Categories
Antarctica

Aconcagua

At 22837 feet (6960 metres) above sea level Cerro Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the world outside of the Himalayan Range. Twenty odd years ago when I was lean and fit and hardened with many high altitude treks I toyed with the idea of attempting an ascent. This mountain is not a technical climb at all and is more of a high altitude trek with the need for crampons near the top but nothing more. For whatever reason this never happened but I still have Aconcagua on my bucket list to see and photograph.

As luck would have it it is an easy 2 hour drive up from Mendoza along a sealed road that zig zags up the Andes and right over to Chile.

Argentina0067 Argentina0068

In fact, Aconcagua straddles the border between Argentina and Chile and is actually in the “no man’s land” section of the road between customs check points. I have rented a car and leaving Mendoza, early morning cloud clears to blue skies as I drive up with the stark, dry brown Andes rising sheer before me. Further upwards and we arrive at the town of Puente del Inca very close to the border. The translation is Bridge of the Inca which refers to the limestone formation that straddles a deep valley. In 1835 Charles Darwin visited this place and in the early 20th century a spa was constructed making use of the thermal hot springs. Visitors and patients would take the long train up and the tracks and station is still there.

Argentina0080 Argentina0089

At about this time my GPS ceased to function and I was anxious of crossing too far especially as things are not well signposted here. Luckily I found the park entrance at a windswept saddle and got the view and a walk around the base of the mountain at 9000 feet above sea level.

Argentina0094 Argentina0101 Argentina0114 Argentina0125 Argentina0126

Categories
Antarctica

Mendoza and Malbec

The best laid plans, it is said, are apt to go awry and our first night in Buenos Aires falls foul of a long delay changing aircraft at Santiago. We arrive at the airport in BA just in time to check in for the next morning’s flight to Mendoza. We have travelled business and have a pile of warm clothing and equipment for Antarctica which was going to be left at our hotel to be picked up before our flight south. Now boarding a domestic cheap flight we have to madly rearrange our stuff, wear heavy clothing and load our hand luggage to the max. Amazingly we are only 3kgs over our allocation and are waved through without extra charge.

Arrival to our resort set among the vineyards with the Andes as a backdrop is a balm to the hassles of the night before, stuck at the airport unsure of when we would get here.

Entre Cielos our resort
Entre Cielos our resort
Entre Cielos
Entre Cielos

The preorganised midday booking for lunch at Bodega Lagarde is a sumptuous seven course degustation menu with matching wines alfresco among the vines and the ever present Andes mountains. This was one of many brilliant fine dining experiences which cost about a quarter of what they would back home. Truly decadent.

DSC_0079_edited-1

Bodega Lagarde
Bodega Lagarde

A word on the wines here. They are a real surprise packet! We went wine tasting while here and there are some really professional operations and facilities here and the wines are high quality at a price tag, once again a quarter of what a comparable wine would cost in Australia. The flagship grape is Malbec and I tasted a number of great wines that I only wish I could have ordered and sent home to my cellar.

Kaiken winery
Kaiken winery
Rucan Malen winery
Rucan Malen winery
Alfresco degustation lunch, Ruca Malen
Alfresco degustation lunch, Ruca Malen
Rucan Malen
Rucan Malen
Categories
Antarctica

Antarctica

My fascination with the most remote continent on earth began as a teenager after hearing about the tragic ill fated journey of British explorer Robert Falcon Scott. Most will know the story of the race to be the first to set foot on the South Pole. Scott sets out with a fine British tradition of exploration. His is a big expedition and pitted against him coming from the other side of the continent is the understated Norwegian explorer Amundsen. Plagued with bad weather, inexperience with polar conditions and poor choices Scott reaches the pole only to discover that Amundsen has beaten by a couple of days. Scott and his party similarly fall agonisingly short of their rescue party and perish in the ice.

 

As an an adult I read all the books about polar exploration I could lay my hands on including books about heroes such as Shackleton, and the Australians Mawson and Wilkins. I have a magnificent coffee table book on Antarctica with superb pictures that I bought decades ago. Finally I have my chance to satisfy my curiosity and fascination with the great frozen continent.

