Take the Zambezi, one of Southern Africa’s largest rivers. Let it loose across the floodplains of Angola and Zambia, tributaries swelling it until the river is as large as a racing track. Once the waterway is flowing with full force over the basalt plateau of southern Zambia, cut a 1700-meter wide gash in the valley and watch the entire width of the river come pouring down an 180-meter face of rock into a narrow gorge. That is Victoria Falls, one of the most monumental waterfalls in the world.

The falls’ indigenous name, Mosi-oa-Tunya, means “the smoke that thunders”. And indeed, it roars, it throws up spray, it crashes and it swirls – Victoria Falls is an overwhelming sight, twice the height of Niagara Falls. So spectacular, in fact, that it already was a popular tourist attraction in 1905, when the railway from then-Rhodesia to Cape Town was completed under British colonial rule. Now a World Heritage Site, Victoria Falls attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year, some content to simply take in the natural wonder, others, like me, daring (or brainless) enough to bungee jump over the gorges, too. (more…)

Tags: air, Angola, assignment, attraction, basalt, basalt plateau, Bounced, bragging, bridge, british colonial rule, bungee, bus, Cape Town, capital, cash, center, century, chasm, chatter, circle, cloud, colonial, content, crest, cry, David Livingstone, Day, departure, departure time, direction, Doctor, drizzle, dry savannah, end, entrance, explorer, eye, face, fact, fall, fame, Fell, fine, floodplains, footbridge, force, friend, gash, gear, glimpse, gorge, ground, haze, headfirst, height, Heritage, honor, indigenous name, jump, Leila, light, Livingstone, loan, Lusaka, meter, mid, monarch, morning, Mosi-oa, name, narrow gorge, Niagara Falls, o clock, One-two-three, opportunity, park, path, payday, plateau, platform, presume, protection, Queen Victoria, railway, rain, rainbow, Rhodesia, ride, river, rock, rule, Saturday, savannah, Scottish, scottish explorer, side, sight, site, smoke, smoke that thunders, Southern Africa, southern Zambia, spray, stand, statue, statue of david, Stream, structure, sun, surprise, swing, then, time, tourist, town, track, traffic, transportation, transportation schedules, Tunya, underfoot, valley, victim, Victoria, victoria falls, visit, void, walkway, water, waterway, way, width, work, work assignment, world, world heritage site, year, Zambezi, Zambia, Zimbabwe

The view of the valley is perfect from the alpine meadow, as we sit warm in the sun, listening to The Magic Flute at the annual Mozart Festival. This could easily be Salzburg or Kitsbuhl, but actually is the mountain village of Stowe in the Northeastern U.S. state of Vermont. Stowe lies in the heart of the Green Mountains, where the cold winters make for fantastic snow sports, and the fall brings leaf peepers to see the foliage. I’m most fond of the summers though, when the forest seems to be in full bloom, and the weather is pleasant. (more…)

Tags: accidental, Alpenhaus, alpine, alpine meadow, Alps, André, answer, Attached, Austrian, beer, bike, bloom, brew, Brewery, center, chatty, cheese, cold winters, couple, cream, Dining, dinner, dog, Emmenthaler, everything, experience, fall, family, fare, festival, flower, flower boxes, Flute, foliage, fondue, forest, full bloom, german dishes, Germania, Green Mountains, greenway, half, heart, herb, inn, Innsbruck, inquire, Kaesespaetzle, Kitsbuhl, lack, leaf, leaf peepers, Lederhosen, Lodge, Long Trail, love, lunch, macaroni, Magic, matter, meadow, menu, Mount Mansfield, mountain, Mozart, mozart festival, mushroom, music, New York, Noel, none, Northeastern U.S., Northern Lights, notch, number, offer, owner, page, pancake, path, patio, paved bike path, place, plethora, private residences, Pub, quality, reservation, resort, restaurant, right, river, road, room, Salzburg, sauce, scenery, Schnitzels, season, setting, Shed, snow, sound, soup, state, state of vermont, Stephensplatz, story, Stowe, Stowe Mountain, stowe mountain resort, strudel, sun, Swisspot, symbol, tea, theme, time, Touring, town, Trapp, trapp family lodge, trapp lodge, Tyrol, United States, valley, variety, vegetarian, Vermont, Vienna, view, village, visible symbol, Von, von trapp family, weather, Weizen, weizen beer, white flower, Wiessner, Woods, Wursts, year

Admittedly, it takes some will power to peel off your sleeping bag and get out of a car when mist still creeps across the fjells – the mountain plains in Norway – at 45°F on a chilly summer morning. However, traveling by car is the best option to explore this country, which would reach from the mouth of the Mackenzie River to Bristol Bay in the south-west of Alaska, if you transferred it from Europe to the American continent – or, in other words, it would stretch from Maine to Alabama.

