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Travel snapshots from Toonsarah

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  • Archive
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • England
      • London
      • Newcastle-upon-Tyne
    • Europe
      • Austria
      • Bulgaria
      • Estonia
      • France
        • Paris
      • Germany
      • Iceland
      • Italy
      • Jersey
      • Latvia
      • Norway
      • Portugal
      • Spain
        • Seville
      • Switzerland
      • Ukraine
    • Beyond
      • Africa
        • Botswana
        • Cape Verde
        • Gambia
        • Kenya
        • Morocco
        • Namibia
        • Senegal
        • Tanzania
        • Zimbabwe
      • Americas
        • Belize
        • Canada
        • Chile
          • Rapa Nui
        • Costa Rica
        • Ecuador
          • Galapagos Islands
        • Guatemala
        • Jamaica
        • USA
          • New Mexico
          • New York City
          • Washington State
      • Asia
        • DPRK
        • India
          • Kerala
          • Rajasthan
        • Indochina
          • Cambodia
          • Laos
          • Vietnam
        • Japan
        • Nepal
        • Oman
        • Syria
        • United Arab Emirates
        • Uzbekistan
  • Themes
    • Architecture
    • Art
      • Crafts
      • Street art
    • Colour
    • Dark tourism
    • Eco-tourism
    • Food & drink
    • Gardens
    • History
      • Ruins
      • War
    • Landscape
      • Coast & seascapes
      • Deserts
      • Mountains
      • Rivers
    • Nature and wildlife
      • Animals
      • Birds
      • Plants
        • Flowers
        • Trees, forests and woodland
    • People
      • Culture & tradition
      • Street photography
    • Travel in general
  • Photo galleries
    • Themed galleries
    • Travel galleries
  • Postcards from the road
  • Challenges
    • Photography challenges
      • Just One Person
      • Lens-Artists
      • Mid-week Monochrome
      • Monochrome Madness
      • One Word Sunday
      • Photographing Public Art
      • Pick a Word
      • Squares
      • Sunday Stills
      • The Changing Seasons
      • Words of Wisdom
      • Cee’s challenges
        • CBWC
        • CFFC
        • CMMC
    • General challenges
      • Monday walks
      • Writers’ Quotes Wednesday
    • Challenges archive
      • Bird Weekly
      • Friendly Friday
        • The Friendly Friday Challenge: how to join in
      • Friday’s Foods of the World
      • Life in Colour
      • One-to-Three
      • Ten photos
      • Thursday Doors
      • Thursday Trios
  • About me
    • Contact me
    • ‘Always Write’ interview
    • My love of travel
    • My photography
      • Photographic techniques
      • My photography journey
      • Video
    • Disclaimer & GDPR
  • Archive

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Topics I’ve touched on

africa architecture art birds black_&_white bulgaria cambodia cffc chile churches cities colour costa_rica dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india just_one_person_from_around_the_world landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks mountains nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC rivers ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife
  • Culture & tradition,  Deserts,  Oman,  Ruins

    Dhofar, the Land of Frankincense

    May 11, 2022 / 26 Comments
    Small squat tree in a dry stony landscape

    You can’t travel far in Oman without hearing the word frankincense. Every Omani home burns this fragrant resin daily, it is an intrinsic part of Omani life. Not only does it make the home smell nice, it also keeps flying insects such as mosquitoes at bay. The best quality frankincense is steeped overnight in water which is then drunk at breakfast time to treat a variety of ailments. And inhaling the smoke is said to be good for asthma.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Small tree with pueblo houses behind

    Taos Pueblo: home of the Red Willow People

    February 9, 2021
    Lady in Indian dress with a goat

    Meeting the locals in Narlai, Rajasthan

    March 17, 2021
    A man with a young girl on his shoulders

    Lunch with Mr Noon and his family

    January 13, 2023
  • Deserts,  Mountains,  Sunday Stills,  Themed galleries

    Gallery: on the road to the future?

