Wildlife of the Pantanal
The world's largest tropical wetland: Jaguar paradise of the world, and quite a bit more.
It finally happened: After visiting more than 80 countries, I finally made it to South America. Specifically, starting in Chile, but my next destination was Brasil, including the northern Pantanal, and for no particular reason at all this area will be the subject of my first blog post from the continent.
The Pantanal is the world's largest tropical wetland, covering almost 200,000 sqkm over parts of Brasil, Paraguay, and Bolivia. It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage site and a Ramsar wetland.
I limited myself to the northern part in the Brasilian state of Mato Grosso, but there is a chance I’ll be back for more…
There are a few reasons to visit this rather remote part of Brasil, but one stands out above all: It’s the best place in the world to see Jaguars, and that was also my primary goal. So after a long trip from Santiago and landing in Cuiaba in the morning, no time was wasted and I was off to meet my amazing guide Guilherme from Pantanal Photo Tours for the 5h drive south towards Porto Jofre. The so-called Transpantaneira road is somewhat dusty and bumpy, but provides a first glimpse of wildlife, especially in the dry season, and we indeed spotted our first bird species and a good amount of caimans in the various water ponds. There was once a plan to extend the road through the entire Pantanal for several thousand kilometers, but that never happened - probably for the better.
It was an unusually cloudy and cool day - something extremely rare during this time of the year, and I would soon realize I should have enjoyed it a little more, as the next 5 days would become very hot and dry.
After this very early morning start, one of our first sightings was a Tapir from afar, but these shy animals disappear into the bush quickly after drinking - we were going to get another chance later though. Instead, an animal I didn’t have on the radar made an appearance: the Giant River Otter. These endangered mammals can grow almost 2 meters in length, and live in small family groups.
Poaching for pelts was a huge issue for the species in the past. There are only 5000 or so individuals left in the wild, but the Pantanal supports a healthy population. They are apex predators, eating anything from fish to even small caimans, and are incredibly noisy, as I witnessed first hand - when agitated or trying to communicate, they vocalize very loudly and the video I recorded is rather hilarious.
A more common sight is the Yacare caiman - it’s also the reason Jaguars are abundant here and often easy to spot while they explore the river banks in search for an unsuspecting individual that could make a good dinner. It is estimated that there are around 10 million individuals in the Pantanal alone. One less if we deduct the one on the right…
Beautiful varied vegetation and riverbanks make up the landscape here - the diversity of flora is incredible and its growth is primarily limited by the water-stressed dry season.
She took cover in the bushes, and waited for a few seconds. From this moment on, things happened quickly. One leap towards the caiman, which sensed the approaching danger and tried to make its move into the river - but the second leap was enough for her to land on top of the reptile, now both in the shallow water. A bite through the skull delivers a fatal brain injury - Jaguar’s have the strongest bite of any cat - and the caiman does not stand a chance anymore.
The Quiet Parts
With some Jaguar sightings under my belt, including a hunt, I was happy to spend some serene early mornings in the smaller side channels of the rivers, enjoying the soft light and birdlife waking up - worthwhile when the main rivers get a little more crowded with dozens of boats cruising up and down in search for Jaguars.
The Pantanal is a bird paradise, and my guide helped me identify quite a few, from left to right:
Black-capped donacobius, Black-backed water-tyrant, Great kiskadee, and the Wattled jacana.
Two more beautiful birds: the Orange-backed troupial and an Anhinga.
Jaguar Things
But you can’t spend time here without feeling the urge to go back and look for the big cats and see more of their behavior…
In the Water
Jaguars are extremely good swimmers and don’t mind the water - in fact, they enjoy a splash every now and then to cool themselves. Of course, it’s also part of their primary hunting ground, with caimans and capybara often trying to escape into the river.
Typical hunting means scouting on the riverbank as it gets hotter during the day, hoping to spot a caiman sunbathing, and timing the jump right. With some patience it’s not uncommon to observe these hunts, but more often than not, the action is hidden by the thick vegetation, such as on the right side - this Jaguar actually caught a smaller caiman and pulled it back into the thickets, but none of the struggle was really visible to the many boats surrounding it.
