Jun 042012
 

I’m Okay!

Anyone who checks regularly for my daily update may be wondering what happened to me. It’s okay, I didn’t fall off the face of the Earth. While having lunch on Friday I realized that I had the opportunity to go to Wembley for the England vs. Belgium game. Coupling that opportunity with the fact that my travel buddy to Iceland was in London, I found myself spending Friday night on a plane. I had packed my laptop so that I could keep up with my daily posts. Unfortunately, in my haste to pack I forgot my external hard drive, where all my photos are located, and as a result couldn’t upload anything! I’m back in Bermuda now, after a great weekend, and had planned on making amends by uploading a whole series of photos. But, it’s late now, and I haven’t finished the photos I had planned on uploading, so you get a normal post today and a larger one tomorrow.

Something Interesting: Imperial History of The Middle East

I’ve decided to start adding interesting things that I find on the internet to my daily posts. It should provide a few more minutes of entertainment if you’re looking for a distraction at work.  I’m not going to set out to do this on a daily basis, I’ll just upload bits and pieces as they strike me as interesting. I plan on keeping the topic travel and/or photography related. However, already today I may be stretching these topics a bit.

This link (click here) is to an animated map showing just how much turmoil the Middle East has experienced throughout history as it takes us through the various empires that ruled the region. I figure the geography and history of a region is closely related to travel, so have decided it just about fits the “travel” topic. Let me know what you think of it in the comments section below. I was particularly shocked by the extent of the Mongol Empire!

Going forward I think you’ll find the “Something Interesting” part of my post below the daily photograph.

Today’s Photo: Lake Kivu Contrast

I saw this scene developing and thought it would make for a pretty funny photo. All those tourists in their bright orange life jackets contrasted with the local fishermen on their way out for a night of fishing. The tourists had arrived at the Paradis Malahide on a bus tour. They ate lunch and then set out on a boat to explore Lake Kivu before piling back on their bus and taking off.

On Lake Kivu, local fishermen and tour boat with tourists in orange life-jackets and Rwanda's rolling green hills beyond.

Dec 302011
 

If you stay at the Paradis Malihide in Rwanda you’ll get to watch these fishermen leaving at about 6pm each day in these huge rowboats to fish lake Kivu for sambassa and tilapia. They stay out all night, returning at about 7am the next day. The canoes are made of three hulls, attached by beams. The paddling happens in the two outriggers and it takes the a long time to get up to speed.

On our first day there we heard them singing on their way out and ran, in the rain to the docks to watch. Looking out at this departure is incredible as at least a dozen of these giant canoes slowly make their way to deeper water. The spindly bits sticking out each end of the canoes are for stretching their nets out.

Lake Kivu, Rwanda fishermen leaving in canoes which are made of three hulls attached by beams and a spindly bit to hold the nets.