I made it as a finalist in the BeenThere monthly travel photo comp for April 2011.
The theme was Weather and, although I didn’t win, the winner and runner-ups were worthy victors.
My entry is below:
The photo also appears in my photo galleries at Buggslife Photography.
Mr David Bugg and Mrs Clare Bugg (formerly Miss Clare North) finally tied the knot on 9th February 2011 on the spice island of Zanzibar. We spent 2 weeks away with time in the charming Stone Town before heading to Fumba Beach Lodge for the wedding. Just before the ceremony a tropical storm hit us (apparently an effect of the big typhoon over Madagascar) with the wind kicking up waves and sand and a big ominous dark sky edge closer over the ocean.
Fumba Beach Wedding, Zanzibar
We battled through it all – in fact our 7 guests bore the brunt of it since we had some cover under the palm leaf archway with Father Charles.
Tropical Storm
Still, everybody came up smiling at the end and the celebrations continued into the evening over a superb private meal. The Fumba staff were fantastic; Natasha was particularly attentive and definitely made the day extra special.
A couple of days later Clare and I went over to Pongwe on the east coast to see the typical ‘post card’ type beaches Zanzibar is famous for. The colours of the sea did live up to expectation (see photo):
One of my personal highlights was the next stage of the trip on Chumbe Island (see this link for details on their big conservation project). The snorkelling around the island was pretty special with great varied gardens of coral and a huge variety of colourful reef fish as you would expect with quality tropical snorkelling sites. What stood out for me though were the big shoals of mini fish you could swim through, the many Hawksbill turtles we saw and also the odd impressive jellyfish. See a few photos below taken on my underwater compact camera (Canon Powershot D10).
Chumbe is a great eco island even without the snorkelling though; it’s covered in a low dense bushy forest so there is even some good birding and the ground itself moves with the scuttle of hermit crabs.
The project has built several funky bungalows that proved their worth living through a storm whilst we were there without any issues at all.
So this represented the bulk of the pre-wedding, the ceremony day and our honeymoon on Zanzibar with just another night back in Stone Town. This town blew me away – it overloaded my visual senses with its aged buildings brimming with character and its cramped winding backstreets. we got lost several times and were always happy to have to meander our way back to somewhere we recognised. Despite several long powercuts and being amongst the people and their day-to-day lives I sensed no danger as a tourist and felt a positive vibe about town.
The next stop was Selous game reserve in the south of Tanzania for a few days Safari – an ideal ending to our honeymoon for two nature lovers…
Selous Game Reserve – on paper Africa’s largest protected wildlife reserve. This is where we chose to polish off an unforgettable wedding/honeymoon trip.
Staying at Lake Manze camp we had just 3 nights to explore as much as possible. Although Selous covers more than 5% of Tanzania’s total area, in reality the majority is a hunting reserve and just a relatively small area north of the Rufiji river is kept for ‘photography hunting’ or eco tourism.
From the small Coastal aeroplane I spotted my first giraffe and within the first 20 mins of the gradual drive from the airstrip toward camp my wildlife spotting senses were already in overload. Plenty more Giraffes and Impala seemingly in a any view you chose from the jeep; and it was the view that struck me hard…
Usually our nature driven trips have been to tropical rainforests and we are well used to have no more than a couple of metres visibility both left and right with the only distant view being ahead down the path your are walking (and even that depends on how well and straight the paths have been cut). So sitting in an open 4×4 Landrover and looking not just forward for a km or more but all around to both sides and seeing mammals off on the horizon – this was a whole new ball game in our mildly obsessive wildlife watching world.
What stood out to me as much as the game viewing was the birdlife, not just in quantity and variety but in beauty. the Rollers and Bee-eaters have such striking colours but then also the 5 species of Kingfisher we saw, the number of raptors (from Osprey to Sea Eagle, falcons and so many vultures) and even the common passerines were interesting; perhaps not surprising being our first ever visit to Africa so all was pretty new and fresh.
