one never feels bored (at least tourists that is) on the US roads even on flat expanses. I wonder if American tourists would feel the same excitement on the Europeans highways… grass is always greener somewhere else.
some band on a tour I suppose.
some interesting names dot the highways.
poor driver…if he is like me sensible to detail and landscapes, his carriage doesn’t allow a clear view.
Eglise la Madeleine.
Jardins du Palais Royal.
the public bicycles, named Vélib’.
Les Tuileries.
Sacré-Coeur, Montmartre. Lucky artist with a pretty model-client.
shot on Leica M6 and Ilford Delta 100.
various pictures over my years in Tanzania.
That pilot didn’t judge the soft sand properly and struck the propeller in.
Make sure to clear the goats or what else from the strip before take off.
One narrow airstrip…which is also a road obviously and unfortunately. We keep on putting rocks and branches to tell morons to drive away from the airstrip but to no avail. The place is huge but these jerks have to drive on it…and damage it of course.
Diving and buzzing to chase the zebras off the airstrip. Great fun too! Up to 3 times is sometimes necessary to get rid of them… maybe flying just 2 or 3 m over their head just scares them too much and they stop thinking? The main trick I to “corral” them and direct them away. Just splitting a group of animals in the middle is useless. As opposed to the Red Sea story, this is proven: the group will split apart and close in right away when the plane is gone.
Some areas are just terrible for flies!
The slippery and dreaded black cotton. That mud is heavy, wet, slippery like black ice and really sticky. Some motorbikes don’t have enough power and the back wheel can’t get jammed.
“Argile noire lourde” en français.
Floods! But the airstrip was spared.
A C206 in a climbing turn at over 240 knots? No, just a blocked pitot tube. Some water puddles on an airstrip had sent some particles through the tube. No more reliable airspeed readings… A few landings like that on our short airstrips was good experience.
Same airstrip but 2 weeks apart.
while on duty with Flying Medical Service in the rain season.
Needless to say, we don’t always escape the rains or the storms…
Years ago, camels (dromedary to be precise) were introduced just outside Ngorongoro Crater to replace donkeys in harsh and dry areas. More efficient on every level. But Masai people didn’t really click on camels. So I haven’t seen them for years. They seemed to reappear around Arusha, some projects for tourists and local riding trips. Then I got surprised to spot camels again around lake Natron last year, in Monik on the western shore. For a while I bought milk, which is very creamy and tasty by the way, but again, I haven’t seen them for a few months… I miss the milk.
Here are the young Masai herders.
A young Denzel Washington?
Kodak, killing the golden goose again, stopped that marvelous film some years ago, that is the Kodachrome 64 (after the 25 and the 200). It was still possible to develop it through 2010, so I used some of my last rolls on a road trip in May 2010, the rest in Tanzania. All with a Leica M6, a 28 and a 90mm lens.
Monument Valley, Arizona. Dust storm coming on the top picture.
Just leaving Zion, Utah.
Bryce Canyon, Utah. Karine and I were lucky: snow was still hanging around
Arches park, Utah
Near Telluride, Colorado.
Unfazed Masai old man…
Come here north of Arusha a few months later and you’ll have dust storms…
Active volcano Oldonyo Lengai in the Rift.
2 images of lake Natron delta in the north.
Happy cows…
and happy villagers, in the middle flows a river.
My passengers, that is usually medical workers, are always fascinated by a flowing river, especially when there are little rapids or waterfalls to observe.
2004, on B/W films, Leica M6.
“Yes I Do”…indeed Belgium was one of the first countries to legalize gay marriage.
YMCA escapee!
Let’s send this picture in Texas for instance and start a wave of heart attacks.
One street corner on Sokoine road, one of the main streets.
Angry punk at his portrait taken. Since I have no more respect for him and his colleagues as they have for me and the rest of the traffic, I really don’t feel a bit sorry for his feelings.
As opposed to what we are used in Europe, these guys here are legal, they’re not ready to pack their goodies in that large piece of cloth of run for the police in a second….
Rains in Tanzania are quite interesting. Personally I enjoy flying in these seasons. Since we don’t have the same constraints as commercial operators, flying with Flying Medical service gives me various and challenging opportunities…
Rain showers and storms can show up with hardly no notice, be quite violent for a brief period before the sun shines again, airstrips get flooded and out of use within one hour, clear skies get obscured and dangerous in no time, dramatic lights and changes in vegetation are to be enjoyed…
This pond in the northern Serengeti area is usually dry. But filled up as it is here is being enjoyed by everybody, cows and herders of course, women and girls can use the water for cooking and washing everything without walking the usual long miles to the next water point, baths are not a luxury anymore…
Not sure these ladies and kids will make it home before the clouds crack open.
Flooded areas.
Obscured by clouds…
Rare full river…
Interesting intersection between 2 rivers bringing their own colored muds.
This is Monik not a chick but an airstrip partially flooded in lake Natron area. Yes you’re looking at the airstrip…. Luckily a large strip so the side could be just used. Just…
I personally find this Sonjo woman particularly pretty! Beautiful eyebrows for instance.
recently excised Masai girl. She will be ready for marriage soon. The baby is not hers but she insisted to pose with him.