    January 10, 2022 / 52 Comments
    Road through mountains with snow and pine trees

    I cannot, of course, photograph the future. I could perhaps take photos of futuristic sights and buildings, but they would still be very much of the present. People often talk about the future in terms of a road we are travelling, don’t they? And we also often talk about choosing a path or road, making a decision to go this way or that.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Sand dunes with shadow of a hot air balloon

    Gallery: up, up and away, in the Namib Desert

    February 26, 2021
    Balloon over a desert landscape

    Reaching for the sky again in Africa

    April 18, 2021
    Lady in traditional Bedouin dress

    Lunch with a Bedouin family in Oman

    May 5, 2021
  • Chile,  Deserts

    El Tatio: a steaming landscape

    September 16, 2021 / 24 Comments
    Steam rising from several geysers at sunrise

    It takes a certain amount of sacrifice and discomfort to visit El Tatio. For one thing, you will sacrifice sleep, as all tours leave very early in the morning. The steam from the geysers is most active and visible at dawn, so you need to be there before sunrise. You must also be prepared to be very cold and to cope with altitude; the geyser field is at 4,200 metres above sea level. So is it worth it? Oh yes!

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Man passing wall painting of orange bird

    Gallery: searching for street art in Santiago, Chile

    August 7, 2021
    Mountain landscape

    To touch the sky: the Torres del Paine

    May 30, 2021
    Two flamingos feeding

    Gallery: reflecting on birds

    March 27, 2021
  • Deserts,  Oman,  Sunday Stills

    Rub’ Al Khali: the Empty Quarter

    August 16, 2021 / 24 Comments
    Straight road and brown sign in English and Arabic

    The Empty Quarter, otherwise known as Rub’ Al Khali, is the largest contiguous sand desert in the world. It is so-called because this huge stretch of unbroken sand has defeated kings, adventurers, and nomads for thousands of years. In a region defined by deserts, the Rub’ Al Khali has come to be known as among the most daunting and inhospitable. And it is on an unfathomable scale.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Blue lake with flamingos feeding

    Around the world in ten photos: day two

    December 18, 2020
    Steam rising from several geysers at sunrise

    El Tatio: a steaming landscape

    September 16, 2021
    Small squat tree in a dry stony landscape

    Dhofar, the Land of Frankincense

    May 11, 2022
  • Deserts,  Oman

    Water in the desert: Wadi Bani Khalid

    June 11, 2021 / 23 Comments
    Green pool and palm trees from above

    There is indeed something particularly awe-inspiring about coming across an oasis in a barren landscape. The contrast between lush greenery and bare rock or soil can be so striking. Wadi Bani Khalid is one of the best-known and most accessible of Oman’s wadis. But the small amount of development here has been done sensitively and it doesn’t detract from the visual impact of deep green waters, lush date plantations and stark mountains all around.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Straight road and brown sign in English and Arabic

    Rub’ Al Khali: the Empty Quarter

    August 16, 2021
    Dramatic mountain landscape

    Gallery: Mountain, Desert, Jungle or Ocean?

    June 28, 2021
    Blue lake with flamingos feeding

    Around the world in ten photos: day two

    December 18, 2020
  • Friendly Friday,  Landscape,  USA,  Video

    Video: big skies and red rock country

    May 29, 2021 / 32 Comments
    Rock formation with arch and pinnacle

    Towering cliffs and deep deep canyons, delicate orange arches, slender pinnacles, balancing rocks … Stone doing what you would have thought stone could never do. And always that blue never-ending sky.

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    Or what about ...?

    Large group of teenagers

    My first taste of adventure: a 1970s camping trip

    August 14, 2021
    People crossing train tracks as a train approaches a station

    The charms of travelling by train

    June 5, 2022
    Snow scene with pine trees and mountain

    Gallery: a snowy walk in Paradise

    November 21, 2020
  • Culture & tradition,  Deserts,  Just One Person,  Oman

    Lunch with a Bedouin family in Oman

    May 5, 2021 / 28 Comments
    Lady in traditional Bedouin dress

    Salma is an Omani Bedouin. She lives part of the time in a tent on the fringes of the vast Wahiba Sands; and part of the time in a modern house in the nearby town of Bidiyyah. She wore the traditional Bedouin face mask, designed to protect from sandstorms and the elements in general, as she and her daughter in law served our lunch of traditional bread, rice, dhal, chicken, fish and salad.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Man sitting on a rug using a hammer and anvil

    A blacksmith at work in Bukhara

    March 24, 2022

    A postcard from Nepal: souvenir seller

    November 10, 2022
    Man frying insects at a food stall

    Exploring the street food of Phnom Penh

    April 3, 2021
  • Bird Weekly,  Birds,  Chile,  Travel galleries

    Gallery: the flamingos of the Salar de Atacama

    April 24, 2021 / 39 Comments
    Landscape with flamingos, water, salt flats and mountains

    The only way to properly appreciate the vastness of Chile’s Salar de Atacama would be to fly over it; but a visit at ground level offers a spectacular sight of the varied colours of this unworldly landscape. Before you visit the Atacama you will no doubt read or be told that it is the driest non-polar desert in the world, with no significant rainfall for 400 years. It is surprising then to arrive at the Laguna Chaxa and see so much water!

