« September 2010 | Main | November 2010 »
Just cruising on U.S. roads is usually a pleasure. Little traffic and vast expanses of incredible scenery. I must say we don’t have the same roads in Belgium, even in most parts of Europe…
a last view on the Sand Dunes and the strong wind on the dunes, Death Valley.
from sand to rocks.
look at this, a long ribbon of asphalt across a wild landscape is a daily view, and I rarely got bored of it.
this area is aptly named “artist’s palette”.
our rental car in this wild scenery. According to the rental company, we couldn’t drive off tarmac! Assholes…how can they expect you visit US parks and miss so many wonderful areas because some tracks won’t be tarred?
inhospitable desert but surprisingly colorful sometimes.
and “Golden Canyon” below.
Flying Medical Service…first flights in 1999. I had never been anywhere outside America or Europe, and Tunisia. So my expectations on Africa were quite high since my references were to be found in movies or wildlife documentaries (or mixed stories from the Congo). I had a well-appraised Minolta X700 and another Minolta, a near vintage SRT100x from the ‘70s, you know the kind of steel ones you could nearly use as a hammer, and a few fixed lenses. Digital was a expensive concept of crap quality by then.
one of my earliest Maasai warrior posing for me. I had quickly learnt the essential in photographic swahili: “I take a picture of you today and I bring a paper photo in 2 weeks”. No money involved, just a print. What a thrill (still is) to shoot such a character in the middle of nowhere. As I quickly learnt from emergencies and hospital reports, Maasai are a tough breed.
the X700 in good hands with a 135mm lens.
windy day.
a funny poser, his own idea for the picture.
donkeys are still the favored beast of burden but some camels had been introduced in Ngorongoro area, all the way from the Sahara or so. Though the camel is far better and more efficient in rough conditions than the donkey, Maasai didn’t feel ready for the change, too bad. Old habits die hard.
and in digital below, Nikon D300s. Excellent replacement of my superb but slightly ageing D200 (that I keep as a backup, no problem)
the Rift valley, Oleparkashi village, Mt Masonik in the distance.
serious little girl in Olbalbal, Ngorongoro area. Mid day sun, the worst: hard shadow and contrast… Early morning or late afternoon will always be the best time for shooting…
Olbalbal, dusty place these days…
a little pond,Olbalbal, that lies on the S.W. slope outside Ngorongoro Crater. Though nowadays, the pond looks more like a little lake.
animal footprints on the pond shore
flooded trees! Though we are at the end of the dry season.
I just took off from Olbalbal village which is dry and dust. A dust cloud can be seen after my departure.
that grey area must have been flooded previously.
Ngorongoro Crater with lake Magadi
airstrip maintenance can be an issue sometimes. On top when rains start to pour, the grass grows quickly, very quickly. And the propeller becomes a lawn mower.
and that’s a mess to clean up.
Makat, a new clinic near Mt Gelai, a few miles away from volcano Lengai
Makat, facing lake Natron. The pinkish white line on the horizon is that salt layer I’ve described and shown in previous posts.
Oleparkashi airstrip and Mt Masonik, again near Lengai, on top of the the Rift valley.
Engoveroni airtsrip.
waiting for a clearing in that serious piece of bad weather.
Endulen is not much in term of a village. But the scenery is outstanding and there is a bush hospital, which is priceless out there. Tanzania has about 1 doctor for 45.000 people. Yep you read it right, so when there is a hospital nearby your home, you’re lucky aren’t you? That’s one of the 3 hospitals where the Flying Medical Service pilots (I’m luckily one of them again) spend some nights between flying clinics in the area. Endulen is located a few miles south west of Ngorongoro Crater.
one morning I just walked around, watching life go by.
here Maasai come and get their treatment or on behalf of a patient. In Africa, it is common to rely on a relative when one is stuck in a hospital. Food, and sometimes medicines for the worst hospitals(!), is not provided. That’s the relatives’ job… I used to be a blood donor in Europe. So once in a while here, I give blood too. And I’ve never heard of a black person refusing ‘white’ blood for whatever reason whereas the opposite is true unfortunately. Called one time for a blood transfusion emergency, I had to give as well 10$ to the double poor father so he could rush to town and buy a blood pack and some other medical things while his daughter was nearly dying in the hospital waiting for my blood…I was in a killing mood towards the hospital administration…here at least, in Endulen, they’d be able to collect my blood.
various relatives and valid patients meet outside for chats. The wards tend to be overcrowded unfortunately.
cooking, washing…relatives don’t idle. There is even a common kitchen, which is a luxury.
breakfast
those roofed galleries are appreciated in the rainy season.
of course, a touristy trap like that always works: put a vintage something on display and people on a road trip will most likely enjoy it.
and it was fun to walk around and snap at various angle or with various camera. Karine was snapping Polaroid as well or me and my Leica as below.
