Puerto de Mogan

Puerto de Mogan

Puerto de Mogan – The small village in the south of Gran Canaria. Easy to reach with the local bus system. You dont need a car to go there. There are less parking possibilities in Puerto de Mogan and its a small village so you can do everything there by foot. I went there wit the local bus direct from Maspalomas. Its about halt an hour. Just for a day trip. Its a nice little village for relaxing, drinking some coffe or walking around. They have a lot of flowers there, white painted houses with blue doors. The bay beach is wind and waves protected, so take your swimming things with you.

La Graciosa

La Graciosa

Sadly we have got windy weather and a cloudy sky on our day trip to the smal canary island La Graciosa. I just can imagine how beautyfull La Graciosa would be with bright sunlight and a blue sky. But for all that I enjoeyed my trip to La Graciosa very much. It is the smallest inhabiteted island of the canaries. It has only 29,05 square kilometers and its in the north of Lanzarote. We took the ferry from Orzola to Caleta del Sebo, the small main village. After a lunch break we went out for a short hiking trip over the island and took the last ferry back to Lanzarote. And the bus back to our horror hotel in Costa Brava.

Exotic Birds free flight show Palmitos Park, Gran Canaria

Exotic Birds

Some for european eyes exotic birds in flight. Taken at the exotic birds free flight show in Gran Canaria. Precisely at Palmitos Park. A medium large Zoo in the south of Gran Canaria. They offers amongst others a exotic birds free flight show, birds of prey show and a butterfly house. The two mentioned shows and the Butterfly house are for me the key reasons to visit this Zoo. I am not a fan of Orca or Delphine shows.

Die Exotische Vögel show war neben der Raubvogel Show und dem Schmetterlingshaus einer der Gründe für mich den Palmitos Park auf Gran Canaria zu besuchen. Delfin oder Orca Shows sind nicht so mein fall, da geh ich lieber zwei mal durchs Schmetterlingshaus und versuche schöne Bilder zu bekommen.

Colorfull snail shell on the crater bottom of Lanzarotes Vulcano Montana Roja

A snail shell at the crater bottom.

First I found a snail shell. On a place I dont expect to found anything. I was on my way to the top of Lanzarote`s Montana Roja. A 200 meter high and dead old vulcano in the south of Lanzarote, near Playa Blanca  Than I found a nother colorfull snail shell. And than a lot of snail shells. Seems there is more life in old vulcano craters than I expected. Specialy on islands full of sand and stones. The bottom was full of small plants, snail shell`s, some rabbits and lizzards. More natural vegetation  as I saw in the rest of the island.

La Gomera

Some coastline impressoins of La Gomera

When you come down the road from the La Gomera rainforest mountains, the first things you see are some houses and the atlantic see. It goes staight ahead down to the coast. In this case the north east coast of La Gomera. With Tenerife in the background. Its a complete change of colors. The dark green and spooky forest on the top, with all the fog and clouds passing throu and the sunny coast with beaches and the blue sea. White painted houses with red roofs, banana plantations and very curvy roads. It was a stop back on my way to the ferry in San Sebastian. I have been on La Gomera for a hiking trip. And thouse pictures are beside impressions from this trip. It was not a phototrip 🙂

Butterflies

The two dancing Butterflies

Two beautyfull red Butterflies having fun with each other on a closed hibiscus blossom. I have never seen butterfly making love before and I don`t expected that they are doing it tail to tail 🙂 They where so busy whis themselves thaty they don`t noticed me and my 150mm Sigma macro lens. Going close was not difficult. Getting enough light for a closed apperture and for a fast shutter speed was the chellenge here 🙂 You can`t see it but they are indoor pictures. Taken at Palmitos Parks  House of Butterflies. The Butterfly House and the exotic birds flight show are a good reasen to visit this medium size Zoo in the south of Gran Canaria. The Bird House at Palmitos Park is not as big as Loro Parques Bird flight area but they have a raptor and exotic birds flight show there. And a huge House of Butterflys. Using my Monopod for all thouse photos was no problem. No one of the officials cares about my monopod and 150mm macro lens. This is also a plus. You are not everywhere welcome with professional photo stuff.

Ich habe mir eigentlich die Gedanken darüber gemacht, wie sich Schmetterlinge überhaupt fortpflanzen. Jetzt weiß ich es 🙂  Aber ein wenig überrascht war ich schon im ersten Moment, vor allem darüber das sie sich überhaupt nicht gestört gefühlt haben. Sie waren einfach zu sehr mit dem Flattern und rum hüpfen beschäftigt. Nah ran zu kommen war also schon mal kein Problem. Eher das Licht, um eine möglichst kurze Belichtungszeit zu erreichen und die Blende einigermaßen zu machen zu können. Was man nicht sieht, das ganze spielte sich im Schmetterlingshaus ( House of Butterflys) des Palmits Parks auf Gran Canaria ab. Wegen des Schmetterlingshauses und der Vogelflugshow hatte sich der Besuch dort für mich gelohnt. Delfinshows interessieren mich nicht, und gegen das Vogelhaus im Loro Park kommen sie dort auf keinen Fall an. Wenn man das kennt und als Maßstab nimmt ist man eher enttäuscht.

