We only meant to stay a day, but ended up staying two because we were so relaxed.

The beach is where Poppy had her first swim (well, dip really) in the ocean. She wasn’t so sure about the sea, but loved crawling around in the sand and trying to eat as much of it as possible.

While we were there, Steve and I had two swims a day, but did as little else as possible. While we were coming back from a walk along the beach on our last evening, a French woman warned me about the ‘medusas’ in the water. I think she meant the clear jellyfish she was fishing out of the water with a stick. She was saying they give ‘heat’ (‘sting’ I think). Oops – we’d been swimming the whole time without knowing about them. But we weren’t stung, so it’s all OK. As an Aussie, I look at things like the jellyfish and think they’re nothing compared to creatures in Australia, so it’s fine!

After we left, we stopped for a lunch of fresh prawns in the van and a swim at a gorgeous shelly beach, just north of Marsellian. There was an aire there, but it was packed and just a carpark, so we didn’t stay overnight.

We were heading to Camargue as I’d read an article and blogs about it and they said it was amazing. It is famous for its white wild horses and its pink flamingoes – one of my favourite animals. I’d never seen flamingoes in the wild before, but on the way to the campsite that had been recommend, I saw dozens. At one point, Steve thought I must’ve been warning him of danger ahead, but I was just squealing with excitement at seeing the flamingoes!

The campsite that I’d read about, La Brise, at Les Saintes Maries de la Mer, was OK, with great shady trees, but not as amazing as I’d read and full of mosquitoes and other biting, flying insects that got Poppy before we could cover her up. It was almost on the sea, but there was an aire nearby in a better spot, right on the seafront. The beach there wasn’t as nice as the shelly one we’d been at earlier in the day either. Annoying! But Poppy did enjoy eating the sand on the beach near the campsite and crawling on the shore.

On the plus side, they had a fantastic trashy roundabout with flamingoes on it. So great I had to have my photo taken with it on our way out.

There is a pan situated in the Viljoenskroon area (Route R59 – heart of the Free State Province) which is a reasonable sized pan that is home to a flock of lesser flamingos that is worth seeing.

thanks to Birdlife.org for picture of flamingo

The town of Viljoenskrron is a small maize and cattle farming town which is located approximately 45km from Bothaville and Orkney, and approximately 60km from Potchefstroom, Klerksdorp, Kroonstad and Parys. So if you do happen to visit one of these other towns for any reason whatsoever take the opportunity to see the flamingos as well.

But I digress. On a recent visit to Bothaville we passed over the pan and I happened to notice something lying close to the water’s edge that seemed to be out place. We then drove back from Bothaville later in the day we stopped next to the dam. I walked through the long grass towards the water’s edge and managed to find what I was looking for. It was a heap of old sacking and tarpaulins which had been dumped there. The pictures below show what I found.

I noticed that there was a warehouse/factory  situated close by but it was fenced in and totally separate from where I was standing. I took down the details as I wanted to contact them during the week to find out if they could throw any light on where the mess had originated from.

The factory/warehouse belongs to RE Groundnuts and I was told to contact a Mr. Koos Nienaber.

Mr Nienaber was unaware of the pollution and undertook to investigate my claims. He promptly came back to me as to what had been dumped there and confirmed that it hadn’t originated from their premises. And although it was outside their factory/warehouse area he undertook to borrow a front end loader and remove the items from the water’s edge.

A subsequent email from Mr Nienaber confirmed that the amount of pollution was greater than what was first anticipated, and he indicated that the final loads would be removed during last week and be completed by Saturday 02 June 2012.

It is heart-warming to still find people out there who, although the dumping did not come from them, are willing to get stuck in a clean up the mess. If we had more people and firms like RE Groundnuts and Mr Nienaber, who in this case are willing to do positive things and clean up the environment, we could go a long way to preserving our delicate ecology from reaching a stage where the harm become irreversible.

 Conservation view:

Despite being the most numerous species of flamingo, the lesser flamingo is classified as near-threatened due to its declining population and the low number of breeding sites, some of which are threatened by human activities.