Another interesting observation was this juvenile male, which we followed for a couple of hours. He disappeared frequently, only to show up again few hundred meters on another river bank, sometimes even crossing the channels - we named him “flash”. His youth also showed in his inexperience, two or three caimans he had his eyes on were easily warned as he noisily went through the bushes and wasn’t as clever in his approach as the adult female earlier.
After a swim, a little shake is needed to dry yourself… Jaguars also need their scratch posts - this female found the biggest one available to sharpen her claws.
The Piquiri River
Although most of the action takes place on the larger Cuiabá River, one of its tributaries became a little hidden gem for us during these days, with fewer boats, beautiful riverbanks, and one or the other animal we had not seen before.
The prime example was this Brazilian Tapir having fun playing in the water, and even swimming towards us, showcasing its rather peculiar facial features, with the long distorted nose and wide ears. They are quite large and weigh over 200kg, but are still the smallest and also least vulnerable of the tapir species - vulnerable nonetheless.
A few more sights: A king vulture with its colorful head, a tayra, a rather unknown animal not often seen out in the open by the river, two Jabiru storks, and what I suspect is a green Iguana, who felt a little blue that day…
Two of the Pantanal’s famous bird: a Sunbittern, rather dull until it opens its wings showing the beautiful pattern (my guide told me he had a client spending two days just trying to get this photo, but I was lucky to just randomly take it) and the iconic Toco Toucan.
Wildfires are common issue in the Pantanal - while in many cases a good thing to revitalize the vegetation, they sometimes get out of hand. In 2020, over 20% of the wetland was destroyed by fires. During my time here, wildfires were also heavily reported in the news, but in fact were not an issue at all in terms of visiting the northern part. A hazy sunset on one of the days and the occasional evidence of past fires is all that you notice. Other threats to this paradise are more evident all around, such as the increased use for farming, as 99% of the land here is privately owned.
As we left the houseboat back to the car in the early morning, the time on the river ended like it started: With another Jaguar sighting, most likely of the same female mother called Madaleina. She was named by my guide, who won this right by being the first one to spot and identify her a few years ago! The first sighting clearly was indeed an indictor of what was to come, with a total 22 sightings of (I believe) 15 different Jaguars in 5 days, with 2 successful hunts and a few attempts. It was almost too easy, but this is the ultimate big cat paradise - not to mention the birdlife and everything else. The Pantanal adventure wasn’t quite over yet, as I still had two days on land, for a slightly different environment.
Two female howler monkeys and a baby in the morning light. Notice the left one using its strong tail to grab the tree while scratching itself with the leg. Howler monkeys derive their names from its strong vocalizations which can be heard up to 2 km away - usually in the early morning at dawn. They are near threatened.
Another threatened species of monkey that can be found here is the capuchin - a little more engaging and active than howlers, they often come to the ground in search for food and water, while howlers remain arboreal most of the time and rest for the majority of the day.
Hyacinth Macaw
One of the main attractions and a goal to see for me was this pair of threatened macaw, currently nesting. The tree was literally opposite the door of my room, giving me a good opportunity to observe them flying in and out. It’s the largest flying parrot species, reaching around 1 meter in length.
Their nesting behavior is highly interesting, and very vulnerable: they rely on the manduvi tree, which when older than 60 years starts to feature sufficiently sized holes that the macaw can enlarge and fill with wood chips on the bottom. They then lay only one or two eggs, which are incubated for a month, and it takes another 110 days for the young to leave the nest. The chicks then depend on the parents for 6 more months and only reach sexual maturity after seven years. There’s a lot that can go wrong in this cycle, which is why they are endangered.
Only a few thousand remain in the wild, spread over three separate distant populations mostly in Brasil. However, they are still commonly found as pets all around the world, and are held in many zoos as well.
The area is full of different bird species, and although I’m not a “birder” (but you bet there were a few groups staying here who took their sightings very seriously and had daily reviews), I can appreciate interesting species such as the hummingbird (so small and quick it’s almost impossible to catch one on camera) and the woodpecker to the right.
But of course there are also a few more mammals to be found here, such as this Coati. Related to raccoons, their different species are widespread in South America, and sometimes even kept as pets.