Leica M, 28 mm lens, and a good ol’ grainy film…
that blue curve will disappear soon, drying out and losing its colors.
sometimes I feel like I can see some 3D in there…tough it is dead flat.
once in a while I overfly lake Eyasi, south of Ngorongoro Crater. Another salt lake that belongs to the Rift Valley. Not as colorful as lake Natron but sometimes quite decent like here, 2 weeks ago.
Oldeani mountain half hidden in the clouds and haze, on south west Ngorongoro crater rim.
proud Maasai warrior
Sonjo women
Maasai woman with her gourds, or calabash, made out of sausage tree fruit.
Sonjo kid, pre warrior status I’d say.
classic, hot in the day, chilly at night. A camp fire was obviously most welcome.
various time of the day, various light. What a pleasure to walk around for hours and look, watch for the light or the details…
kneeling down.
one flaw was that there was a bunch of bikers making noise around. Though I admit I was jealous of them, I wish we hadn’t been at that same paradise location together.
last direct sunlight of the day
Um El Ma, or whatever other spellings available, is alone oasis in the Acacous, part of the greater Sahara. Well oasis…the water is heavily salted, not to be drunk from the lake but from a source a bit further. So salted we could float half chest. Another feat, more unique than salt content was the boiling temperature just 2 m below the surface! Way hotter than the surface which was just perfect like a bath.
just grab your camping gear and walk a bit to pitch it. Loved it. Some nights we slept directly under the stars. A perfect starry night every time, far from city light pollution.
2 weeks mostly a walking safari in Libya. Though camels were available I preferred the freedom to wander on my own near the caravan, and definitely cherished the privilege to be alone for some hours every day, away from people, though it was a nice group. I came to realize the desert was best savored on my own. Listen to the deafening silence or the wind…priceless. The colors were ever changing, best in early morning or late afternoon.
2006, a Leica M, 2 lenses only (28 and 90mm), a bunch of slide films and some B/W films.
B/W editing can be interesting too.
a couple to give a size comparison.
we camped here, and the picture above is shot at sunset whereas the one below, the exact same spot, was shot in the morning.
Death Valley is most inhospitable though some flowers or bushes can grow here and there. There is a kind of similarity with the Sahara: desert doesn’t mean only sand patches, rocks are to be found too. here in a reasonably small park, I was impressed byt he diversity of the geology: salt lake, mountains and snowy peaks, lots of various rock formation and colors, sand dunes… the sand dunes here are much smaller than the ones I remember from Libya but the feeling is about the same: awe.
sometimes clouds help for a dramatic effect, adding some shade in the distance and enhancing the bright lit foreground.
here is a person to give an idea of the dune size. Notice the burst of sand leaving the dune top.
here we are at Bad Water basin, a nick name from the one pioneer who couldn’t find proper water for his mules. The lowest point on Earth they say, 282 feet or 86 meters below sea level. Awfully hot and dry in summer, it was just really windy in April when temperatures vary between 32°and 44°C in average. But up to 57°C in July! The place reminded me of lake Natron in northern Tanzania: a large expanse of salt waters, mountains in the distance, inhospitable area and a feeling of humbleness. But the lake is much more colorful of course.
being used to Tanzanian nat’l parks which are usually grandiose but extremely poorly managed and f…ly expensive to visit (and one wonders where that fee money disappears…), US parks are a dream: well run and designed, and cheap. 80$ for an annual pass, valid for one car and 4 occupants! And that’s it, not hidden nasty shitty costs. In Tanzania, with 80$, well, one gets in for the day but the 2nd friend stays out. Add 50$ a day per person for sleeping rights (!), 10 for the car, another 100 to go down in Ngorongoro Crater…soon they’ll put a fee to watch animals or use cameras and binoculars. You bet?
this close up looks similar to the aerial pictures I take of Natron, though on a much smaller scale and less colorful here, this is shot with a standard lens from my height.
vast expanse with howling wind. I enjoyed the feeling of loneliness even though there were other people around.
rangers, and efficient. Again, a big change for Karine and I…
telescope Peak at 11.000 ft, the highest peak in Death Valley. The trek to reach that park is said to be spectacular.
various colors all around.
a famous name after Antonioni’s movie though I’ve never seen it.
badlands as it is called but with supplies in the car, this place certainly doesn’t look like a bad land. But on a trek without water that’d be another story. As Indians say, you don’t eat landscapes…so badlands it is, a tiny part of the big park. One embraces all of it in one panoramic view.
the mountain range in the distance looked really blue like that all day long. Here is probably Telescope peak, the highest in Death Valley, 11049 feet.
and a B/W editing for a change.