One of the main reasons we chose Selous over, say, the Serengeti or Ngorongoro, was for the relative peace and quiet of the reserve. During most drives we only saw up to 2 cars passing by and never another vehicle whilst watching an animal – the one big exception being on the final evening when we went out to observe a pride of lions with 2 males (brothers). In that instance it probably resemebled the hoards that you hear about in Kenya or North Tanzania since we had 3 or 4 jeeps at one time in the same area.
The two the major attractions of Lake Manze camp were:
1) It is situated on the lake so you can mix up the activities by taking boat safaris. This really gives you variety; the birding was superb and the viewpoint is always different from the water.
2) The camp is not fenced, you are staying in extravagant tents which means that wildlife can, and does, come right up to.
As well as having Impala and Monkeys within 10m we also had two special moments. I never realised how silently a big elephant could sneak up on you! One lunchtime we were relaxing on the tent porch when he appeared through a bush. As he came closer we went inside the tent and watched through the mesh window as he virtually brushed up against the canvas! The Masai do look after you but hadn’t noticed this one so we just enjoyed the experience and let the elephant get on with his stroll. In the bush everybody and everthing makes way for the elephants.
The other moment was during the night of a full moon; in the middle of the night a storm had passed over with a typically heavy tropical downpour. Afterwards I had been awoken again but by a different sound, a sound of munching. As it approached I could see moonshine but could not distinbuish its outline until my eyes adjusted to its great size and traced the outline of a large bull hippo under the moonlight! He edged closer, regularly tearing huge amounts of grass and munching away. Imagine the sound a cow makes when tearing up grass, now amplify that 50 times. We watched this hippo as it stood as close and can be just a metre fromt he tent side. Everytime we made a slight rustle it would stop, listen out and everntually carry on his midnight feast. Everybody always says how dangerous they can be and having seen them running on dry land the previous 2 days I could well believe it.
Our first time in Africa, our first Safari and at the end of our honeymoon after a special 2 weeks that included a wedding in Zanzibar. A great way to polish of a great trip for 2 newleywed nature lovers.
Nunce había ni oido hablar de esta “violación correctiva” antes de recibir el correo-e de Avaaz.
A leirlo me asustó tanto el tema que no lo creí completemente y tuve que buscar más info en la red. No costó mucho encontrar suficiente para no dudar más. Firmé la petición y Usted puedo hacer lo mismo aquí.
Se encontrará más en artículos por todo el internet como este del periódico inglés The Telegraph.
Me parece que tiene bastante importancia y si solo una persona encuentra la petición por mi blog, pues bastará.
Just added Indonesia photos to the Travel section at Buggslife Photography.
After much filtering and editing (in Lightroom 2 and Lightroom 3 Beta) I have finally completed my gallery of travel photos from one month travelling a few corners of Bali and Java.
Enjoy the whole set at:Indonesia travel photo gallery. View from Sanur beach at sunrise - Mt. Agung
The main areas in Bali are Sanur, Ubud, Mount Batukaru and Bukit including monkeys and surfers at Uluwatu. It was during the Balinese Hindu New Year – Nyepi – and features heavily on its festivities. One of my favourite moments – particularly in a photographic sense – was Melasti on the beaches of Sanur at dusk and dawn.
In Ubud you’ll see many shots from the Ogoh-ogoh parades as well as a sense of tranquility on Nyepi itself.
The other shots were from 3 weeks on Java – about 10 days of which were in the south western tip (Ujung Kulon in Bahasa Indonesia) in the remote and wild national park of coastal rainforest, mangrove swamps and idyllic islands, beaches (storm worn yet untouched by man) and tropical seas including superb coral reefs. Ujung Kulon National Park Rice paddy terraces in Bali on hills of Gunung Batukaru
Inland in the central areas of Java you will see Jogyakarta (Yogya), a popular traveller’s base city nestles between famous volcano peaks and surrounded by many historical ancient religious sites such as Borobodur. I also feature shots of Candi Sukuh – a lesser known Hindu site on the slopes of the sacred mountain Gunung Lawu east of Solo. Sukuh features numerous sexual and erotic references in its carvings and symbolic temple structures.
