The Detouring Doctor

Bear feed

Post author By Peter Meggyesy
Post date 20 September 2018

This series of pictures shows the sequence from a catch to kill to feed for a grizzly. Remember that these animals hibernate for around 6 months of every year. Hence during the warmer months top priority for bears is to stuff themselves with as much food as possible. They need to gain hundreds of pounds in weight at this time to survive the hibernation. Bears are omnivores but clearly the best chance of gaining the required weight is with oily, fat rich salmon which swim from the sea upstream for hundreds of kilometres to spawn before dying.

This is where Katmai is so special. The river here is close enough to the sea to sea massive numbers of salmon here, Then there is the small but significant interruption to their passage that is Brooks Falls which further concentrates the salmon numbers resulting in a veritable smorgasbord for bears.

Finally there is a pattern to eating these fish that is common to all of these bears. Once caught the first bite will be to the head to extract the fatty brain tissue first. Then the skin is stripped off and eaten as all the fat is beneath the skin and that’s what they after. Early in the season there is so much fat on the salmon that they will often discard the meat. Later in the season all of the fish is consumed.

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Valley of 10,000 smokes

Post author By Peter Meggyesy
Post date 19 September 2018

The year is 1912, coincidentally the year of the Titanic sinking but a bigger disaster befell the planet with the second largest ever volcanic eruption on the planet occurring right here. The source was Katmai volcano erupting through a side vent a few miles away now known as Novarupta volcano. The resultant ash cloud went 20 miles into the air and was visible from Europe. Millions of tons of ash were dumped for miles around and the extra carbon in the atmosphere lowered global temperatures by 2 degrees celsius for the next 2 years. In 1918 this area was proclaimed a national park to preserve and study the area of the eruption. Paradoxically national park status has nothing to do with the bear show.

For the next 30 years the devastated area all around sported over 10,000 fumeroles belching out sulphurous gas hence the name. Sadly that has petered out but the day trip out here does not disappoint. Sadly the weather is not kind but I did use the available sunshine to the max yesterday and I can’t complain. At least the rain did not interfere with walking and photography. The cloud, while obscuring the ring of volcanoes was at least high enough to allow for some pictures of the moonscape like lava ash fields.

Looking toward valley note the fall colours

Looking up the valley the pink is the 700 foot deep layer of ash from the eruption

Prior to eruption the wooded foreground stood where the ash is now

Ukak river has carved its way through the ash

Cloud covered Mt Magieck with glaciers coming off it

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Bear cam

Post author By Peter Meggyesy
Post date 18 September 2018

Throughout August in the lead up to coming here every day I would log onto the live bear cam feed online before starting work each day and then having a quick look at what was happening between patients. August is said to be unimpressive yet every day I would see at least 3 bears at the Brooks Falls camera. I booked for the month of September as that has better bear viewing and as I logged on to bear cam in September bear numbers seemed to have doubled or tripled and the bright sunshine was obvious. My first afternoon here was bright and sunny and I made the most of it knowing that the forecast for the next 2 days was for rain.

The walk from the lodge to Brooks Falls takes around 20 minutes. Walking alone has me at a disadvantage and I follow the rangers advice that human noise is a deterrent and I talk mindlessly out aloud to noone as I go there. I arrive at Brooks Falls around 1 in the afternoon and there is one massive bear at the far end of the falls. Finding a nice front row spot on the platform I enjoy watching this well fed guy bide his time before wandering to his favourite pool and catching a large deep pink salmon in his mouth and wandering to the shallows to eat up. I watch him repeat this ritual over and over again. Secretly I was a bit disappointed that there was only one there but what the heck, I had never seen one in the wild before so I was not going to be greedy.

Grizzly bears are crepuscular animals, are active around dawn and dusk, but this park with its high food environment changes those rules. The wild salmon run from the sea upstream to spawn before dying. The peak months here are July and September in those months bears are here feeding all day. My log on time for bear cam in Sorrento was 9am which is 3 pm here. Come 3 pm the number of bears here had increased to 7 and the bears were all over the place, mainly fishing but wandering over and under the falls, jostling for position. Wow, what a show, under brilliant sunny skies the camera got a real work out.

Eventually after over 3 hours of bear watching and sated, I determined to make use of the brilliant sunshine and do the walk up Dumpling Hill to get the panoramic view of the lake and the mountains. Walking solo, through the forest past lots of smelly bear scats and in the late afternoon it is anxious couple of hours of chatter and song up and down the mountain but the views and pictures more than make up for it.

