Feb
11
2024Sacred Masks and Voodoo Festival
with FROST PHOTO TOURS
Benin, West-Africa. Not your average tourist destination, that’s exactly what I like ! It is hot, it is humid, I have never sweated so much in my life, but it is sensational, so colorful, friendly and laid back easy, this country is very special and so totally cool. To be honest, before I traveled, I had to look it up on the map, West Africa is big and has many countries….Now I know where it is, and will never forget !
Didn’t know much about Voodoo either, but we soon learned that Voodoo is a religion, not some scary cult. It is a peaceful way of life aligned with the natural elements. They have divinities like Christianity has angels and a God they call the Fa, and when they celebrate it is like the carnival in Brazil or Venice, with splendid dresses, tons of spectators and lots of music and ecstatic dancing.
I jumped at the chance and joined this cultural photo tour with Kirsten Frost. I am picked up at the airport by our driver Moise, (pronounce Moh-iz) in full body, extremely colorful dress. Just that made me smile, and I had really good hopes that this trip would become awesome, which it definitely did.
Welcome to Benin
In case you didn’t know where it is
DAY 1: GANVIÉ, GRAFFITI & THE AMAZONE
Read More»Dec
10
2023A portrait masterclass with Pawel Lipski
I’ve always wanted to go to India. All these beautiful people with dark almond eyes and thick, dark, black hair, the colorful sari’s and intricate decorations on palaces, temples and fortresses. This must be heaven for a people photographer, which my husband isn’t, so I go alone, I just have to go !
The most beautiful people to photograph
DAY 1
After an 8 hrs flight I land in Delhi at 1 am or so. Now find the hotel’s driver between about 60 guys waving signs with names. After quite a while I find him in the far left corner, great, let’s go ! There is so much traffic even in the middle of the night, and all are hooting and driving like crazy, overtaking in spaces I didn’t believe there was space, and this guy is doing some funny shortcut, or am I on the way to some involuntary organ donor place ? No, all is good, we reach the SHANTI PALACE HOTEL, which isn’t really a palace but a hotel on a strip with lots of hotels and flashy signs, somewhat like the red light district, I don’t care, all I want is a bed.
Read More»Nov
06
2023KENYA with GAMEWATCHERS SAFARIS
4 Porini Camps in 4 different parts of Kenya
Paka Kubwa means big cat in Swahili, and we saw a lot of big cats, they are cool, but we enjoyed the little cats even more. Baby lions are just the best thing to watch, especially when they are playing, fighting and running around. They are beaten in cuteness only by hyena pups, which are getting to be my top favorites.
NR.1: NAIROBI- Nairobi tented Camp
I’ve visited Kenya before, now for the first time, I’m traveling with Gamewatchers Safaris, I must say, I’m impressed. From start to finish everything worked flawlessly. We arrive late, at 10pm and take about an hour for the passport control. Edith, a lovely, friendly, very helpful lady from Gamewatchers Safaris is there to greet us, help us exchange money. We don’t really need much money, just for tips and souvenirs, everything else is included, food, drinks, flights between camps and game drives. We drive 30min on the outskirts of Nairobi to the park gate, then another 30min to camp, which is in the middle of thick bushland, we get there in the middle of the night, but all the staff is there waiting for us, if we would like dinner. No thank you, I just want to sleep. So 2 Masai guys with torches take us to our tent, see you tomorrow.
The lounge area at Nairobi Tented Camp
Sep
25
2022THE FUNKY SAILORS ARE BACK ON THE BOAT !
Our katamaran anchored in Baie Ternay, Mahe
DAY 1 : The Marina
Trip starts in the Eden Island Marina. We will be sailing a Moorings 4000 katamaran, pretty big I tell you ! The guys get the briefing, the girls go shopping. Takes about 2 hours, the guys were already slightly worried we took off with their credit cards. Got everything from the list, cost a small fortune, and just a few minor mistakes, coke zero instead of normal coke and one other bad one, will tell you later. Thank God for the guys with the golf carts who helped us get everything to the boat.
