World Travel Stories

Category: Hiking

  • Chased by an elephant

    KRUGER PARK, OCTOBER 2000 –  A travel to Africa is not complete without a safari tour.  That’s what they say… So I went on a safari tour.  I had no big expectations to begin with.  “We’ve seen it all on National Geographic Channel already”, I thought. But the truth is : it really is exciting, it’s not like on TV and it raises your adrenaline levels… sometimes.  It’s something not to miss.

    Our first zebra

    At first, it started rather disappointing.  After a couple of hours driving in the Kruger park, after the ‘thrill’ of seeing your first zebra or impala in the wild, you start thinking ‘where has all the wildlife gone, where are the elephants, the rhinos, the lions,… – did I travel this far to see some zebra and a couple of birds ? ‘  But then suddenly it happens, the show begins, … suddenly an elephant or a rhino crosses the road, right in front of your car, ignoring all about you, just as if you’re not there – you’re not allowed to drive faster than 40 km/h in the park, so you’re supposed not to bump into something.  Seeing these big animals in their ‘daily life activities’, in their natural habitat, it’s really impressive.  Sometime later we ‘bumped’ into a family of elephants, feeding on the leaves of the trees. The whole family including the little ones.  The sound of the elephants, the trees that crack as they pull against them.  It’s something unforgettable.

    The lion sleeps today

    Another 4WD passes by and tells us they have seen lions further down the road.  Let’s go ! Arriving there, what we saw was really impressive.  Eleven lions sleeping together, just besides the road. A real intimate athmosphere. We could touch them if we wanted to – but beware :  these are real wild animals !Every year people get killed in Africa because they get out of their vehicles ‘for the picture of a lifetime’.  Soon after we arrived, some of the lions started to wake up, but none of them were aggressive to us; just like the rhinos and elephants we had encountered before, they just seemed to ignore us completely.

    Beware of the cats ! see what I mean ?

    So did the couple of elephants we met later on. All you need is love

    From a distance they seemed to be fighting with each other, but as we approached we quickly saw these two had something completely different in mind.  Love was in the air, so we approached even more to watch the spectacle.  After half an hour of approaching each other, it seemed the male was too small (young ?) for her, so he seemingly went away… She stood there without moving, flapping her big ears heavily, as he went away and started feeding.  Was she still waiting, was his leave just a part of the ritual, could he come back ?  What has happened next , I’ll never now, as we had to move further…

    Again, what surprised me was that these two also ignored the presence of humans-in-their-vehicles completely – as if we were invisible intruders.  It really felt like an intrusion into the life of these animals at that time.  However…  a couple of hours later, after we had seen almost nothing since this last meeting with the ‘love birds’, except for the odd eagle and a turtle, we encountered an elephant that was not ignoring us…

    Nearly our last elephant
    Retreat of the Elephant
    We just came driving by, and from a distance, we could see an elephant next to the road.  Big deal … we had seen elephants before… we did not intend to stop to take pictures.  Suddenly our guide stopped and put the vehicle in reverse.  She had seen a snake on the road, and that was something to stop for !  The snake appeared to be hit by a car and as dead as a dead snake can be.  So we moved on again, approaching the elephant again.  
    The next moment, as we came next to this massive animal, it started to chase us !  Our driver didn’t notice this at first, so we shouted : “Full throttle ! Elephant behind us”.  The elephant was accelerating fast and approaching our vehicle dangerously close.  If he would hit the car, we would flip over ! Luckily enough our acceleration in first gear was good enough to escape from this aproaching danger and the elephant stopped following us – thank you Volkswagen.

    Who said safari was boring again ?

  • Climbing Mt. Sinai

    DAHAB – SINAI, OCTOBER 2004 – We were staying for 5 days in Dahab in Sinai, on the Red Sea coast.  From Dahab I made a trip to Sinai mountain, which is an hour or so away, and climbed this holy mountain… at night !The reason many people climb this mountain at night is obviously to see the sunrise at the top, which is, I must admit, absolutely stunning.  Some people tend to forget that it gets cold at night in the desert of Egypt, especially on top of a mountain.

    Mount Sinai (2285 m)
    The stairs on mount Sinai
    Our trip started at the hotel at 23:30, I had taken a short nap before I went to diner, so we went shortly after diner, already in complete darkness, on the road with the small bus that would bring us to the base of the mountain.  The temperature was a pleasant 27 degrees Celsius.  When we arrived at the parking lot near the Saint-Catherine monastery, we started walking the ‘camel route’, which is the easiest way to get on top of the mountain.  There exists also ‘stairs’, some 3000 of them, which is not only the shortest route but obviously the strenous route and at night a little bit dangerous route.  After escaping from the camels – obviously someone taking the camel route wants a camel …? – we arrived after an hour or two at a small tea house nearly on the top, we drank a tea and ate a sandwich, and were ready to go the last part – here you have to take the last part of the stairs route, which took another half hour.  We were the first persons on the top this night, so we had a good spot to sit behind a rock, protected from the wind, and I started to get dressed for the night, which means get out the gloves, woolen hat and down jacket out of my bag… The temperature : near to zero degrees Celsius.  It was a clear night, and it was so quiet up here – till the masses arrived… it was getting soon too crowdy to stand and more and more people were hiring blankets from the bedouins, some people were only dressed in T-shirts , shorts and slippers…
    Sunrise
    Sinai mountains