Alaska

Pristine wilderness

Post author By Peter Meggyesy
Post date 18 September 2018

Hot on the heels of 30 hours of cattle class flying with only 4 hours of sleep in a real bed. I am again gazing out through a plane window. This one is a small twin prop flying from Anchorage to a tiny town called King Salmon in far west Alaska. The countryside below is sparsely wooded with lots of waterways and lakes. Jutting out through the sea are stark rocky outcrop islands with green grassy carpets. Is it just the flying fatigue? Something is odd. Suddenly the penny drops, there is something missing in the landscape, mankind. There are absolutely no roads, tracks or any sign of human habitation. This is pristine wilderness and, by all accounts, Alaska is absolutely covered with it.

The final leg involved a 90 minute seaplane flight landing on Lake Nanuk deep in the heart of Katmai National Park at Brooks Lodge. Back on terra firma my nostrils were assaulted with the smell of decomposing fish emanating from the many bear scats all around. We are ushered from the sea plane straight into the ranger’s office for our bear briefing. We are told that the bears here are used to seeing humans, but, of course they still remain extremely dangerous. We are not to get any closer than 50 yards to bear (100 yards to mother and cubs). What to do if approached by a bear and the essential instructions about having no food or drinks out in the open.

Infused with confidence (or is that trepidation?) its off to check in and lunch before heading off for bear viewing. I wander out of the lunch room to be confronted by a big brown bear who, perhaps 20 yards from me ambles over a grassy hill right in front of me and continues down to the beach. At that moment it suddenly occurred to me that this place with the log cabins in the woods reminds me of Wilson’s Prom but instead of wombats wandering on the grass we have massive grizzlies here

Alaska

Unfinished business

Post author By Peter Meggyesy
Post date 18 September 2018

Nine years ago Suzanne and I enjoyed an amazing wildlife experience getting up close and personal with polar bears at Churchill in Canada on the shores of Hudson Bay. Two yeas later we decided to repeat the dose with grizzly bears and went to the aptly named “Grizzly Bear Lodge” deep in the southern Canadian Rockies. For four days we were up at 5 am and out at dusk waiting for any encounter with a grizzly. On that occasion nature chose to remind us that it is she who calls the shots and we saw nothing. It was on the trip home from there that my further research threw up the name Katmai National Park as an alternative to see these magnificent creatures Finally many years later I booked over 12 months in advance to secure a cabin in this unique place.

Somalia and Eritrea

Police statement

Post author By Peter Meggyesy
Post date 30 May 2018

Five days ago on Independence Day eve we were all coming back to our hotel just after dinner around 11pm. The president had put on a street party with bands and there was a crush of people. Jostling my way through I had my wallet protected with one arm. In the blink of an eye I could feel my mobile phone being lifted out of my trouser pocket and, despite turning around instantly I was none the wiser who took it.

Next morning I changed passwords but was informed that I could not make a statement to police as the station was closed for Independence Day! Subsequently we went to Massawa and now that we are back I organised last night for one of our guides to accompany me to the station this morning.

My guide turned up promptly at 9 am which was a surprise. Went to the central police station negotiated our way past the AK47 toting guard and went up the grimy stairs, first one office then the other. Eventually told will need to go to another station.

We walked about 2 km to the other station again past a machine gun armed policeman only to be told that these statements are only done on Tuesdays and Thursdays, today is Monday. Nonetheless we went through the dirty courtyard past the derelict, rusted car with a couple of trailors piled on top of it and past the little veggie patch planted with silverbeet again up dusty stairs. The first guy gave us a sympathetic hearing and we all went down to the cafeteria. I had to buy 2 foolscap sheets and carbon paper for 3 Nafka (20c) and my guide wrote my report in the local language.

From there back past the beets and the car to another less friendly guy who sent us back again. On our return he relented and opened up a massive ledger book and hand wrote in it and countersigned my written form and endorsed it with a number 08/18. Not a computer anywhere and most of these supposed policemen on duty were wearing T shirt and jeans. Truly a “this is Africa” (TIA) experience.