The Norwegian Automobile Federation offers 268 camp sites and additionally there are about one thousand other camp and cabin sites as well as parking lots for caravans and recreation vehicles throughout the country and its fifteen national parks. Due to the Norwegian allemannsretten (everybody’s right), you may also park your car somewhere beside the road for just one night, which makes it easy to follow Norway’s national roads and enjoy the quiet lakes, dense woods, gentle hills, steep mountains, roaring waterfalls, sparkling glaciers and narrow fjords alongside. (more…)

Tags: Alabama, Alaska, allemannsretten, altitude, american continent, art, Artists, August, Automobile, bag, Baltic Sea, Blessed, boat, Bristol Bay, building, cabin, camp, canal, car, Caribbean Sea, century, chilly summer, church, cliff, coast, Columbus, cone, continent, Copenhagen, country, cradle, cycling, Dalen, difference, Eighth, eighth wonder of the world, end, energy, entrance, Europe, everybody, exaggeration, fall, farm, Federation, festival, fifteen, fjellveien, foot, Gaustatoppen, gentle hills, geology, gulf stream north, Hardangervidda, Heddal, hiking, history, home, hotel, house, hydroelectric power stations, interior, isn, itinerary, Jens Esmark, king, Kjerag, Krokan, Lake Bandak, Lake Norsjoe, level, longships, lot, Lysebotn, Lysefjord, Mackenzie River, Maine, masterpiece, Meandering, medieval, middle, mist, morning, mountain, mouth, Museum, narrow fjords, national roads, Newfoundland, night, north, North Sea, north sea oil, Norway, Norwegian, Notodden, offer, oil, option, Oslo, paddle, parish, parking, path, peel, place, plenty, power, Preikestolen, professor, pulpit, quiet lakes, raft, raft wood, recreation, region, resort, right, Rjukan, road, roaring, rock, sail, Sauland, scenery, sea, season, sentence, Skagerrak, Skien, skiing, south, southern neighbors, steel, steep mountains, Stream, summer, summit, Telemark Canal, Textiles, the Gulf, Tinn, Today, tourism, tourist, town, trip, troll, Tuddal, vacation, valley, Vemork, Vestfjorddalen, Via, view, visitor, waterfall, waterway, west, Wonder, wood, world, year

Switzerland is a country of picturesque mountain ranges and quaint little alpine villages. I had always wanted to visit this beautiful country and now I was finally getting my chance. However, having spent the whole day on a train, I was starting to wear down and my excitement was dwindling to say the least.

A bus ride was in order before we would arrive at our final destination, but as the bus approached, I fel sense of dread boiling up within. It was getting late in the evening and I hadn’t booked accommodations, so we would have to search in the rain for a bed. (more…)

Tags: adventure, age, air, alpine, alpine lake, alpine villages, Alps, architecture, assortment, backyard, base, basement, beautiful country, bed, biking, book, Brienz, brighten, bungee, bus, bus ride, cabin, cake, calm, calm waters, center, central Switzerland, chance, city, cliff, climbing mountain, couldn, country, couple, Day, delay, destination, distance, door, doorbell, dread, due, eagerness, edge, energy, evening, Everyone, excitement, exhaustion, extreme sports, exuberance, eye, fact, fel, final destination, floor, forefront, front, Gimmelwald, glacier, gondola, guide, hadn, halt, help, hiking, hill, home, homemade, hop, house, ice, Interlaken, Jungfrau, jungfrau region, Lake, landscape, Lauterbrunnen, lawn, life, location, look, lunch, man, medium, mist, months of the year, mountain, mountain ranges, multiple companies, name, nature, night, office, order, outcrop, panorama, pasture, path, picturesque, picturesque mountain, plenty, porch, railing, rain, rainbow, region, ride, river, river rafting, roadway, rock, room, sce, scene, scenery, school, sense, shop, shopping, simplicity, skiing, sky, sky diving, snow, Snow-capped, snowy, spot, stage, state, station, stomach, stone, stop, store, street, summer, sun, Swiss, swiss alps, Switzerland, Thun, time, tourist, town, trail, train, trip, valley, variety, view, village, wall, wasn, water, way, window, world, year

Everyone in Bali smiles. Big, broad, beaming smiles. And all that’s necessary to evoke it is eye contact. Even when they may be preoccupied with weaving their scooters through traffic or carrying a heavy, flailing pig across the road, you only have to hint at a smile from your own lips and the response is immediate and electrifying.

“Transport?” queried a smiling young man on a sidewalk in Ubud, an artsy town in the south-eastern hills. It’s a frequent offer on the streets of nearly every town in Bali. Everyone with a car will offer you a ride for a small price. You may say “no thank you” seven times on Monkey Forest Road in Ubud. But what’s heart-warming is that you will always receive an enthusiastic “Welcome!” in response. (more…)

Tags: apple, approach, Arung, awe, Bali, Balinese, balinese landscape, bamboo, Big, bike, brown snake, Buddhist, buddhist history, buffet, cacao, car, coast, coffee, coffee beans and tea leaves, combination, compound, contact, conversation, country, countryside, crowd, Culturally, cycle, daytrip, dialogue, dinner, eagerness, economy, edge, end, English, Everyone, everything, exception, excitement, excursion, Exploring, eye, eye contact, family, feast, foreigner, Forest Road, fountain, France, friendliness, fruit, gateway, genuine friendliness, ginger, ginger tea, Group, Hallo, Happiness, heat, heavy, Hindu, history, home, host, Indonesia, indonesian islands, landscape, leftover, life, luxury, man, mangosteen, meal, middle, mixture, Monkey, monkey forest road, Moon, morning, Mount Batur, mountain, mountain bikes, music, Muslim, muslim country, nut, offer, office, orchard, papaya, path, peanut, peanuts, pear, pig, price, pride, response, reward, rice, rice terraces, ride, road, roosters, salak, school, selection, sentence, service, seven times, sidewalk, skin, smile, society, sound, spicy, stop, table, tea, temple, time, Tour, town, traffic, Transport, Ubud, use, van, village, visit, wall, wave, way, Wide-eyed, wind, year, zeal