That’s just a flavour – there are also numerous wildlife photos among them along with candid portraits and, of course, many rice paddy landscapes…perhaps too many!
I randomly came across some Sanskrit text which got me curious and I started to scratch the surface of a culture / religion / world that I know nothing about. After visiting Bali this year I caught my first tastes, smells and sights of Hindu culture having experienced the Balinese Hindu New Year – Nyepi and all of its associated festivities…notably Melasti (or Mekiyis / Melis ) and the Ogoh-Ogoh parades (part of Tawur Kesanga on New Year’s eve), both of which feature heavily in my Bali gallery. There is a nice summary of the festivals on indo.com here. Nyepi itself is a wonderful day of serenity, where people are forbidden to leave their homes and to make noise.
So my mind started wondering toward these things and, being a huge fan many years back, thought of some Kula Shaker lyrics such as:
The latter praising Krsna (or Krishna) and the former meaning something along the lines of:
Same same, but different
Slightly more eloquently would be:
“simultaneous oneness and difference”
Which, according to one source is about:
“Though we come in various forms and though we are all individuals, we all come from the same source, we are made of the same material/substance, but we are very much different from each other physically. The same is true for everything in nature.
As for “Tattva”, tattva means reality, principle, and truth. It can be thought of as an awakening, when one realizes that there is more to life than what he sees through his eyes.”
I just thought that was great!
What an event…a setting…day…just been best man (o padrihno) at a big wedding at the main catholic cathedral in central Lisbon, a Se, and enjoyed a treat of a special occasion.
Will put the photos in a gallery soon…everything just clicked into place…here’s the bride taken over the shoulder of the father of the groom:
Wedding Bride
The idea of this blog is to write about anything and everything that I get up to or ponder – usually accompanied by a related photo. I spent the past bank holiday weekend with the missus and friends camping on the island of Anglesey, Wales in glorious sunshine…albeit in a chilly northerly breeze.
Porth Wen - secluded cove in north Anglesey, Wales.
What stand out as some of my favourite moments, on a very personal level:
The moments…”where” – “what”
In Argentina:
In Chile:
In Paraguay:
Hitch-hiking (actually in Brazil here) with the others from Paraguay
In Bolivia:
In Peru:
In Ecuador:
In Venezuela:
As well as all this there were so many other highlights that stick out in my mind but to try and list too many is pointless. Many of you will undoubtedly hear about plenty of the others over many years to come and often over many a pint I’d imagine.
My top top personal highlights – the elite of the cream of the crop – things that stand out in my mind:
The places…
In Argentina:
Wrapping up warm in the south
In Chile:
View from window over a fjord in the Carreterra Austral region
In Bolivia:
In Peru:
In Ecuador:
In Colombia:
In Venezuela:
Just came across this quote about the big national park I was impressed with in Rio de Janeiro…
“The Atlantic Rain Forest The Tijuca National Park is the largest urban natural reservation area in the world, covering an area of 3.200hec. and sheltering an enormous variety of birds and butterflies as well as “prego” and “sagui” monkeys. It is also home to hundreds of species of wildlife and plants, nowadays only found in the Atlantic Rainforest, many of them threatened by extinction.”
I can believe it’s the biggest urban reserve.
We saw both those species of monkeys there! The sagui is actually a marmoset (apparently the same as a tamarin but not certain) and it was the only time in the year that we saw ‘monkeys’ of that kind.