Our very BIG boat
and lots of food and drinks
Oct
16
2021PART 1 : From the source of the river Nile to the chimpanzees in Budongo and Kibale
Where exactly is Uganda again ? It is smack in the middle of Africa. Right on the equator, flanked on the right by Kenya, on the left by the Democratic Republic of Congo. The experienced traveller will say there are better places to go for an „average“ wildlife safari. That may be true, but Uganda is sensational for gorilla and chimpanzee tracking, has great national parks, and on top of that it is the most beautiful country I’ve visited in all of southern and eastern Africa.
This is a matoke country
If I get the driver to stop to take „just landscape“ photos, something is seriously wrong ! I do people and wildlife photography ! But here I just had to stop over and over again, it is so lush and green, so spectacular and ever changing, I am so glad we booked a road trip and didn’t do the fly in&out. Beside that, it is also a very safe country to visit, with incredibly friendly people.
This is not really a „Banana Republic“, but boy they do have lots of bananas here. Call them matoke, which is also the name of our tour company: MATOKE TOURS. Lets hit the road, we’re here for a three week trip, in which we will cover almost 3000km, in an old Toyota Land cruiser with Anatoli our driver.
The trip
Anatoli, our driver
Dec
28
2019AN ISLAND FULL OF SURPRISES
Usually all it takes is one photo. I see it, and my mind is made up, I want to go there. Madagascar has been on my mind for a while, and as I was told to go there rather sooner than later, well there’s no better time than right now. So we went on a photo tour with Oryx Photography, with photographer Dale Morris and our Malagasy guide Nono Tianamalala. Between them these two guys made just about anything possible, and this trip one of my best photo holidays ever.
Jun
28
2019Part 2: Chile
PARQUE NACIONAL TORRES DEL PAINE
Mon 22: to Chile and Torres del Paine
It is a long and boring drive, the first 2,5 hrs so we simply sleep. We do a coffee stop at Estancia La Leona, the coffee is not too bad, and Jürg treats himself to a gigantic piece of lemon meringue pie, it is about 20cm high, no kidding ! Best of all, it really is good !
On the road again
This thing is huge, but look how happy he is !
From there 1,5 hours to Esperanza for more coffee and super good empanadas, freshly made and still warm. This sounds like a gourmet trip right ?
Another 2,5 hours gets us into Chile and to our hotel, the Hosteria Pehoe, probably the most scenic lodgings in the whole park. It is located on a little island 100m off the shore of Lake Pehoe, and you can only reach it by a foot bridge. Drag along your own bags please, and do pray the bridge holds.
Pray the bridge holds our weight
Dec
23
2017What do you believe Ethiopia is like ?
I expected poverty, drought and famine, a landscape somewhat like the Greek Islands, barren and empty. No way ! The Omo Valley in the south west of Ethiopia took me by surprise. It has mountains like Switzerland, is lush and green like the Caribbean, colourful like India and friendly as only Africa can be.
Roads can be challenging but most are rather good
To the Suri Tribe, but getting there takes some effort !
It takes us 3 days to get to our first photo destination. The first day we fly from Addis to Jimma. I’ve decided that I like this place. Horses stand smack in the middle of the street, we must drive around them, there are goats and cows, donkey wagons, people walk along the road, not just one, no dozens. It is poor but absolutely exiting, colourful, green and exotic !
It’s Africa and I love it.
Roadside scenes
Remembers me of the Caribbean
The second day we drive for 9 hours till we reach Mezan Teferi. First stop after 2 hours (of very slow driving) at the home of a family which welcomes us in their hut. Unbelievable, they live here with 10 people, plus at night all the cattle comes in as well. The hut is maybe 20m2. Second stop at another family, they pose just as happily, but even better, they make us coffee, and I mean coffee straight from the beans. First they roast, then they grind, then pour water. It is awful strong, the spoon almost stands straight up, but I rather like it.
The Ethiopian coffee is sensational
recent comments