In celebration of their forthcoming trip, PTR recommends reading our previously published articles about this fabulous place.  From our experiences and those of our readers, Iceland is a must place to visit for anyone seeking adventure travel.

Interview with Jure-Kravanja

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Guest Article — The Land of Ice and Fire by Daniel Arenas Pintado

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PTR Recommended Tours – Iceland Photo Tours

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Iceland Aurora Tours

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Wild Photograph Holidays

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The PTR Team Goes to Iceland in April

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Last year I decided to focus my camera more on the area where I live. This was partly because I had at last found time to display my prints in our shop window and needed more images of the locality but also because I live in a very pretty part of the country and I had sadly neglected it. It does lack open stretches of water, which for me is a frustration, and I had been in the habit of running to the coast as soon as I had some time. Forcing myself to stay put  meant I had to try and open my eyes to its charms and work to a different formula where reflected skies and rushing tides played no part.

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I live in a small town (or large village) called Cleobury Mortimer in the south of Shropshire. It isn’t on the tourist map and most UK residents will never have set foot in it, though Brummies will maybe have driven through on their way to Wales and the nearby Ludlow with its Festival, castle and well known restaurants are crowd pleasers.

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In the distance of the photograph above you can see a snow covered Clee Hill (Titterstone Clee). This is my stomping ground. A place my dog and I  know well. It does have some rather unattractive radars on it but these in fact hold a certain fascination for me and last year I found myself there after dark hoping to catch a rare glimpse of the aurora that had been predicted. The lights hitting the clouds in the image below are coming from the urban mass of the West Midlands – obviously hiding any chance of seeing what I’d come to see but this helps to locate where I am.

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Being just a 10 minute drive from my house I can dash to this hill when the light looks promising…

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…or I feel a morning mist in the air.

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From Titterstone Clee you can see Brown Clee with great views across the Welsh Marches.

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Another nice walk is around Catherton Common. A tree here had caught my eye many times and at last this autumn I found it looking at its best.

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There is also a tree I can see from my house and I set myself the challenge of trying to catch it in different conditions and from varying angles. This proved useful when the weather made driving difficult and this last winter was certainly one to remember.

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This ancient oak is within the grounds of Mawley Hall.

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Mawley Hall can be seen here below within a shot of the tree near my house mentioned above. By walking around and using different lenses I have learnt a lot about how a familiar object can have a thousand different perspectives.

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Below is Hoary Ridge and the parish marker.  A treeless landscape with a great view that needs something to add height and interest and this marker does the job, add some golden light and a rainbow and I am happy.

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So what have I learnt by staying at home?

First it is easy to be lazy. You can wake pre-dawn and convince yourself that it doesn’t look promising and after all – there will be another day. When on location I never do this as I know I have few days to get the shot I want.

Second, when there is no water to add reflections or mountains to add height trees can fill an empty space. You can walk around a tree and get different moods so have a circular dimension that larger features don’t have.

Third, with a little thought there are many opportunities that can be walked to and this means you can “curtain twitch” and respond to the light.

Lastly, familiarity kills seeing what is in front of your nose. I have had to stop wishing myself elsewhere and appreciate what I have on the doorstep.

PTR is a site dedicated to travel, but there are different ways to make a journey. This is one I can continue whenever I have a spare hour and it is one I am glad I have begun

Claire Carter  www.carterart.co.uk

The PTR Team continues to search for outstanding Photo Seminars for those who seek to combine photography, travel, and adventure. Our standards for recommending seminars are high. We look for experienced tour companies that have a good reputation, provide interesting and exciting places to travel to, and charge reasonable rates for their tours.

Wild Photography Holidays meets our criteria.

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During 2011 the company has scheduled four photographic holidays in Iceland, two departures to the Picos de Europa, Spain, one to Kerala/Tamil Nadu, India, one to Morocco and one to South Africa.

* Southern Contrasts – Glaciers Volcanoes and Waterfalls
* Flowers and Landscapes of the East
* Highland Exposure
* Trails of the Deserted Fjords
* Predators and ‘Big Five’ Photographic Safari, South Africa
* Morocco – Sahara, Atlas Mountains and Marrakesh
* Mountains Forests and Villages of the Picos de Europa
* Mystical South India – Kerala and Tamil Nadu 2011/12

The tour to South India in the Kerala and Tamil Nadu regions is of particular interest.