Ocelots are definitely one of the most beautiful felidae, which in the 60s and 70s meant their fur became a preferred choice for coats and other clothing until the trade was banned in most markets, although it is still not eradicated.
To finish off this blog, below is a short video of some of the animals encountered on this trip. Special thanks to Dan for helping me organise this South America journey - contact him if you plan a trip like this.
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Bohol - Happy Hills & Tiny Tarsiers
This less well known island of the Philippines is home to some of its more interesting unusual sights.
As part of my trip through the Philippines (see also my blog about Palawan), I didn’t really have Bohol and its surrounding areas on the list of regions to visit. It was only through a rather spontaneous decision to fly to Cebu and continue from there that this island appeared on my radar. And what a lucky decision it was, given that its landscapes turned out to be one of my favorite photographic sceneries. Although I stayed in Cebu city on the namesake island, I didn’t venture out beyond having some traditional Lechon - I was more interested in exploring the nearby fishing islands I had spotted during the descent from the plane, and visit its neighboring Bohol. Indeed, after an initial day trip, I returned to Bohol a second time for three days to explore more of what it has to offer.
The Chocolate Hills
The primary reason I did so were these hills - and their name only played a small part, I promise. This landscape is geological formation consisting of over 1200 hills spread over an area of more than 50 square kilometers made of limestone covered in grass, which turns brown in the dry season, giving them their cocoa-related appearance (and name).
The reason I came back for the second time was to explore more of the rather large island, and the huge area covered with the whimsical hills during better weather conditions. My drone had to fly overtime during these few days.
The hills have been subject of a few local legends, with popular stories suggesting that the hills are the result of a battle between two giants who hurled boulders at each other over the flat landscape, or the solidified tears of a heartbroken giant who wept over the loss of his beloved.
Tarsiers suffer from loss of habitat and pet trade, as they don’t do well in captivity - their lifespan shortens drastically.
Their eyes are disproportionately sized with the largest eye-to-body weight ratio of all mammals. They are fixed in its skull and cannot move in their sockets, instead the tarsier rotates its head up to 180° to look around.
Tarsiers are shy and nocturnal and spend their days hiding in darker areas under leaves or hollows of tree trunks. Indigenous tribes leave the Philippine tarsiers in the wild because they fear that these animals could bring bad luck - maybe humans should consider this as well and let them chill, like the one on the left here.
There are a few more interesting sights to be found around Bohol, such as its themed public transport buses, and the ship-shaped restaurant. It is also home to a number of beautiful caves - I visited the small Hinagdanan Cave on neighboring Panglao island, where you are even allowed to go for a swim. River cruises and the Bamboo forests are other popular sights.
The Cebu Strait with its channels is home to a number of islands and their fishing villages, which I had initially discovered during the approach to Mactan-Cebu airport. Can’t resist a nice aerial photo of interesting human settlements, so I rented a small boat one early morning with an itinerary based on promising Apple Maps screenshots...
My favorite of the villages here was Nasingin island in the municipality of Getafe, owing to its unique shape and position south of a mangrove forest, planted as part of the National Greening Program since 2013.
Because it essentially doesn’t have any actual land as part of its boundaries - just 0.04 km2 - it is one of the most densely populated towns in the world, given that it is home to over 2000 people.
Need Wi-Fi? Buy a voucher at this vending machines - but the kids were happy nonetheless!
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The Ghost of the Mountain
In search for one of the most elusive cats on the planet in the mountain ranges of northern India - with some incredible sights.
In March 2023 I finally took a trip I had already planned previously, but our old spiked friend Covid-19 had a different idea at the time. The good thing is that on my next attempt I was able to combine my time in the mountain ranges of Ladakh with a few extra days in other parts of India - more on that in a future blog.
For today’s episode, the focus is on an area of the world’s most populous nation that in some ways is very different than the (already diverse) rest of the country: The union territory of Ladakh in the very north, bordering China and Pakistan, and sitting entirely above 2500m in the Himalayan and Kunlun mountain ranges. Why did I come here? To find the ghost of the mountain…
After a short flight from Delhi, my trip started in Leh, the historic capital of the ancient Kingdom of Ladakh at an elevation of 3500m. I spent two days here to acclimate, highly recommended to avoid altitude sickness before making your way further up into the mountain ranges up to 5000m.