I have no idea where I am.  Some place named Sayla that is neither on the map, nor in my guide.  I know that I am still in Gujarat though, somewhere between Bhuj and Ahmedhabad.
We got here after another truck driver’s lunch with Kuhmansingh: chicken with chapattis and tea – hot stuff that really unblocks your sinuses on a none too clean table (but, at this point, who cares?) and a stop in a village where I bought bangles so small I’m not too sure I’ll ever be able to remove them.  I might pass the rest of my life with little bells tingling at my wrist day and night.  I also got laughed and laughed at by beautiful little girls, totally unconvinced by my shalwar kameez, veil and bangles.
But things are looking up since the Prince Hotel and my home in Sayla, The Old Bell Guesthouse, is a beautifully dilapidated Indian house in the countryside, with terraces all around my suite.

The main veranda, Old Bell Guesthouse, Sayla

The Old bell Guesthouse, Sayla

I was greeted with a glass of water, the holy splotch on my forehead, flowers dropped on my head and a friendly golden lab called Sandy, who immediately jumped on me, in true civilised dog fashion.  And I don’t really mind all the mothballs in the bathroom drains, I’m sure they serve a purpose and are there to protect me against some ungodly germs and smells.
Another place where I could stay quite a bit longer.

But let’s step back.  A few days ago, after a whole day or driving and stopping along the road for temples and, in Patan, for the spectacularly pillared, multi-storied Rani-Ki-Vav or Queen’s Stepwell where I fell in contemplation, if not in love, with a serenely sensuous stone representation of Vishnu, we finally entered the Little Rann Desert, hot and thirsty.

The Queen’s Stepwell, Patan, Gujarat

One of Vishnu’s Many Incarnations

But there was no time for hot and thirsty and I was almost immediately whisked away in a jeep for a visit of the village and temple.  Another temple!  Will I be able to make out one from the other in, say, two weeks from now?  But, always game, I jump in Mansour’s jeep and off we go.  For the next twenty-four hours, I will visit the homes of temple cows (which I couldn’t resist petting, they’re such a friendly sort), of salt collectors and chapatti makers, squat alongside and help cumin pickers, scattered in the field like  tight and compact little parcels (one woman in a red, green and gold sari, looks exactly like a Christmas present) and roam the desert, chasing wild asses, antelopes, Siberian cranes and flamingoes.
But we must see the temple first which is obviously well frequented by a colourful crowd that seem to have jumped right off a page of the Bible.  The temple itself is, well…none too pretty and reminds, in its sweetly garish painted plasters, the icing on a Price Mart birthday cake.
We come back at sunset (I know, I know, another sunset but I don’t think I’ve missed one in the last few weeks). We’ll have plenty of time to admire this one since the railroad gate is lowered and we have to stop quite a while to let the train chug-chug in front of us for long enough to let the sun sink on the desert horizon like an incandescent piece if charcoal.

Sunset in the Kutch

Right after breakfast, we’re back in the jeep and I’ll learn everything about Mansour, my young Muslim guide, who is wearing this time a very fetching brown turban: about his family, his views on marriage and alcohol consumption ( he doesn’t mind whisky once in a while, even in strictly dry Gujarat), and about the impala-like wild ass.  But, most interestingly about the few families who settle in the desert during the winter months to dig salt marshes and collect salt.  They leave in lean-tos in the middle of that cracked desert whose ground, as you walk, fritters away under your steps.  It could be the surface of the moon or of an over-baked chocolate cake.  The mother is standing by the lean-to: dirty sari, dirty face.  There isn’t much water around except for the salted water from the phreatic layer, some 25 feet underground that is being pumped and collected in a variety of square basins, single-handedly carved from the desert soil by the wiry, very dark young man a few hundred feet away.

Salt Extraction Pit

Right now, he is raking coarse crystallised salt from the bottom of the basin.  Back-breaking work!  His two little children are watching him: a boy about six and a three-year-old girl chomping on green chickpeas, both incredibly raggedy and dirty.  The family doesn’t seem unhappy but rather content with their lot in the immensity of the desert, the silence, and the salt that provides them with a livelihood.  I am told that when they die, their salt water logged feet refuse to burn on the pyre.
We chase the antelope, bumping and bouncing on the desert’s rough surface as Siberian cranes fly above, wings silently flapping and darkening the sky.  A moment ago, they were all standing in a pond, happily mingling with pink flamingos, then suddenly, they fly away in great, big, happy flock.  They circle a couple of times, just for the fun of it and return to their original station to start again a few moments later.  Waving and swaying, they create in the sky a lovely fan pattern.

