Number 5: Oman 2017

 The good djinn

Djinns, so ghosts, are important in Omani life. They might not be visible, but they might be responsible for bad luck and good fortune. However, does that also apply to the traveling foreigner?

In January 2017, four of us went down along the coast of Oman in a posh 4x4. It is a spectacular trip. Deserted beaches, breath-taking landscapes, you can camp anywhere and if you need something for dinner, you just buy a fish from a boat in one of the little fishing ports.

Buying fish in a desert port. The ice we got for free

At a certain point, after a couple of sharp turns and a steep descent, we end up on a bridge over a wadi. Below us towards the sea a lake surrounded by palm trees. Such a splendor of green is rare in the desert. Despite the hurry, we decide to take a detour. A bumpy track passes a construction site that is likely to become a parking lot and then plunges into the thicket of palm trees. We leave the car and I continue on foot with one of the friends. We arrive at a greenish body of water, a black Toyota pickup, a smoking fireplace and two Omanis in undershirts, who greet us warmly. They get something out of the firepit, which turns out to be freshly caught and roasted lobsters dripping from fat. After the snack, the men show us the rest of the oasis and the large lagoon. One of them convinces my friend to put on his Dishdasha and turban. Indeed, now he is indistinguishable from an Omani. I take a picture of him and the Omani owner of the dresses in the undershirt with my friends i-phone and after the return of the clothes we say goodbye and set off for the journey.

Chance meeting in a thicket of palm trees

Change of outfit

From the oasis the impressive road climbs through the mountains in hairpin curves until we suddenly drive into a fantastic panorama of the coastline and the lake. My friend wants his phone from me to take a picture and can't believe I don't have it. He thinks since I have taken a photo of him in the oasis I should have it. I know for sure that I returned the phone to him right after the photo. Nor is the phone with his wife. She suggests calling him on her own phone. We hear nothing ring, the phone cannot be in the car. We are driving towards a parking lot on a kind of plateau over the lake and stop…. if the phone is not in the car, we have no choice but to go back and search the oasis for it. Just when I get out to take at least a photo of the coastal panorama, a black Toyota pickup arrives and our two new Omani friends get out. My friend runs straight to them and asks for his phone. The two appear puzzled. Apparently they haven't seen the phone. During the subsequent discussion, someone walks around the rear of the pickup and points at the bumper. And in fact. There it is. My friend’s phone. With a maximum enlargement of the photo of the cars in the parking lot can see it lying there. But the miracle is that it stayed there all the way along the bumpy track in the oasis and on the winding mountain road.

Our new friends can only attribute this to a good Djinn who accompanies us.

Diversity of Omani landscape

The rough coastal mountain range

Camels "grazing" on the beach



Looking for a camping spot on the beach

Tents are set up. Time to prepare dinner

Sunset at another campsite

It is getting cold quickly in the evening. Late nights are rare

Number 4: Argentina - Chile 2008

Number 4: Argentina – Chile 2008

The jetty for the boat across Lago O'Higgins

While I was in Monte Leon (number 1), I read that it is possible to walk across the border of Argentina with Chile close to El Chaiten, the northern entry of Parque Nacional Los Glaciares. After a night in El Chalten, I took a minibus to what Google calls Rio Cañadon de los Toros, but what is locally called Lago del Desierto. It is a roughly 20 km walk across the border anyway, so I took the boat to the northern end of the lake and did not walk along the lake. The Argentine border post is at the northern end of the lake. The border guards looked at me in disbelief. In their opinion, I would never be able to walk to Chile with such a lot of luggage. Indeed, since I did not intend to come back, I had to carry everything. And unfortunately, I encountered a couple of really good bookstores on my way and that in addition to the camping equipment and a camera bag with a SLR and a couple of lenses must have made a load of some 40 kg. The border guards recommended me to use a horse. However, I am not a horseman, and there was no guide. They said there might be a group of caballeros arriving from Chile in the afternoon, but I had no intention to wait for something, which might never happen. I thought, that if the route was too long and exhausting for a day, I could as well just camp somewhere in the nomean‘s land.

The ascent from the lake to the water shed at the border to Chile was a challenge. The summer 2007/2008 was unusally hot in Patagonia. Instead of the usual variation of sun, rain and snow storms, all in one day, the entire january 2008 greeted me with blue sky. But after the coolness of the morning, the heat made the walk especially exhausting. But the sweat was rewarded by the view back over the lake and the towering Cerro Fitz Roy.

I was quite tired when I reached the border, which was marked by two big signs in the nowhere. The bridle path on the argeninian side changed to a gravel road in Chile. Probably there had been a forest fire recently. This attracts the horseflies, here called tábano, irritant big, but innocent insects, which like to sip on your sweat. Big and noisy as they are, they try to get into your nose, ears and eyes to drink. Hitting them does not help. Mostly they just fly away unimpressed and if you manage to squash one, they leave a sticky mess. And there are too many of them anyway. So better carry on instead of camping in the wild and being surrounded by these suckers.

