Tunisia 2015 – Sousse – El Djem – Kairouan

It is about 15 years ago I was last in Tunisia. The reason to go was that holidays are really really cheap there and after all those expensive holidays a cheap destination was a good idea.
For the first time since many many years I chose to go with a package holiday – horrible – but the easiest way to get there. Very unusual for me.
The destination in Tunisia was Sousse, a really nice town at the Mediterranean Sea. I chose a hotel which was very close to the Medina (old city) so there was no need to stay in the Hotel and we could go and hang out in the city without depending on any transfer.




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 I was really surprised that almost no one of the other tourists did the same and mostly we were the only ones around the locals. In Sousse we visted the Ribat (old fortress), the main mosque and the Kasbah (which is an even bigger fortress with a museum). Also we walked around the old city (Medina) a lot. Narrow streets, lots of shops with spices, carpets or lots of souveniers.
Of course we did not only stay in Sousse. A quite adventours tour went to El Djem. We took a local minibus (Louage) for about 2€ each from Sousse. Everything was written in Arabic and we just trusted the people to put us in the right minibus ;). It worked and lots of people tried to help us. El Djem is easy to describe – a big amphitheater (a little smaller than the Coliseum in Rome) and a small village around. The amphitheater is very impressive – they shot the movie Gladiator here – unlike Rome you can walk around everywhere. And almost no people – fantastic. We spent a lot time there.


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 The other tour lead us to Kairouan – the 4th most important islamic city in the world (and the most imporant one in Northern Africa). Because I wanted to be there early we rented a Taxi for the day (was about 45€) – it took about 1,5hrs to get there. First we visted the main Mosque which was very impressive. Then we visted the Aghlabid Pools and another Mosque (with 3 doors). Somehow we got dragged into a carpet shop and I could not resist… Finally we spent some time walking around the very nice and old Medina.
Well it was a good relaxing holiday – of course the Hotel in Sousse very touristy, but we only used it for sleeping and eating (and the food was surprisingly good). But also we tried some local food from the streets of course. A good destination for 1 week in the winter especially and you can easily escape the tourist crowds by just leaving the Hotel…


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Helgoland 2014 – Gray Seal Experience

Helgoland is a small island in the North Sea, about 2-3 hours from the German coast by boat. Some years back there was almost no tourism in winter time but that changed with the Gray Seals (Kegelrobben) appearing on the shores to breed an getting their little babys. Other than the normal seals, Gray Seal babys can not swim in the first two weeks and are covered with a white fur and just lay around on the beaches. This only happens in wintertime from end of November till beginning of January and is a great experience to come close to Germanys biggest predator (we don’t really have any). Luckily until now nothing has happend and people are allowed to come close to the animals but as more and more Gray Seals come and also more and more people visit this will come to an end at one point.

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Well I got extremely lucky with the weather (some days in between 2 storms). Winter is time of storms and bad weather but I had more sun than bad weather. To get there the ferry ride took about 3 hours from Cuxhaven with very calm sea. Lots of photographers were on board. But other than photography the island is know for duty free shopping and a huge collection of Single Malts… (which are probably needed for bad weather ;).
My every day routine was getting up early, taking my winter clothes on like I was going to ski – packed my heavy photo equipment and off to the (cold and windy) beach. In my eyes it was totally worth it. Great experience, you get really close to the animals. Even if officially it should be 30m the animals are not keeping the distance ;). Some are quite curious. Also you have to watch your back for seals coming behind you ;). Really fun to watch. Especially the young babys and also the mating rituals and fights.
The way back to Cuxhaven a storm was coming up and it was a bumpy ride (next day the service stopped due to the storm). I enjoyed it but some had fun with the sea sickness bags ;).
If I would live in North Germany I would definitly go again, but from the South it needs a lot more planing, flights to Hamburg, Train to Cuxhaven, stay overnight, next morning ferry… and the same back. Lets see if it is still allowed to get so close next year. It definitly is a uniqe experience to watch those animals from that close distance.

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Tanzania 2014 - Safari

For the first time in my life I was in real Africa (for me that is everything South of the Sahara). My plan was to do a Safari so I had to choose between several African countries and ended up with a private Tour in Tanzania together with two friends. Getting a rental car is not advisable (route fees could be crazy for tourists, also local drivers know where the animals are and call each other for locations so you can focus on the photography). I chose a tour that also had some cultural visits included – we visited 3 tribes – Masaai, Datoga and Hadzabe. Especially the Hadzabe experience was impressive when we went hunting with them. I was only hunting with my camera of course.