Siberian Cranes

But back to the Old Guest House.  It belongs to the local rajah who used it as a guest house for British officials.  His son now owns the house and his wife, Prithi, takes me into town to show me her father-in-law’s old palace.  This is a renovator’s dream, but only a renovator with deep pockets and a lot of vision to unify the different wings added throughout the centuries and restore the crumbling sculptures and woodwork.   Prithi is charming, the product of an English boarding school, meaning that her English is impeccable and she also is the first Indian woman I’ve really spoken to in a month, except for Sushma in Udaipur.  Women are visible everywhere but they rarely speak English and are generally not involved in public life.  She is smart, vivacious and open but there is a faint sadness about her as she talks about the dreaded condition of women when they fall into widowhood and slide into non-identity and widow’s weeds, literally.  I can tell that she is concerned about her own possible widowhood.  She is 46 but looks 30 and she has a four-year-old daughter which is very unusual for a woman that age, especially in India.
But there is a worm in the apple and his name is Ajay.  I didn’t quite understand who he is, Prithi explains that he does errands for the family of which he seems to be a permanent fixture.  He is certainly not unpleasant but he never shuts up, he lectures, he pontificates in very approximative English and his favourite subject is religion.  He’s like the annoying windbag relative in a Tchekov play.  Now, I had been told that Indians like to do that a lot: lecture on one subject and another without listening at all, in an endless monologue, but I hadn’t met that particular specimen so far.  He’s not that easy to understand and I can’t quite figure out what exactly is his point since he seems to spell out a series of obvious statements as if they were his own personal discoveries.  ”Religion is the opium of the people!”  Right, I think I’ve heard that one before.  He is a Jain and Jains worship only one God “because many god is for ignorant, uneducated people.”  Is he trying to tell me he’s an atheist or a devout Jain?  Asking is no use because he doesn’t answer questions, just keeps on droning until your eyes glaze  over.  It gets a wee bit more interesting when he starts talking about the Sanskrit origin of words like mother and father (both derived of the Sanskrit? Or of the first babbling of an infant?)
- You see, the sound ‘father’ comes from the mouth, because father brings home the food.  And mother from the chest, because she brings love.
- But what if it is the mother who works and brings the food while father takes cares of the babies?
He looks at me uncomprehendingly and I pretext an urgent need to wash up to disappear into my room before dinner, hoping I wouldn’t have to suffer him throughout the meal, because all that intense pedagogical talk will certainly make me choke on my food.  But I am in luck, it is only Prithy, her little daughter and me.
Afterwards, Ajay is lurking on the veranda for one more lesson in Sanskrit and the evolution of Ohm into the christian Amen and the muslim Amine.  He evens takes the trouble to write it down so that I won’t forget.  Properly enlightened, I say a hasty goodnight and run to the safe haven of my room.

Sure enough, I got my visa as promised and started making plans of going to Bolivia. Initially, I had only planned to visit Copacabana on the banks of the lake Titicaca and La Paz, the highest capital city in the world but then my fellow volunteer told me – you cannot miss Uyuni! Uyu-what?! And then she proceeded to tell me about the salt flats of Uyuni and how it had to be the most beautiful place that she had seen in her life – a fact that many more tourists told me later on and I have to second.

The big problem was going to be however that it was not the right time of the year to visit Uyini. January is the rainy season and the tours close down due to the high rainfall. Uyuni can only be visited with tour operators – 3 day trips in a 4WD with 5 other people on board (one traveller I met told me – by the end of the 3 days, you will hate all of them). Being very optimistic though, I set out to La Paz. The challenge was to find a good reliable tour operator as I had heard that cheaper options may mean terrible operators and this can be even life threatening in the desert that we were going to visit. I had heard good things about one particular agency in La Paz but upon enquiring there I was told that they were not taking any bookings due to the rains. Extremely dejected, I walked to the next big, respectable looking agency and they said they would sell me a tour! Although I was sceptical, I was not going to miss the opportunity. I bought a ticket and was on a night bus from La Paz to Uyuni – that was 3 hours late – and arrived in Uyuni to find no one waiting there for me as promised by the operator. My misgivings intensified and I called the tour operator in La Paz. A little later though, I was picked up and met the 5 other fellow travellers – I only hated one of them by the end of the trip, not all – It was a fun bunch and we started off on a good note.

