One of the first small birds that I learned the name of. Not being a birder, I first was attracted to the Green bee-eater because if it’s flashy colours, not something I’d ever seen at home in Canada.
After seeing plenty of these small birds around Africa and Asia, I quickly learned what bee-eaters generally looked like. This specific Little Green Bee-eater is the orientalis subspecies, found in India and Sri Lanka. It’s main unique feature is the yellow / rusty brown colour patch on it’s head.
Road trips are perhaps my favourite type of travel. The beauty of road trips is in setting your own schedule and having the freedom to deviate from plans as odd, fun or surprising roadside attractions and diversions pop up unexpectedly.
Road trips may not be the most relaxing way to travel, but I think they’re the most rewarding. I’ll give train travel the nod of approval for most relaxing, but you can’t stop the train every time you pass by an amazing waterfall or feel like wandering around some random town in the middle of nowhere. How about planes? Well, what kind of wildlife can you spot out your window when you’re 40,000 feet up, assuming you snagged a window seat.
While not as cheap as it once was, if you’re roadtripping with friends, it can still be one of the most economical ways to travel too, especially if you’re interested in camping, which can greatly cut down on daily costs.
You don’t really need anything for a road trip either. You don’t need to buy a ticket and you likely won’t have to go through any security scans. With just a general sense of direction and a vehicle you’re on your way. If you don’t have your own vehicle, rental cars can be quite affordable too, especially if you are a member of AAA/CAA and get certain coverage from your credit card. On my upcoming road trip I rented an SUV for 6 day, for less than $150.
There are also ways to take a road trip virtually for free, by being a hired driver. There are many pros and cons to that option, something I’ll write about in-depth in the future.
For me, my road trips have usually been camping road trips closer to home, but I’ve also rented a Campervan in New Zealand and stayed in hotels while driving across the US. I’ve done a solo 4000 mile road trip through Wyoming and Utah, but I’ve also done a crazy 14 hour road trip in one day.
I used to even have a makeshift ‘compass’ and bunch of dice I kept in the car for random road trips. You’d spin the compass marker around and would have to drive in that direction for as far as the number of dice you rolled. It was a great way to spend a weekend and discover some random places on the road!
Again, that’s the beauty of road trips…short, long, near or far…it’s an unstructured way to travel where you never know what you’ll find around the next corner.
Soon, I’ll start up a little series here, with stories from past road trip adventures. For now, here are a few roadtrips I’m thinking of doing in the near future…who wants to join me?
1 – Drive to the Arctic. As much as I want to visit Alaska and the Territories of Canada, I think my first Arctic roadtrip will be to James Bay. You can actually drive there by taking a 600km long Hydro Quebec road in northern Quebec called the James Bay Road. It’s only about a 1500km drive from Toronto, shorter than some road trips I’ve taken! With 382km between service stations, this stretch of road is more remote than even the Dempster Highway in Yukon and the Northwest Territories.
2 – Visit the Dakotas and Badlands National Park. Perhaps the most American road trip on the list. I almost did this road trip a few years ago, but decided to go elsewhere. The Badlands look amazing, wild and pure. While not far away there are some forests and state parks, as well as Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. If you time it right and go in the summer, apparently the fireworks displays at Mt. Rushmore during 4th of July are among the best in the country.
3 – Big Island, Hawaii. The two Hawaiian islands that interest me most are Kauai and Hawaii (Big Island). Kauai interests me mostly for some great hiking and lush scenery, while the Big Island seems perfect for a roadtrip. From snowy peaks to flowing lava, remote coastlines to relaxing Kona. The island has tons to see, but you need a car to see it all.
4 – Drive to the Yukon. I’ve never done an actual road trip across Canada. Ideally a drive from Toronto to Whitehorse, Yukon would be my route, stopping at Provincial and National Parks along the way like Quetico, Riding Mountain, Elk Island and Nahanni.
5 – Pacific Northwest. Another US roadtrip. This time to Oregon and Washington. Taking in some forest scenery and places like Olympic National Park. Perhaps a side trip over to Idaho and Montana to check out Glacier National Park too.