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But lets start from the beginning. After we arrived at Kilimanjaro International Airport in the middle of the night with Turkish Airlines (good food but small and narrow airplane) we spent the night in Arusha. In the afternoon we had a game drive in the Arusha National Park. A game drive is a safari with a car. We had a Toyota Landcruiser with a flexible roof. You can stand up in the middle of the car and take photos 360 degrees around. No need to open and close windows. On our first “warm-up” game drive we saw monkeys, giraffes, hippos and lots of flamingos.
The second national park we visited was Tarangire famous for the elephants (which we saw) and a lot of Baobab trees.
First big highlight was the Ngorongoro crater. We did a full 6 hour game drive in the crater with a fantastic amount of animals. It was very impressive to see some lions with small kids to cross the street and play around the cars. Also we saw Hippos, Buffalos, a Rhino in far distance and many more. Sadly we were leaving the crater 5 minutes too late and got charged with a 50$ fine which our driver could somehow avoid paying the next day…
The second highlight was the famous Serengeti. We were here a little before the main season (which means there are just a few tourists and we had our tented campsite almost for ourselves). The first gnu herds just arrived and it was very impressive to see the walking in a looong line. Also we got attacked by an elephant as we watched his kids playing in the mud. Luckily our Toyota was faster ;). For me highlight was seeing a cheetah with 4 little kids and a leopard coming down a tree. Other highlights were big birds feasting and fighting over a dead gnu and a lion couple trying to mate (she did not really want…)

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A little too warm for me was Lake Natron. Sadly there were not so many Flamingos as I had hoped. On a morning walk I had to carry my big tele to get at least some pictures. Other than that it was very! warm. It felt like above 40 degrees and it did not cool down at night.
One thing I was was worried about did not turn out that bad – mosquitoes. As they can carry lots of deceases I bought a lot of anti mosquito stuff. Of course I got 2-3 bites but it was not as bad as I expected. I think it depends on the season.
I was really impressed by the safari experience, although Tanzania was very expensive for that. They really take the money from the Tourists with crazy entry fees and hotel prices. Also souvenir prices are stupidly high even after hard bargaining (also when you buy from the local tribes). And everyone wants to be tipped…

Lets see what the next Safari destination will be. It was definitely not the last one. I really enjoyed having the 500mm lens, even if it was a pain carrying it.

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Rome 2014

14 years ago I was in Rome on a school trip. Now it was the second time I visited the city and I was really impressed. October was a great time for the visit, temperatures about 26 degrees, sunshine the whole day long and not so many tourists around. Of course the main attractions stayed the same – just with a little less access to certain areas. As it was a family trip we stayed in a big flat close to the Vatican with great views and most important – above a Pizzaria :). While the rest was staying for a whole week I had only time for 2 full days + 2 half travel days – time was really packed with sightseeing and photographing! First day we got up early and took the Bus to the Colosseum. After the visit we went to two churches – San Clemente and the Basilica San Giovanni. The afternoon we spend on Palatin and in Forum Romanum where we took the bus back. In the evening I went to take pictures at San Pietro of the Basilica (Petersdom) and Castel Sant’Angelo (Engelsburg).

 

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The 2nd day we went to visit the Basilica San Pietro (also the top) and went all the way via Piazza del Popolo to visit the Galeria Borghese. On the way back we used the Spanish Steps (Spanische Treppe) and went again via San Pietro back to the flat. In the evening there was a big event at the Vatican and a lot of people were outside. I had hoped to see the pope, but guess who was not showing… they just showed some old recorded prayers on the bigscreens… a little disappointing, but watching all the people around that came was quite impressive.





 





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The last morning I got up at 6 am to catch the sunrise which was great. At the begining no people were around but the Vatican filled up very early with people queuing for the Basilica. After a short (free) visit of the Castel Sant’Angelo I went back to the airport. Due to massivly crouded trains I had to take a taxi…










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Burtschakopf (2244m)

Again the weather forecast was not that great but I really wanted to go hiking, so I went. This time the destination was the Burtschakopf (2244m) above Klösterle (am Arlberg). From the top of the Sonnenkopfbahn it took about 1,5 hrs to reach the top – a short tour. Especially the last part was nice, a small secured path on the narrow summit. The sun was shining 30 minutes that day – the time we were on the summit – really lucky :). On the way back we took a little detour a steep path down and again up to the Sonnenkopfbahn.
Enjoy the pictures – especially from the summit:

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