If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
Travel creates adventures. They may seem quite small at the time, like a chance but memorable encounter with a local person that changes your perspective on the world. Or they may seem huge, visiting an iconic world sight that you’ve dreamed about seeing for years. But whether large or small, long planned for or serendipitous, the adventures experienced while travelling are, in my opinion, among the best to be found.
Travelling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller
Ibn Battuta
And yes, these adventures turn the traveller into a storyteller, as the countless travel blogs testify. Years ago we would return from our travels with a few rolls of film to be printed or processed as slides. And we would share them with families and those friends interested (or polite) enough to listen to our accounts. Today we post countless images on Instagram, we write blogs or share our travels on a day-to-day (sometimes hour-to-hour) basis on social media. Those who don’t travel much themselves might be forgiven for their view that they’ve seen it all online and don’t need to go in person. How wrong they are! Seeing and experiencing other countries, other cultures, other landscapes for yourself is an entirely different matter from reading about them or seeing them second-hand.
Better to see something once than hear about it a thousand times
Asian Proverb
This week in her Lens Artists challenge Ann-Christine asks us to share some adventures, and restricts us to a maximum of ten photos. Ten, out of all the thousands I have taken of the 85 countries I have visited to date in a total of 150 trips (if I go back to my teenage years).
As I’ve already shared so many travel photos in this blog I’ve tried to find some from adventures not yet featured here, or at least fresh photos of those that have been touched on previously. That exercise helped me to limit the number but means that most of these images are in a rather poor state as they are scanned from old slides on a not very good scanner. However I hope I’ve managed to bring them to life again with the help of Topaz AI, Photoshop Elements and Nik Color Efex Pro.
Seeing tigers in the almost-wild for the first time in a reserve in Karnataka, India
Snorkelling, also for the first time, at the Great Barrier Reef
(in the days before I had an underwater camera)
Feeding hummingbirds by hand at Rocklands Bird Sanctuary in Jamaica
Flying over the Grand Canyon
Our first road trip in the US, to California in 1991
(this photo was taken in Joshua Tree National Park)
A stay in a lodge in the Amazonian rainforest in Brazil
Seeing the wonders of Ancient Egypt, including the Colossi of Memnon
Seeing penguins in Antarctica
(this is a chinstrap penguin and chicks)
Spending a night in a yurt in the Kyzylkum Desert in Uzbekistan
And finally, a narrow escape on safari in Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania, when a young bull elephant threatened to charge our jeep which had got stuck in a ditch
(my husband took this photo; I think I was too nervous to think of taking any!)
23 Comments
Sofia Alves
I was expecting something very special from your post and you didn’t disappoint. Lovely to see some old photos too, I have a softy spot for them 🙂
Vicki
Some great examples of your travels, Sarah. Travelling overseas or even interstate brings a whole new perspective on life for me. Nothing beats seeing other cultures and gaining an understanding of how the different races live and their environment.
I just like exploring anything new. Seeing the penguins in Antarctica would be amazing.
wetanddustyroads
You have seen so many interesting and beautiful places all over the world, Sarah, and it’s wonderful to travel through your camera lens to places I know we would never get to. Love that photo of the hummingbird.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Corna 😊 Isn’t it one of the joys of the internet that we can share such experiences with a wider like-minded audience? Glad you like the hummingbird (that’s my husband in the background holding the bottle) – that was a special place indeed!
Rose
You are a travel inspiration Sarah. I love following along on your adventures and seeing all of your fantastic photos! The only thing that would be better is if I was there myself. The hummingbird and the elephant photos are my favorite – knowing how tiny and vulnerable hummingbirds are, and how large and frightening an elephant can be if it feels threatened – opposite ends of the spectrums. (As Margaret suggested, and I think I’ve asked before, are you sure there isn’t a book to be written? You could make a ton of fabulous ‘coffee-table’ books filled with all your images for each location…)
Sarah Wilkie
Aw, thanks so much Rose 😊 I’ve recounted the elephant story in more detail to Tina below. As for a book, I do make some photo books purely for our enjoyment of the memories, but as I said to Margaret I don’t have the patience to create anything for wider distribution even if anyone wanted to publish it. I’ll stick to blogging I think!
the eternal traveller
I always find it perplexing when people say they don’t need to travel overseas because we have it all here. Yes, Australia is a beautiful and diverse country but there is so much more to see around the world. I guess we are lucky as we can travel both here and in other countries. Your Barrier Reef photo is beautiful – that ocean colour is always stunning.
