Amazing South Africa Safari, following the Orange River to the ‘Place of Great Noise’ continue… October 3, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Map, Rail Pass, Restaurant, South Africa, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Trip , 3commentsAugrabies Falls National Park
Close to the entrance there is an information centre where you can obtain a free booklet on the park. There is also a shop that sells a few tinned goods, firewood, refreshments, wine and beer — and petrol can be obtained.
There is a restaurant next to the shop, and picnic places nearby — set among trees along one of the river’s channels. There are braai sites here, with water and toilets. (No drinking water is available elsewhere in the park.) There are also two swimming pools here, and a play pool for younger children. (more…)
Amazing South Africa Safari, following the Orange River to the ‘Place of Great Noise’ October 3, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Botswana, Cape Town, Museum, Tour, Trails , comments closedAugrabies is a place of striking contrast. In a land of little rain the surging waters of the Orange River create a ribbon of life, then thunder over one of the world’s mightiest waterfalls. This drive leads from Upington to the Augrabies Falls National Park, passing through Keimoes and Kakamas. All but a few kilometres of the route is tarred.
Our first stop of the day is Upington’s famous avenue of palms at the Eiland (island) holiday resort. To get there,
Drive south-west along Schröder Street, passing on your left the old mission complex that now houses the town’s museum. Turn left at the stop sign, noting your kms. After some 200 m you pass on your left an irrigation canal and a bakkiespomp (bucket pump).
A Thundering Waterfall in a dry, Desert Landscape continue… September 30, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, Tour, Trails, Travel Insurance, Trip, Victoria Falls, Zambia , 2commentsWalks and drives
From here there are a number of walks and drives that you can take to outlying viewpoints. One of the most popular walks is along the 2,5 km path leading to the Arrow Head viewsite. From here you can look out over the rapids that career along the bottom of the gorge far below. For the more energetic there is the Klipspringer Hiking Trail which runs for 26km along the southern bank of the river. This is a three-day hike and walkers stay overnight in huts along the route. The trail passes Ararat, a granite rock that offers a magnificent view along the gorge, and also Moon Rock, which provides panoramic views over the whole park. (more…)
A Thundering Waterfall in a dry, Desert Landscape September 30, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Air Tickets, Cape Town, Europe, Geographic, Round The World, Tour, Trails, Travellers Cheque, Zambia , 2commentsKnown to the wandering Khoikhoi as Aukoerebis (place of great noise), the Augrabies Falls thunder over a great granite slash in the barren bushveld of the northern Cape. Here the tumbling waters of the Orange River go mad in a series of deep ravines and dangerous, dizzying cliffs.
The first white man to see the falls was a Swedish-born soldier named Hendrik Wikar. Wikar deserted his post at the Cape in 1775 to escape an accumulation of gambling debts, and for four years he wandered through the uncharted country now known as the northern Cape describing in a journal, (more…)
A Wealth of Wildlife in a world with little Water September 30, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Botswana, Map, Rail Pass, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Travel Gear , 2commentsThe traveler is greeted by an extraordinarily stark, sunburned landscape. The climate ranges from dry to very dry, and periods of extreme drought can be measured by the carcasses in the dry river beds. Yet there is abundant life in the harsh environment of the Kalahari — a primeval vitality that comes as a surprise amidst the seemingly inhospitable surroundings. For those who wish to see and feel an unspoilt Africa, this is perhaps the most rewarding place to visit. Here it is stillpossible to experience the wild excitement of a lion-kill, or to witness the lightning dash of a hunting cheetah — exactly as if mankind had never appeared on the scene. (more…)
The Ruined Mayans City of Chichen Itza continue… September 22, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Central America, Destination, Hotels, Mexico, Museum, New York, Sightseeing, Tour, Trails, Trip , 3commentsThe Caracol (the name means ’snail’ because of the structure’s appearance and interior winding staircase) exemplifies this involvement with Venus in particular and the heavens in general. The structure consists of a cylindrical tower on a two-tiered rectangular platform, and it was probably Mayan originally with later Toltec- influenced additions. The upper part of the tower has crumbled, giving an appearance coincidentally reminiscent of modern domed observatories. This probably helped speculation over a long period about possible astronomical aspects to the building. Some of this speculation has been shown by fairly recent research to be wrong, but Anthony Aveni can now claim that Chichen Itza is one of ‘the most secure examples of the incorporation of a horizon-based astronomy in architecture’: (more…)
Norway Røros Mysterious Light Phenomena September 19, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Europe, France, Hotels, Museum, New York, Norway, Rail Pass, Sweden, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Trip , 2commentsThe town of Røros is inscribed on the World Heritage List because of its mining heritage. It owes this, of course, to the mineral resources of the surrounding landscape, and because it is that landscape, the natural aspect of the area, that concerns us here, this choice from the List is a little different in kind from the other entries selected for this book.