    The wait till sunset was still a couple of hours, but the spectacle during the last half hour when the sun slowly came from behind the mountains was spectacular.  After the last stars were gone, the mountain silhouets were becoming visible, but only faintly – it took still quite some time till the sun was appearing, first as a tiny dot , then in all its grandeur and brightness.  The mountains were coloured in red all over now and only at this moment one could see how fantastic this point was we were standing…  Most people hurried down immediately, I stayed a while to enjoy the feeling, and to go to the worst bathroom of my life on top of Mt. Sinai (highly not recommended).

    Saint Catherine Monastery
    Saint-Catherine Monastery

    The road down was easy and no problem at all for me with the hiking boots, the ‘hikers with the slippers’ had more problems.  And it is getting hot very soon ! When we arrived at the parking lot again, we waited to be allowed inside the Saint-Catherine monastery, which is an orthodox monastery and has a nice collection of old icons – too bad the monks don’t allow you to look carefully and the lighting is really bad inside.  Also inside is the burning bushes that Mozes encountered.
    A great way to end the climb of a holy mountain.
    By the way, after you have visited the monastery, there are some cafés around, so relax, have a drink and wait till your bus arrives.  Another refreshing experience.

  • Ras Abu Gallum

    DAHAB – RED SEA, OCTOBER 2004 – We were staying for 5 days in Dahab in Sinai, on the Red Sea coast.  This place is often referred to as the Ibiza of Egypt.  But we found it a very relaxing place, an ideal base for trips into the surrounding mountains, learning about local culture, and of course swimming and snorkeling.  It was our first snorkeling experience and it was really and eye opener – the beauty of the underwater world is truly amazing !On one of the excursions we made, we started in a place called ‘Blue Hole‘, near Dahab, and from there on , the only way further is by camel or by foot – but we even encountered one mountain biker !

    Camel Ride
    Camels , The sea and Rocks
    The path winds along the shore of the Red sea, in the shadow of the rocks of the Ras Abu Gallum National park.  Also the camel ride was a first time experience for us – our total time on the camels was 3 hours, which is actually quite enough (at least to me it was more than enough – I walked the last hour).  Each camel had its camel driver, which were in our case a boy of 10 and one of 14.  They were from a bedouin family, which we would meet later,  understood only the words ‘pen’ and ‘money’, and I hoped they went to school instead of doing this job… I already started to feel guilty because participation into this excursion meant they were succesful in their job and this meant… right, no school – on the other hand with the money they got maybe the parents could pay for school …Like so many situations in the world, also here exists no clear answer.
    Bedouin Village
    Bedouin Village
    All of the bedouin people used to be nomadic people, trekking with camels in the Arabian desert. Although a lot of the bedouin live nowadays in a ‘modern way’, the bedouin culture remained alive in the Sinai.  The bedouin are one of the most hospitable and enjoyable people we met during our stay in Egypt.  When we arrived in the village – which lives of course mainly from tourists and divers – we were welcomed with the typical bedouin tea, which tastes just great and is really bringing energy – in fact some herbs are used that bring this effect.  In any case, this is the best tea of Egypt ! 
    The food these people made for us was not only delicious, there was also plenty !

    Of course they also tried to sell some stuff, but without being agressive sales people , like in the rest of Egypt.

    Snorkeling
    Underwaterworld

    So we went a lot of snorkeling, and this place was just fabulous !  As soon as you get into the water and put your head under water, you are in a different world, a world of colours and full of life.  We saw many of the species which were in our book, even the poisonous ones we discovered later in our book.  Main rule stays: don’t touch anything, only leave your footprints on the beach.  We had our own hut on the beach, which was ideal for relaxation after swimming and snorkeling – the bedouin manage to make huts that not only protect you from the sun but also provide a natural air conditioning effect – no matter how hot it is in the sand, it is cool inside ! just great !
    After swimming, a bedouin man came with hot water, to rince the salt from our bodies ! A real luxury place ! And then it was time to get on the camels again and go home …

  • The people of Tibet

    TIBET, MAY-JUNE 2001 –   What makes Tibet so special ?  Its people.  This story tells the tale of the people of Tibet I’ve encountered on my travels through this amazing part of the world, and is meant as a tribute to their faith and courage.  I try to evoke the scenes I’ve seen, but you have to see it yourself to believe it. 

     

     

    Lhasa

    Let’s start in the capital, Lhasa in the barkhor area, near the Jokhang temple.  Take a moment to relax and sit down on the square in front of the Jokhang, and observe the people.  The most obvious are the owners of the souvenirs stalls , which try to attract your attention.  Filter these ones out, and what you see is the real heart of Tibet : the pilgrims, monks, nuns, children, women going to the market place,… See the pilgrims prostrating in front of the Jokhang – some have been traveling for months from their home, or see them chanting and rotating their prayer wheels.