The first stop of course were the salt flats and we only had to drive a little outside of the town and we caught our first glimpse of white ground. I find it hard to put into words what the first sight of it was – it literally takes your breath away. It is impossible to look around without sunglasses on. As advised by our guide cum cook cum driver, we took off our shoes and walked on the salt – and boy was it incredible! The Salar or salt desert was formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes. It now has salt a few meters deep and we were told that this supply is never ending! Rainwater had covered some parts of the salt, turning it into a giant mirror and it is one of the most unusual and beautiful sights I have ever seen.There were however scores of other vehicles around which took away from the serenity which would have otherwise been experienced. After taking countless pictures (most of which looked the same later!), we had to be off because our guide hurried us saying we wouldn’t be able to find accomodation. Accomodation on the tour is very basic in home stay kind of places where no advance bookings are apparently possible so each car rushes to find places for 6 people to sleep.

The great white expanse is all you can see 360 degrees

We started off after breakfast the next day to out next destination – Laguna colorada or the coloured lake. After travelling for about 5 hours, we reached this incredible lake which looks pink (due to some algae in the water) and is home to hundreds of flamingoes. It is bordered by majestic, barren mountains and was definitely yet another thing I had never seen before. I forgot to mention that by this time we were roughly about 4500 meters above sea level and it was freezing and rainy and overcast and so we did not stay at the lake as long as I would have liked. Hurried again by the “we may not get accomodation” routine, we drove off and landed at our guest house at 2PM with nothing to do for the rest of the day! To kill time, we went for a walk and it seemed like we were literally in the middle of nowhere. It was however very cold with horrible winds blowing and so we were back to the safety of the guest house in no time.

Laguna Colorada

The third morning was an early morning – we set off at 4.45 AM. After driving for about 45 minutes to an hour through the desert again, we reached the Sol de Manana – literally sun of the morning. These are actually hot geysers that shoot steam out of the earth! The morning light made the landscape appear very lunar-esque (if that’s a word) and I certainly felt as if I were still dreaming. At this point, we were 5000 meters above sea level. We drove on through the barren landscapes and caught the sight of beautiful lakes reflecting the rising sun. We reached our next destination – an incredibly beautiful setting for hot springs. I was not too adventurous here but other brave souls stripped in the intense cold and dove straight into the hot springs pool. We had breakfast here and then drove to the last spot – Laguna verde of green lake – which was unfortunately not green when we went there. After spending some time there, we dropped off one of our fellow traveller – who continued on to Chile – as this place is very close to the Chile border and backpackers often use these tours as a transit from one country to the next. The rest of us turned around and headed back thorugh incredible landscapes – kind of similar to the ones you see in Ladakh – stark, barren beauty – to Uyuni. It took us about 7 hours to get back and after having a nice coffee with E, a sweet Argentinian girl, I got back onto my overnight bus for La Paz.

Sol de Manana geysers

Sunrise over a lake

The hot springs with a gorgeous backdrop

The desert landscapes we drove through

This is where carrying your camera is an added bonus to your road trip. I know my photography of birds in motion still needs some serious practice but at least I have a record of what I saw out on the road.

I also took some pictures of some pollution next to the dam where a peanut farmer was dumping his waste in the bushes, but until I have contacted the relevant authorities and the peanut farmer I cannot publish these.

Mother’s Day (and also my birthday) was out.  They had stuff going on and it would be packed.  So, today, Saturday, would do.  Uh, huh.  Everyone and all his relatives plus a couple of busloads showed up.  There were a trillion, berjillion people there.  Did I mention how I don’t like crowds?  That they make me cranky and give me a headache and make me twitch and sometimes make it hard to breathe?  Yes, I have learned to deal with this (mostly) over the years.  There are too many crowd inducing things I enjoy.  But I start having trouble when the crowds reach the shoulder to shoulder, shuffle walk stage.

