Ben Wilhelmi

Rangoon, pagoda Schwedagon again

 

woman praying towards a Buddha located on the other side of the alley. She looked so peaceful, switched off from her environment.

 

those Buddha were cheaply made, and unusually painted in brown.The paint was leaking on the white color...that reminds me of Tanzanian painters I've met or hired(and nearly killed...). Lunch time. Bloody plastic everywhere. Wouldn't it be nicer to see woven bags or something?

 

the most sober place I've seen. Only 3 Buddha...nothing on the walls. Maybe It is a new room, still looking for donations...

 

I wish there had been some blue color in this composure...

 

she would have been so disappointed if I hadn't snapped her...

sometimes one nearly needs sunglasses with all that gold, real or not.

 

I had forgot to mention the paintings in some temples, like here near the ceilings. Nothing impressive in terms of skills.

 

what are these two little clowns doing in a holy place?

 

lake Natron, last round

 

 

young flamingoes gathering as I'm flying overhead.

 

another group walking together as the footprints tell, which the aeroplane shadow.

 

Star Trek trip...

 

this whitish cream surface is a thin layer of dry crust, slowly breaking down after the rains make the water level rise.

 

 

even slightly purple.

 

it keeps on fascinating me: why does it change from red to brown within half a mile?

 

flamingoes again. Flying around once or twice makes them walk back and forth, creating an interesting pattern on the ground.

 

and something else tomorrow.

diversion with lake Natron

 

had a chance to fly again over lake Natron the other day. Big storm to avoid et voilà...

located south of the Tanzanian-Kenyan border, in the Rift Valley.

 

south eastern shore of Natron, all starts normally like a gentle lake...

 

Mount Gelai to the SW...nice reflection in the water which is deeper south.

 

coming to the center, some dry crust, very shallow waters were flamingoes feed and breed. These grey dots are baby flamingoes, not pink, not flyers yet. But they are safe there, far from the shore and the predators who don't venture in that hot acid salty water. Flamingoes have a thicker acid proof skin around the legs.

 

different chemicals, water depth and currents give that incredible amount of colors and patterns.

 

and by the way don't think this a collection of pictures done over a long time, all of these shot within 10 min! Such a variety...

 

bright red being the common average color.

 

 

  

 

 

southern view towards the volcano Oldoinyo Lengai, that is the kind of triangle in the middle of the horizon. All the previous are small parts of the surface. Here's a broader view.

water festival in Rangoon

 

no jealous people allowed, so for good measure, even the buses would stop by, too bad for the non compliant passengers...

 

 

all day, no loss of rhythm....look at the guy in red, doesn't he think there might still be a dry spot on these voluntary victims?

 

a lot to observe on this picture: cops or soldiers checking what was going on near a stage, a stage which is built to lat one day if that and very kitsch, people with umbrella under the bright sun, a church. A bystander had told me that it was not the brightest idea to get a picture of soldiers...I think it was a bit of usual paranoia...

 

on a quieter note but even in posh neighborhood the splashing game was going on.

 

here a jeep Willis, still being built pretty much like the original apparently. But common scene that day, people all over a car yelling and laughing.

 

wet family cruising around. I think the poor skinny peddler deserved some applause...the street is wet though the sun had been fierce all day.

water festival.

 

 

Rangoon. It was the new year and the water festival  in Thailand and neighboring countries too. That year 2004, I was lucky enough to be there when it happened. It is pretty hectic I must say. Asian people who look so quiet and reserved get wild. Don't even think of staying dry if you venture in the streets. They'll whack you again and again with water from any kind of containers or hose. Drivers and people queue everywhere in the streets at water points like this one where other players wait with water. They get splashed to the bones and speed up to the next water point to start again. Same story all over the streets, people walk around and splash each other. At shops, houses, on street corners...from the little kids to Grandmas, everybody participates. And they're quite happy to spot a visitor. I needed 4 eyes and a plastic bag. 4 eyes to spot the attackers, a bag to quickly protect my camera and hold it high in the air. They were nice enough to pause a second for that...It lasted all day. There were music stands with Burmese rock (like Chinese rock to give an idea, I didn't feel like calling a producer...), food stands too of course. There was such a burst of joy in the air. Of course, living under one of the worst dictatorships in the world, they enjoy every opportunity when the government pretends to let it go.

in Burmese papers, I didn't read any news about it but in Thailand a few people died in the process, alcohol involved. There would have been some murders as well. Brazilian carnival style? Girls were not so hot here though...