Days I spent in each country:
TOTAL = 365
1 year, 10 countries
So, I’m back home now but I’ll throw in one more travel entry as I don’t expect life’s going to be quite so interesting for a while now…
I went on a great 6 day trek up Roraima, a large table-top mountain renowned for its many endemic plants – including loads of carnivorous plants – and animals such as a hummingbird and frog.
Here are the clouds rolling over the edge from up top:
The 2 days we spent on top were fantastic, getting to know the unusual landscape, the quartz crystal ‘rivers’, freezing cold but stunning natural pools, the little animals including a scorpion and a rare big oilbird, almost blind, that relies on echo-location like a bat and lives in Venezuelan caves.
This is the group I was with and Roraima is the mountain on the right dominating the horizon.
Next up was Rio de Janeiro after a 3 flights in 1 job from near the Venezuelan border, across the amazon jungle, change in Sao Paulo and we’re there. Two manic weeks that flew by during the carnival: masses in the streets, beer everywhere, samba drums, plenty of energy and a great atmosphere.
Clare’s polishing off tangy home-made caipirinha in the flat before heading out…
Twas cool to have one place to stay put for 2 weeks. The flat was in a proper residencial block where the locals chuck rubbish bags out of the window into a mass rubbish bin courtyard below…nice. By normal terms it was a scummy kind of place, well more the block than the flat itself, but it was really quality compared to the standards of the majority of people that I’d been seeing since leaving Argentina and heading through Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.
So, along with a nocturnal lifestyle that had gone from:
Roraima Trek
WAKE UP: SUNRISE
BED: WITHIN AN HOUR OF SUNSET
to:
Rio
WAKE UP: 1PM – 4PM
BED: 4AM – 8AM
we also managed to check out some of the absolutely shockingly well preserved national parks right in or around the city. In them we even saw monkeys, hummingbirds, loads of butterflies, iguanas, a squirrel and other lizards. Really surprised me being on the edge of such a city.
I also had to swallow my pride on the last night. Clare and I had spyed a cool looking little seafood restaurant and planned to pop in to celebrate 7 whole years together; however, that day Clare found out this little restaurant appeared in the ‘ever so Lonely Planet’ which quoted it as being “the best seafood restaurant in Rio de Janeiro”. My pride was swallowed along with a couple of cans of beer and we still went there and, I hate to say it, but the book may have been right. It was at least the best meal out we had had in the past year.
So, lots of indulgence in Rio meant lots of cash spent which, in turn, meant the question “Can we still afford to do our final little excursion and ride 23 hours across Brazil (and another 23 hours back) to Iguazu Falls???”. The true answer is really “no, we can’t afford it” but we went anyway…
…and it was worth the effort.
There’s the beauty of the sets of falls; the amazing force of them; lush forest around and even treats of seeing some cool animals I hadn’t expected to see such as more monkeys, coatis, agoutis, toucans, (wild) guinea pigs, a river turtle and even a caiman (see left below)!
As for Brazil, I only spent a short time in 3 of its many many corners (Pantanal, Iguazu and Boa Vista up near Venezuela) plus enough time in Rio. There’s obviously loads to see in South America’s biggest country (and the 5th biggest in the world) – its own trip perhaps?
“Vamos a ver.”
If I were to try and summarise the music I might say it’s confused, confusing, vibrant, tacky, passionate and as varied throughout the continent as the landscapes.
Music is absolutely everywhere and mostly very loud and often closer to noise than anything else. That’s probably partly because a lot sounds tacky to me but also, since it is everywhere, because bus’s might have growling engines and wind rushing through the windows to combat the immense heat of the day; a street has cars, barking dogs and other sound systems to contend with; a shop or internet cafe is full of chattering, shouting kids, crashes and screams from x-box games, squeaky doors and people singing along; so assuming the sound quality is actually good there’s not much chance of it sounding that great amongst everything else.
Sounds like a rant that, but it’s all just real observations. Better than saying “Music is everywhere in South America” would be “South America is noisy”.