The valley of Hessdalen is situated about 19 miles (30km) northwest of Røros, reasonably close to the border with Sweden. It is sparsely populated, with fewer than two hundred inhabitants scattered in farms amid the isolated wildness of the place. Despite its remoteness, the Hessdalen area put itself ‘on the map’ because of an outbreak of extraordinary light phenomena, which commenced in the closing months of 1981 and which were witnessed on and off for a few years thereafter. (more…)
A Visit to Dominica September 1, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Caribbean, Hotels, Rail Pass, Restaurant, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Trip , 3commentsA strange thing happened this year. A man I’d met only twice, a bit of a loner, invited me to go with him to the West Indies. I fancied him so I said yes.
I knew of Dominica only as the birthplace of Jean Rhys, a writer I deeply admire. Now when I read about the island I discovered that it is volcanic and mountainous and is the last refuge of the Carib Indians, the descendants of proud cannibals who starved to death rather than accept the fate of slavery. It is one of the wilder places on earth and contains rainforest, and boa constrictors. (more…)
One More Burmese Day August 31, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Asia, Europe, Forex, Hotels, Rail Pass, Singapore, Tour, Trails, Travel Gear, Travelling Bag, Trip , 3commentsAt five in the morning Rangoon shakes off sleep. Paraffin lamps cast pools of sputtering light on the wet streets. After a night of drizzle, the city murmurs as though sound, like the dust, has been cleared from the air by the rain. The lamps wheeze. In a café doorway a man slaps chapati dough on to a board, and stacks the rolled balls into ranks. A boy yawns and adjusts his lunghi. He oversees a water tank parked in the road. Water splashes from a faucet into a jerrican, and when it fills the boy sluggishly replaces it from a line of empty ones. A truck, far off, grinds gears and whines, coming slowly closer. (more…)
The Drums of Nefta August 31, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, France, Hotels, Rail Pass, Tour, Trails, Trip , 6commentsIt is late evening and Marianne, Walter and I have just finished a large couscous washed down by several bottles of heady local wine. My companions start talking in Arabic again and I have the depressing sense of being a hick tourist fallen among real travellers. Wine- numbed and bloated, I lapse into silent recapitulation of what has brought us here.
I met Marianne on Jerba, an island claiming mythic status as the place where the Sirens held Ulysses. I too was becalmed, though the Sirens were inaudible. I would take bus trips from the island to towns in southern Tunisia but they never lasted longer than a day. Their chaos and squalor did not compare well with the pristine beauty of Jerba and, as a lone male out of season, I was prey to a horde of street hustlers. On Jerba I had made it clear that I was not in the market for anything and they left me alone. (more…)
Big Safari Game in the Okavango Swamp, Kalahari Desert Travel August 30, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Botswana, Cape Town, Europe, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, South Africa, Tanzania, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Travel Clinic, Travelling Bag, Trip, Vaccinations , 5commentsWe slid through the swamps while animals criss-crossed our path before and aft; kudu, zebra, buffalo, impala, and a herd of fifteen giraffe, splashing through the water with feet big as plates. Matata poled gracefully; he could have been punting down the Cam as his pole pushed blue and white water lilies aside. His ears were sharp as a jackal’s and he could spot the tracks of a hippo from an extraordinary distance. The lilypad sized footprints, at least one foot across, sank deep into the mud — heavy, purposeful tracks. (more…)
Gypsy Serenade continue… August 26, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Paris, Tour, Trails, Trip , 3commentsThere in a tiled room in the basement the pleasure began: Gonzalo’s daughter danced for us. She was fifteen, lithe, conscious of her own body and beautiful in her art, and all the while as the spectators’ enthusiasm grew her father watched her, drinking Jerez, nodding his head and smiling.