 

somewhere around Bagan and the 4000 temples. I had rented a bicycle for a few days, cruising around from dawn till dusk. Loved it of course. Spotted this Buddhist place.  Not impressive as opposed to the Schwedagon he?

 

Life goes by...I was tempted to ask for a haircut too but my bag and the clean razor

were at the hotel...

 

I forgot the name of this tribe but the women are always dressed in black. Only the headdress and the bag are colorful.

 

doesn't she look like a hippy?

 

dunno what she smokes but it doesn't look bad...

lake Inle

 

lake Inle, locust village, floating garden, few bridges. The houses are so huge, brightly lit by big windows. As opposed to mud huts, or most brick houses in Tanzania: tiny and the windows always small, even on big houses, aargh. Burmese are apparently not richer than Tanzanians but they seem to enjoy a minimum of comfort like space!

instead of learning to ride a bicycle or bloody soccer, they learn to steer a boat.

 

 

 

you want to meet your neighbor? take the boat...

 

many tourists around but people still 'like' us? Not sure but there's no begging anyway. Just some curiosity. Which I can definitely understand. Some of us, even me maybe, have a way to dress....

 

 

2 beggars but not every active....

 

a remote monastery. I was the only visitor at that time, it was a bit of the beaten tracks but  not that much. These guys barely looked at me. Which puzzled me. If they're are so many tourists in the area, they should be a nuisance and the place should be closed to us. If I'm a rarity, I'd think they'd watch me in detail...maybe they had travelled a bit and knew about our species...

 

would it be interesting to read her biography?

portraits...

repeating myself I know but people were so easy for pictures, as opposed to Tanzanians anyway...

 

a couple in Rangoon. Somehow I prefer the traditional outfits than this street wear. There is my reflection in the girl's glasses.

 

in Mandalay I think, I only bought some parts of watermelon after she posed. In her eyes, all I could read was something like "is this dude going to buy my fruit?"

 

ah kids in Burma even in touristy spots, such a relief! They were not yelling "white man" on sight. Here it is "slightly" a pain...even the adults call "mzungu", here in Arusha! They never seem to be bored of it. And we are quite a few thousands, not a rare species. Weird.

 

at least twice in their lives, men have to enter a monk period, as a young teen, and once again around 20. More often is welcome but not compulsory.

 

 

"giraffe-girl"...I have mixed feelings about that term, a bit derogatory. The only tribe to perform this modification, to women only, is the Padaung or Kayan tribe. They stretch over Thailand as well. 7000 members only. For long times, it was believed the vertebras were in a mess with such a modification, that the women were to die with a broken neck if the coil was removed ( as a punishment for adultery for instance). New research tends to prove that the neck has a normal size, that the vertebras are OK. The illusion of the 'giraffe neck' is due to the ribs and clavicles being pushed down by the heavy coil. And it seems that the women can cope and somehow recover their muscles without it... thanks Wikipedia.

 

food in Burma

 

easy people, really. What a shame they have to endure such a horrific life. The events from last year prove it again unfortunately.

of course, next to the touristy spots, like Bagan, the same people become a real plague. Visiting their shop, having a look even a free look (luckily), following a bit in the streets... same all over the world sadly.

 

 

traditional fishing on lake Inle.

 

she accepted to pose but didn't change her attitude at all. Though it was a bit of a remote area without foreigner in sight. I was not worth much in term of entertainment...

 

a nun and a young food seller. Her cheeks are painted yellow. It is a Burmese skin care product that I've seen all over the place at any age, even on boys.

 

2 local restaurants. I must say that Burmese food is not going to catch up anytime soon with Chinese, French or Italian food. Luckily there is a big Chinese (for that purpose) and Indian community so I only ate there after a few trials with those restaurants. Too much salt for one, even on packaged fruit! A local guide and a doctor confirmed that their diet was really crap, unhealthy on top of being unsavory. But as said they're not fat at all.

 

the last restaurant I tried, with new friends from all over the world, was tempting because there was a buffet with 14 different dishes. All of us, all, stuck to rice, tomatoes and potatoes, leaving aside the dishes with sauces and spices. I missed Thailand and Cambodia on that matter.

about Burma, pagoda Schwedagon

 

a big difference between Africa and Asia: architecture.  Here is the pagoda Schwedagon in Rangoon. 98 m high, 50 tons of gold leaves, on top there are more than 4000 diamonds and other jewels. It is surrounded by dozens of other temples.

