The bears of Alaska and more...

The most exciting part of our 13-day tour was the float plane excursion to Katmai National Park to see grizzly bears feeding on migrating salmon.  A platform protects viewers at the main waterfall site, but rangers often need to guide visitors away from bears wandering elsewhere.  We took the opportunity to tour nearby Valley of 10,000 Smokes, the eerie site of a catastrophic 1912 eruption larger even than the record-setting Krakatoa blast.  

Then by a combination of rail, ferry, rental cars, and tour boats (Claudia did all the planning) we visited Valdez (terminus of the Alaska pipeline), the abandoned Kennecott copper mine complex in the Wrangell-St Elias National Park, Cordova, the “Million Dollar” bridge, and a host of awesome glaciers.  Wildlife was plentiful--humpback whales (one even breached like you’ve seen on TV), cute and playful sea otters, moose (or whatever its plural is), Stellar sea lions, Dall sheep, bald eagles and more.  The blue-white glaciers were exciting to watch as they calved giant blocks of ice, particularly if you approached by small boat.  First, if you were lucky, you would see the block break loose, then you’d hear the rifle-shot report, followed by a wave forcing the boat to rock.  

Such a visit reminds us once again that the American West (including Alaska) has a beauty riveling anyplace in the world.  We recommend it.

The bears of Alaska and more...

The bears of Alaska and more...

The bears of Alaska and more...

The most exciting part of our 13-day tour was the float plane excursion to Katmai National Park to see grizzly bears feeding on migrating salmon.  A platform protects viewers at the main waterfall site, but rangers often need to guide visitors away from bears wandering elsewhere.  We took the opportunity to tour nearby Valley of 10,000 Smokes, the eerie site of a catastrophic 1912 eruption larger even than the record-setting Krakatoa blast.  

Then by a combination of rail, ferry, rental cars, and tour boats (Claudia did all the planning) we visited Valdez (terminus of the Alaska pipeline), the abandoned Kennecott copper mine complex in the Wrangell-St Elias National Park, Cordova, the “Million Dollar” bridge, and a host of awesome glaciers.  Wildlife was plentiful--humpback whales (one even breached like you’ve seen on TV), cute and playful sea otters, moose (or whatever its plural is), Stellar sea lions, Dall sheep, bald eagles and more.  The blue-white glaciers were exciting to watch as they calved giant blocks of ice, particularly if you approached by small boat.  First, if you were lucky, you would see the block break loose, then you’d hear the rifle-shot report, followed by a wave forcing the boat to rock.  

Such a visit reminds us once again that the American West (including Alaska) has a beauty riveling anyplace in the world.  We recommend it.

On Visiting Shangri-La (Nepal), November 2010

Buddhist temple in Khatmandu

Searching at Chitwan Royal Park

White Rhinos at Chitwan

Hindu holy men

Claudia and Lew in Nepali attire

Mount Everest from a small plane

The highlight of our visit to mystical Nepal was an excursion atop an elephant chasing rhinos at the former Chitwan Royal Park.  Our group of 11 mounted six elephants and set out across the Rapti River through a chilly morning fogbank.  After fanning out through thick elephant grass we spotted fleeing wild boars and hog deer, then circled a clutch of rare white rhinos.  Back in the days of the British Raj that would have meant a certain kill for a wall-mounted treasure, but our arms were only cameras.  We then sought the elusive Bengal Tiger, however paw prints and claw marks on nearby trees were all we found of these magnificent nocturnal felines.  The morning concluded with our elephants bathing and cavorting in the Rapti, fortunately after we had dismounted. 

This was the final major phase of a 19-day adventure that began in Kathmandu, Nepal’s traffic-chocked, culturally diverse, and exotic admixture of Hindu and Buddhism coexisting in rare harmony.  The striking temples and pagodas fetched the expected oohs and aahs, but the culture’s handling of death, though compatible with Asian mores, sorely tested our western sensitivities.  We witnessed close-up the sacrifice of a water buffalo in a main Kathmandu plaza and the active funeral biers in a nearby town specializing in Hindu cremation rites.  A counterpoint was the heart-warming daily greeting ritual where you say “hello” by clasping hands in a prayer-like gesture, bowing your head, and exchanging the Nepali greeting NAH-MAH-STAY.

The next phase was trekking with Sherpa bearers to a sanctuary lodge in the foothills of the Annapurna Range of the Himalayas.  Eye-catching views of the storied Annapurna seen best from a swaying footbridge over the Modi River was the highlight there.  Lew’s trekking was curtailed by a parasite he contracted, but Claudia did it all.  Then we boarded rafts for three days along the Seti River, shooting rapids and exploring remote villages. 

The trip concluded with a special flight aboard a small airplane for close-up views of Mount Everest, and a farewell dinner clad in Nepali wedding attire.  What a trip!

On Visiting Shangri-La, November 2010

Trouping Trinidad & Tobago

Boa constrictor

First came the Bananaquits, then the Purple Honeycreepers and WOW! - a Blue-crowned Motmot!  Soon, a large, rodent-like Agouti began rummaging for discarded seeds below the bird feeders.  This was the scene shortly after dawn from the veranda of our ecolodge in the tropical highlands of the former British West Indies.  It was just the beginning to our tour of Trinidad and Tobago,  a mini-archipelago nation just off the Venezuelan coast in the waters separating the Caribbean and the Atlantic.  And it was typical of the tropics: lots of birds and wildlife, thick and damp jungle, and friendly folks from many nations.  After all, it was February during a particularly harsh winter in Europe and America.  Most interesting on Trinidad  was a boa constrictor we spotted in an overhanging tree, a virtual cloud of dazzlingly beautiful Scarlet Ibises enroute to their roost in the Caroni Swamp, and the shy Oilbird which roosts in caves and behaves more like a bat than a bird. 

Our ensuing stay on the island of Tobago was a distinction without a difference.  It was part the same nation with much the same history, but the demographics were distinguishable, the infrastructure was neater, and our lodge was on a sparkling seashore.  We visited a breeding colony of the stunning Red-billed Tropicbirds, and viewed the island retreat of Ian Fleming.  All in all, this visit, while not as eye popping as our excursions to Nepal or Namibia, was a pleasant romp in a nearby Bali-like hideaway.