The first hint that you’re approaching the Antarctic continent is the sighting of icebergs.
As icebergs become more plentiful, excitement grows, anticipating your first sighting of land in two or more days. They’re the precursor to the real allure of Antarctica – penguins and seals.
A typical iceberg in Antarctica
Yet, somehow as the days of an Antarctic adventure go on, you can’t help but be mesmerized by the varying shapes and sizes of the icebergs you cruise by.
You begin to learn a new lingo. You start talking about pancake ice, bergy bits and tabular icebergs. The bergy bits being smaller chunks floating in the water, while tabular icebergs can be behemoths larger than your average multi-story apartment building.
A gloomy, underexposed iceberg in Antarctica
You learn that only 10% or so of the iceberg is actually visible above water, the rest hiding under the surface.
You see different coloured icebergs too, with blueish tints, sometimes quite dark and dense – hints that the iceberg was made of older, compacted ice which broke off from an ancient glacier.
Who wants a scoop of ice cream? An ice cream iceberg in Antarctica
Different types and colours abound, as do shapes. One iceberg may look like an animal, another could look like a scoop of ice cream.
A city block sized tabular iceberg floating off the coast of Antarctica
Far away from the remote control and constant visual stimulation we’re so used to, icebergs take on the role of entertainer when you’re not communing with the wildlife in Antarctica. Your imagination takes hold and before you know it, these chunks of ice become one of the most exciting parts of your day.
The start of October also marks the start of Ontario Hiking Week, so it seems the perfect time to put together a few photos from some of my favourite day hiking trails from the Ontario Provincial Parks that I have visited.
I’ve hiked all around Ontario, from the shores of Lake Superior to the Niagara Escarpment to the southern tip of Point Pelee. It’s not easy choosing just six hikes that stand out, but these ones are some of the most enjoyable short hikes I’ve come across.
#6 – Kabeyun Trail, Sleeping Giant Provincial Park (40km)
Sea Lion Rock, a highlight on a side trail of the Kabeyun Trail
As with many parks further north in Ontario, hiking opportunities are plentiful, with many more options than you see at parks in Central or Southern Ontario. In total, Sleeping Giant boasts 17 different hiking trails, ranging from easy strolls to tough multi-day treks. The Kabeyun is known as a challenging hike with excellent wildlife viewing opportunities and plenty of great scenic lookouts.
You don’t have to do the entire hike to appreciate it, this photo is of ‘Sea Lion Rock’ (the head of the sea lion broke off years ago), which is only a hike of a few kilometres from the trailhead parking lot.
#5 – Mizzy Lake Trail, Algonquin Provincial Park (11km)
A juvenile Moose in the forest on Mizzy Lake Trail
More famous for canoeing routes, Algonquin Park also offers great hiking options, with 13 hikes along the popular Highway 60 corridor and numerous hikes accessible via other entry points.
Of all the hikes along the corridor, Mizzy Lake stands out for a few reasons. First, it is an ideal day-hike length of 11km, taking you anywhere from 3.5-6 hours depending on how often you stop and what your hiking speed is.
The Mizzy Lake Trail also passes through a great variety of landscapes, from open forest, to dense pines and shores of lakes. Wildlife viewing here is the best of any trail, with patient hikers being able to catch glimpses of everything from chipmunks to moose. This is also the only trail along the corridor that does not allow dogs on the trail, so as not to disturb the wildlife. (Note, however that you may encounter hiking groups along the flat and easy ‘old railway’ portion of the trail that have dogs.)
#4 – Mayflower Lake Trail, Arrowhead Provincial Park (1km)
Green scenery and a Beaver Lodge along Mayflower Lake Trail
Arrowhead Provincial Park is a fun park to visit on a weekend, as the handful of trails on offer total only 13km, making it easy to hike all of the trails and enjoy the rest of the park over 2-3 days. The Beaver Meadow Trail is the only one of substantial length, at 7km, but I found the short Mayflower Lake Trail to be the most impressive, and conducive to photography.
If you are like me and like to take photos of nature, then the Mayflower Trail hike provides some nice green scenery and points of interest. Beaver lodges, rocky shorelines, changing trail conditions and a variety of plants make it a fun, short hike.
