Monthly Archives: July 2014

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Our Top Wildlife Experiences So Far… Part 1

Nothing beats seeing wildlife in their natural habitat and over the years we have been lucky enough to see our fair share. From almost being trampled by a family of elephants in South Africa, searching for the elusive nocturnal Bamboo Lemur in Madagascar to the other worldliness of Antarctica, in this two part blog we explore our favourite wildlife experiences from our travels so far….

1: Mountain Gorillas in the Parc National des Volcans Rwanda

This would have to be one of the most amazing hours of our lives. We hiked for roughly an hour into the rain forests of the Parc National des Volcans in Rwanda to get up close and personal with one of mans’ closest relatives.

One of the most amazing hours of our lives.

One of the most amazing hours of our lives.

Visiting the Gorillas is strictly regulated, and rightly so, with less than an estimated 800 still in the wilds of Rwanda, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo. Only 10 visitors per day get to spend one incredible hour with a family watching them go about their business. Despite their size, (the males can weigh over 200 kg), they can be extremely quiet and the sound of them beating their chests was more like hollow drums being beaten than anything out of a King Kong movie.

Up close and personal with a 200kg Mountain Gorilla

Up close and personal with a 200kg Mountain Gorilla

They truly exhibit human like tendencies and when they make eye contact you can sense the intelligence behind those eyes.  It is an experience you will never forget. I never thought anything would top visiting Antarctica, I was wrong.

2: Penguins in Antarctica

Antarctica is like another world, virtually devoid of human interference and one of the few places in the world where nature rules supreme.

Just one of the colonies of Penguins to be found in Antarctica's harsh environment

Just one of the colonies of Penguins to be found in Antarctica’s harsh environment

It really is a privilege to visit Antarctica and to watch a colony of roughly half a million penguins squawk, clamber, dodge and bully each other was one of the highlights of my years of travel. Each penguin had a totally unique personality, and armed with your camera and just sitting still they would move around, investigate and try and make sense of you being there. Antarctica is one of the few places in the world where wildlife has not had to learn to fear man and the penguin’s curiosity was fascinating to behold. We can only hope that it remains this way.

The penguins go about their business as if you were not there

The penguins go about their business as if you were not there

3: Madagascar’s Diverse and Unique Wildlife

After watching the BBC documentary series on Madagascar we thought we would be lucky to see half of what they experienced on the program, how wrong we were. Getting our Attenborough on was far easier than we thought, and we were lucky enough to see over 20 species of Lemur (our new favourite animals, sorry penguins you have dropped to number two!), dozens of incredibly colourful chameleon and geckos that looked like leaves.  We never thought we would get so excited about spotting insects!

A Ring Tailed Lemur in the Andasibe National Park, Madagascar

A Ring Tailed Lemur in the Andasibe National Park, Madagascar

Each national park was famous for a different variety of Lemur, or a special type of Chameleon. Our tip, make sure you link up with experienced local guides in the National Parks, without a good one you wont see a fraction of what can see you.

One of the stunning Chameleon we saw on Madagascar's northern islands

One of the stunning Chameleon we saw on Madagascar’s northern islands

4:Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya

You can’t talk about wildlife experiences without mentioning Africa!  While not the most famous, we loved Lake Nakuru National Park.  A stunning location and diverse wildlife made this one of our best game park experiences in Africa. Containing four of the big five (the park is too small for elephants) as well as loads of monkey and flamingo all set around a beautiful large lake and only a couple of hours out side Nairobi, make sure you add this to your Kenyan wish list.

Our first Lion in Nakuru National Park

Our first Lion in Lake Nakuru National Park

5: Diving with Thresher Sharks in Malapascua, Philippines

While there are without doubt far better dive sites in the world, and perhaps because it was my first shark experience Malapascua makes the list. It is one of the few sites in the world where recreational divers can see these deep-water sharks. Every morning at dawn they swim up to a cleaning station at 30m below the surface. Their ribbon like tails majestically waving behind them and their huge black eyes and open mouths they almost look as if they were stoned!  For divers, their fist shark experience is always something special, and mine was no exception.