Sarah Wilkie
Many thanks Carol 😊 I guess when you live in such a large country as yours the temptation to think you don’t need to travel abroad is stronger (look at how many Americans don’t have passports), whereas in the UK there’s much more of a tradition of at least going to mainland Europe. But many people only go to a Mediterranean resort set up for British travellers – pubs, food, lots of other Brits … More like a warmer version of home really!
Leya
Sarah – lovely you shared some older travels adventures! You certainly have been around – and taken photos from the very beginning! Antarctica! Loved them all, but the elephant and story was interesting! Glad you escaped and got a lovely shot of him too.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you very much Ann Christine 😊 See my reply to Tina below for a more detailed account of that elephant encounter!
Tina Schell
LOL for your closing image and story Sarah! We had a similar experience in Botswana. Happily it was an idle threat rather than a true charge. Loved your choices and know how difficult it must have been for you to choose knowing how extensively you’ve traveled. Happily we’ve been to several of these as well with the exception of Egypt and India. The pyramids were definitely on my list but as I understand it it’s a bit dangerous now so I’ll have to experience it through images like yours! Beautifully done (truly loved the tiger, another thing I’ve missed in the wild.)
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Tina 😊 The long story attached to the elephant photo is that our jeep got stuck in a ditch after the driver reversed on spotting the elephant, to give us a better view, and miscalculated the small bridge, leaving one wheel dangling over the edge. He had a jack so could easily have lifted the vehicle, but every time he tried to get out to do so the elephant came a little closer and looked more threatening. In the end he radioed for another guide who drove over to where we were and managed to distract the elephant long enough for ours to get out and sort the problem.
I hadn’t heard that the main tourist sights in Egypt are dangerous right now (in fact we have been contemplating a return visit in the new year although will probably opt for somewhere new. If you’re interested I suggest you check it out as I think only certain areas of the country would be considered unsafe and they’re places you probably wouldn’t want to visit anyway!
Suzanne
Good on you, Sarah for getting out there and using your love of photography to keep those memories alive. The elephant charging is a wonderful photo. Everyone’s ideal adventure and how many times that is done are so different and that I think is a good thing. Instead of the continuous “let’s out do the next person with something even more risky” instead of just getting there and just doing it for themselves. I personally think travel is a wonderful thing to keep doing until we can no longer do so. Just all don’t become travel bloggers 😉
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you very much Suzanne 😊 We’re very much of the mindset that we should keep travelling until we can no longer do so, but I’m guilty of the travel blogging charge! And you’re so right about everyone’s idea of adventure being different. Some have to grab their backpacks and disappear for months on end with no fixed itinerary, whereas for others simply being in a different country is adventure enough and they’d rather have the security of a guided tour or package holiday. Each to their own, as long as we all get out there and see something that challenges our perceptions a bit! But my husband deserves all the credit for the elephant photo as I don’t appear to have taken any, or at least not kept them.
Anabel @ The Glasgow Gallivanter
Great images, and good to see some of your older images.
I like your travel quotes too. Here’s one to add!
“I suddenly said to my wife: We’re terribly dull people, let’s travel around the world and then we shall have something to talk about.”
I saw it recently in a museum in Yorkshire (Burnby Hall) which displays the travel trophies of its former owner, a Major Stewart. He and his wife travelled round the world in the early 20th century.
It made me laugh so I hope it amuses you too! I’d have been quite cross if John had said that to me.
Sarah Wilkie
Haha, yes, that’s an odd one 😆 And like you, I would hate it if Chris suggested we were dull (although at least the Major had the grace to include himself in that criticism!) Thank you Anabel 🙂
Anne Sandler
You have been fortunate to have the problem of picking 10 images out of your many adventures Sarah. I appreciate your blog and your sharing them with us. It was fun to see your current 10, especially the charging elephant!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Anne 😊 Trying to find new things to share helped restrict me to ten!
margaret21
I knew you’d had adventures Sarah, but … so many – and this isn’t even the half, nor even the quarter … is there a book in you, I wonder, waiting to be written? I sort of suspect not, but maybe there ought to be?
Sarah Wilkie
Despite the enjoyment I’ve had from my travels, many things that I might describe as adventures are tame compared with what serious travellers encounter. They’re special to me and have resulted in photos that I’m quite pleased to share, but I would have to spice them up a lot to make an interesting read. Besides, I don’t have the ‘stickabilty’ to write a book – my butterfly mind demands breaks even when drafting a blog post!
margaret21
Haha! I know what you mean. The older I get, the shorter my concentration spans. But you don’t need adventures. Just stories of how on the one hand, other people are quite different from us, and on the other, so very much the same.
Sue
Wonderful images from some of your many adventures, Sarah!
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Sue 😊