At least the music varies an incredible amount with so many different genres being massively popular.
The mothers of all genres would probably be Salsa and Reggaeton. Salsa you probably know – full of energy, spicy, bongo type percussion, often brass instruments, often a superb lead singer and typically a group of 3 or 4 backing male singers. I still can’t dance it. I’ve never had a lesson, but, sometimes you don’t get much choice but to get up and strut.
Reggaeton is a beast in itself. It has a chunky beat with a ska/reggae kind of rhythm and usually gangster style kind of rapping and not much else – but it’s catchy, fun and massive. Some artists are doing well in the States too; the big guns include Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, Tito El Bambino and Calle 13 – a clever rapper along the lines of a Spanish speaking Eminem but probably a lot more racist and controversial but great lyrics all the same.
The bigger stars seem to be from Puerto Rico.
As for the other big genres there’s Merengue and Cumbia which are widely popular. I thought I was starting to understand these two until I was recently confused and gave up on telling Cumbia apart from Salsa and Merengue, they seem to merge to me.
On top of all these there are loads of styles of ‘music’ that you find regionally: Tango is great, mostly heard in Argentina and is usually one of the higher quality styles, typically using no synthesised instruments. Colombia has Vallenato (instruments in pic below) music using an Accordion, a scraping instrument called a Guacharaca and a drum along with a singer, and has appeal stretching into neighbours Ecuador and and Venezuela. Colombia also has a not so well known seldom listened to music termed Momposina – one of my favourite of the whole continent – with African roots and a female singer with a tribal chant style.
Venezuela has one of the more comedy genres called Joropo or Musica Llanera coming from the lowlands (Los Llanos) is a guy half rapping as he sings about how he is a humble Llanos cowboy and likes to ride horses accompanied by a harp, maracas and a small type of guitar. On first listen it sounds terrible. On 2nd, 3rd and 4th listen it still sounds awful. BUT, eventually, after enough bus/pickup rides you can start to almost appreciate it if you listen, at least, to the lyrics.
One running idea nearly every music type is to fit as many words into each line of song as possible causing the singer to rush them out as quickly as possible. This happens a lot in the soppy cheesey ballads, very popular everywhere, and just sounds awkward to me, surely leaving the guy out of breath on every line.
About these “soppy cheesey ballads”. They really are soppy – incredibly lovey dovey, something the macho guys don’t seem to be in their everyday lives. One classic is a very popular Argentinian singer, Axel, who has one particular tune called “I love you” that goes on and on like this:
“I love you in the morning
and in the afternoon
I love you in the body
and in your spirit
I love that which you love
I love you”
…and on and on and on…
As I’m writing this they’ve turned the soppy rock balad tunes up. Great. I’ve already sat through the spanish version of “Unbreak my heart” twice.
I bought loads of CDs, including some of the very cheesiest stuff as souvenirs, so remind me to sample you some when you come round…
>>> Note that I wrote all of the above about 5 weeks ago whilst I was still in Venezuela.
I’m now back home in Blighty (arrived yesterday) and didn’t want to post this until I had given Brasil a chance to influence me.
So, in all I spent about 3 weeks in Brasil – a tiny period of time for such a huge country but I did pick up on some of the music.
The most obvious is Samba. Being there for Carnaval I obviously heard tons of it. I love it. It’s one of the most energetic styles of music I’ve heard, all positive with some of the sweetest percussion imaginable (pic left shows one of many types of samba drum). A day before leaving Brasil I saw a parade in a small town. The parade was mostly made up of youngsters and kids but still the drumming section was awesome.
Other than that I didn’t get exposed to a lot else apart from a very easy-going style with accordions. Don’t know what they call it but it’s fun and I have a CD from one band. As well as that I noticed that they love to cover big classic English songs (like Beatles) and translate and create Portuguese lyrics – strange and cool to hear.
So that’s my South American music experience in a rambling nutshell about as coherent as the music itself.