Somalia and Eritrea

Dahlak Islands

Post author By Peter Meggyesy
Post date 30 May 2018

Amazingly we have scored permits to visit the Dahlak Islands! This has been off limit to previous tour groups. Just off the coast of Massawa it consists of 124 islands that still produces pearls. It is also a marine haven for dugongs, sharks, rays and coral reefs. Historically it was variously controlled by the Ottomans, Yemenis and during the Derg Ethiopian administration it housed a Soviet naval base. Today it is a neglected backwater, which, for the environment is probably a good thing. Our little motor boat speeds out over the calm blue sea. ll around is just blue with no sign of any land anywhere. After about 45 minutes a strip of yellow sand emerges on the horizon and it is no time before we are at small 50 metre x 700 metre sandy island. Covered by tussock grass and surrounded by inviting warm turquoise sea it is home only to sea birds that circle noisily overhead angry at being disturbed. There is a rusting high metallic observation tower at one end of the island. We spend a magic few hours swimming and snorkeling. While the snorkeling was unexciting by Pacific standards it was nonetheless a relaxing beach day trip.

Somalia and Eritrea

Massawa

Post author By Peter Meggyesy
Post date 30 May 2018

It’s difficult to imagine that this was the prize that the Ethiopians and Eritreans fought over all those years ago. There is a substantial port here for sure but it is quiet and the surrounding town is crumbling and devoid of life. In the two days we are there only two ships are unloaded but if one looks at the depths of Eritrea’s world economic rankings it’s probably not too surprising. Technically these two countries are still at war and the closure of the land border between the two is a classic case of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face. An open border would give the Ethiopians the optimum sea port and the Eritreans a needed boost to their economy. Massawa is totally unlike Asmara. Muslims predominate here and the architecture, what’s left of it is Arabic. Sadly, as with Berbera in Somaliland all too many buildings are falling apart and there is no effort made to even clear the collapsing mess. Most of the buildings in town were shuttered and there were very few people in the streets. In fact our group of 20 wandering through the interesting back alleys easily matched the number of locals. Our afternoon was at a beach resort just out of town. As it was Saturday afternoon there were a few Eritreans swimming enjoying the hot turquoise coloured Red Sea water and golden sand beach. With the temperature in the high 30s this was a refreshing way to complete our day.

Somalia and Eritrea

African “Puffing Billy”

Post author By Peter Meggyesy
Post date 30 May 2018

Anyone who knows me well will know I have a fetish for train travel. Before the civil war with the Ethiopians a narrow gauge steam train connected the capitol of Asmara with the port city of Massawa some 100km away. Asmara sits at an altitude of 2300 metres so it is quite a drop down to sea level. This line was constructed in the 1930s once again by Mussolini with the purpose of going from the port city of Massawa through Asmara and beyond into Kassala in Sudan. Most of the line is in disrepair but there is a 40 km stretch that is still intact between Asmara and Nefasit. Sadly any regular services ceased a few years ago but the train can be charted and, in one of the perks of group travel we have done so.

A steaming ancient black engine greets us before we board the whimsical little green wooden seated passenger’s cabin. I quickly find a spot on the back platform sitting on a step to the side outside the carriage legs dangling off the train. Here I savour the chugging of the steam engine, the roar through the 30 tunnels and the feel of the warm Eritrean breeze at my face. My eyes and my camera rejoice at the panoramic vistas of the highlands stretching away to the horizon.

Here’s to train travel African style!

For the locals, even an used line is an integral part of their life

Wedding photos on the line and we crash the party!

Immediately after the war against Ethiopia the stop gap to keep the rail running was putting a Russian truck on a carriage to use as an engine

Somalia and Eritrea

Asmara

Post author By Peter Meggyesy
Post date 30 May 2018

Asmara is pretty little town very unlike any in Africa. It has a more Caribbean feel to it. Recently designated as UNESCO world heritage are it is the sleepy little capitol of Eritrea. This is an early 20th century city, there is no high rise here, no modern buildings. Mussolini injected huge amounts of funds into the building of Asmara to make it the centre of a second Roman empire spanning Africa. The buildings here are pre WW2 and as this place was an Italian colony then it borrows heavily from Italian Art Deco style. This is a city frozen in time and that’s what gives it its charm.

It’s flat and compact and is a perfect walking town which is what we did. Enjoy the images.

The church of Our Lady of the Rosary, the Cathedral of Asmara was completed in 1922. Built in a Romanesque style it is across the road from our hotel.

Cinema Impero built in 1938 still functions as an operating movie theatre. The inside as depicted in the image below has not changed since the day it opened

THis and next two Medabar market a large complex where rubbish is recycled and recreated into useful utensils

Fiat Tagliarino petrol station built in 1938 with the verandahs built as a replica of aicreaft wings. Notice that these survive despite a complete lack of pillars peripherally