PHOTOGRAPHY
If there’s no picture, it didn’t happen. Here it’s all about light and lenses.
Huasteca Potosina is a less visited area of Mexico, most tourists you”ll see here are Mexican. At least, when visiting in May or June. I was on a family visit/holiday in Mexico when a friend of my father suggested to visit the Sierra Gorda in Queretaro. This mountainous region is known for its foggy mountains, steep canyons and has an immense diversity of plant and animal life.
We usually avoid mass tourism but for natural wonders we sometimes make an exception. The Antelope Canyon in Arizona seemed impressive enough to bend our own rules a bit…
The town of Page has no shortage on god’s mercy.
Located near Page Arizona in Navajo country the Antelope Canyon is a spectacular display of eroded sand stone due to flooding. There are 2 different canyons to visit, Lower Antelope Canyon and Upper Antelope Canyon. We chose to visit the A-shaped LAC as it is the less visited one. The UAC is easier to acces and far more popular. Still, you”ll be far from alone.
Cattle being driven to the money pit
In 1997 flash floods in these canyons killed 11 tourists. Because of this incident, you are not allowed to visit without a guide. Too bad visiting the canyons has become tourist “business”. Be prepared to be treated like cattle with a wallet…
The fun starts when they charge you 20 $ to park your car, 8$ Navajo park entrance fee and 25$ admission fee for the actual visit. A tour starts every 20 minutes. There’s also a “special photographer’s tour” for 47$, this ticket buys you more time in the canyon. We opted for the normal tour, as a consequence we were pushed to complete the tour as quickly as possible.
Is it worth it? You should definitely visit but too bad it leaves you with a uncomfortable feeling of being squeezed like a lemon. Nonetheless, you”ll make great pictures. The guide will advice you where and how to take the best pictures. What setting -Chrome filter- your iPhone should be set at, where to take a picture with your loved one, etc…
On finishing the tour, I had a big argument with a Navajo tour guide. I was trying to take a picture of the exit of the Canyon without Japanese tourists on it. However, as our guide had already rushed out to drink his coffee, my lens was blocked by the hand of another guide. She did not let me take the picture as it appeared I was without a guide. Anyway, I still managed the take the shot.
Keep exploring!
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Bougainville is a small group of islands north of the Solomon Islands that form an autonomous region within the country of Papua New Guinea. The region has a massively intriguing wildlife, people and history. It is a unique location comparable to very little else on our planet. Tourism has only recently slowly started to develop here, but thanks to a chance encounter in the Philippines, I got the opportunity to visit Bougainville earlier this year.
So, you like wild camping, desert dune bashing, wildlife spotting, desolate white sandy beaches with pristine blue water and are put off by crowds of tourists? Then Oman should definitely be on your bucket list. We packed some basic camping equipment and booked a flight to Oman last November. Being one of the least populated countries in the world and a wild camping allowed policy, this looked like a very promising destination. Also, a 30° C average daytime temperature made the decision to go very easy.
Wadi Shab
While preparing to guide an adventure/overland trip to Croatia in October with our good friends in Croatia, we were also invited to hunt roebuck and wild boar on their hunting grounds. Hunting in Croatia is a way of live, people hunt for food, not for sports or as a hobby. As our hunting guide explained, they work all year round to take care of the animals and keep them healthy. Especially during the winter time animals are given extra food like hay, corn, and salt. We were very impressed with the biodiversity in the Croatian woods. Also the abundance of wildlife cannot be compared to the densely populated Benelux area that we live in.
I know this is not the first time I write about Iceland. But I can’t help it, this land has a magnetic effect on me. I have spent 3 complete months in it’s amazing highlands in the last 5 years. But last summer, the summer of 2014 was something special. Read more
This trip we headed out to a lesser visited area of Australia, the Northern Territories is the least populated region. Just the way we like it. Cattle-stations, gigantic Mango Tree plantations and a lot of space. it’s also aboriginal country. Our plan was to hire a 4×4 vehicle with a rooftop tent and go camping in national parks. We rented the most reliable and best known expedition vehicle in the world: a 1994 Toyota Landcruiser V8 4500cc. Australia is the most 4×4 friendly country in the world. Everybody drives a fully equipped off-road vehicle. As the distances between villages can easily be a few 100 kilometers everybody carries at least 2 extra tyres and basic survival equipment.
Featured image: early morning safari on the Kinabatangan river.
After reading Redmond O’Hanlon ‘s book “Into the heart of Borneo”, my next destination was decided. Jungles, rivers and mountains covered in dense Ditocarp rainforest where leeches and insectes crawl the forestfloors…
Early morning view from a mountaintop near Mount Kinabalu. Birdwatching is a pain, you have to get up around 5 am, but the reward is there! Binoculars are your best friend.
So we were off to the Maldives for the second time in a little more than a year. This time we chose februari, and went deeper south hoping to catch a glimpse of our oceans gentle giants…Yes, close encounters with Manta’s and Whale Sharks. That’s on our menu. Can we have a variation of smaller rays and sharks for dessert please? Thank you. This trip turned out to be everything we hoped for and more. The weather was terrific, the water was a swimsuit friendly 29°C, and the crew and dive guides were amazing! 37 dives later all the boxes were ticked, and the marine life deep down in the Indian Ocean made a deep and ever lasting impression on all of us.
A trip to Borneo was on my bucket-list, no doubt I will soon return!. For 1 month I explored Sarawak and Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. The first thing that strikes you upon arrival is the biodiversity. It is incredible! Despite the loss of habitat due to extensive logging and palmtree plantations galore, there are a lot of national parks and remote areas where the true explorer will get his kicks!
For sure!