After seeing the YouTube video featured by Wild Photography Holidays, PTR Member Bill started checking out flights! Produced by Kerala Tourism’s international campaign, Your Moment Is Waiting is a film that goes far beyond the realm of a commercial, to capture the soul of Kerala like no destination hitherto has. Stark Communications, which has been handling the Kerala Tourism brand for almost two decades, conceived, scripted and then assigned the task of creating this film to the renowned ad film maker Prakash Varma.

Wild Photography Holidays offers a very reasonably priced tour to this area — £2,380 for 16 days.

Mystical South India – Kerala and Tamil Nadhu
Highlights include…

* World famous shore temples of Mahabalipuram
* The ancient and remarkable boulder-strewn landscape of Gingee Fort
* Arunachala, one of the world’s great spiritual power centres
* An ascent/exploration of Mount Arunachala
* Visit to the famous temple of Thanjavur (Tanjore)
* Tiny French sea-side state of Pondicherry
* The tropical forests of the Western Ghats
* Kerala Backwater cruise
* Ancient city of Cochin
* Emerald green tea plantations
* Exciting cycle rickshaw ride through old Madurai

General Summary

An innovative and exciting photographic adventure visits both Tamil Nadu and Kerala. For over two weeks participants will be immersed in the vibrantly colorful, spiritual and bustling heart of this mystical sub-continent. South India’s culture like its people is a rich mosaic, vibrant, chaotic, a land of incredible contrasts and paradoxes: a singularly beautiful land offering abundant opportunities for landscape, people and architectural photography; a fantastic challenge to those of us hoping to capture its essence in images. By immersing yourself in the moment and approaching each day with curiosity and flexibility you will come to understand that India is truly one of the world’s most stunning photography locations; we will no doubt return home with some truly striking adventure travel images.

Accompanying the tour throughout is Martin Sammtleben as the photography tutor, joined by various local experts who will ensure that you are in the right place at the right time for those superb and unusual images. Non-photographer spouses/partners will be welcome. The Locations in Brief Kerala: a region of South-West India well known for its stunning natural beauty. Bordered by the tropical rain forest of the Western Ghats on the east, and the Arabian Sea on the west, Kerala is covered by lush tropical vegetation, fascinating back-waters, the fragrant spice and tea plantations of the Cardamom Hills. Tamil Nadu: home to an ancient and little changed Dravidian civilisation, it is less frequented than its more visited neighbor Kerala; a remarkable and intensely rewarding place to explore, the Tamils are a welcoming, curious and friendly people. The coast of the Gulf of Bengal offers long and lovely beaches where traditional fishing aboard catamarans is common, you will find, rice-fields, coconut groves, market garden produce, cotton plantations, sugar cane, tobacco, mangoes and bananas.

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Wild Photography Holidays also offers four separate tours of Iceland. Priced at £2,380, the tour is called “Southern Contrasts – Glaciers, Volcanoes and Waterfalls.”

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Highlights include…

* Walking on the Solheimajökull glacier
* Black sands and Basalt cave Vik
* Skaftafell National park
* Glacial iceberg lagoons including the Jökulsárlon
* The Blue Lagoon
* Colourful geothermal areas of Hengill Volcano
* Þingvellir National Park, Gullfoss and Geysir

General Summary

An early season photographic holiday combining some of Iceland’s classic and iconic sights with some less visited places. Locations include the myriad colors of the geothermal areas on Hengill Volcano, Þingvellir National Park, a thrilling walk onto the Solheimajökull glacier to photograph bluish green crevasses, glacial caves, waterfalls and a magnificent landscape of sea and ice. Further East we explore the Skaftafell national park, glacial iceberg lagoons, black beaches, a basalt columnar waterfall and magnificent close up views of Iceland’s highest mountain Hvannadalshnúkur.

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Although 1st May is the official first day of summer in Iceland, the roads and tracks through the interior of Iceland will remain snowbound until the end of June. During May, the mountains and highlands will still have a covering of snow providing the perfect back-drop for those spectacular and unusual wintry shots. At the end of May the temperatures are increasing and you will be just three weeks from the summer solstice, essentially it will be light all day with the sun disappearing for around three hours only. This will give you several hours of ambient light with sunrises and sunsets that go on and on!

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The team which makes up Wild Photography Holidays is rich in experience and talent.

Geraldine Westrupp is a qualified mountaineering instructor with many years experience and she is passionate about photography.

