BigJimSlade
I couldn’t help a selfie here, leaving Bachalpsee, with a window to Wetterhorn. Embiggen
by WaterGirl| 16 Comments
This post is in: Hiking in the Alps, On The Road, Photo Blogging
I couldn’t help a selfie here, leaving Bachalpsee, with a window to Wetterhorn. Embiggen
by WaterGirl| 18 Comments
This post is in: Hiking in the Alps, On The Road, Photo Blogging
A longish, but super wonderful hike from First (pronounced feersht), to Bachalpsee (that’s a lake), to Faulhorn (a high point with dramatic views), and ending up at Schynige Platte (pronounced Schynige Platte ;-) ), which is serviced by a cog train bringing you back down to the valley near Interlaken, where we could take the regular train back to Grindelwald.
We were going to do a different hike (which we did the next day), but after waiting for a bus for 30 minutes, we realized we totally misread the schedule and it only comes every hour and we had almost another 30 minutes to wait. But about 20 yards away (for that whole 30 minutes) was the gondola up to First, so we improvised, called an audible, and jumped right on the gondola.
This is the First Cliff Walk, to give tourists a rush by walking over emptiness. We didn’t bother, but it probably would’ve been at least kinda fun. We just headed straight out. Embiggen
by WaterGirl| 16 Comments
This post is in: Hiking in the Alps, On The Road, Photo Blogging
It did rain on us a little bit on this hike, but nothing serious. But the clouds were changing all the time, with some striking results. Then we have a couple of shots back in town, of our hotel and St. Michel Church.
From left to right, les aiguilles de Chamonix, with Aiguille du Midi having some clouds shouldering up to it, and Mt. Blanc blanketed.
by WaterGirl| 26 Comments
This post is in: Albatrossity, On The Road, Photo Blogging
Good morning!
We’re back in Kansas today – just for the day – so we can catch some early spring visitors before we return to Africa with Albatrossity next week. Then it’s back to the Alps with BigJimSlade!
It seems like it’s either feast or famine with On the Road. Toward the end of last year, after I let you know we were running low on posts, you guys sent in 45 posts in December alone, and 15 more in January. That’s at least 3 months worth of OTR posts, and just recently we made it through all the December submissions. We are now we’re into the January submissions, which is great!
We have posts in the queue for this week and next, so this would be a great time to submit your photos.
As winter comes to a close and spring teasingly peeks around the corner, I thought it would be good to take a break from the Africa posts and showcase some our local critters. We’ll get back to Ngorongoro Crater next week, but for this week, we’re back in Kansas, Toto.
I live near a large US Army base, Fort Riley, that periodically rattles our windows with artillery training and helicopter flyovers. But it is also home to a herd of about 200 Elk (Cervus elaphus canadensis), a large subspecies of the critter that is known as the Red Deer in Europe (where the critters we call “moose” are called “elk”). This herd is not fenced, and so the animals can roam freely off the base. I found this group of 19-20 near our local airport, about ½ mile off base. Nowadays we tend to think of Elk as creatures of the Mountain West, but historically they were on the prairies in large numbers. The mountains are a refugia for this species; they’d be happy to be prairie residents again! Click here for larger image.
On The Road – Albatrossity – Flyover Country WinterPost + Comments (26)
by WaterGirl| 14 Comments
This post is in: Namibia, On The Road, Photo Blogging
There was too much to see in Etosha National Park to get into one post. So I added another OTR for the trip.
Not everything was a big animal in Etosha. This is a Yellow Mongoose (Cynictis penicillata), sometimes called red meerkat. They are communal animals that burrow. I saw several species of mongoose in Namibia. But without a really long lens it was impossible to get a good photo. As soon as I got within about 400 feet they were on the move or diving underground.
On The Road – lashonharangue – Namibia – Part 7Post + Comments (14)
by WaterGirl| 17 Comments
This post is in: Namibia, On The Road, Photo Blogging
Etosha National Park, like most of Namibia, is very dry and barren. Because of this, you don’t see large herds of animals that can be found in places like Kenya or Tanzania. Most of the animals we saw were either drinking at water holes scattered around the park, or traveling to and from them. Some of these water holes are man-made while others were pre-existing. Many of the natural water sources are supplemented with water pumped from aquifers below.
A black backed jackal that showed no fear around our vehicle.
On The Road – lashonharangue – Namibia – Part 6Post + Comments (17)
by WaterGirl| 8 Comments
This post is in: Namibia, On The Road, Photo Blogging
Leaving Damaraland we drove further east toward Etosha National Park. We actually stayed at Ongava Lodge located on a private game reserve that is next to the park.
Soon after we arrived at the lodge we went on a late afternoon safari drive. We saw our first white rhinos up close, crossing the road directly in front of our vehicle. They can be distinguished from black rhinos by the uneven length of their horns and the shape of their mouth. White rhinos are grazers and have wide rectangular mouths. They are called white because the Afrikaans word for wide is “wyd.” Early English settlers misinterpreted the “wyd” for “white.” Our guide Jeremia said the shape of their mouth is like a vacuum cleaner. I guess white rhino is better than vacuum cleaner rhino.
On The Road – lashonharangue – Namibia – Part 5Post + Comments (8)