 

The amazing tail of the Thresher Shark off Malapascua

The amazing tail of the Thresher Shark off Malapascua

Divers lined up at dawn as the Thresher sharks swim up to a 30m cleaning station

Divers lined up at dawn as the Thresher sharks swim up to a 30m cleaning station

Next week in Part 2 we round out our top 10 wildlife experiences. Any ideas what we will find? Leave a guess below or tell us about your favourite wildlife experience around the world and we will have to add it to our travel bucket list!

– Dean

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Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines: RAF Museum London

We continue our Home Town Tourist series with a look at one of London’ s unique historical museums a little out of the city centre.

London is full of museums, and the best thing about them is most of them are free. You can marvel at dinosaurs a the Natural History Museum, discover the Rosetta Stone in the British Museum and even explore London’s oldest prison in the Clink Museum (you do have to pay for this one). However, one of our favourites is the RAF Museum in Hendon.

 

The entrance hangar with numerous pre-WWI planes

The entrance hangar with numerous pre-WWI planes

Originally a RAF airbase in North London, the museum now houses over 130 aircraft tracing the history not only of the Royal Air Force but also of aviation in the UK.

From the early years of flight up to modern day fighter jets, the RAF Museum has it all

From the early years of flight up to modern day fighter jets, the RAF Museum has it all

Split across four hangers all interconnected the museum contains loads of audio visual information, a chance to sit in several of the aircraft, flight simulators and air traffic control simulators, all designed to bring the various aircraft to life.

One of the greatest military aircraft of all time, the Submarine Spitfire

One of the greatest military aircraft of all time, the Submarine Spitfire

There are several highlights of the collection including the Battle of Britain Hall showcasing the famous old war birds, the Spitfire and Hurricane that helped defeat Nazi Germany in the Battle of Britain. A Lancaster Bomber and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress take pride of place in the Bomber Hall as well as the cold war nuclear deterrent the mighty Vulcan (our personal favourite).

The enormous Lancaster Bomber taking pride of place in the 'Bomber Hall'

The enormous Lancaster Bomber taking pride of place in the ‘Bomber Hall’

A special mention must be made of the Canberra Bomber, which my Grandfather was one of the chief engineers on. There is an amazing sense of pride I feel every time I see her, and was a real buzz visiting with my Dad last year when my parents came over to the UK.

The Canberra, the plane my Grandfather worked on.

The Canberra, the plane my Grandfather worked on.

It is easy to spend several hours wandering through the hangers marvelling at everything from early RAF Bi-planes, to modern day search and rescue helicopters. There are several free 30 minute guided tours throughout the day to help bring alive the amazing history and is a fantastic museum to visit with family and children. The RAF Museum in Hendon is a must for military history buffs, for pilots and aviation fans and also the perfect big boys toys museum.

For opening times to the RAF Museum Hendon click here

For directions and location please click here.

-Dean

 

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Stepping Back in Time: Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber

One of the most beautiful parts of Bavaria is the Romantische Strasse or the Romantic Road. Formed in 1957 to promote tourism the road links some of the best preserved medieval towns in Germany and stretches from Würzburg to Füssen a distance of over 300 km.

The jewel on the crown of the Romantic Road is without a doubt Rothenburg. It is also the most visited but it is easy to see why! Cobble stoned streets wind past bright pastel coloured houses. Vines and creepers wind their way up, through, over and around the brick work and the whole historic center is surrounded by the enormous medieval city walls.

The Roeder Tor, one of the many towers scattered throughout Rothenburg

The Roeder Tor, one of the many towers scattered throughout Rothenburg

Walking through the streets of Rothenburg feels like walking through a fairy tale or perhaps a movie set, it almost doesn’t feel real. Little wonder why people love this town. In fact Walt Disney loved it so much Geppetto’s village in Pinocchio is a cartoon recreation of Rothenburg .

