Kenya; Ngong Hills

Just out of the city of Nairobi are the Ngong Hills covered with windmills, satellite antennas and communication towers. Can’t cost anything to hike there around, i thought. In the village on the way to the hills were children playing. Some hide shyly, other ones showed up curiously about the stranger passing trough. Just a few adults were around, as curious as the young ones. A father peeks over the fence and ask me to take a photo from him with the kids. Over the village circling the blades of the massive windmills, making a sonorous, deep sound. You get used on it, the villager told me.

Despite the forest is almost gone, replaced by a wide access road and the wind generators, it’s called still a conservation park and a fee is to pay. With Ruth, a new friend and model, i entered the park and hiked around the huge generators. Some women and children followed along a trickling creek. Near the source of it they scooped water into buckets and carried them back to the huts.Three siblings got curious about the white/black couple doing a photo shooting. The youngest got scared, start to cry out loud, but got then overwhelmed by his own curiosity. With the support of the older sister he dared to get closer and play with the cam and the looked at the photos i made of him. At the end we all had a laughter about funny pictures.

Fun Group Hiking At Mt.Longonot

Mount Longonot a quite volcano about two hours drive out of Nairobi, is the destination for a group of friends for a hike. I got invited and joined it with pleasure. Too long time i didn’t hike, and with that funny, open minded and nice people it’s pure pleasure too.

There’s many photos in purpose of giving the people of the group the chance to see them and download it. Have fun along the „photo story“  …and many thanks for the group letting me join in for that day!

with Solita at hot springs

Early morning gives us a clear sight of Mt Kilimanjaro, while the natural hot springs are still deserted. Perfect condition for a photo shooting with Solita (instagram: @solitacruz), the queen of selfies, as she called herself. And indeed, she put herself in great poses and i just had to push the shutter. But yes, you wanna see the results now…

visiting ticino – southern switzerland

It’s a day trip over the Swiss alps by motorbike to reach the region of Ticino, the southern part of Switzerland. With the early golden morning sun i picked up a good friend who gave me nice company for this trip. At a lake just before the ascend to the alps started we had a coffee. From there it’s a winding road up to the heights of the mountains. Small, narrow roads, old, stoney bridges -as the „devil’s bridge“- and even a Russian monuments from the war at 1799 shows how busy this route was the last 2000 years.

By motorbike it’s a pleasant journey to lakes surrounded with mountains and palm trees. After a refreshing swim and some original Italian ice cream just over the nearby border, there was a nice stroll trough ancient alleys of town and visiting the castle of Bellinzona. Just before the night fell in, we were already back on the way north, letting the palm trees behind us.

Petrified Forest

I talked about the desert elephants and how rare they’re to see, as i noticed a car parking next to the gravel road. And yes, the couple in that car spotted two elephant bulls roaming in nearby bush. Along the road we’ve been lucky with more attractions as a black cobra, once alive since there are many dead snakes on the road, more of the unique welwitschia plants or huge termite hills.

A guide explained the origin of the wood and how it came many thousands years ago down to Nambia, covered by mud and clay and turned slowly to minerals and stone. The colors, the structure of the bark and even the year rings look still like the wood, but if you touch it you feel cold, hard stone.

Yufuin, Japan / The Flora-House

The Flora House is not only the name of a traditional Japanese hotel, so called ryokan, but the concept of this family run accommodation. The cosy rooms and an ‚onsen‘ ( a hot bath with water direct from hot springs) with view of mount Yufu is worth to stay a couple days. The food too is absolutely delicious. The owner explains proudly how they use all ingredients from own garden and greenhouses or at least from nearby area. When the belly got satisfied, a bath in the scents of the most beautiful flowers and orchids is another delight.

Flora House nennt sich das Ryokan (traditionell japanische Unterkunft) zu recht. Blumen und Orchideen finden sich überall um’s Haus und in den Gewächshäusern. Diese liefern auch die Zutaten für das leckere Essen. Stolz erklären die Besitzer, dass alle Zutaten aus eigener Produktion oder zumindest aus naher Umgebung kommen. Und so schmeckt das Essen auch; frisch, lecker und authentisch. Gemütliche Zimmer und ein heisses Bad ( Onsen genannt), gespeist von den heissen Quellen der Umgebung, machen den Aufenthalt zur Kur.

Indien, Pushkar: Blue Lotus Festival

Weihrauch und Duftkerzen umwehen die Nase,

würziger Masala Tee umspült den Gaumen,

farbenfrohe Kostüme wirbeln vor den Augen,

dumpfe Bässe lassen die Haut erzittern

und laut dröhnt der fröhliche Gesang im Ohr.

Mit viel Glück durfte ich sehr kurzfristig als Festival-Fotograf teilnehmen. In sechs Tagen fanden 40 Konzerte mit 350 Musiker auf verschiedenen Bühnen, vor Tempeln und auf der Strasse statt. Daneben wurden Workshops, Filme, sowie Yoga- und Meditationsstunden angeboten.

Das Blue Lotus Festival fand das erste Mal überhaupt statt. Trotz der geringen Besuchermenge, wetterbedingten Schwierigkeiten (wer erwartet schon Regen in der Wüste?) und einigen behördlichen Hürden (die Polizei unterbrach ein Abendkonzert wegen „fehlender“ Bewilligung, das aber nach kurzer Unterredung weitergeführt werden konnte)  waren sich alle Beteiligte am Ende einig: Dieses Musikfestival war ein tolles Erlebnis das keiner missen wollte! Schwer in Worte zu fassen und in Sätze zu quetschen, wie diese Musik das Innerste erzittern, der Rhythmus die Füsse schweben und die Farben die Augen blenden liessen.

Ich hoffe die Bilder und Impressionen geben etwas von der Atmosphäre wieder, die für die beteiligten ein unvergessliches Erlebnis bleiben wird.