The Atlas valleys; 500 kilometers and 500 years from Marrakech ….. as we traveled across the High Atlas from Marrakech past Ouarzazate to the south, we entered the Great Oasis Valleys and moved back in time. Even though we had continual 3G cell service for the entire trip, we encountered people living lives that had …
Author Archives: colindotpdx
Morocco – where Muslim girls go to school. …….. Just back from a motorcycle trip around the southern parts of Morocco – a journey back in time. Over the High Atlas from Marrakech to Ouarzazate, along the Valley of the Kasbahs, through Dades Gorge and Todra Gorge, to Merzouga and the dunes, to Zagora the …
The Salton Sea – the first man-made eco-disaster …. The Salton Sea is a 500 square mile lake an hour south of Palm Springs. For 3 million years, this area was the delta of the Colorado River and formed the northern end of the Sea of Cortez. Eventually the delta extended far enough west that …
Namibia is like Arizona until you hit an Ostrich …. The geological forces that created Namibia are not that different from those that formed the southwest USA. Sedimentation, retreating oceans, huge forces of tectonic plate movements followed by the relentless erosion by wind, heat, and water. Run this playbook for a few billion years at …
Three Views of Kudu …. Driving around any part of the world, you will see the international red triangle that signals WARNING. In Namibia we passed triangles that alerted us to Ostriches, Penguins, Elephants, and Warthogs; all you would agree would be bad things to run into. But, by far, the most common warning sign …
Etosha National Park Namibia ….. No visit to Africa would be complete without a drive through a game park to see our favourite animals in their natural surroundings. Etosha National Park occupies 22,000 sq kms (about half the size of Switzerland) in northern Namibia and is home to hundreds of species of animals including several …
Herero Tradition and Genocide. In 1883, the German land owner Adolf Luderitz arrived in what became German South-West Africa and swindled the local elders out of land. This led to conflict, which led to war, which led to genocide. By 1904, the German colonialists had wiped out 65,000 of the original 80,000 Herero people and …
Wildlife in Africa. We have been heading north through Namibia and will soon spend time in the Etosha National Park where we hope to see the big guys – lions and cheetah and rhino and elephant and all that. But, in the meantime, there has been lots to keep us interested. We have passed herds …
Africa is Huge. Riding through Namibia it is necessary to put things in some perspective – the country is over three times larger than Great Britain but with only two million people. Namibia has a GDP of $12B which is about one month of Apple’s revenue. Most importantly for the purposes of the group I …
The Fish River Canyon in the southern part of Namibia is the second largest canyon in the world and is called “Africa’s Grand Canyon”. In the main photo here we see Jim Hyde and Mike Meyer coming down along the canyon rim after we all rode up to put ourselves and our bikes in ridiculously …
Colin's Travel Journal 