The view over the river valley from our hotel, and the historical sites of Namgyal Tsemo Monastery and Tsemo Castle on the right side.
Leh was once an important trade route along the Indus Valley. Today it has become a tourist destination during the summer months, but the winter time (I visited in March) are generally very quiet.
And here’s the answer below. At a focal length of 1200mm, you can finally see this amazing creature sunbathing and yawning after its mid-morning nap. Scroll up again to see if you can make out where it is in the panoramic view from our viewpoint.
Snow leopards are mostly active around dawn and dusk, and exhibit many characteristic behaviors that we observe with the feline friends that live in our houses, such as the typical cleaning poses, scent rubbing, and yawning. They also cannot roar, but have been observed purring at times.
After about 3 hours of napping and cleaning, the snow leopard slowly made its way to the left, transversing the richly coloured mountain ranges, which were already free of snow in early March - that was gonna change a few days later at higher altitudes. If you scroll back up to the first panoramic image of this landscape, you’ll be able to make out where the cat was heading…
In the photos above, you can see the large tail, very thick due to its purpose as fat storage, and covered in a layer of fur, allowing snow leopards to use it as a blanket when asleep. Sleeping wasn’t on this individual’s mind anymore though. It was headed for three urial that has been peacefully eating on the slopes on the left, and was carefully approaching them, taking cover behind rocks and ridges from time to time. This is when we got excited - there was a definitive chance to see a hunt now, something that is almost never observed in the wild.
Need some help finding either of the two parties? Take a look at these two images, zoomed in to the bottom left, and right, respectively.
The urial have been making their way down the cliff to feed on grass and bushes that grew between the cracks, while the snow leopard had managed to approach them from above without being seen - the whole process took almost an hour. After another few minutes of deliberation, the cat decided the moment had come and made its way down the slope.
One jump, and the three urial realized what was about to happen and scattered down the slope. For a split second the snow leopard wasn’t sure which one to follow, but once it had made its decision, there was no going back.
At this point, the speed at which everything happened and the athleticism of both animals as they raced down the cliff was completely overwhelming - I thought I was prepared to get the shots I was hoping for, but things happened way faster, in a much wider field of view, and a darker environment than I had anticipated, making my photos mediocre at best. This might be the topic of another blog post or a talk some day, as I learnt quite a few lessons for situations like this, even though I had been photographing a lot of action-packed wildlife before. For those interested in the photographic details, in short, shifting away from continuous autofocus, sticking to a very long focal length at the expense of light, and getting greedy with shutter speed, are all mistakes to avoid.
Dramatic
Here’s an iPhone video of the hunt taken by one of the spotters (and copyright and credit to him) next to me almost from start to finish. It doesn’t do justice to the steepness of this cliff, which was the reason the urial ended up stumbling and falling to its death into the canyon road that passes below (where we drove a few hours earlier).
The hunt ended with the snow leopard killing the urial with a bite at its neck, and the cat dragged the large sheep a few meters back up the cliff.
Post-Hunt Rest
With the kill a few dozen meters below, the snow leopard retreated under a huge outcrop to rest a bit, observing its surroundings and probably waiting for darkness to creep in before it would go back to eat - we left it alone at this point.
Despite the excitement of having witnessed this incredible sight, for the next days (and even while writing this 9 months later) I couldn’t quite shake the little disappointing voice in the back of my head telling me I had missed some once in a lifetime photos. Once in a lifetime sounds a bit dramatic, you say?
Our main spotter, who worked for the BBC and other wildlife documentaries being filmed in the region, told us he had not once seen a hunt from start to finish in his 15 year career. With this perspective in mind, the fact I got lucky enough to experience it at all started to overshadow the lack of a perfect photo.
Ulley
It’s difficult to deny that we had already witnesses the highlight of the week here as we made our way from Leh further into the mountains on Day 3. The destination was the small village of Ulley, a group of around 10 houses in a valley at over 4000 meters, which offers a cozy small lodge as a home base for people looking to get a glimpse at the ghost of the mountain. On the way, we passed the confluence of the Indus and Zanskar rivers, seen above.
Once we arrived in Ulley, these were the views into the valley we got to enjoy from the observation area at the lodge. The spotters set up their scopes and binoculars here each morning to look for animals roaming on the slopes.
