Yearly Archives: 2017

It was a dream-come-true: riding around in a truck with a pop-up roof across the open grasslands of Northern Namibia. When I had the opportunity to travel with a small group of photography enthusiasts under the guidance of photographer Ben McRae and local guide guide Morne Griffiths, I had a momentary pang of guilt: I don’t know how many times my […]

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One of the many joys of travel is the food. I love food!  I also love markets, and the insight they give into the everyday lives of the local people. Combine those two components: food and markets, and I am in my element! So, I was very excited to read that the special package deal […]

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I lived within easy reach of Australia’s Blue Mountains for many years, and while I’d take visitors up there regularly for day-trips and hikes, I guess I rather took them for granted. I knew some of the stories of the hardships the early explorers (Blaxland, Wentworth, Lawson, and their unnamed servants) faced trying to find a […]

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Once upon a time, a giant took a large rock and threw it away. The rock made a great hole where it landed. When the giant looked around, he saw a white surface, and he exclaimed: “Look, a white lake!” This exclamation is quite literally the meaning of the Mongolian name for Great White Lake: Terkhiin Tsagaan Nuur.  The real […]

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It was Day Five of our canal-boat cruise down the Danube River: Early in the morning, our boat docked in the tiny city of Melk (population: 5,257) in Austria. Melk is is best known for it’s magnificent Benedictine abbey, first established in 1089 when Leopold II, Margrave of Austria, gave one of his castles to a group of Benedictine monks. Newer […]

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