    Pilgrims in front of the Jokhang

    Now do some ‘koras’ on the Barkhor.  Again avoid the souvenirs sellers, but go into the side alleys, and discover the horn-and-cymbals-playing-monks and the chanting nuns; let the prayer wheels rotate that are placed on several spots along the way,  discover a crowded courtyard full of ordinary people drinking yak butter tea… Do the same walk many times; everytime something else will be around the corner.  Then enter the darkness of the Jokhang (where only tourists buy tickets), smell the yak butter lamps and queue in line with the  hundreds of Tibetans to see the Jowo.  Go into the different chapels and look and listen… This is all too much for your senses; it’s not a museum you visit, you’re part of the daily life of Tibet now, this is living culture you experience.  Then when it becomes all too much, go to the roof and see the beautifull sights, and bathe in the light, be surrounded by goldplated roofs.  If you’re lucky, discuss with some of the monks.  It will be hard to leave this place because you just can’t figure out what is realy happening and want to understand, experience it all again…

    Villages and nomads

    Children begging for your attention Children in the local restaurant

    But there is more than religion alone.  When you go into the ‘true wilderness’ of Tibet, you will encounter the people in the little villages and the nomads with their yaks, and the horsemen along the way.  If possible your guide can bring you into a Tibetan home where you can have some yak butter tea with the family… Go to the local restaurants, where the cook first comes taking to you (a phrase book is handy) and then starts cooking.  The other locals will come and look while you have your diner, as if they’ve never seen someone eating noodles.  Or you will encounter the sales men and women, who still travel like they used to do in medieval times, on foot and with mules and donkeys.  In any of these encounters the children will encirle in large numbers, and if you have cameras (who hasn’t ?), you will be very popular.  It made me happy to meet at some occasion children that were just curious and playfull and not only beggars (they sadly enough often are however).

    Nomads posing

    It’s impossible to forget the people of Tibet.  It’s amazing how they still have preserved their culture.  You will leave Tibet with an ever lasting impression.

  • Mount Kailash Kora – continued

    KAILASH, JUNE 2001 – continued…

    Day two

    The big hiking day ! Today we had to cross the highest point on the kora, Drölma-la, about 5600 metres.  I woke up and the cold I had been developing the last couple of days, was now really annoying me.  I had not slept well and had to cough a lot.  Not a good start and with every hundred metres I went up, it took away more of my energy.  By the time I reached the Drölma-la, as the air became very thin, I was completely exhausted and had to rest every two steps to catch my breath.  I could see the player flags on top of the pass but I simply was out of energy and sat down for a while to eat a little.  It was great to reach the top… but I felt miserable.  I decided not to stay here any longer and after I sent my paper windhorses to the heavens, I went down.  I quickly felt better, and by the time I passed the Gori Kund frozen lake, I rested to have a short lunch.  I had to stop for a herd of yaks anyway and while I was sitting there, I enjoyed – with great admiration once again –  the singing of the Tibetan pilgrims who came down too, their voices having a wide reach. On the way further down, after having crossed a snow covered field, it was a matter of  finding your own way down between the boulders, untill we finally reached a river, on the East side of Kailash.  The last three hours of our 10 hours hiking day were like endless… After every bend, I expected to see the Zutul-puk monastery, the place we were staying for the night, but everytime there were only more rocks.  I kept on singing my favorite songs in my head (and sometimes uploud), just to try to forget my cold, my exhausted body and sore feet.  The monastery was finally there and it was such a good sight ! Even with the dogs we had to throw stones to, didn’t spoil our happiness…

    Zutul-puk guesthouse and monastery

     

    Zutul-puk was even more basic with very odd-looking beds (piles of stones with wooden berds on top of it) , and we had a visitor that night in the form of a foor legged gray species with a long tail (which we never found back and since we were tired didn’t care about too much).  There was a kitchen however and the people there (especially the kids) were just wonderful !

    Day 3

    High mountain beauty

    The next morning, after another night of little sleep, I went for a visit to the monastery, to see Milarepa’s cave.   The monastery was deserted (there are only four monks in the monastery over there).  I encountered one of them, who obviously knew I was looking for the cave, and he showed me the way.  The cave is a small and low one, and the tale is told that Milarepa pushed the ceiling higher with his hands – his palms are still visible in the rock.  Once we were on our way for the last leg of our kora, we encountered the footprints and ellbow prints of Milarepa and a lot of piles of mani stones,  also some prostrating female pilgrims, which I gave some money, out of awe – it appeared just so unreal.  The third day was only some four hours of hiking, with beautiful sights of the mountains and a great canyon.  At the end, we were glad to be without sin and shared our remaining food and snacks with our porters who had carried all our stuff for the last three days.  And we were off for the holy lake of Manasarovar, to relax and take a bath in hot spring water –  it was the best bath ever !