Eventually, in the late afternoon, the turquoise waters of Lago O‘Higgins were visisble at the horizon. The colour comes from the minute debris of rock, which is carried by the runoff of the glaciers surrounding the lake. The lake is named after the Chilean hero of the war of independence, Bernardo O‘Higgins. Half of the lake is in Argentina. There it is called lago San Martin, who, guess what, was the Argentine hero of the war of their war of independence.

At the lake is the chilean border station, and a kilometer further on, a farm. They have simple rooms, dinner and, most important, beer. I pitched my tent between the horses on the lawn. About every second day, a boat cruises around the shores of the chilean part of the lake to serve the couple of remote farms and the odd tourist. The boat originates from Villa O‘Higgins, the southern end of the carretera austral, the 1200 km rough road built by Pinochet to ensure the independence of the southern part of Chile from Argentina. Before the road was built, this part of the world was only reachable by boat, plane or via Argentina.

Travelling down this road was my next goal, but that is another story.

On the way from the coast to the Andes: A destroyed water mill, a bent tree.... the photo shows the relentless wind on the Patagonian pampa

Few landmarks sand out above the pampa between the coast and the Andes

An Argentine motor home

Cerro Fitzroy, one of the landmark peaks of the northern parque nacional los glaciares

The northern end of lago del desierto, where the walk to Chile starts

Lage del desierto and Cerro Fitzroy on an unusual spectacular bright day

The border ... Chilean border sign 

The border, Argentine border sign

The road on the Chilean side

The goal is approaching: first glimpse of Lago O'Higgins

The shiny turquoise waters of Lago O'Higgins

The farm at the end of the road

Dining room where all the guests met

Kitchen

Power station

My tent

Glaciar O'Higgins calving into Lago O'Higgins

Number 3: Austria 2008

Number 3: Stubaier Höhenweg, Austria

For me, one of the most rewarding things to do is hiking in the mountains. It gives you the illusion that you have achieved something. The exercise in combination with the clean, crisp air reloads the batteries for weeks afterwards. In the alps, treks of several days or even weeks are made easy by the dense networks of mountain huts, which are run by the alpine clubs. And after a day of walking, there is nothing better than let your tired body fall on a seat, get a cold beer and enjoy the delicious food some of these huts have to offer..

In 2008 we did a hike around the Stubaital in Austria, south of Innsbruck. On the route are the Nürnberger, Dresdner and Regensburger Hütte, which all offer additional possiblities of day trips to the surrounding summits. The trip crosses numerous streams, worried marmots, fields of wild flowers and even a glacier... if it is still there 12 years later.

Unfortunately, in the cramped dormitories of the huts a pandemia will strike relentlessly. So I am afraid that even after the travel restrictions will be lifted, the huts will stay closed until the last source of infection has disappeared. And that can take a long time.

The climb to the Nürnberger Hütte starts harmless along the valley to the Bsuchalm

The track starts climbing

Marmots follow our progress attentively

Also the sheep stick to rhe slope

The clouds and the rain move in

The path gets precarious

 

Finally, Nürnberger Hütte at 2297 m

A short moment of sunshine reveals the view from the hut

The next day starts cloudy. The weather in the northern alps can change rapidly. Sunshine can change to snow in the same day even in what is considered summer. The worst are thunderstorms. Each year, lightning causes victims at high altitude

The ascent to the ridge to the Sulzenauhütte

The crest: no view at all

Crossing some makeshift bridges

The Sulzenauhütte offers a welcome break and snack

The next night we spend in the Dresdner Hütte. It is in the middle of a ski area, is massive and has a self service restaurant. The surrounding slopes are spoiled by adaptation to the wintersport

The next day the weather has improved, lake on the way to the Regensburger Hütte

Sheep always seem to find a tasty meadow

A couple of little lakes on the way to the Regensburger Hütte

On the way to the Regensburger Hütte

Sheep suspended above the Stubaital

A short photo break

Even begin of July we had to cross some snowfields

Der Abstieg zum Grawagrubenferner

Damals musste man noch über die Ausläufer des Gletschers

Hier gab es auch Leitern und Stufen

Foot of the glacier. I wonder how it looks like 15 years later

Das Ende des Grawagrubenferners

The tongue of the glacier. Mosst of the alpine glaciers are disappearing quickly

After the glacier, the path descends over scree fields

Hochmoos above the Neuen Regensburger Hütte

Falbesoner Bach

The Neue Regensburger Hütte waa very full. Meanwhile they have built another enormous, modern building next to the traditional structure. I hope people like it more when they take into account that they get a bed there

Below the Regensburger Hütte the creek turns into an impressive waterfall

Regensburger Hütte, Waterfall and Falbesomer Ochsenalm

Falbesomer Ochsenalm at 1830 m