I was trying to figure out how I would try and love painting this landscape. And most likely hate the results…
most popular sighting at sunrise or sunset, if sun shows up. That day, it didn’t matter as sunshine was quite scarce.
even at this low altitude, it was cold and windy, not as bad as near Dante’s View but still. Look at these people’s clothes.
the pictures below are about the same but shot with a Rolleiflex, 6x6 negatives, vintage camera, from the 60’s in my case.
shopping had been quite successful in Las Vegas, so we left after a few days, had to. I could have stayed 2 weeks there shooting and shooting again. Death Valley was our next stop. Curiously I didn’t remember much from my previous trip in ‘97. Getting old maybe.
on Dante’s ridge, near Dante’s View, lousy weather, cold, dull, really cold. I should have listened to Mom and pack warm clothes. We couldn’t stay out of the car up there, wind was howling, like throwing needles at us. That dry lake below is Badwater, the inferno (as read in brochures) 5000 feet lower.
we left Dante’s and took a cute little loop, named Twenty Mule Team Canyon. Normally we couldn’t even drive in there with the rental car. Some f…policy from the rental brain-dead morons. Sure you’re going to visit the West and religiously stay on tarmac only?
colors started to pop up, clouds were breaking up here and there finally.
Those layers of various rocks and in turn colors were just amazing but the best was to come with Zabriskie Point next door.
here is Zabriskie Point. More tomorrow.
a good way to make some money in Las Vegas is to don a famous suit, either a fiction character or a singer or film star, easy to recognise and pose with tourists for a fistful of dollars.
Zorro, which like many others is cool since you don’t even have to resemble him.
at Caesars Palace, actors are dressed in Roman clothing or Cleopatra for chicks, here in the (huge) lounge
Elvis is the most impersonated character I guess.
even stupid Japanese manga crap. And Superman, which we suspected might be an Elvis too when considering his mop of hair.
these 2 compared their business day and were not too pleased. We know because Darth Vador here forgot to switch off his microphone used for altering his voice and complaining loudly.
the huge lounge. Not the worst place to hang around and watch life go by.
she acted as a stewardess something, probably for the FVIP (that is Fucking VIP for those of you who don’t work in tourism industry). Good looking and all of course. Of course? Well we’ve seen some waitresses in mini skirts in some other places who were 60 years old at least. I’m not joking. I know about the quotas and non discrimination things but still that was a shock.
back inside the marvelous green house.
changing light on the roof.
the highest chocolate fountain in the world, pretty impressive and well designed. Coming from a Belgian keen on chocolate, that says a lot. And the rest of the shop was cozy and pretty well set too. Obviously the galleries inside of the Bellagio, as in other hotels, are open to everybody and there is no dress code….
definitely no dress code…I know I know we should be kind to the human kind as a whole blabla but still, what makes people dress like that? It’s not only that she doesn’t care, she must have thought of it, making it worse…I’m aware that maybe somebody laughed at me once in a while, who knows…but I’m confident to claim nothing compared to this.
more of the water show looking towards the Eiffel and the Planet Hollywood.
tomorrow something else.
the Caesars Palace was awesome but I had a slight preference for the Bellagio during our 2nd weekend in Las Vegas. Both as big and outrageous and luxurious but a little more subtle and classy for the Bellagio.
our room with a view! Not bad huh? Direct over the water show, with music aired both in the rooms and on the sidewalk near the pond. Sinatra, Elvis (“Viva Las Vegas of course”), some classical tunes…
from afternoon till midnight, every half hour. Big crowd every time and a lot of cheers to the music maestro-engineer. That water is just dancing and running, high or low, slow or fast, following perfectly the rhythm.
classical architecture I’m tempted to say.
that wall of water was rushing like a galloping horse.
inside the huge complex every square meter is decorated in each hallway or lounge, no space is lost. Flowers seem the the main theme.
