR TINY RR2 AWAITING ITS OWNERS RETURN.
Enjoy the pix but still working on the script for the individual photos; click on the first pix below to open the GALLERY and move through with the mouse or keyboard arrows.
MORE OF THE FAROES TO COME YET
LANDSCAPE AFTER DESCENDIN THE "RIF" MTS.
MOROCCO
To say the least, Morocco made a big impression on us in more ways than one. After having spent two years in Europe both east & west and just recently in colourful Spain, the move by car ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar to Tangiers, opened our eyes not only to the Arab world, so vastly different to the European way of life but also, with the amazing differences of its topography in comparison to the Continent; the colours of the land bade comparison with the exaggerations of a child's colouring book. At times, Morocco reminded me of my home country Australia; there were deserts here like I had seen before and like Australia, there were eucalyptus trees (above) aplenty but most noticeable was the extreme redness of the soil, the rocks, the canyons and the general multi coloured landscape. Because Morocco marked the beginning of our trans-African journey to Cape Town South Africa and to avoid heat in the Sahara; we had crossed the Mediterranean to North Africa in early spring so the temperatures were mild, the atmosphere amazingly clear after Europe which from a photographic point of view brought out the colours of this land that simply begged to be filmed and then there was the people!! (next pix).
To say the least, Morocco made a big impression on us in more ways than one. After having spent two years in Europe both east & west and just recently in colourful Spain, the move by car ferry across the Strait of Gibraltar to Tangiers, opened our eyes not only to the Arab world, so vastly different to the European way of life but also, with the amazing differences of its topography in comparison to the Continent; the colours of the land bade comparison with the exaggerations of a child's colouring book. At times, Morocco reminded me of my home country Australia; there were deserts here like I had seen before and like Australia, there were eucalyptus trees (above) aplenty but most noticeable was the extreme redness of the soil, the rocks, the canyons and the general multi coloured landscape. Because Morocco marked the beginning of our trans-African journey to Cape Town South Africa and to avoid heat in the Sahara; we had crossed the Mediterranean to North Africa in early spring so the temperatures were mild, the atmosphere amazingly clear after Europe which from a photographic point of view brought out the colours of this land that simply begged to be filmed and then there was the people!! (next pix).
We came across villages (above)so isolated and so primitive and set in a dry harsh land that defied the fact that people still lived there, we became captivated by the Moroccan way of life and its people, at least from an observation point of view for what had been a simple way of life before tourism arrived in Morocco, had now changed to outstretched hands asking payment for almost anything and any form of refusal quite often resulted in hostility. We had many adventures in this country and a good percentage of them I would have preferred to avoid but one must remember we never travelled as most tourists do on a tour of sorts; instead, our vehicle was challenged by some god awful roads(below) and that in itself exposed us to a lot of dilemmas that the average visitor to Morocco would not encounter; I shall not dwell on the details here because more of that is in our trans-African section.
DADES GORGE
For now, let’s have a look at the amazing colourful landscape of Morocco, its colourful people and towns, its oasis’s of which there are many. In the driest of land, oasis suddenly appear from nowhere simply because of the existence of water, albeit not a lot but wherever water does or did exist, the land springs to life and somehow people eke out an existence one way or another in close proximity to this life supporting source. (next pix)
Perhaps what surprised us most as we roamed the land was the Atlas Mountains (above) stretching around 2,500 km (1,600 mi) through Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia with an elevation of 4,167 metres (13,671 ft). in southwestern Moro; still covered in winter snow and visible from so many parts of the land, the Atlas provided a truly remarkable contrast to the desert -like conditions so often a part of this country. (next pix)
Fringed by the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, Morocco is distinguished by its Berber and Arabian cultural influences. Most notable, was the city of Marrakesh’s medina, a mazelike medieval quarter, offering entertainment in its Djemaa el-Fna square (2 pix below)and souks (market places) selling ceramics, jewelry, spices, and all things metal. (above) For us, Morocco is a country once seen and experienced, it cannot be forgotten.
LANDSCAPE GALLERY
VILLAGES AND TOWNS
ROMAN RUINS OF VOLUBILIS
PEOPLE OF MOROCCO
BUILDINGS AND ARCHITECTURE
HUMAN AND GENERAL INTEREST
EGYPT
Before we arrived in Egypt, we had already explored ancient ruins in Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Syria, Continental Europe and 4 countries in North Africa; at the time, we thought we had see the best of what ancient ruins had to offer our imagination but after spending a month in Egypt, that viewpoint was soon changed by the spectacles of Luxor, Karnak, Abu Simbel and of course the pyramids of Giza; it seems pointless to try and describe further in this short narrative what the ancient Egyptians managed to achieve; without the tools and know how we have today, they nevertheless created temples that even in the ruined state we see them today, they are still simply awesome. Again travelling at a time when tourism was at its infancy here and also relatively safe unlike what it is today, we were taken alone into places such as ancient tombs that are far more rigorously controlled today. One of the most moving memories throughout our world travels, we experienced in Egypt when we were escorted with the aid of sunlight provided by a series of carefully located mirrors, down into an underground world of ancient burial tombs where we were able to see wall paintings that had barely deteriorated since the time of the Pharaoh's; what a story of a bygone era they revealed all of which our single Egyptian guide of 80 yrs., who had learned to read the symbols, explained in greater detail. I was so moved by what he had to say, when the surface mirror was momentarily turned away from the sun, plunging the tomb into total darkness, I placed my hand between upraised hands (see pix) and trembled at the thought that 4000 years ago, someone was standing there in my place creating history with brush and ocher; maybe it was just my imagination but just by touching the wall, I seemed to sense the misery, pain, sacrifice and glory that was all part of this amazing civilization that has long vanished but left behind them an incredible legacy. No way can you touch that wall today but we did go on to learn much more of Egypt's history and also, how Egyptians live out their so very different lives today.
