Brook with fall colours

The leaves of the trees start colouring into yellow and brown. Fall is coming. It's time for a refreshing walk in the forest! This morning I chose the area of the Hierdense beek, which is a well-known brook that is flowing for 25 km across the Veluwe. While walking along its banks, I became fascinated by two things. At first, the reflection of the fall-coloured beeches in the water and, secondly, the fallen beech leaves that were taken by the current. My photographic objective became clear. On a small bridge I found a suitable position. Camera locked on a sturdy tripod, frame a pleasing composition, and there you go. The necessary shutterspeed of a few seconds is obtained by combining a low ISO speed with a maximum aperture. Here is one of the results of today:

See you in the forest? It's pretty nice out there.

Dirk-Jan

Blown out on Vlieland!

Last weekend, Sandra, Max, and I enjoyed some days on the beautiful Wadden island of Vlieland. The Wadden area is one of our favorite destinations for a short holiday, since it is the most unspoiled area in the Netherlands. Every Wadden island has its own characteristic atmosphere, but they all have nature experience in common. Vlieland is a small, car-sheltered island where cycling and walking are the most-important and interesting ways of moving from A to B. We had to book a seal excursion on the Wadden sea as seals are the favorite animals of Max. Actually, it turned out to be a spectacular combination of seal watching and wild water rafting. Windforce 7 on the open sea is fun in a relatively small motorboat! We saw a lot of seals resting on the sand-banks. They even approached the boat within a few meters because of their curious nature. This trip gave us a lot of energy. On another occasion, we joined an excursion to the Vliehors, also called 'the Sahara of the North'. This desolated sand plain of about 30 square kilometers on the west of the island made a large impact on us. We felt small and surrounded by the elements.

Hope you enjoy the pictures,

Dirk-Jan

Safari with my dad

Hello everybody, unfortunately I haven't been able to update my blog the last months due to a very busy period on my work, archiving the many photos of last spring, and a safari with my dad. This post describes the last experience. The plans for our safari are already a few years old. After my father retired last May, he is in the position to plan his holidays freely. Actually life became one big holiday for him!

We spend the first two weeks of September in the magnificent Kruger NP in South Africa. Early september is the end of the dry winter. The animals gather around the remainders of water and wildlife sightings are abundant. We entered the parc via the south entrance at Crocodile bridge restcamp. We stayed there for 2 nights in a safari tent. It's incredible to wake up with an African bird concert. Afterwards we spend 2 nights at Skukuza restcamp in a luxury appartment at the border of the Sabie river! Can you imagine the views from our balcony with drinking elephant in the river bed? Satara restcamp was our next destination. Two days in prime lion country! Via Letaba restcamp with its bushbuck on the campsite and its large groups of buffalo, we reached Shingwedzi restcamp. Shingwedzi was our most northern destination in the parc and is well-known for its elephant population. We booked two night drives and we were treated with 3 leopard sightings! The climax of our journey was our last destination, Lower Sabie restcamp. Everything in and around this wonderful restcamp breathes wildlife. During our last morning drive in the parc we spotted a group of 4 cheetahs (2% of the parcs population). We were satified!

Our schedule was quite simple for two weeks. Every morning, we woke up at 5.30h. We left the gate at 6.00h for a 3 hours morning drive. These morning drives stimulated our appetite so much that we usually took a high-calory bush breakfast. During the hot hours of the day (over 40 degrees Celcius!), we took our rest at the restcamps or we drove to the next restcamp. At 3 o'clock the light became better. Time for a sunset drive until 18.00 h when the gates closed. At night we enjoyed the South-African culinary lifestyle with steaks on the braai, wonderful buffets, and wines from the region. Life can't be better! Time for a deed sleep.

Thanks dad, it was one of my most impressive experiences so far and I will always remember those precious moments!

Dirk-Jan