#3 – Agawa Rock Indian Pictographs Trail, Lake Superior Provincial Park (0.4km)
A pictograph, or rock painting, along the shores of Lake Superior Provincial Park
The shortest trail on this list, it is also one of the most interesting. Few places in Ontario let you get so close to a piece of history as this trail does.
Some of the most impressive and most accessible pictographs are found along the rocky shoreline on this trail. It has a steep and sometimes slippery descent to view the pictographs up close, but on a clear day it’s well worth a glimpse of centuries old Indian rock paintings.
#2 – Chikanishing Trail, Killarney Provincial Park (3km)
Windswept trees and coastal Georgian Bay views of the Chikanishing Trail
For such a large park, Killarney has surprisingly few hiking trails if you skip doing any section of the 100km long La Cloche Silhouette Trail. Yet, the few trails it offers are all superb, with different landscapes and environments. The Chikanishing Trail is my personal favourite on a nice day, as it offers a pleasant hike along ridges and shorelines of Georgian Bay.
A great hike for staring out across the water and watching kayakers go by, or for stopping along the rocky ridge line for a picnic.
#1 – Etienne Trail, Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park (2.5-9km)
Relaxing along the Nature Loop of Etienne Trail in Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park
Nestled above the immense Algonquin Park, getting to Samuel de Champlain park is a bit of a chore for people from Southern Ontario. It is well worth the effort though.
There are no simple ‘boardwalk’ hikes here. Each of the hikes at Samuel de Champlain has a bit of a challenge to it, and the Etienne Trail is the best of the bunch. This trail is actually comprised of three loops, so you can pick and choose the length of your hike based on your interests. I suggest doing all three loops for 9km, but in the least, don’t skip the Nature Loop part of the Etienne Trail.
Around the beautiful Long Lake, the Nature Loop offers a fun trail with plenty of rewarding lookouts, as well as potential animal encounters. This is the kind of trail that can be enjoyed by virtually any park visitor – from hikers and wildlife enthusiasts to photographers.
Enjoy Ontario Hiking Week! Hope you have time to get out and explore a nearby park.
After spending a couple of weeks in Far East Russia (Think Siberia, but further east), one of the places that stood out above the rest was the Zhupanova River in Kamchatka.
Zodiac Cruising in wild Russia, Volcanoes looming in the Background
Kamchatka is one of those rugged places with no road access to the rest of the country and cities and towns largely looking like they did back in the Soviet era.
Salmon fishing and hunting are common along this part of Kamchatka, yet the Zhupanova River boasted a huge array of wildlife and bird life, which attracted most of the people on my ship trip run by Heritage Expeditions.
Russian Fishermen, Zhupanova River in Kamchatka, Russia
In one short visit, I saw more than 20 Steller Sea Eagles, somewhere around 100 Largha Seals, a handful of Sea Otters and plenty of other bird species. With snow-capped active volcanoes in the background (some of them smoking) it was one of those surreal landscapes, the type of nature paradise that I prefer to seek out on my travels.
Steller Sea Eagle flying above the Zhupanova River in Kamchatka
Steller Sea Eagle in a Tree near the Zhupanova River in Far East Russia
Nature rules here and I was lucky to visit an area that only sees handfuls of tourists every year. Even the local fishing town was happy to see some visitors for a change and welcomed us in for some fish and tea.
Largha Seals lounging around in the water of the Zhupanova River, Russia
I even learned a little about birding in this part of Russia, after spotting the elusive Aleutian Tern. For someone who once disliked all birds except those that couldn’t fly, travelling to remote Russia with a boat of birders was an eye-opening experience. I dreamed about birds for a week after the trip and can now tell the difference between Tufted and Horned Puffins and also know that there is no such thing as a ‘Seagull’!
Fishing Village, Zhupanova River in Russia
Looking for Wildlife – Zodiac Cruising the Zhupanova River in Far East Russia
Whenever I mention going fishing for Piranhas, people seem shocked.
I suppose they envision me fighting off a school of man-eating fish with my bare hands. It’s not quite like that, it’s really more of a laid-back afternoon in the sun, using long fishing poles while dangling morsels of meat in the water.