The most photographed scene in the entire city

The most photographed scene in the entire city

Day trippers from Nürnberg and Frankfurt pour into the town and come 10:30 in the morning in good medieval fashion you are battling with visitors from around the world for the best photo spots, seats at cafés or Christmas decorations (something Rothenburg is famous for). Beware the coach loads of tourists pouring into the Kathe Wolfhart Christmas Museum, you have been warned!

Christmas everyday with loads of stores selling wooden Christmas decorations

Christmas everyday with loads of stores selling wooden Christmas decorations

Our best bit of advice? Stay over night, by 16:30 most day trippers have cleared out and you have these dream like streets and alleyways to yourself.

As the days get later the day trippers clear out leaving you alone in the city

As the sun sets the colours really come alive

Rothenburg is a photographers dream, a great destination for families with lots to amuse children and a romantic little getaway for couples. Put simply Rothenburg has it all and should be a real must on any visit to Germany.

Get lost in the winding medieval laneways

Get lost in the winding medieval laneways

While the city has a colourful history, the most famous episode occurred during the 30 Years War in e 1600’s. General Tilly of the Catholic armies requested that Rothenburg accommodate him and his estimated 20,000 troops over winter. After refusing to do so, the town was besieged and was only taken after one unfortunate local lit a torch inside  the Powder Tower, and…. Kaboom! The walls were breached.

As the story goes Tilly was so impressed by the citizens bravery he promised to spare the town if the Lord Mayor could drink a three and a half litre flagon of wine in one go! The Lord Mayor met the challenge, passed out and saved the town! In reality the women and children of Rothenburg threw themselves at the mercy of Tilly and paid him handsomely to spare them! However the story stuck and every hour from eleven in the morning til eight in the evening this encounter is relived in the small glockenspiel on the Market Square!

Tilly's drinking challenge re enacted every day as part of the glockenspiel

Tilly’s drinking challenge re enacted every day as part of the glockenspiel

The town

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Obtaining visas – a chore or pure excitement as it takes you one step closer to your travels?

As we all seek to explore some of the most far-flung places, we have to increasingly check the visa requirements for our next destination. It goes without saying that for both of us we are very lucky. The British and Australian passports are two really good ones to have, meaning in a lot of instances visas can be obtained on arrival or better still, are not needed or are free.

Our Passports to travel!

For our most recent trip we not only researched the visa requirements for our adventure using various websites, but also by visiting the various embassy pages and via the Real Russia pages. We had plenty of pages left in our passport – phew what a relief as we were going to need a few visas!

For me, I’ve always enjoyed dropping my passport off at a consulate or embassy. In my experience the task provides you with the first glimpse of what to expect when you reach your final destination.

I remember back in 2005 when I was heading off to India, I trotted down to the embassy on Aldwych (this process and application procedure have long since been superseded). I duly queued for an hour before the allotted opening time and no sooner had the doors opened, the bun fight began. I think it’s fair to say India isn’t the most organised of places, and the slight chaos that greeted me as the embassy opened was good preparation of what awaited in India!

On another occasion I obtained my Ethiopian visa from the embassy in London and the quietly spoken ladies processed it without delay. The building was a little old fashioned, but none of that matters as long as the service you receive is good. Again, the embassy was a reflection of the place – I would later find the same gentle, softly spoken ladies in Ethiopia.

Sometimes it’s not possible to obtain visas before you go. We experienced this with our Myanmar visas. As soon as we arrived in Kathmandu, Nepal, we headed out in search of the Myanmar embassy. No one quite knew were it was, but our taxi driver kept stopping and asking and eventually found it. Once inside the gates the polite and helpful embassy staff greeted us. The serene atmosphere inside the grounds and attitude of the staff were truly a reflection of the Myanmar people – polite, gentle and kind. We duly returned three days later (this time I directed the taxi from the back seat!) only to be given back our passports with some tourist information!

Above all one thing is for sure for us. When we get to an embassy to pick up our passports its a race to flick through the pages with excitement and see the new stamp. Our passports really are our one of our most prized possessions, and for us obtaining visas is all part of the excitement of travel!

– Natalie