moments

Perfect moment – Galapagos Islands

perfect moments, Travels

The Galapagos Islands have always been a mythic place to me. Back in 1999, we were travelling Ecuador up and down and we managed to get a 8 day trip to the famous islands in the Pacific. I had seen numerous documentaries and was excited to set foot on the islands.

What impressed me most was the fact that all these wild animals showed no fear. You could get really close to watch them. No tele lens needed.They checked us with one eye and accepted us in their world. The only place where I have a similar feeling is underwater. I love diving for a lot of different reasons but the fact that you can get face to face within touching distance with wild animals in their habitat is one of the main reasons.

Some of the habitants of the Galapagos islands seemed to have skipped several stages during the evolution. Oh yes, Darwin was here and put up his famous theory!

Well, watch for yourself!

As we entered the year of the dragon…here are some of them

Iguana

crawling

meeting up with friends…

This huge old turtle is the king of the island : Lonsome George

Here one of my favourite encounters. A young Galapagos albatross. He still has to wait a bit to get rid of his teenager face and to be able to fly :-

I can’t but think that it is a huge privilege to witness nature that way : close up but with respect. The balance is fragile…

I will never forget the look in these eyes…

These animals never had a reason to fear men . Let’s hope we don’t prove them wrong!

More pics : Ecuador&Galapagos 1999

Perfect moments…

perfect moments

When I’m scrolling through the photos I took over the years many fond memories are coming back into my mind. Perfect moments…

Some really stand out and it’s almost impossible to describe the feelings I had at that moment even though the feelings are still as strong as they were at the moment I took the picture. The word which I like a lot and comes closest to it in English is the word bliss : a state of profound satisfaction, happiness and joy, a constant state of mind, undisturbed by gain or loss (Wikipedia).

I decided to upload a picture and its story on a regular basis here.

This week’s perfect moment is from our trip to Myanmar (Burma) in 2003. Our guide did his best to find the perfect place for a sunset around the ancient city of Bagan southwest of Mandalay. He first chose one of the guidebooks’ favourites and we climbed up. The view was breathtaking but the number of tourists wandering around in order to find the perfect spot for the perfect shot made my hair stand on end. There was no way to enjoy that moment to the full. When we told our guide about our feelings he gave some thought about the situation and smiled : “I might have a place for you but I’m not sure. Come quick!”

We went down as fast as possible through the still growing crowd and jumped in his car as the sun started its descent. He drove us to another smaller ruin with no people around. The place didn’t catch the eye, but it was not the place itself which was important but the view we would have…in peace and silence.

As we arrived on top only a handful people were sitting there contemplating the view… Yes, that’s it!

Our guide was relieved! Why? The sun only appears at a certain time of the year in that constellation, that close to the ruins, almost “rolling” down. Sometimes it’s far away and sometimes the ruin (the one we were standing on minutes earlier) completely hides the sun. But it was our lucky day…and a perfect moment!