José Navarro works as a freelance photographer and travel writer. He’s traveled extensively in remote places such as Iceland, Alaska or the Andes.

Martin Sammtleben is based in Reykjavik, Iceland, where he runs a photography and graphic/web design business. He spends a great deal of time in the outdoors exploring new and exciting locations.

Photo Travel Review Magazine highly recommends Wild Photography Holidays and has earned our Five Star Rating (✭✭✭✭✭). Given the diversity of offerings, from Iceland, Spain, Morroco, India, South Africa, one could not find more to choose from when considering a Photo Travel Adventure! And what is wonderful is that the tour offerings by the company are very reasonably priced. In today’s economic climate, this is very important. Currently the company is offering a 90 pounds discount each for two people booking together and sharing a room.

One can read more about the offerings of the tour company by visiting their website. For more information contact Geraldine Westrupp in the UK at 00354 5888939 or email info@wildphotographyholidays.com

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Photographs courtesy of Glenn Bartley, Copyright © 2011, All Rights Reserved.

For those who enjoy Bird Photography the choice of which photo seminar to attend is difficult as there are hundreds of tours offered.

How does one choose which one to attend?

As the PTR Team has stated many times, get to know the photographer who offers the seminar and then ask some fundamental questions:

Is the photographer recognized for his/her work?

Is what the photographer offers unique and different?

Will the seminar improve one’s technical skills?

Is the cost of the seminar reasonable?

What have those who have attended the photographer’s seminars said about their experiences?

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Is the photographer recognized for his/her work?

Glenn Bartley has a Master of Science Degree in Environmental Studies, among his recent publications are two books, highly praised for their quality:

“Birds of Vancouver Island: A Photographic Journey”

“Birds in Ecuador: A Photographic Journey”

Moreover, he has written countless articles about Photoshop techniques, photographic equipment, photography locations, and bird species.

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His articles have been published in magazines, including:  Birding, Bird Watchers Digest, Canadian Wildlife, and Nature Photographer.

His photographs have appeared in National Geographic and Audubon Magazines.

He continues to work on projects with the National Geographic Society.

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Is what the photographer offers unique and different?

Glenn’s tours include travel to some of the most remote places in the Western Hemisphere, and range from Costa Rica and Ecuador in South America to Vancover Island and Churchill in North America.

Visit cloud forests in Ecuador then travel by boat down the Amazon in pursuit of rare bird species.

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Or, tour  Vancouver Island, which is without question one of the most beautiful places on earth.  Home to majestic mountains, lush temperate rainforests and miles of breathtaking coastline it seems that natural beauty can be found anywhere you look.  In addition to its scenic beauty Vancouver Island possesses a variety of wildlife including numerous species of birds, ocean mammals such as seals and killer whales, bears, otters and a fantastic selection of butterflies.

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Such opportunities are different and perhaps unique to bird photography.

While Glenn specializes in Bird Photography, his tours also include opportunities for Landscape Photography.

His wide range of tours can be found here.

Will the seminar improve one’s technical skills?

Too often, the PTR Team hears about seminar leaders who spend their time shooting and not teaching.  Glenn is a teacher, whose knowledge goes well beyond camera equipment and lenses, but gets into the special techniques and post production workflows which can transform one’s skills from beginner to accomplished nature photographer.  Comments from his tour participants stress how much Glenn works to help participants improve their works.

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Is the cost of the seminar reasonable?

Photographic seminars can be extremely expensive to attend.  We looked at Glenn’s offerings to judge whether his charges are reasonable.

One good example is his 17-day tour of Ecuador, including the Amazon River, for approximately $6,000.  This is an excellent price considering that he is covering one’s ground transportation, air transportation in country, and boat transportation.  All lodging and meals are included.  And, he limits participants to six persons!  Given the remote locations, the cost of $350 per day is exceedingly reasonable.

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He offers others tours for far less, particularly his tour of Vancover Island.  Lengths of tours can be varied as well.

A complete listing of his tours can be found at his website.

What have those who have attended the photographer’s seminars said about their experiences?

