Following on from my previous posting about how a guide knows where to go, they also need excellent eyesight. The photo below is of a distant hillside, and from this position, our guide spotted a couple of elephants! And here they are! My camera long lens is fully zoomed in. Even harder to see in the second photo due to […]
Good eyesight, camouflage, and why zebras have stripes.Read More »
One of the duties of the volunteers on the photography project is to prepare and deliver two lessons for the students at a local school. As I have arrived in week three of four, my group was already well underway with planning their lesson for this week. I have five photographers, a German girl, an Italian girl, an American lady, […]
It always fascinates me how a guide knows where to take us when out on a drive. Sometimes he or she will have spoken to other guides on Thanda and been given information about animal sightings. Other times s/he will ask the clients or volunteers whether there is anything specific they would like to see, and then head in the […]
9 months after I finished a volunteering project at Thanda Game reserve in South Africa, I’m back again, but this time I’m working here for 3 months as Photography Volunteer Coordinator. So, on Saturday, I said goodbye to my lovely family, and set off on a 26 hour journey to get here. The landscape is brown but once the rains […]
About an hour out of Phnom Penh the scenery changes to flat fields with the occasional palm tree making a dramatic statement. The country dwellers are busy planting their rice crops and everywhere is a vibrant green. Planting is staggered, so some fields are filled with lush plants, others are still a muddy brown and being plowed by hand with […]
We left Phnom Penh at 10.45 p.m. and travelled overnight on a night bus. Apart from many of the roads being atrocious and therefore bumpy, it was comfortable and I slept quite well. The bus had almost lie flat ‘beds’ – just the shoulders & head were raised, so that the person behind could tuck their feet or bags into […]
Yesterday we wandered round a local temple. Southeast Asia is famous for its Buddhist monks,and most Cambodian boys and young men spend some time living this way. Buddhist monks do not take vows to remain monks forever and the young man who is helping our tour guide spent 10 years as a monk. He exudes an aura of calmness and […]
A sobering day today. We learned about Cambodia’s history. An attempt by Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot to form a Communist peasant farming society resulted in the deaths of 25 percent of the country’s population from starvation, overwork and executions. When the Khmer Rouge marched into Phnom Penh, every single person living there was forcibly evacuated on foot into the […]
36º when we landed! But less humidity than HK so it doesn’t feel 5º hotter. The usual bit of chaos at the airport – we’d done our visas online beforehand so didn’t have to stand and fill out those forms, but firstly we were directed by an official to the diplomats channel, only to get to the desk and be […]
The years have melted away and it’s just great to be back in Hong Kong:) 5 days is not enough to see everything, but that’s all we’ve had, so here it is in a nutshell. The public transport system is still incredibly cheap here. I love the fact that you can still get on a tram and go just one […]