 

though not of the spiritual type myself, I loved the place. Peaceful, hardly no tourist, no advertising, no tourist shop, people didn't mind me hanging around (a silent camera helps I bet), thousands of details to watch, to learn...

 

a man praying at one of the numerous little altars. No queue, convenient. Sobriety is not the main trait of this type of art.

 

kids are kids everywhere, but these two were not disrespectful, they were just not wasting time on the boiling hot pavement.

 

This holy place, like the others I've visited, are organised a little bit differently than a church. People gather here to socialise, have a nap, take some food and pray. Kids are allowed to play around and further like these two above BUT silently, pfew.

 

 

another example of family gathering and watching life passing by.

 

nuns passing by, always in red and pink, shaved heads too.

 

a monk and a civilian praying together facing one pagoda of their choice. In fact, there are numerous pagodas packed next to each other. Wealthy people have the right to buy and bring their own....

 

 

or quite a few Buddha here and there... a bit packed in the end. Imagine so many crosses with the nailed statue against each other.

 

about Burma

I'm processing about 40,000 pictures in my files. That is pictures that I have saved. I must have discarded as much as that. Which I still had to process, watch  them at least once at some point!

Mom offered me a superb camera with some lenses for my 18th birthday. As usual she trusted me in my choices, not scared that I would drop that expensive hobby within a short time. Maybe she was pleased that I didn't just ask for a second hand car...I preferred to carry on by train or on my tiny motorbike.

that passion never failed me. Before I bought my first digital Nikon (a fabulous D200 by the way), I had shot about 1350 films, or roughly 47,000 pictures, in 18 years. Pricey hobby so I was 'careful'. Since my digital period started less than 2 years ago, I'm coming close to another 40,000 clicks, but this being free of charge, one tends to go wild. Funny enough my left and right indexes look the same...

so down to 40,000 from a total of 100,000 but still discarding...

at the moment  pictures from Burma keep me busy. Denise, don't worry it is just a quick break, I don't forget the exhibition. I couldn't help seeing  some similarities with Tanzania, but big differences too. Here we go with some examples...

I was traveling light with a Leica M6, 2 lenses. Perfect gear to meet people and take more personal pictures, instead of stealing with a bazooka lens from 50m meters away. Though you can also steal pictures from close range, true.

common suspicious food...

carts are of a different model ... though I don't remember seeing a kid in Tanzania pulling a cart, even a small one like this.

market day in a  remote area of Rangoon. Not much to sell, not much profit I'm afraid... but quite a difference with Tanzania: I was rarely asked for money. This man even looks at me for the picture.

any kind of business, even small, seems here too to drag relatives around. So much for the profit to share...well, what do I know really...

different stars or so-called stars on sale. Here Nirvana, but there were the usual football players available as well. Looking at the posters, some Asians make fame too. In Tanzania, Madonna, Rambo and Schwarzie are the main idols. No locals I'd say. What a pity if that's what they admire in the West. Soon they'll get in awe for Paris Hilton...can't be worse than that though.

I'm still waiting to see an African mama smoking a cigar, or even a cigarette...talking about mamas, very few fat people in Burma. Whereas in Africa obesity is officially on the rise...my source from a newspaper, not my feeling.

market day on lake Inle. I admit I don't know about African floating market...anybody with a clue? 

is the weight also rigged?

volcano belching again

the thing has thus been quiet since mid March or so.   The ash spread is quite clear on this shot below.

On the 8th Apr, I finally saw the activity reported since the 2nd. People on the ground clearly heard some bangs! Damn, I'd love to be camping there when it erupts....

Nothing major if compared to the previous months but still decent enough.

the plume was plain gray that day. Sometimes brown or black. Even white but then it is a small thin smoke...

one side...

and the other...lake Natron in the background.

I'm flying there today, let's hope for some action...

low around Lengai

well I was not that low, just lower than the top, but not far from the volcano slope, chasing details or nice vista. I wonder how old is this crater here below. Just at the foot...quite big. The ashes from the 2nd of April according to a witness have again covered the same area, the SW. And lots of Maasai people stay on the spot. A bit of "Inch Allah" attitude.

yesterday I sent one view from the south. Steel gray tones from the lava  flows. Today, here is a view from the west. Softer gray tones from the ashes.

some dry bush to prove there is some colors out there....

those gullies have been carved by the lava. They are deeper than they look. maybe I should have a low pass there one day and tried to get some shots...

looks like a giant gardener has raked the soil...