(I believe) a Himalayan vulture and a bearded vulture - one of the various birds we found in this area, alongside snowcocks and partridges.
The Return of Winter
Winter had arrived after a few days, and the valley was suddenly covered in snow and fog. While March signals the end of the very cold season, occasional snowfall happens until April.
Those conditions weren’t the best for spotting animals, but they were even worse for some local workers and their families, who were hired by the government to improve road access to the village. Their tents suffered from the weight of the snow, and heating (using dried cow dung) became essential.
Day to day life was impacted as well - it becomes difficult to dry your laundry when it freezes in the snow instead. During the winter months, there is no running water in the village, and availability of electricity is temporary at best.
Seeing the interior of the structure and the many artifacts that have been in use here for centuries was really interesting: Pots that have been passed down generations, skillfully brewed local Kahwa tea, and the traditional wedding belt worn by the couple’s daughter.
Aside from the elusive snow leopards, the mountain ranges of Ladakh are home to other fascinating animals that adapted to the harsh and cold environment, such as the vulnerable Urial, with only 1500 of the Ladakhi subspecies left.
As well as Ibex, such as this female looking for food under a large boulder and the group of males on the right.
Another highlight of Ladakh that is rare to see can be found in the photo above. In fact, there are at least seven of them. Take a close look…🐺 Himalayan wolf are an endangered species generally found above 4000m, with just a few hundred individuals usually moving in packs of a dozen or more individuals. We had the chance to see a distant pack quickly moving along through the rocky landscapes for a few minutes.
A Day of Sightings
As the weather cleared up and the half moon rose over the Himalayan mountain ranges, our second snow leopard sighting for the week happened to occur in the valley of the village, just a very short drive away.
That drive however was followed by a hike through a nearby canyon - which at 4000m elevation with a dropping blood oxygen and a lot of equipment becomes a bit tougher than normally. In the end, this sighting showed us some remains of a previous meal the cat enjoyed, and a very brief distant glimpse of a snow leopard’s head at the ridge after waiting for several hours. That’s a much more common snow leopard expedition sight - can’t always expect a hunt!
While still relatively far if you are used to African safaris (which are nothing like this), it was probably the closest sighting we had. And what a beautiful individual, with a big furry head, showing us its teeth as well.
Snow leopards are generally solitary, with each individual occupying a home range of over 100 square km with little overlap. There are less than 10,000 estimated to remain in the wild, with almost half of them in China alone. The rest is spread over the mountain regions of Central Asia, from northern Mongolia down to the Himalayas and westwards to Afghanistan. In Ladakh, they are the state animal.
In Movement
A few clips of the sightings we had during the week - overall, with a total of 3 snow leopard encounters plus ibex, urial, and a pack of wolf, it was definitely an above average week (let alone seeing a hunt!).
On the last day we visited another local village residence a little bit higher up on the cliff. The main house was built using traditional methods, where the animals are kept on the lowest floor to provide natural heating for the first floor above, where the family lived.
The animal enclosure has been expanded to a separate house with a netted roof to avoid predators.
The interior features a similar style as the previous house we visited, with the typical oven and pots, a traditional oven for heating, and centuries-old wooden beams supporting the upper floor.
Former Days
Another interesting house in the village was this former local school, which was closed down recently. The few children that live here now head to a nearby village instead. Many of the family members work or study in Leh or elsewhere during the winter, but come back to their villages in the summer.
Kind people all around, incredible mountain ranges, and the most amazing cats in the world. Ladakh was a special and unexpected side of India. And that was it before heading back to Delhi - more on that soon!
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Flores Island & Komodo - Indonesia Part 1
Exploring Flores island and the bordering Komodo National Park, part of the Lesser Sunda Islands in eastern Indonesia.
The amount of photos and videos I took over my 6 weeks in Indonesia has been slightly overwhelming, which is one of the reasons this blog didn’t see any of them yet. There are just too many incredible places to experience and document in this amazing country! We’ll start with the western part of Flores island (my kind of name) and the bordering Komodo National Park, part of the Lesser Sunda Islands in eastern Indonesia. I spent 6 pretty packed days here, 3 of them on a boat around the islands - take a look!