I really liked these trussed roofs like in a railway station.
just as in the Caesars Palace, there is no need to get out of the hotel complex: swimming pools (yes plural), shops, gym, casino, green house, restaurants, chapels, an art gallery with some Monet, Picasso (!),…everything is there.
as for Las Vegas as a whole, I was quite often trying to imagine the brain storming sessions for every new project or keep the older institutions afloat. Full trucks of booze, LSD, peyote, escort girls…whatever to give inspiration, you name it, to keep those brains working at full speed and in all directions. Imagine the manager pushing his troops, “C’mon guys! Ideas ideas fucking hell! Whatever crazy stuff you can think of, go! 10.000$ for the next bright idea!”.
here is the superb green house between the swimming pools and the main lounge. Ever changing light during the evenings, changing flowers and props every couple of months.
and this just the main entrance where one parks the car briefly for bags transfer and hand the key over to the swat of valets. As big as a football pitch. Better be with a few thousands rooms.
I made a mistake yesterday, the Eiffel Tower hotel doesn’t exist and is in fact the Hotel Paris Las Vegas. Well,small mistake, it’s not as if I was on their payroll either….
anyway, back to the Las Vegas boulevard aka the Strip.
well colors and other things…like a so-called Michael Jackson impersonator and a…friend.
Hard Rock Cafe…my first one was in Dallas and I’ll never forget their incredible cheese cake (nope not on their payroll either)
and the pictures below show the New York new York hotel and its surroundings
for those of you who don’t know, there is a reproduction of a New York neighborhood including the Statue, a pyramid and a kind of Sphinx, a bit of Roma, a bit of Venice … whether you like it or not, you have to admit your jaws drop a coupla inches in the face of such excess and crazy ideas. Here is the Eiffel Tower hotel, nearly as big as the real one. I was thus impressed that the architects (and bankers) refrained to build bigger than the Paris tower. This being America, “reasonable” is not the first word to come to one’s mind…
tattoos are all the rage out there, every category of people. Well it might be an obvious statement for you guys living in the West but remember I’ve been out in Tanzania for 11 years, and whenever I go home tends to be in April, in cold Belgium. So people are still dressed up.
men are quite looked after when it comes to special entertainment but girls start to have their turn too. Good for them. I read once that smart entrepreneurs started to fish in that goldmine in the soccer World Cup 98: bored women left alone by selfish men stuck in front of television with a beer and a pizza. Big market indeed.
even driving, OK that is on Las Vegas boulevard aka the Strip, is entertaining: just watch and enjoy the scenery.
the new MGM after the previous one burnt down.
rent an aircraft or a helicopter from here to Grand Canyon is probably pricey but why not…
cool cafe huh?
our hotel, the Caesars Palace for the first weekend we went there in April 2010. I wondered where Karine had trapped me. Quite a change for the lousy hotels I go to when I travel alone, or even the luxury lodges/camps in Tanzania she got me used to. But yeah, madame Karine likes to travel in style…and I admit I get used to it.
look at the size of the lobby!! We could organise a race track in there. This is a double circular alley: the marble column, like near the chick in black, is part of a circular row of columns splitting the huge lobby in two huge rings. Compare the ceiling lights or floor to see they’re different sections.
a last batch of medical clinic. Tomorrow will be another subject for a change.
one-eyed woman.
curious kids trying to mirror themselves in my wide lens.
I made my day last week by revisiting that long, steep and curved gorge on my way to Endulen. The gorge divides Oldeani mountain in 2 parts. And Oldeani is located on the S.W. rim of Ngorongoro Crater. The Cessna 206 is a good tool for this kind of flight, slow enough and good speed brakes.
approaching from the crater, slowing down. No passengers.
that white spot here and there on the right of some pictures is a propeller blade. I stuck the camera out of the window for better quality. Aircraft windshields are never clear and clean enough to my liking.
part of the nose included on this image.
skimming the trees for a few seconds…
power off, full flaps at 40° (that equals speed brakes) and dive.
not the most outrageous gorge out there but decent enough to start a perfect day.
problem is I have to make a choice: flying much lower and yanking the plane more but no picture for safety reasons if I shoot myself at the same time, or take it easy like here and bring pictures. Thinking of doing a little video soon, trying to figure out how to fix the camera somewhere so I can concentrate on flying with 2 hands.