So there are five of the road trips I’m interested in doing some time soon. Sure, there are places in Europe, Australia and elsewhere that I’d also like to go road tripping around, but I’ll save those for a later time.
If you’ve got some favourite road trips, let me know! Have fun on the road and remember, as is often said, to focus on the journey and not the destination.
Welcome to the world of Elephas and Loxodonta, a tale of two Elephants.
Below are six Elephant photos, can you name each one? Ah, but first…some Elephant education!
Once upon a time they had a big, extended family with relatives sprawled across the earth. Stegodon was known to hang out as far away as Japan, while Mammuthus constantly wandered around Europe and North America. Today, most of their family is gone. Depending who you ask only 5-6 different Elephas and Loxodonta species/subspecies exist and every single one is either endangered or classified as a vulnerable species.
Elephants are the largest land animals on Earth. Perhaps you’ve only seen them on TV or in a zoo, or maybe you’ve travelled the world and seen Loxodonta africana africana or Elephas maximus maximus in their natural habitats. Either way, let’s see how much of an Elephant expert you are.
Each picture below is either an: African Bush Elephant, African Forest Elephant, Indian Elephant, Sri Lankan Elephant, Sumatran Elephant or Borneo Pygmy Elephant.
Some Elephant species are repeated and not all of them are included…as I haven’t yet travelled to every Elephant destination in the world. Good luck guessing! The answers will be provided once some correct guesses come in.
The Common Impala is one of the most abundant animals in Africa. Found all across the grasslands of East Africa, it is fairly easy to distinguish from other antelopes.
It has a rusty-brown colour, with slightly lighter legs and lower markings. A white underbelly and black-tipped ears are also a feature of the Common Impala.
Perhaps their most ‘famous’ marking is on their rear, with black and white markings forming what looks like the letter “M”. They are a popular meal for predators like lions and leopards.
Because of their abundant numbers and their “M” marking, many people call them the fast-food, or McDonalds of Africa!
One of my favourite things to do in new countries is visit the local convenience and grocery stores to see what seemingly odd creations or local treats are on offer.
Borneo definitely didn’t disappoint when it came to trying some new foods and drinks, although I can’t say I acquired a liking for all of them!
Visiting a roadside fruit market was a great way to get some free samples of various tropical treats. Borneo was the first place I had fresh mangosteens – amazing! But my favourite fruit surprise, partly because of it’s nickname, was the snake-skin fruit.
They literally look like scaly snake skin on the outside, but are tasty on the inside – kind of like a crunchy, sweet apple. The real name of the fruit is salak and they’re pretty popular around Indonesia and Malaysia.
Stocking up on different brands of crackers and sweets helps pass the time on long bus rides. I have a few weak spots for snacking when I travel – pringles chips (they’re everywhere!), fresh cashews (they’re so expensive at home) and a strangely compulsive need to order shrimp cocktail appetizers wherever I can find them.
Borneo didn’t disappoint on the cashews or shrimp cocktails, but I had the worst pringles chips ever – twice! First was shrimp-flavoured pringles. I thought they’d be amazing, like shrimp crackers at a Thai restaurant. Nope.
They were hideously horrible, I couldn’t eat them. I don’t even know how to describe the fake shrimp flavouring, it was so bad. I should have learned my lesson but then I tried the soft-shell crab flavoured pringles. They were just as bad.
Lots of Tiger beer! But I tried a few different sodas and teas that I hadn’t had before. I also love going somewhere tropical like Borneo and finding drinking water with penguins on the label. Sold!
The various crysthanamum tea and soft drinks I had were quite enjoyable, some other flavoured sodas like ‘Grass Jelly Drink’ (which includes corn starch, cincau and liquorice extract) and ‘Soursop’ (a fizzy soda with salt added) were one-time only for me.
The real winner of the snack and drink tasting in Borneo? Kickapoo Joy Juice. What a great name, even if it comes from an American beverage company! It’s basically your average citrus-flavoured carbonated beverage, but it easily has the best looking design and most amusing name.