Volcano Oldoinyo Lengai wakes up again...

this is the low season so I don't fly that much these days (finally). Monday 7th I flew to Seronera in the Serengeti, having a chance to see Lengai again. She had been quiet for 3 weeks apparently.

 

the area was all whitish or gray again. Probably a new burst of ashes on the usual SW side. It looked like  the Moon sometimes.

 

 

funny leaks overflowing the crater...

 

  some clouds on top so I couldn't get a perfect vertical view, too bad. The old awful rotten eggs smell was hovering around. I know the smell perfectly, I was a naughty boy. Or so they said... I admit I used to play with those stinking vials...my favorite trick was to wait for the train or the tube, throw a vial in a carriage before the doors closed. Poor passengers....anyway, back to the volcano.

 

 

remember these pictures are in colors, not B/W. Look at some brush or old grass...

leaving the volcano I dropped a coupla thousand feet alongside and quite close to the SW slope and shot dozens pictures. I was looking for the ravines, lava flows, and other bulging marks. Quite fascinating. Art and Nature....

 

one view from lower altitude... white on one side, steel gray on the other...

I stayed one night in the Serengeti. A lion in a tree was the second treat of the day.

hot air balloon, bis

just being lazy after a long day, so just a few lines today.

more pictures from the balloon trip.

isn't that cute and reassuring with all that poaching going in the world? Check carefully in the middle of the picture. Baby elies! 3 of them, well protected by their mom.

 

zebras...they were usually pretty cool. Not scared by the burners. The elephants on the other hand didn't like that noise at all. Luckily the pilots were aware of that and at the first signs of trumpeting or any other sign, they'd leave the area pronto.  Like below when the elephants started to run away... 2 babies, look! At that size, they're barely one year-old.

 

2 elephants from another group.

 

impalas in a little forest. A herd of bachelors. Sporting horns, easy to recognize.

another spotting, a loner this time. Look at the track, a typical animal track. Not human made.

 

more impalas further. Females this time, no horns. The male, the alpha male for the time being ,must be very close.

 

vertical view of another herd of impalas. Unusual perspective...

 

...and this one didn't expect to be spotted while fertilizing the ground...

 

 

a little trip in a hot air balloon

another lucky day! I spend in average one day a week in the bush, usually a lodge, sometimes in a tented camp, which I definitely prefer. This kind of luxury camp tend to be smaller, so quieter too. Less likely to to be attacked by a herd of noisy rednecks (ou en français, pèquenots ou encore beaufs). Promised I'll post some pictures of them soon. I say rednecks though I'm sure they are not always real ones. It looks like many travellers leave their brains and good manners at home...

Why a night in the bush? Not because my boss loves me but because there might an early departure from the bush the next day and Arusha airport is not equipped for night operation (hardly equipped for anything anyway) or because of some combinations of empty flights. In this case it is then cheaper, makes more sense to keep the aeroplane away than flying back and forth empty. Unfortunately, pilots are usually warned the day before any flight happens. A real pain you know where...no chance to organise anything.

so here is my point: a balloon safari! I've been in Tanzania for 9 years and never boarded one. There are a few in the Serengeti belonging to Serengeti Balloon Safaris. Either it is already fully booked, or my departure time doesn't allow me to join in. That kind of trip is very popular it must be said.

this one is an old picture just to show what it looks like when you see one balloon and start drooling...

so finally, mid March, I got an opportunity to jump in a hot air balloon with Nick and Abeid, the pilots, for 80 min of pure pleasure. Wake up call at 5 am, the gondola (modern though it looks on purpose ancient with woven ropes) is prepared, the balloon envelope starts first being inflated with a simple fan to open up, then only once the opening is big enough do the burners get into action.

it looks like an easy job but I learnt a lot from Nick. This job requires a lot of skills and knowledge, and in turn a full pilot licence. To change direction for instance: there is no rudder so the wind is the boss. So use or manipulate the boss( as in working life too) to get where you want. That is to climb up or down since the wind changes direction with altitude.

at dawn, as the sun was about to pop up, we departed under the burners roar and heat. The burners only burst here and there for quick adjustments.

look at the babies, tucked in their mom's bellies...

what a change for me to see things from the air at 10 mph or so, not having to fly with my knees or feet while shooting at random, that is with the bloody Caravan little off set window...The 206has a big window, much comfier for a camera use. Who says I should just fly and not bother with pictures? From the gondola I could use a 400mm lens and frame precisely though the light is a bit low at this time of the day, I could see "cleanly", that is not through blueish perspex windows. I always carry a pair of little binoculars in my flight bag, veryhandy today. I could hear clearly the elephants trumpeting at us! One of the most impressive noises in the bush. Only lions and thunders can compete with that I guess.

we saw a rare caracal (felis caracal), the African version of the lynx, mainly nocturnal and solitary. Unfortunately the cat was still running far from us and I had to blow up the pictures quite hard to see something, so the quality goes down....sorry.

we spotted as well one warthog (phacochère), some topis (damalisques), impalas, buffaloes, zebras and wildebeests. Some details I never really notice when I fly a plane are bones, flowers, little birds, except when they seem to play chicken with me. Not bad for one trip! The lake Victoria could be seen in the distant haze.