”Glenn Bartley is an exceptional teacher when it comes to the ‘computer’ and its many applications and challenges. As a recent student of his, I have admired his infinite patience and encouragement during my struggles at grasping new concepts. Not only do I appreciate his ability to teach, I am also captivated by his style of expression when depicting nature in photographs. His shared wisdom, and teaching style, can benefit anyone in his company. I have also enjoyed this same experience while participating in one of Glenn’s recent photo workshops to Churchill. I hope to continue to learn much more with Glenn in the world of computers and with photographic forays into the world of Nature.” Marie O. – 2010

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“Theresa and I would like to thank you for an excellent workshop in Victoria.  Overall, the experience far exceeded our expectations.  Your knowledge of the individual species and local habitat put us in the right place with the right light.  Your attention to detail ensured we were getting the best opportunity for shooting.  Your excellent photographic skills allowed you to make individual suggestions that were quite helpful in the field.” Bill & Theresa P. – 2010

“Glenn is an exceptional, hard-working photographer and always puts his client’s needs first. Locations are well researched and – if the circumstances aren’t ideal – he always makes the best out of it. I would certainly come back for another tour. ” Roland M. – 2010

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Glenn Bartley Photography has earned the Photo Travel Magazine Rating of Five Stars (✭✭✭✭✭). The PTR Team highly recommends his tours for their unique offerings, costs, and personalized attention that every workshop participant wants. Moreover, we are impressed with Glenn’s credentials — few bird photographers have received such acclaim or can point to similar achievements from among the best nature magazines in the world — National Geographic and Audubon to mention two.

The following video, produced by Glenn, may provide you with some insight into what is special about his offerings.

As a teenager I read a lot. One of my favorite books was “Born Free” by an English author Joy Adamson. She is a famous traveler, who lived for many years in Africa with her husband, Kenya’s wildlife protection inspector, and wrote an interesting story about a lioness Elsa and her cubs. Her book accurately describes the habits, behavior and reactions to the environment and people of the growing lion cub and later an adult lioness living in the wild, and her cubs. It was this book that helped me create a dream to see the distant Africa and its nature, safari and animals living there.

Last year, in November – the dream suddenly materialized – in the vastness of the Internet in search of a relaxing trip I have found one agency offering a two week holiday in an exotic and distant Kenya for a relatively low price. After a short discussion and some doubt on the reliability of this offer a mutual decision was taken to go. The hardest part of the trip were two flights lasting more than 14 hours from Kaunas to London and form London to Mombasa and the inevitable fatigue due to long, uncomfortable seating, and swelling legs. But the idea to see a distant land provided more excitement.

First impressions on arrival

First impression – pretty small airport of Mombasa, stuffy and long queues to obtain a visa in Kenya. We reached the hotel we stayed in by bus and just when we entered the room the first action was to inspect the bathroom – it was clean; and when we opened the door to the balcony overlooking the Indian Ocean the view was amazing.

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Second impression – where is the water? We had a first close-up view of an interesting natural rhythm: low water in the middle of the day and floods just after lunch. Tempted by curiosity some of us went walking on the bottom of the exposed beach. It was covered with stones, grass, and you could perfectly see the fauna of the ocean in the shallow water – various fishes, dangerous hedgehog plantations, crabs in the burrows, many small shells, sea stars, and since one of the locals volunteered to show everything around, he not only caught the creatures, but gave us a lot of information about ocean animals. Since it was very interesting we didn’t even notice that we went far enough from the hotel and on our way back we already realized having made a fundamental mistake – staying too long in the sun made our bodies red, and when we later started to painfully peel out off the old skin – we jokingly named this experience a walk in Hell Safari.

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Acquaintance with the locals

In the evening, when the ocean “returned” we all finally got a good swim and then started to look around – well where did we get: what are the local people, prices, traditions, entertainment, travel deals. Kenya’s ethnic population diversity is very high, over 40 tribes, each with its own language, but most locals are fluent in English, and among themselves use a common tongue – Swahili.

In the beginning seeing that we have just arrived traders were quite active offering their products – headscarves, paintings, cruises and safaris, bone and wooden souvenirs, art wares and jewelery for an excessively high price. However, during further communication they realized that we are not Germans and not English, they became more accommodating. When we told them where we are from and how many of us are left, our story was followed by their jolly laughter – because Lithuania has a smaller population than their capital Nairobi.

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Local residents addressed a woman “Madame” or “Mama” and the men were addressed “Papa”. At first I was a little surprised because it’s strange to hear it when you don’t have children, but then I got used to it. When I plaited my hair into nearly three hundred braids the entire beach began greeting me with joy – “Jambo Mama Africa”. I liked to see that elderly tourists are very respected, cared for and protected here. Most of the locals are good-natured and kind to the surrounding people, as they say – if they behaved otherwise, this would reduce per capita income from tourism and sales.