nothing special about this picture except that these women are wives of the same man, the chief of Pininyi village, lake Natron. They seem to get along very well. The guy is very reasonable with only 2 wives to deal with. More than enough if you ask me but up to 4 is the norm in Maasai culture.
this teen has been circumcised recently. That is the passage between childhood and warriorhood. He’ll wear that black cloak and some feathers, white make up is also common, for the healing time and purification process. Then a big ceremony will be thrown up again.
a rare Maasai example of straightened hair with gel.
circumcised boys. These are very sober, only the black cloak on show. I wish they wore the white make up and the wooden frame filled up with feathers on their head. Lazy buggers…
flooded trees in a pond, Olbalbal, S.W. of Ngorongoro.
animal footprints on the shore.
one of the few rivers feeding lake Natron, areas prized by local people to feed cattle.
burnt and drier a bit further up towards Ngorongoro highlands.
Engoveroni, THE airstrip. Last week was the first time I landed there in 8 years, quite a thrill. Some of my earliest pictures from 1999.
yup, the same spot, in different seasons.
Steve Cunningham, a veteran Flying Medical Service pilot who trained me as well as Pat Patten in 1999. Ngaresero was not busy that day so he had time for a quick nap.
young freshly circumcised boys, to become warriors soon after.
various pictures of the Cessna 206, including old ones, in its favorite environment: the bush airstrips.
a dust devil coming near the aircraft, like a tiny mini twister. I got caught once in one while taking off. Waow what a kick in the ass! A surprise.
donkeys and the herder crossing the sandy airstrip at Ngaresero, bottom of the Rift valley near lake Natron.
here at Engoveroni on the slopes of Empakai crater. A crazy airstrip if I know one! The mountain behind the 2 women is Kerimasi, one of the many extinct volcanoes in the area.
nice slope, about 11%.
the volcano Lengai can be seen from Engoveroni
Lengai and Kerimasi.
Ngaresero with the high cliffs, 2000 ft, of the Rift valley.
still Ngaresero with the volcano Lengai in the distance.
Endulen in Ngorongoro crater area.
Njurlan on lake Natron. The clinic takes place under the tree.
flying in loose formation for the pictures but much closer otherwise.
if I’m not needed to help the doctor or the nurses, I hover around and look at various angles or expressions scenes to catch.
A woman going home, at Oleparkashi, on the plateau above the Rift valley near lake natron or the volcano Lengai.
turning around 180° and here is the volcano Lengai. The aircraft is on the airstrip which is hard to spot. But even if we were to miss it and land beside it wouldn’t matter too much as the plain is so uniform.
the hut is being refurbished so the nurse had to work outside and she just held the balance to weigh the baby.
the place is always very windy and chilly.
this is the Endulen clinic tour. Endulen is a tiny village located near Ngorongoro Crater. But there is a bush hospital too, from where we radiate around. While landing at Oleparkashi on the plateau dominating the Rift valley, I saw 4 Maasai people carrying a stretcher coming to the airstrip. I wished I had arrived before them, the pictures would have been interesting. Anyway, here is the homemade stretcher with patient lying unconscious. 2 branches, some goat skins, not much. Here the doctor, a Maasai himself, is enquiring about all the symptoms and details about her case. It appears she has been sick and out for about 2 weeks but managed to deliver a healthy baby nevertheless.
the mountain far under the wing is the volcano Oldoinyo Lengai.
first thing to do was to put a perfusion.
the husband looked really caring, trying to comfort his wife.
the doctor performed further checks. 2 weeks lying without proper medical care in a hut meant she was kind of anemic, suffering from hypoglycemia for instance.
the perfusion did wonders and she kind of half woke up. Here a painful check is performed.
stiffness in the neck. Diagnose is meningitis.
conclusion was that she wouldn’t survive the day while waiting for the end of the clinic, and decision was taken to fly her to Endulen hospital straight away. A 2nd perf’ was given, since she had been giving some live signs with the first one, thus recovering from the hypoglycemia case, a good start.
cute huh? I understand the (old) husband didn’t want to lose her. Also how many cows did he pay for her?
a risk with unconscious people is that their bowels are not under control, so she trashed the seat in the aircraft. Luckily only the seat so I could removed it and have it cleaned at the hospital.
later in the evening I enquired about her and she had regained consciousness, was doing fine. Worth the dirty seat I guess…
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||||||
| 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 |
| 30 | 31 |