Antarctica0833 small Antarctica1833 small_edited-1

Categories
Alaska

Aurora borealis

Aurora borealis
Aurora borealis

It’s 11pm and the temperature is close to freezing point and I am outside like a kid with a new toy enjoying and photographing the wavy green lights in the night sky. It is a moment to savour and a moment of luck as only two hours earlier the sky was blanketed in thick cloud. I had two objectives for this trip. The main one of course was to see and photograph grizzlies in the wild. My research did not let me down and Katmai delivered in spades. To round my short trip I decided to try my luck at seeing and photographing the aurora something that fascinated me from childhood. These are produced by solar storms interacting with the earth’s atmosphere and attracted to the magnetic poles. There are a lot of variables that must be satisfied before we see one so they are elusive and a rare prize. My research for this online pointed me to Bettles in Alaska so here I am! Bettles, population now down to 8 only just retains the status of a city within the US and is the smallest in the country. If it wasn’t for the fact that we are 35 miles north of the Arctic circle there would be tumble weed blowing down the main street. There is no road access and the few dwellings tend to hug the gravel airstrip which is the lifeline of this place. Occasional barges do make it up the river to deliver supplies and, fascinatingly in the winter with snow covering the tundra the people here carve a road 30 miles through the forest to meet up with the Dalton Hwy allowing road transport down to Fairbanks some 200 miles away. This is a place that is truly “off the grid” and the few remaining locals like it that way. As my host Eric puts it “I was born in the wrong century, I should have been here 100 years ago”. Hopefully my photos capture the essence of this faded wild west wannabe town and the last couple of pictures feature the aurora. Mission accomplished, I am coming home soon! BRR_9976

Original air terminal
Original air terminal
Bettles Lodge
Bettles Lodge
Old Bettles 15 miles downstream where the barges could land
Old Bettles 15 miles downstream where the barges could land
Old Bettles
Old Bettles
Old Bettles outhouse
Old Bettles outhouse
New Bettles derelict school
New Bettles derelict school
New Bettles
New Bettles
New Bettles derelict meat store
New Bettles derelict meat store
Bettles cabin
Bettles cabin

BRR_9986 BRR_9989

Tundra
Tundra

BRR_0025 BRR_0017 BRR_0019

Aurora borealis
Aurora borealis

 

Categories
Uncategorized

Bear feed

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.

BRR_9675BRR_9676BRR_9679BRR_9680

BRR_9680BRR_9688BRR_9689BRR_9690BRR_9692BRR_9695

Categories
Uncategorized

Valley of 10,000 smokes

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.

BRR_9334 BRR_9338 BRR_9339 BRR_9343

Looking toward valley
Looking toward valley
Looking toward valley note the fall colours
Looking toward valley note the fall colours
Looking up the valley the pink is the 700 foot deep layer of ash from the eruption
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
Prior to eruption the wooded foreground stood where the ash is now
Ukak river has carved its way through the ash
Ukak river has carved its way through the ash
Canyon formed by Ukak river
Canyon formed by Ukak river
Ukak falls
Ukak falls
Ukak falls
Ukak falls
Ukak falls
Ukak falls
Looking up Valley of 10,000 smokes
Looking up Valley of 10,000 smokes
Looking up Valley of 10,000 smokes
Looking up Valley of 10,000 smokes
Cloud covered Mt Magieck with glaciers coming off it
Cloud covered Mt Magieck with glaciers coming off it
Categories
Uncategorized

Bear cam

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.

BRR_8776 BRR_8781 BRR_8790 BRR_8797 BRR_8870 BRR_8876 BRR_8877 BRR_8882 BRR_8887 BRR_8899 BRR_8914 BRR_8954 BRR_8982 BRR_9007 BRR_9008 BRR_9022 BRR_9029 BRR_9031 BRR_9043 BRR_9044 BRR_9045 BRR_9072 BRR_9076 BRR_9100 BRR_9103 BRR_9104 BRR_9126 poster BRR_9131 BRR_9166 BRR_9189 yes BRR_9196 yes BRR_9212 BRR_9221 BRR_9222 BRR_9235 BRR_9242 BRR_9244 BRR_9245 BRR_9253 BRR_9275 BRR_9301

 

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.

BRR_9275 BRR_9301 BRR_9317 BRR_9320 BRR_9321 BRR_9328 BRR_9330

Categories
Alaska

Pristine wilderness

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

 

BRR_8707 BRR_8717 BRR_8722 BRR_8724 BRR_8726 BRR_8743 BRR_8760

Categories
Alaska

Unfinished business

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.

BRR_8842

Categories
Somalia and Eritrea

Police statement

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.

01 02 03 04 05