We took pictures of 26 different species of birds on our holiday in Sharm El Sheikh and South Sinai last week, nine of which are lifers (bringing our grand total to 326). Here they are: More »
Last week we had our second excellent experience with Colona Divers, this time in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Colona is a Scandinavian dive operator with shops in Hurghada (where we first dived with them in 2005) and El Gouna in addition to Sharm.
On Sunday 14 October we had our fourth diving day in the Red Sea (see our photo album of this trip) with Colona Divers and our guide David took us to Yolanda and Shark Reef for our first dive of the day. It took about an hour for our boat to arrive there from the Travco jetty in Sharm El Sheikh. The famous dive site (which is often listed among the top dive sites in the world!) is located at the southernmost tip of the Sinai Peninsula in Ras Mohamed National Park, where the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba flow into the Red Sea:
From 6 to 16 October we visited South Sinai and stayed at Amar Sina Hotel in Sharm El Sheikh. We dived and snorkeled with Colona Divers and visited Ras Mohamed NP, Nabeq NP and St. Catherine’s Monastery.
View all photos at Picasa »
View large slideshow in our photo album »
Yesterday we visited the sewage plant North East of Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt to look for birds. We had a very hard time getting there as our taxi driver didn’t speak English (see the directions below), but the visit was well worth all the trouble. We saw many birds, including thousands of White Storks!
A hunebed (Dutch for ‘Dolmen’) is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, consisting of three or more upright stones (megaliths) supporting a large flat horizontal capstone (table). Most date from the early Neolithic period (4000 BC to 3000 BC). The Netherlands have 54 of these prehistoric graves, and 52 are in the province of Drenthe. The largest one is located near the Hunnebedcentrum visitor center in Borger that we visited last Sunday.
Last Sunday we visited Boomkroonpad (‘Tree Top Path’), a 2,500 hectare (6,000 acre) forest preserve in Drenthe, here in the Netherlands. The main attraction at Boomkroonpad is a path of 125 meters (410 feet) through the tree tops, reaching a height of 22,5 meters (74 feet). Unfortunately it was pouring down on our visit and we didn’t see any birds or wildlife. But still it was an extremely fun walk that we will need to do again once when the weather is better. There is also a very nice visitor center with shop, restaurant and lots of activities and trails.
On Saturday we visited Zeehondencrèche Lenie ‘t Hart in the town of Pieterburen in the north of the Netherlands. The seal rehabilitation and research center has been taking care of sick and injured seals since it was founded in 1971.
They do really great work and need every support they can get. You can donate money or adopt a seal. More »
From 21 to 24 June 2007 we went to France. We first spent two days at Disneyland Paris where we stayed at Santa Fe Hotel. Then we went to Paris on Saturday and Sunday where we stayed at Hotel de la Porte Doree and visited Musée d’Orsay and Bois de Vincennes. Here are a few photos of our trip.
To view larger photos visit our photo album.
From 17 to 27 May 2007 we visited Huelva province in Andalucia, Spain. We rented Villa Laura Paraje Puente near the small town of Beas, which was a wonderful place to stay. We did some nice birding in the area’s nature reserves and visited Sevilla, Huelva, Riotinto and Tavira in Portugal. More »