80 min of peaceful happiness, just letting it go. Enjoying every moment, evry spotted animal, every detail, the silence, my luck of the day...perfect way to start the day.

landscapes were quite stunning, just a few hundred feet at most from the ground.

landing was smooth, the shadow was fascinating to observe, growing quickly as we came down. After landing, the huge envelope slowly deflates and lies down. Champagne and breakfast on the spot to keep up the high spirits!

such a balloon trip is a bit pricey at more than 400$ but it is worth every penny.

I know I've been moaning a bit about my job lately but there are some serious positive aspects with it I must say...

the next picture is from another day in the Serengeti. A friend, Geoff, was landing in Seronera when a wildebeest (gnou) cut him off, and a balloon was drifting in the background.

aerials and animals

one lucky day, early departure from Arusha, no passengers on one flight! So around Kleins Camp and Kusini, I flew a bit low and took some pictures of the animals around. Not that low as I couldn't then take pictures. 50 m is a good low limit on the Caravan 208. Faster than a good old 206 and without a real window...it doesn't help me at all.

flying really low for fun is another type of exercise. The major risk then is to get a spear from an angry Maasai warrior across the propeller because I have scattered his goats or cows. No sense of humor these guys....

 

 

some giraffes around the airstrip at Kleins Camp, close to the Kenyan border. Nice shadows at 8 am.

 

 

buffaloes initially standing 50 m off the airstrip but of course they chose to start running across when I was taking off. Quite fun because in such a situation I have to brake quite heavily coming close to the herd and that offers a good view of the scared beasts ...

wildebeests, or gnus (gnous en français) around Kusini, southern Serengeti. It looks like an army of ants seen from above. These years, the herd has been estimated at a million and an half.

 

quite often, they walk in rows like this. It is said they know where they're heading. I'm not always convinced as I had seen the same scenery a few days earlier...going the opposite direction. Probably a male leading and not asking directions...

seriously, the animals just follow the rains. So yes they turn around, leave a place, come back again if the grass was not green as expected. Funny how the guides and the managers love the pilots more at some time of the year....the migration happens twice a year but it is a continuous movement. So you don't book for the same period in Kenya or in Tanzania. So our observations are most welcome.

the females dropped their babies not long ago, basically altogether. So the predators can eat all of that food at one. Another example of survival skills. The youngsters are still light brown with white legs. Within a few minutes after birth they are able to walk, they have to be in order to avoid the predators. How come we, humans, need one year just to walk clumsily. 2 legs against 4 for example?

some gazelles, Thomson gazelles for sure with the black stripes, and probably Grant gazelles without stripes. But I agree these low resolution pictures for www won't allow much detail...

 

and finally some ostriches...males in black and white, females in dull brown.

Mt Kilimanjaro and new snow

the long rains have started. Personally I welcome that fact. The skies get dramatic, the colors change on the ground, the airstrips get muddy and challenging sometimes, the dust has disappeared offering great vistas towards the horizon...

now operators, businessmen, tourists...won't necessarily agree. An airstrip that gets unusable and too muddy due to the rains means headaches and moaning from many people...an airstrip that gets trapped in low clouds falls in the same category...

 

long rains also bring storms. Same considerations as above basically. Ok I admit flying into a serious thunderstorm is not advisable and it can be scary when the weather radar shows too much red or worse, purple dots...

but look at the result: Mt Kilimanjaro after a few of these storms nearly looks like in the old days. Quite white on top. Unfortunately the new snow or hail layers are thin and won't last. Global warming and human activity in the area will win again...

these shots show the mountain from different directions, including from Kenya. The smaller top is called Mawenzi. Snow is really rare on that one. So I was thrilled to see that. The big top is called Kibo.

the mountain might snow free within 10 years. I hate that  'snow free' expression, as if the snow had been a disease or a republican politician...