The video below will give you a pretty good overview of some of the most interesting places you get to explore in this part of Indonesia.
Ende & Kelimutu
My flight took me to the town of Ende, pretty much in the southern center of Flores (and I didn’t go much further east). The goal was to start with hiking up the Kelimutu Volcano in the first night. On the way, we stopped at some of the beautiful typical rice terraces, and the local Saga and Wologai villages to see some of the traditional houses common to the island.
The thatched roofs of Wologai village, one of the many traditional places where you can still observe the daily life of the locals. The houses follow the Lionese architectural style and the village is said to be 800 years old.
Kelimutu - Volcano of the Dead
An early start around 3am ensured that we’d reach the Kelimutu Volcano with its three lakes for sunrise. After an hour hike, the stairs along the last few hundred meters to the crater’s edge lead us into colorful clouds, which slowly faded away as the sun rose.
Close ups of the crater lakes, showing the smoke over the water and their different hues. Between January and November 2016, the colors of the crater lakes are said to have changed six times.
The way down leads through the Kelimutu National Park and its beautiful flora and fauna.
The Blue Stone Beach
We continued our journey in the morning after returning from the volcano. On the coastline in the south of the island lies another colorful phenomenon….
Volcano Village
Near the town of Bajawa lies the the small traditional village of Bena, one of the primary remnants of the preserved Ngada culture in the region.
The Ngada traditions date back 1200 years and can still be observed in the village, even though some of the locals now focus on selling souvenirs to tourists.
Some of the local villagers in the town - arrive early morning to observe some of the daily rituals.
From Bajawa to Ruteng
The road westwards led us past a small local distillery making Arag and fresh palm juice. The owner insisted on showing me how they are harvesting the fruit from the palm trees, climbing up to the top with a cigarette permanently attached to his lips. Understandable I suppose, he needed his hands free.
Some of you might know that I don’t drink (or like) alcohol, but of course I couldn’t refuse a sip after I saw the effort that went into making it. Let’s say it won’t change my stance, but on the other hand it wasn’t the worst alcohol I tried in Indonesia. More on that in another blog (watch out for my time in Borneo).
The clay oven powering the distillery. The entire process is based on locally made tools and tricks passed down through generations, such as these bamboo pipes.
The rain forest lake of Ranamese was our next stop, and rainy it was indeed. A small dry window in the clouds allowed me to get some aerial photos of this beautiful calm spot along the hilly road.
The Spider Web Rice Fields - Lingko
Heading west towards Labuan Bajo takes you past one of Flores’ most amazing attractions, the incredible rice fields shaped like spider webs. A visit during the right time of the year will allow you to see a green paradise full of rice plants, but the views during harvest as seen here are equally interesting.
Island Life and Dragon Hunt
From Labuan Bajo the trip continued straight onwards, boarding the houseboat that would be my home for the next 3 days, sailing around the islands of the Komodo National Park.
Padar Island
One of the larger islands in the archipelago is also one of the most beautiful. The views are worth the sunrise hike to the top - the earlier, the fewer people (as always).
Flore and Fauna are abundant, from deer to wild boar, as well as dolphins, and a large coral variety. Seeing deer on the beach felt slightly odd to me at first, having always associated them with forests.
The Last Remaining Dinosaur
Of course, the primary wildlife people want to see in Komodo National Park are the namesake dragons. It’s an apt description for these animals. This is the only region where the largest lizard in the world can still be found on a handful of islands, with around 3000 endangered individuals still surviving in the wild, most of them on Komodo Island.
Once I made it to Komodo Island, your time is limited as you walk through the forest with a guide in search of some of these magnificent animals, but luckily I did get to spot a few…Nevertheless, I’d recommend two tours and possibly visiting another island such as Rinca to increase your chances for nice observations (and photos).
We found two very large individuals close to the beach, observing them at rest for a while, before one of them got up and moved into the forest. This was my chance to capture some photos of them in action, with their large tongue leading the way, and them to their prey - in fact, they can sense almost 10km away in good conditions.
Through the Island Maze
Onwards through the island maze of Komodo, landing on Kanawa island, which was once home to a beautiful small resort.