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    Or what about ...?

    Green bird with red stripe on head

    Gallery: discovering birdlife in Bushy Park

    April 9, 2021
    Young Herring Gull with roof tops in background

    Gallery: meet Steven the Seagull and some friends

    May 27, 2021
    Two pelicans swimming with daisies beyond

    Gallery: the birds of St James’s Park

    July 13, 2021
  • Deserts,  Lens-Artists,  Morocco

    Reaching for the sky again in Africa

    April 18, 2021 / 27 Comments
    Balloon over a desert landscape

    Once you have been in a hot air balloon, and loved the experience as I did, you will seize any opportunity to fly again. Leonardo da Vinci had it right, even though he himself had never flown, when he said, 'Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.'

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Small squat tree in a dry stony landscape

    Dhofar, the Land of Frankincense

    May 11, 2022
    Green pool and palm trees from above

    Water in the desert: Wadi Bani Khalid

    June 11, 2021
    Sand dunes with shadow of a hot air balloon

    Gallery: up, up and away, in the Namib Desert

    February 26, 2021
  • Bird Weekly,  Birds,  CFFC,  Chile,  Themed galleries

    Gallery: reflecting on birds

    March 27, 2021 / 39 Comments
    Two flamingos feeding

    Maybe a desert isn’t the obvious place to look for bird reflections, or indeed reflections of any kind. Deserts are dry, no? And the Atacama Desert in Chile is especially so. In fact, it’s the driest non-polar desert in the world, and has had no significant rainfall for 400 years. And yet, the shallow waters of its barren salt flats offer picture-perfect reflections of feeding flamingos.

    Carry on reading

    Or what about ...?

    Two bright green birds in a dead tree

    Bird weekly #52: birds with long tail feathers

    June 18, 2021
    Two birds with turquoise feet

    Blue feet, red feet, any coloured feet …

    May 18, 2021
    Fierce-looking owl

    Gallery: owl portraits, striped and speckled

    June 12, 2021
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Read my featured blogger interview

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By Marsha of 'Always Write'

And my answers to Bren’s ‘five at five’ questions

Lady in a hat and red top sitting on rocks

Some favourite photos

Man in a turban with fishing nets
Fisherman in Fort Kochi, Kerala
Two elephants in long grass
Okavango elephants
Blue glacier edge
Glacier Grey, Torres del Paine, Chile
Elderly woman in black hat and sunglasses
In Santiago, Chile
Very large statues of North Korean Leaders
Statues of the Great Leaders on Mansudae Hill, Pyongyang
Water reflecting the sky with clouds and low sun
Approaching sunset in the Okavango Delta
Feet of huge metal sculpture, with man standing beside
The feet of the Angel
Large moai with row of more behind
The ‘travelling moai’ and Ahu Tongariki
Man in knitted hat by water, black and white photo
Waiting for the ferry, Banjul
Mountain reflected in a lake
On the road to Dyrholaey
Sunset at Wahiba Sands, Oman
Squirrel with a conker in his mouth
In Walpole Park, Ealing
Silhouette of a man in a gateway
Looking out from Bundi Palace
Blue and pink bird on a dead tree
Lilac-breasted Roller, Chobe NP, Botswana
Buddhist monk in orange robes with mobile phone
Monk at Wat Nong Sikhounmuang, Luang Prabang
Man sleeping in a tuk tuk by a carved stone wall
Tuk tuk driver by the Terrace of the Leper King
Close up of flamingo with head tucked under
Flamingo (Jersey Zoo)
Lady with baskets of fruit sitting by a canal
In Hoi An, Vietnam
Small fishing boat with a man in it, on a large lake
Lake Atitlan
Wet street and two people with bright pink umbrella
Street in Lucca, rainy day – edited

Some topics I’ve touched on

africa architecture art birds black_&_white bulgaria cambodia cffc chile churches cities colour costa_rica dprk ealing england flowers france friendlyfriday Friendly_Friday history india just_one_person_from_around_the_world landscape lens-artists Lens_Artists_Challenge london Monday_Walks mountains nepal new_mexico north_korea paris people photography photo_effects PPAC rivers ruins Street_Art Street_Photography Sunday_Stills usa village wildlife

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