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On the beach in a local agency, we ordered as many as three trips: 2-day sightseeing trip in Mombasa ($ 200), one day Safari in Tsavo East National Park ($ 150), and a holiday trip to Vasinio Island ($ 60) with diving ($ 60) and snorkeling.

By the way, I recommend to book trips from official travel companies’ employees who are wearing a tee-shirt with the logo, otherwise you may be left without money and travel.

A trip in Mombasa

Frankly this city didn‘t make an impression on me – there is no extraordinary architecture, only uproar in the market, mess and piles of trash lying on the ground in some places in the middle of the city that is a real eyesore, and unpleasant odors make you turn away your nose while passing by. My impression: huge dark mess. The majority of the population is Muslim – Mijikenda is an ethnic group, so taking pictures is not recommended, in order to avoid possible conflict, as well as in some state or protected areas. The city is built on the island, so the water flowing from the water supply is the salty Indian Ocean water, and fresh bottled water comes from the Kilimanjaro. In the central streets mendicant disabled and fruit merchants are trying to approach the tourists. I had an opportunity to watch as in the evening the city is flooded with a large crowd of people who live in small towns near Mombasa and only work in the city. The same picture was in the morning too.

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Nightlife in Mombasa is different – the young have fun in the clubs and dress in style. In the discos people dance till dawn, and I as an outsider was very interested in monitoring their communication, their original dances, relations between young local girls and older Europeans.

The long-awaited safari

In Africa going on Safari in Swahili means “a journey” – it is the refusal of civilization amenities in the name of the wilderness. And I always wanted to see other wildlife, the animals at close range.

Tsavo East National Park is one of the oldest and largest parks in Kenya, its total area is 11,747 square kilometers. It was opened in 1948, the park is located near the village of Voi. The park is divided into eastern and western parts. It was named after the Tsavo River, which flows from the West to the East through the National Park, bordering with Chyulu Hills National Park and Mkomazi Game Reserve in Tanzania.

The park is accessible only through the three main gates: Manyani, near the village of Voi, Bachuma if you arrive from Mombasa or from Malindi side. Our group of travelers arrived at the park through Bachuma gate. A ticket for one person costs $ 50 for a period of 24 hours. Several local merchants were waiting at the gate rather obsessively offering to buy headgear – sunscreen safari hat for a much higher price than usual, so you must always negotiate.

Most of the park vegetation is semi-arid grasslands and savanna. It is believed that it is one of the world’s biodiversity strongholds, and its popularity has led to large quantities of various wild animals, therefore you can see the famous “big five” animals which are the Masai lion, black rhino, buffalo, elephant and leopard. We were lucky and we saw giraffes, elephant herds, herds of buffalos, a leopard, a lioness lying lazily in the bushes, gazelles and various small animals, zebras, ostriches, monkeys, varans, even some wild birds from a close-up.

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But if one has enough financial possibilities I would recommend visiting the Masai Mara – it is the most popular.

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Entertainment & Leisure

Traveling to and from the Vasinio Island we had a chance to see a completely different picture – isolated villages and areas rarely visited by tourists, and we could see the fragments of Muslim religious festivals held there. Underwater World was perhaps not as impressive as in the Red Sea, but we liked the punt with the sea turtles, watching exotic fishes and admiring coral reefs.

Having returned to the hotel after long journeys, we simply relaxed on the beach, and later each individually chose mini-trips around on the boat, beach picnics or a visit to the local villages and nearby crocodile farm. The most delicious food – fresh seafood – was served in the nearby Coco beach. All hotels took care of evening entertainment for their guests: snake shows, acrobats, music and dancing.

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The more you travel in this country, the more African colors you can see – from poverty and trash lying in the middle of the city to nicely handled private or park areas, but I was most charmed by the wild nature of Kenya and somewhat shocked by significant difference between daytime and night-life in Mombasa. Cultural differences could be felt most while communicating with the locals.

I am glad that I had an opportunity to see this country, expand my horizons, and gain new experience.

Hakuna matata – no problems (whatever happens it is like a declared philosophy of their life)

Pole, pole – slowly, slowly. i.e. leisurely, and we – Europeans look like always on the run in their eyes.

Caribbean – welcome

Asante sana – thank you very much

Tafadali – please

Habari shepherds? – How are you?

Mzuri sana – very good.

I wish you all to visit it and say: Jambo, Africa! – Hello, Africa!

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