Using long poles to fish for piranhas in the Pantanal wetlands, Brazil
It seems the Piranhas are smart little things too, as they don’t all go crazy at the first sight of flesh. Heck, when I was safely fishing from a top a bridge a local Pantanal fisherman was wading through waist high water nearby. So, really, how dangerous could they be?
What most people don’t know is that there are anywhere from 30-60 different types of Piranhas in the world!
The Pantanal Wetlands – A Pretty Place even if you don’t catch Piranhas
One type, the Red-Bellied Piranha, is the one that is most aggressive and frequently resorts to cannibalism. As far as I could tell, the Pirhanas I was fishing for were one of the much lazier, less scary species. But – they still had damn sharp teeth!
It was a fun day, despite not really catching anything. A few people I was with had better success, so we were able to dine on some Piranha for dinner. What I enjoyed most was just being out in nature, in the world’s largest wetlands. Birds, fish, caiman and all sorts of wildlife live in the Pantanal in Brazil.
Sunset in the Pantanal Wetlands, Brazil
It’s a place I’d love to return to in search of more wildlife like otters, anteaters and jaguars. Perhaps I’ll fare a little better with my Pirhana fishing skills next time too. If you’re wondering where my photos of the actual Piranhas are…well, the only photo of the too0thy little things I took came out blurry. Another reason to return…
I like to consider myself a wildlife enthusiast and explorer, so I generally steer clear of Zoos and Aquariums. Mostly because I just prefer to see animals in the wild, but partially because I have seen enough captive animals over the years to know that not all Zoos and Aquariums are created equal.
Some Zoos, however are doing great things in the name of science, conservation and the re-introduction of endangered plant an animal species into the wild. Once such organization is the San Diego Zoo.
An ‘Elephant’ outside the San Diego Zoo Entrance
When I visited, I had to choose between spending a day at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, or the San Diego Zoo. The ‘Safari Park’ as the name implies is a wide open, outdoor park fashioned to be like the great plains of Africa, where wild animals roam free. As I’ve been on Safari in Africa, I was more curious to see how the original San Diego Zoo was. Could it really live up to the hype I’d heard? After all, many people have claimed it to be the best Zoo in the world!
A Curious Monkey at San Diego Zoo
In short, the answer was yes.
There was only one exhibit – one animal – I saw in the San Diego Zoo that seemed to be unhappy. It was a cat, which I briefly saw pacing around in it’s enclosure. Obviously not a natural habit, it was evident that the cat wasn’t perfectly happy. But with that said, it was in a temporary enclosure at the time, so by now it is hopefully roaming around in a bigger space and enjoying life a little more.
Black with White stripes? Nope – White with Black stripes!
All the other animals I saw, seemed to be in healthy, happy shape. Many of them were quite active and in most cases they had what seemed to be tons of space, compared to exhibits at some other Zoos I have been to.
I was particularly impressed with the Tiger enclosure.
Tiger Attacking a Toy Ball at San Diego Zoo
One of the staff members was doing a talk about the Tigers when I arrived and it was evident that they had put a lot of time and effort into making sure the Tigers were staying active and as ‘wild’ as they could be.
The many different kinds of Bears as well as the always fun Meerkats were quite entertaining as well. Even the long wait in line to see the ever-popular Panda Bears was worth it. While the Pandas weren’t exactly putting on an exciting show, the Red Pandas did provide some entertainment during the time in line.
A Meerkat on the prowl at San Diego Zoo
A sign that I had a great time was that the day went by fast, I arrived when the Zoo opened at didn’t leave until it was getting ready to close. I had planned to check out more local attractions that day, but in the end I just headed back to my hostel. (If you’re going to San Diego – I stayed at the HI in Point Loma, a really nice place in a quiet part of the city – one of the best hostels I’ve stayed at.)
A Red Panda photographed at San Diego Zoo
While I’d love to be able to see every animal from the San Diego Zoo in their natural habitat, I know I likely won’t have the chance to travel to so many far flung forests and deserts. If you’re a fan of Zoos, don’t miss the one in San Diego and if you’re not a fan of Zoos, I recommend it any ways just to see how well run a Zoo can be.
It’s easily the best Zoo I’ve been to for both how free the animals seemed and how educated and enthusiastic the staff were.
