Grand Escapades
Travel Photography & Travel Experiences of Africa, South America, the Middle-East & Asia
Trekking Mount Roraima, the highest Tepui or Tabletop Mountain, Venezuela – A rare view of Mount Roraima in the rain season
Trekking Mount Roraima was definitely one of the highlights of our trip in Venezuela, but it was also the toughest 6 days we ever had during a trip. This had to do with the fact that we were untrained and that the weather conditions were partly extremely difficult. Continue Reading →
Trekking the “W”
Los Cuernos del Paine, view from a boat on a trip to Pehoe
Torres del Paine is South America’s most visited National Park, with more than 200.000 visitors per year. It covers an area of 181.000 hectares and is on every tourist’s itinerary who is visiting Chile or southern Argentina. Continue Reading →
Southern Right Whale or Ballena Franca Austral, Peninsula Valdez National Park, Northern Patagonia, Argentina
We spent 74 days in Argentina, Chile & Uruguay and 54 in Argentina alone: since major points of interests are in nearby places in Chile or Uruguay, travelling in Argentina most certainly means crossing the borders into these countries. In Argentina, we visited most of the classical tourist destinations: Buenos Aires, Misiones, Iguazu, the Andean Northwest, Mendoza, Peninsula Valdez, the Lake District, Southern Patagonia with El Calafate & El Chalten, and Tierra del Fuego. Add to this Chiloe, the cruise between Puerto Montt and Puerto Natales, Torres del Paine & Punta Arenas in Chile and Colonia & Montevideo in Uruguay, and we can say we almost visited it all! Continue Reading →
Andean Flamingos, Laguna Colorada, South West Bolivia
We simply fell in love with Bolivia … We planned to stay four weeks and spent almost seven there, which forced us to completely change the route for the rest of the trip! We visited Copacabana & Lake Titicaca; La Paz; Rurrenabaque, Madidi National Park & La Pampa; Death Road & Coroico; Sucre; Potosi; Tupiza; Uyuni & the Southwest Loop to the Salar de Uyuni.
The dancers were a swaying sea of colours of elaborately designed costumes, headdresses made of feathers and beads, more beadwork for ankles, necks, belly and wrists. The costumes can be made of lots of material or of very, very little, Carneval of Gualeguaychu, Argentina
“The greatest parade in Argentina and one of the three most famous carnivals of Latino-America” that is how this carnival promotes itself. Although we lack the expertise to verify this, we definitely can say that it was very, very impressive and a lot of fun. We definitely would recommend everybody to do the trip while it is still kind of an informal event. Tours from Buenos Aires, only 3 hours south, especially for foreign tourists, just started last year! Continue Reading →
View form a helicopter, Iguazu Falls, Brazil
No matter how many waterfalls you have seen in your life, these leave the most experienced travelers mumbling all kinds of words of excitement when you finally stand in front of “Garganta del Diablo” or Salto San Martin. This place was definitely one of the highlights of our trip through South America. These are some of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world, far more impressive than Niagara Falls, for example. Continue Reading →
Southern Right Whale (Eubalaena australis) or Ballena Franca Austral, Peninsula Valdez National Park, Northern Patagonia, Argentina, South America
The Peninsula Valdéz is one of South America most popular national parks, with 80.000 visitors a year, which is for instance ten times more than in the beautiful and very pristine Madidi National Park in the Amazon Basin in Bolivia. With 3.600 square kilometers and especially 400 kilometers of coast, it is home to many species like sea lions, the only colony of sea elephants on a continent apart from Antarctica, graceful guanacos, Magellanic Penguins and the endangered Ballena Franca Austral or Southern Right Whale, to only name some of the species we could spot, and of course many kinds of birds … Continue Reading →
Discovering The Working Conditions Of The “Devil’s Miners”
The Mineros del Diabolo or “Devils’ Minors”, inside the Cerro Rico, “The mountain that eats men alive”, Potosi, Bolivia, South America
Already in 1545, the Spanish were aware of the enormous wealth inside of Cerro Rico and forced thousands of Indigenous to work in the mines extracting the huge deposits of silver. To increase production, the “Ley de Mita” was passed that forced Indigenous and later African slaves to work 16 hour shifts. They were kept underground for 4 months. The working conditions were beyond description and an estimated 8 to 10 million died of the forced labor over the three century of Spanish rule! Continue Reading →
The Laguna Colorada, Southwest Bolivia, South America
The so-called “Salar de Uyuni” tour actually covers a much larger area than the Salar de Uyuni itself … On a four day tour, we only spent half a day in the Salar de Uyuni, the biggest salt lake in the world. Truly, this is the highlight of the tour. But nevertheless, the other 3.5 days took us through absolutely amazing sceneries. Continue Reading →
Traditional “Indigenous” Sunday Market
Tarabuco is a village about 65 kilometers from Sucre, known for its highly developed weaving techniques and quality textiles and especially for its very genuine “Indigenous” Sunday market. We decided to book a tour, which actually was only a bus provided to take the “Gringos” the 1.5 hour from Sucre to Tarabuco and back for 25 Bolivianos or 3.2 USD. Continue Reading →