The resort is no longer operating and what must have been cute little villas are now decaying, but resourceful locals have turned the beach into a makeshift bar and lounge place.
A Floating Fishing Village
Pulau Mesa is one of the few inhabited islands in the park. In fact, it is almost completely built up and home to a population of around 1500, the Bajau people - all of them extremely friendly and curious. I spent half a day exploring here and would definitely recommend visiting.
The island life is simple but happy, and people were always curious and friendly. It was one of my favorite towns in Indonesia.
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Alaska - The Last (and Vast) Frontier
Alaska - endless wilderness, bear country, the largest state, home to the tallest mountain in North America.
Alaska - endless wilderness, bear country, the largest state, home to the tallest mountain in North America, and a few random surprises. There’s a lot of beauty to be discovered here, as I learnt during my trip with Capture The Atlas.
From Anchorage to Kenai Fjords
Day 1 took us along a few interesting sights on the road from the state’s largest city (which is not its capital) to Seward, gateway to Kenai fjords, a National Park.
Byron Glacier
The second stop was Byron Glacier, an easily accessible glacier with a small ice cave, visible at the bottom of the aerial photo.
Exit Glacier
We had one more stop on the way to Seward, which was the aptly named “Exit Glacier” - it’s literally receding so quickly, it may be gone within our lifetime. Signs along the trail show how its terminus moved over the last 200 years, and the speed by which it does can hardly be described as glacial - up to 100m a year.
The Kenai Fjords
A boat cruise into the smallest national park of Alaska was next on the agenda. While the size of the park may not compare to others in the state, it does contain the largest ice field in the US at almost 2000 sqkm, with almost 40 glaciers feeding from it.
Wildlife Sightings
The area is home to varied wildlife, and we spotted puffins, sea otters, harbor seals, and a humpback whale.
Our destination was Aialik Glacier in the namesake bay.
Bears of Crescent Lake
From Kenai we took a flight over the beautiful landscapes (more on that later) towards a turquoise lake across the Cook Inlet, with the goal to find and photograph brown bears. In fact, three of them acted as our greeting committee, sitting by the shorelines while the floatplane approached the lake, but quickly hiding in the bushes as we landed on the water.
Back in Anchorage, a scenic Flight, and another (attempted) Bear Tour
From Anchorage we took a flight to Chinitna Bay for another bear tour in a different environment.
Shapes & Colours
The flight to and from the location partly made up for this disappointment though, as the views of the Alaskan landscapes, volcanoes, mountains, and ground patters were incredible.
Valdez - Waterfalls and Kayaks
The next drive took us the small town of Valdez, at the head of a deep fjord in Prince William Sound. The journey is a beautiful one, past several glaciers and into canyons where one waterfalls follows the next.
Next was a full day boat trip towards the end of the Valdez arm into the Columbia bay, home to one of the fastest moving glaciers in the world.
What was very special here is the fact we switched to a smaller and more manual method of transport once we reached the glacier - a Kayak. Moving through the ice like this was a very unique way to experience and explore the tidal glacier and the many icebergs originating from the calving of its terminus.
From Above
We had the chance to fly our drone from a small beach, providing some spectacular views of the landscape - and its inhabitants.
Sea Life
Aside from some chilled otters, we also spotted Steller sea lions, a near threatened species that had significantly declined since the 1970s but is slowly making a comeback, as well as porpoises, although getting a photo of them proved to be tricky.
The Matanuska Glacier
On our way back from Valdez we crossed the Thompson pass, and on the next morning Alaska had one more glacier experience to offer: This time, we got even closer than in the kayak, since it is possible to hike on this icey giant.
Alaska’s Most Unique House
The next destination was Denali National Park, and the road northwards also leads to a rather peculiar building better seen from the air: Goose Creek Tower, or colloquially “Dr Seuss House”.
Denali - a National Park and North America’s tallest Mountain
However, the next morning we had the chance to take a (dry) walk around Horseshoe lake, which features beautiful scenery reflected in the still lake waters, and a few beaver architectural masterpieces.
Denali also had a bit more wildlife in store for us, including Moose and Caribou, commonly known as their domesticated version - Reindeers.
Watch more of Alaska’s landscapes from the air.
Thanks for making it until the end!