The paths and outdoor exhibits were annoying but  manageable.  However, at the indoor monkey house I made it about 20 feet in and said, “Head for the exit.”  I could have turned around and gone back out, but I wanted to see some of it; but I also didn’t want to fight for a window.  Exhibits were peeked at over and around heads as we shuffled and stopped even though we were trying to get out.  My son said, “You know this was a lot easier when I was short and could get through everyone’s legs.  Somehow, I don’t think it would be socially acceptable if I did that now, though.”  I told him that at 5’10″ and 17 years old, they would probably arrest him for being a perv.

Despite the crowds, I had a good time, got my ‘lellaphant fix (twice), and treated myself to gravy fries and 2 (yes, two) softserve vanilla, waffle cone, ice creams.  Yummm.  I also took 137 pictures, whittled down to 70 after eliminating all the bad shots and unwanted duplicates, and despite the fact a lot of the animals were being uncooperative.  For example, I like tigers, but I want more than a hip and twitching tale in my picture.  Now I know no one is going to sit through 70 zoo pictures so I’m going to try to keep it around 20-ish.  Enjoy.

Our greeter at the zoo

Iris along the water’s edge is our header for today.

Rock fish

Sand shark at least 5 ft. long

Sea Otter pup

Mug of the Day 

There is no mug of the day.  The mug of the day, a black and orange striped tiger mug purchased at the zoo and never even used, is lying in crumbs in the garbage can.  As I was carrying things into the house, I bent over just a bit and the freaking slippery plastic bag it was in squirted out of my arms.  Did it land in the multitude of soft dirt filled plant pots in the driveway?  Hell, no.  It flipped so it missed them and hit the concrete.  Fortunately, it was the only casuality.  My son’s zoo shot glass survived and so did the ‘It’s my birthday.’ rationalized purchase of a soap stone (?) egg carved with an Elephant.  So you get a picture of that instead.

KINGLY TOUR PROGRAM(BUDGET).

Day1 Masai Mara- Full board

Day 2 Masai Mara -Full board

Day 3 Lake Nakuru- Full board

Day 4 Lake Bogoria/Baringo-Full board

Day 5to 10 Twiga lodge-Tiwi beach B/B.

Price $1300 per person.

Contact http://www.blisstourskenya.co.ke  and http://www.blisstourskenya.kbo.co.ke

Contact the Liberal Bliss Tours Kenya for safaris

http://www.blisstourskenya.co.ke or http://www.blisstourskenya.kbo.co.ke

May the spirit of adventure drive you to venture out with Bliss Tours Kenya to:

Masai mara

Amboseli

Mt.kenya

L.Turkana the cradle of mankind.

Visit http://www.blisstourskenya.co.ke  and http://www.blisstourskenya.kbo.co.ke

So I’m dipping my webbed foot into the salty flamingo-mobbed waters to see if y’all would be interested in a Taming Flamingoes T-shirt. 

Here’s your chance to wear a comfy American Apparel shirt and help a sista out … after all, my giant M.O. is to eventually delight you with a real, live book.

Spread the word, buy a shirt. If nothing else, they’ll be nice to sleep in.

Dudes, haven’t done up one for you yet.

Thoughts? Please share.

In the meantime …

They make a mark.

They make history.

Would you like to make a mark and make some history of sorts?

Contact Bliss Tours Kenya for a life time chance of trailing the wild in Kenya and with your camera shoot as many as you possibly can.

For more information visit http://www.blisstourskenya.co.ke   and  http://www.blisstourskenya.kbo.co.ke

It is said that a faithful friend is a strong defense and they that have found one like Bliss Tours Kenya have truly found a treasure and an oasis of safari information that will readily ease your travel headaches.Welcome kindly visit http://www.blisstourskenya.co.ke  and http://www.blisstourskenya.kbo.co.ke.

At about 2,300 meters above sea level, the lagoon lies within the Salar de Atacama in the north of Chile.

Here are links to Flamingoes (1) in France and Flamingoes (2) in Argentina

More details about flamingoes can be found in this link.

Here is a link to a previous post on flamingoes in Camargue, France.

As many as 40,000 flamingoes can be found in this area, which is the only place in France where flamingoes nest.

More details about the area can be found in this link.