TOMB ENTRANCE
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MIRROR GUYS
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Cairo was a chaotic place to be in especially when trying to drive there, you certainly felt the crush of the 9 million people now living there which has spread out into more like 20 million if you take into account suburbia. Okay, today the buses may have become a little more modern (not always) than the above but you will still see freeloaders clinging to the side of whatever they can get a hand hold on. The city did little for us but the central "Museum of Egyptian Antiquities" was outstanding and kept us occupied for a whole day; the new one under construction out by the pyramids is supposedly larger.
Spread over 3,085 square kilometers (1,191 sq mi), Cairo is now the 17th largest city in the world and certainly the largest in the Middle East and Africa but no way would I live there; if you ignore the inner city high rise and construction cranes and check out the city back blocks, you'll find a different story waiting to be told.
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I am ashamed to admit it because it was not our style but we joined the tourist fracas at the pyramids and did grab a camel ride to the big pyramid not because of the distance but because we had never ridden on a camel before, a most smelly & uncomfortable experience I assure you. Of course we attempted to climb the pyramid but security stopped us before we reached half way which was fine with us because it was too darn hot to keep going anyway.
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The Great Sphinx of Giza, (below) is a limestone statue of a reclining sphinx, a mythical creature that comprises a lion’s body with a pharaoh’s head. Facing directly from West to East, it stands on the Giza Plateau on the west bank of the Nile in Giza, Egypt.
To me the Sphinx was a bit of a flop, the way it is usually photographed makes it look much larger than it is and there is so little left of the original statue but still, considering the fact that it's been there for thousands of years, it's wonderful that there is anything left at all. I took only one picture(above) but I did take two others (below) that caught my attention nearby; it is always a wonder to me how nonchalant the head carriers are about the skill they possess, in fact, almost as if there was nothing there at all.The young mother below, albeit already weather beaten, is a good example of young girls barely after puberty find themselves faced with motherhood and that's just the beginning of the hard life that so many women throughout the world are faced with; it always grieves me terribly to see them this way, their teenage years amounting to little more than service to their husband/master.
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The temple of Karnak was known as Ipet-isu or “most select of places” by the ancient Egyptians. It was a city of temples built over 2,000 years and in its day must have been awe-inspiring; today, even in its derelict state, it is still capable of overshadowing many wonders of the modern world and we marveled at the size and weight of the massive stones that workers had somehow managed to place on top of the temple of pillars.
By studying historic records, wall paintings and the ruins as they are today, a historian has created this wonderful rendition of the temples of Karnak in the time of the Pharaohs. Ipet-Isu was the largest religious building ever made, covering about 200 acres (1.5 km by 0.8 km), and was a place of pilgrimage for nearly 2,000 years. The area of the sacred enclosure of Amun alone is sixty-one acres and could hold ten average European cathedrals. The great temple at the heart of Karnak is so big that St Peter’s, Milan, and Notre Dame Cathedrals would fit within its walls. Sadly, all that is left of this colossus is pictured below at least with two entrance hall pillars, or part thereof, still standing. In the artist's impression, check out the the people marching in single file between two rows of flat topped pillars that led to the main entrance of the complex then check out the picture below, at least the two rows of pillars are still there or at least part thereof and also minus the flat tops but it still amazes me nevertheless that even they are still standing; what an incredible place it was and when I think about it, wouldn't it be nice that there was such a thing as a time machine? Far more relics of this era are on show throughout the Karnataka complex.
And that's all that is left of what was once the largest religious complex ever created by man yet still impressive with the two rows of columns remaining that once lined the grand entrance hallway to the main temple entrance; by including the people in the picture gives one an idea of the real scale of these columns but trying to grasp the idea that both St. Peters, Milan and Notre Dame Cathedrals could be placed inside the complex is almost incomprehensible, especially if you have been inside and explored all three of these cathedrals. If only I had a time machine and could go back and see the splendor that was once here but nevertheless, what still remains in the complexes of Karnak and Luxor is mind-boggling to say the least.
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The competition to Karnak is the complex of Luxor, a little further upstream of the Nile. The ruins at Luxor are not to the scale of Karnak but it is definitely worth the visit. We accessed Karnak from Cairo using a rattletrap train that skirted the banks of the Nile which in itself was interesting as it passed through areas cultivated in all manner of ways by people using the most makeshift homes that we ourselves would never live in; a couple of samples are shown below. To increase our Egyptian experience, we hired the services of a for Felucca & crew after striking a very good deal we thought, (see pix 4 below).
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Progress was slow to Luxor, partially because we were travelling against the current and partly because the winds were blowing the wrong mid afternoon way which did have us questioning the experience of our rather young crew of two. Time dragged on although the scenery was interesting with a different aspect because we were on the water; even the overloaded sugarcane barges, also travelling upstream, were faster than us. It became obvious we were not going to make Luxor before dark and as we had already passed a nice looking hotel, (see next pix ) we decided to go back and spend the night there and go on to Luxor the next day; our guys didn't seem too happy about that idea but after we paid them for the day, they agreed, saying that they would sleep overnight in the boat and go on in the morning. It was disappointing that we didn't make it to Luxor because we wanted to watch the nighttime light show but them, tomorrow was another day and we did get some nice evening pictures at the end of the day the day.