Presently he drew me aside to suggest that if I would like to give him a certain sum his wife and daughter would go immediately and prepare a gypsy supper. He explained that their house down under the railway by the Bridge of Three Eyes had only one room, but his own eyes shone as he described the delights of a gypsy supper. (more…)
Geomantic feature of the ancient Tower of London, Secret face of Britain’s Capital City continue… August 22, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Airlines, England, Europe, Hotels, London, Rail Pass, Round The World, Sightseeing, Tour, Trails, Travel Gear, Travelling Bag, Trip , 3commentsAfter a short distance, the course of the line connects with the axis of Cannon Street, passing through the former position of the London Stone. The remnants of this undoubtedly ancient feature are to be found today behind an iron grill set into the wall of the Bank of China on the north side of Cannon Street, opposite Cannon Street Tube (subway) station, more or less in the position it formerly occupied against the wall of St Swithin’s church, until that was demolished in the 1960s. Up until 1742, however, it was located on what was then the south side of Cannon Street in a position that would now be in the middle of the modern roadway, as it was subsequently widened. No one really knows the origins of the stone. (more…)
Geomantic feature of the ancient Tower of London, Secret face of Britain’s Capital City August 22, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Airlines, Destination, France, Hotels, Ireland, London, Sightseeing, Tour, Trails , 3commentsMost people today think of the Tower as the sinister place built by William the Conqueror where prisoners were kept and tortured, and where illustrious heads rolled, including those of Sir Thomas More, Sir Walter Raleigh, Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey. Over the centuries, in addition to being such a notorious place of confinement, the Tower has served as a garrison, a palace, a zoo, a mint and an observatory. The Tower continues to house the Crown Jewels and other royal regalia, but this important spot in London’s geography goes back much further, and is referred to in the medieval Welsh texts known collectively as The Mabinogion, which record themes much older. To the Celtic Britons, the site on which the Tower stands was Bryn Gwyn, the White Mount, ‘White‘ meaning holy. The White Tower, the central keep of the site and the original part of the structure to be built, recalls this appellation. (more…)
My Traveling Companions two Flying Horses August 14, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Airlines, Beirut, England, Europe, Hotels, India, Museum, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tour, Trails, Trip , 3commentsWhenever I’ve been asked to take a sponsored parachute jump I’ve declined, giving the excuse ‘fear of flying’. Of free will I chose to fly to India, taking as my travelling companions a stallion and two mares, in the back of a decrepit Boeing 707 on its third time round the clock. The interior was like a dingier station on the Northern Line, complete with peeling, dripping walls. Outside, the Flying Carrot, as this airline’s cargo planes are affectionately known to the handlers at Heathrow, has peeling orange and green livery. She’ll be all right when she’s finished, said one. Finished what? (more…)
Avebury Village & Related Megalithic Sites: Remarkable Monument, Ceremonial Landscape August 12, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Airlines, Destination, Europe, Hotels, Memorial, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Trip, United Kingdom , 3commentsThe two great henge mountains of Stonehenge and Avebury are only about 20 miles (32km) apart in Wiltshire, yet each has its own surrounding ceremonial landscape containing many other monuments. All are entered as site number 96 on the World Heritage List, but here we will describe each of these major monuments and landscapes in turn. (more…)
France World Heritage Chartres Cathedral part 2 August 11, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Europe, Jerusalem, London, Middle East, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tour, Trails, Trip , 3commentsCharpentier felt that was a link between the Ark and Chartres forged by the mysterious Order of the Knights Templar. He questioned the immediacy with which Gothic architecture appeared, particularly Chartres, and how it was concurrent with the Romanesque style, not deriving from it. How could it spring up so readily? There must have been a school from which the master builders emerged, Charpentier reasoned. (more…)
Greece Delphi: the Sacred Centre, the Navel of the World continue… August 8, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Airlines, Cars, Europe, France, Hotels, Motel, Museum, Rail Pass, Tickets, Trails, Travelling Bag, USA , 3commentsThe village of Kastri was built over the site of the sanctuary and this proved a problem in the nineteenth century when archaeologists wanted to examine the famous oracle site. International rivalry developed over the excavation rights. France won, but at the expense of rehousing all the villagers of Kastri at another site, New Kastri (now the modern Delphi), just over 1/2 mile (1km) to the west. French archaeological investigation has gone on to a greater or lesser degree ever since. (more…)
Greece Delphi: the Sacred Centre, the Navel of the World August 8, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Cars, Destination, Greece, Museum, Tour, Trails, Trip , 4commentsWorld Heritage List Number 157 Archaeology, Consciousness, Energies, Gemancy, Myth
This is the site from which the term originally derives: in myth, Delphi is the sacred centre, the navel of the world. Plutarch, the famous priest of Apollo at Delphi, recorded that the legend was that Zeus sent out two eagles (the birds associated with Zeus) from each extremity of the Earth. Where their flight paths crossed, at Delphi, was the centre of the world. In other versions, it is swans or ravens (Apollo’s birds) that are sent out to find the geomantic centre. This legend is the reason archaic depictions of omphaloi often have two birds perched on them facing in opposite directions (although Robert K. G. Temple has argued that they refer to a pigeon- carrier message system between chief oracles of the ancient world‘). (more…)
Secret and Scared Ancient Greece Places: World Heritage Epidaurus August 5, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Cairo, Egypt, Europe, Greece, Hotels, Museum, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Travel Gear, Trip , 3commentsWorld Heritage list number 158 Consciousness, Evolved, Geomancy, Myth
The ruined sites of the Sanctuary of Aesculapius (Asklepios), or the Hieron of Epidaurus (Epidavros), is situated in an isolated valley between Mount Velanidhia (the ancient Titthion) to the northeast and Mount Kharani (the old Kynortion) to the southeast, in the vicinity of Ligourio on the Peloponnese Peninsula across the Saronic Gulf from Piraeus and Athens. (more…)