Qualification for Shortlisting

1 Spirit of adventure.

2 Willingness to spend a portion of one’s savings.

3 Love for athletics,game & Beach.

Contact us now

http://www.blisstourskenya.co.ke

http://www.blisstourskenya.kbo.co.ke

Galapagos was not really on my travel wish list and it was only when I found myself in Ecuador that I looked it up on the internet because I had no idea of what the islands were like and what one could expect to see there – the only thing I had heard about Galapagos, like most other people, was that that was where Darwin’s theory of evolution took shape.

I also knew that the islands were expensive to visit. What I did not know was that the islands are one of the last remaining pristine environs in the world where one can observe beautiful wildlife in their natural habitat and human impact is limited to a minimum.

A gorgeous Sea Lion on Floreana

I landed in Galapagos after some amount of research and the name of one hostel in hand. I spent the first night on the island of Santa Cruz, which is the island closest to the Baltra airport. The magic of Galapagos is that you might have been dreaming about it for months and waiting to see the sea lions, the blue-footed boobies, the penguins and the Galapagos tortoises and thinking that it will take you all of the eight days that you are going to spend there to see all of that, but then you land there and in twenty four hours, you have seen almost all of them! By the third day, you find the sea lions and iguanas on the beach (and even on the roads) a routine sight and you are no longer squealing in delight upon spotting them. The rest of your days there are then spent snorkelling, visiting the other beautiful islands and simply soaking in the extra ordinary life and sights of Galapagos.

Red plants on Floreana

Flamingoes on Isabella

I visited three of the five inhabited islands – Santa Cruz, the most populated and touristy island, Isabella – a gorgeous but expensive island where I spent four days snorkelling, observing sea lions and flamingos, walking along the beautiful beaches and watching glorious sunsets and Floreana – a pristine island with only eighty inhabitants where I got to swim with a sea lion and a turtle! Due to the volcanic origins of the islands, they have an incredible landscape of white sands, black lava rocks, red and green plants, beautiful cacti and stunning clear waters in a myriad shades of blue.

An Iguana on Isabella. When I saw him, I was all alone on the beach and suddenly I thought I saw him nod at me. Although it sounds silly, it freaked me out and I thought I had imagined it until a fellow traveller mentioned that Darwin mentions nodding Iguanas in his book!

Although the Islands are distributed along the equator, the weather is not hot and humid and the water is cold. I spent eight days on the Islands and the sights that will remain with me for a long time are that of the most beautiful white sand beach with sapphire blue waters, of stumbling upon a sea lion sleeping in the shade of a mangrove, of blue footed boobies putting up a spectacular display of diving, the stunning landscapes of  and that of a protective male sea lion noisily protesting when tourists went too close to his females or babies.

A pelican on the beach in Isabella. It is definitely the most beautiful beach I have ever seen, and I have seen quite a few awesome beaches around the world

It is always depressing to leave after a beautiful holiday but leaving Galapagos was all the more troubling. Galapagos is not just any holiday destination and in fact should not be visited as one. Go to Galapagos to marvel at nature, to gawk at beautiful wild life and to soak in all that the islands have to offer while leaving as minimal an impact as possible.  As I despondently headed to the airport to take my return flight, I picked up one last souvenir – a beautiful Galapagos stamp on my passport for posterity and caught a last gorgeous view of the islands in deep blue water from the air.

The Galapagos Tortoises. These are probably 70 - 80 years old

The Galapagos Islands can be visited by creating an itinerary of your own or buy taking a cruise. Cruises are expensive but are a great way to see the uninhabited and less touristy islands. They also come with planned itineraries so you don’t have to organise anything. On the other hand, you don’t actually get to stay overnight on any of the islands and you might be slightly rushed which isn’t the best way to experience these islands. It is easy to get around on your own and there are plenty of accommodations available to suit all budget options starting from ten USD a night. You can take a ferry from one island to the other but the only problem is that the ferries ply only once a day and hence you have to plan your time well in advance. Some airlines allow you to fly in to one airport and fly out of the other (the two being located on two different islands – santa cruz and san cristobal) but this option cannot be booked online and so you waste a lot of time going to the far away islands and back to the airport. To sum it up, the ideal way to see the best of Galapagos (if time and money are not a constraint) is to take a four or five day cruise and stay on one of the islands for another three or four days.