Leopards

Leopard at Night

It's almost embarrassing to disturb this noble animal

during his/her nightly hunt. 

She probably has a couple of cubs at home

waiting for their daily bite to eat, and Mom is late because 

some crazy Safari-photographers shine a spotlight right at her.

I promise never to do that again. 

Now you see'm, now you don't

 quietly, quietly!

Two Elephants in Gonarezhou

First successful attempt to post a Video

on my Blog.

Safaris in different styles.

You want a shower?
Hang a bucket from a branch!
You need to find a toilet?
Grab a spade!
But this time around we travelled in Luxury:

The bucket still hangs from a branch,

but your nakedness is now well protected.

( And you may ask for warm water.)

Instead of a spade with which to dig a hole in the ground

you get an actual tarp enshrouded toilet.

The view from my  tent 

to my very personal and private "ablution block"

So now I can say I travelled every which way:

I stayed in the "Governor's Camp" in the Masai Mara and "The Serena Camp" in the Serengeti, 

both, in utter luxury.

I spent weeks in  the tented camp in Gonarezhou ( shown above ) as well as in Safari Lodges in Zambia.   

Best of all, I slept in a "mosy tent," washed my face in a bucket, or took a "bath" in the shallowest part of the Zambezi and the Runde rivers 

(Crocs hunt mostly in deep water)

Language Pun

An Englishman, a Frenchman, an Italian and a German stood on a street corner, watching an excellent Juggler. The Juggler noticed that they could not see him very well, so he climbed onto a box and called: "Can you see me?"  The four man answered:
Yes
Oui
Si
Ja

A rare meeting

In a pub in Dublin two men were enjoying a Guinness Stout when one of them turns to the other:
"I heard you talking to  the waiter and I hope you don't mind me asking where might you be coming from ?
" I'm from Londonderry" he answers.
" Well now, isn't that just great, so am I.. and where, may I ask in Londonderry did yous live ?"
"On St. Patrick street, all me life"
"Well isn't that just grand, so did I, On St. Patrick street and to school I went and graduated from St. Mary's in 1964.
" You don't say, me lad, the Good Lord must be smilin' down at us, havin' so much in common: I too graduated from St.Mary's in 1964
and now we're  meetin' here in this small Pub in Dublin"
"Sure and begorrah, that's the Lord's truth... He sure must be smilin' down at us.:
A third man comes into the pub and orders a beer.
The waiter brings it to him and, shaking his head, he says:
"It'll be a long night tonight. The Murphy twins are drunk again.

Bertstravels
never had a twin

Sandhill Cranes

I know that this is not the Season to show Sandhill Cranes in the Hailstorm Creek Marsh, Algonquin Park. I just think it might be 
a change from Winter pictures.

Peeka-Boo, I see you !

Booka-Pee, Now you see me !

Winter in Bleiburg

There's hoarfrost on every tree

very interesting

was it a car or a cat I saw

there is something strange in this question!

Yesterday it snowed...

... quite a bit.

"Aich Dob" - Bleiburg's Volleyball Heroes

congratulations about a point well played.

Not much to say, but a lot to look at !

Computer down

For two days I was without access to the internet.
What a catastrophe!
No "Google" " No e-mail" no "Facebook"
It seemed as if the world had closed down and hung a sign on its front door saying:
"Closed today... Come back tomorrow".

Luckily, Bertstravels has other things for its amusement.

Aich Dob wins another one

Aich-Dob

is a small village of not more than 50 or 60 houses. In 1983 it was smaller still.

At that time, however, a young man from Vienna married a young woman from Aich Dob, moved there and, because he had played Volleyball in Vienna, started to play this game with some of the local kids on the meadow of a neighbour.

Out of these humble beginnings came the team of today who consistently play in the top standings of the Austrian- as well as the "Central European League."

Last night, SKAD, played against the perennial champion of  Croatia and,

Aich Dob won 3 games to 1

Your intrepid photographer was there and shot these "breathtaking" photos.

Aich Dob in the yellow/blue strip, played poorly in the first game and lost it 21-25.

Then they seemed to wake up and won the next three games.

Larches

Larches

introduce a wonderful golden-brown color

into an evergreen forest

Water Lily fronds and John Hunt Nolan

After a short sprinkling of rain 

in the Hailstorm Creek Marsh, Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada.

 Relaxing in the Marsh. My good friend, John Hunt Nolan, having a bite of a sandwich.

Are they putting us on ?

I recently went to an exhibition of paintings by a local painter.

I wish I could show you some of them here.

Let me attempt a short description of one of them, which gives you an idea of what all the rest were like:

A white canvass, in the middle thereof an irregular black square, several dabs of reddish brush strokes in the center of the black square.

Simply something which just about anyone could have produced by splashing a little paint around.

On the elaborately produced invitation was, beside the time and place, the text, here translated into English-

“The Artist Painter sees and feels colors as the messengers of spiritual dimensions, which imbues his work with a deeply lyrical and spiritual mood, permeated by a sensitive silence.

His openhearted reflections are founded on a sensitive spot light and minimalist transitions of nuances in an ascetic fullness of various shadings of white.

He uses a Collage Technique in which he applies many thin, semi translucent layers, covering the entire spectrum of feelings, inclusive those of a meditative and erotic nature.”

The people visiting this “Vernissage” stood, with an awe-struck look upon their faces, discussing the merits of these works with earnest expressions.

I just stand there, feeling that I should exclaim in a loud voice:

But the Emperor is naked.

Bertstravels

just is no art expert

African Waterlily

All along the Kafupe River in Zambia, these water lilies with their serrated fronds  crowd the shore line.

Loons...

... are very special birds. 
Their black and white feather dress gives them an unusually elegant look.
Due to the location of their feet, very far to the back of their bodies, these birds spend most of their time in the water and are seen on land only during nesting/breeding time.
Despite their poor wing-area-to-weight ratio, they are good flyers, although they appear clumsy on take-off.

But when you are that beautiful, 

who cares about "clumsy on take-off"?

A rare foto-shot.

A Loon upon her nest.

A careful approach and a short stay is necessary

so as not to frighten the bird and making it leave the nest.

at my second pass, I was lucky to observe the Loon 

as it turned its eggs.

above and below:

The parents offer a fish to the chick.

Although the fish is almost as big as the chick,

I think this offer is made simply to let the chick peck around at the fish and give it a taste of its future main meal.

Milkweed in the Courtright Centre

The grey-green pod is about the size of a man's thumb.

When it breaks open, the seeds burst forth and the wind takes them abroad.

When a strong wind blows, 

you have to be quick on the camera trigger.

My "Peacock"

At the Entrance of the Courtright Centre