The shifting sand dunes of Maspalomas

Sand and Sky – The beautyfull Dunes of Maspalomas

The beautyfull dunes of Maspalomas. Impressions from my last journy to Gran Canaria. The dunes of Maspalomas are a 6×2 square meters areal in the south east of Gran Canaria. The best time to stay there is between the end of April and die beginning of june. Before April its very windy there, so you have some problems with sand, your towel or umbrella and after june the sand is (for me) to hot. The dunes are not so empty as they looks on my pictures. On some days they are full of members of the gay community or of full nudity people. Out there is a big full nutity area. But who cares, its a nice place for taking pictures, The Sand is very finely granulated and the wind makes nice patterns in the dunes. On one side there is a small lake, the left of a former laguna who was taken step by step by the sand. Its a breeding area for a lot of birds and a wildlife sanctuary. Net time I will come with a ND Filter doing some long time exposure.

 

Puerto de Mogan

The beach side of Puerto de Mogan

Puerto de Mogan, the small beautyfull fishing village in the south west of Gran Canaria. With the white painted small houses, alle Palms and flowers around, Puerto de Mogan realy looks like it was just build for travel catalogue pictures. OK not all of Puerto de Mogan looks realy nice. There are also some „Cement Castles“ as we call in germany the quick buils tourism hotels of the 80th. But they are a little bit away from the coast side of the village. Fot the most people its important how the beach and the water area looks like. And I can say. beautyfull. The beach and the harbor are man made, not natural as in Maspalomas. Because of that the beach of Puerto de Mogan is sheltered from the wind and the water is a little bit warmer. Its perfect for a nice day trip. To have a little swim, a good meal, and to walk around. We have been there with the public bus system. It works very good on Gran Cararia and it is cheap.  But please, take a look at the pictures and you wiill see what I mean.

Hawk

A proud hawk – The beauty of a flying hawk

A beautyfull hawk flying high into the sky. It was a very sunny day at Palmitos Parks  hawk free flight show. Mostly blue sky just some clouds. Perfect for taking hawk pictures. I have no realy tele lens just my Nikon 70-700, my universal weapon 🙂 So with this lens its hard do take some hawk pictures in real wildlife. I hope to get a 150-600 or 200-500 some day, till then I have to go to bird shows like this for taking hawk or birds in flight pictures. The Palmitos Park is a nice little zoo in the south of Cran Canaria. They have a lot of free flight raptors in ther free flight show, such as Eagles, Marabous, Hawks, and a show with exotic birds. I can also recomend the big butterfly house. The rest is zoo standard. Some meerkats, turles, apes, a botanic garden, the usual zoo stuff 🙂 But the birdshow impressed me very much. Its not only the birds, its the the whole surrounding thats impressive. Not build in the middle of a city, like most of the zoos, the Palmitos Park is build deep into a canyon, it gives a nice atmosphere tho the whole setting.

Sundown Family

Sundown Family

A father and his two little sons watching the sundown and exploring the coast of Costa Adeje. The don`t take notice of me  because they walked on top of a wave breaker and I usesd my 70-200 on a lower position. I love it to take pictures against the down going sun. I Found the sundown family at playa del duque and they are a part od my new sundwon silhouette project.

Eine kleine Familie auf einer Buhne an der Costa Adeje. Der Vater zeigt seinen Söhnen den Sonnenuntergang und sie gucken nach kleinen Krebsen zwischen den Steinen. Bemerkt haben sie mich nicht. Eigentlich schade, so werden sie nie die Bilder von sich sehen.

The fairytale forest of La Gomera

La Gomera Fairytale Forest in Black & White

Impressions taken on a hiking trip deep into the La Gomera rain forest, the so called fairytale forest. It looks very much there like into a Sleepy Hollow or Brother Grimms Fairitale movie. The nature there is dark green and very foggy, beause the atlantic couds move direct throu the forrest. Roots and lianas hanging around from the trees and everything is full with moss and lichen. To get more auf the hauting spirit I decided to take thous pictures in black and white.

Man kann echt meinen man wäre in einem Märchen der Brüder Grimm wenn man durch den Regenwald von La Gomera wandert. Über all hängen Flechten oder Lianen von den Bäumen herunter, es ist dunkel und sehr nebelig weil die Wolken direkt durch den Wald ziehen. Die Steine und Stämme sind komplett mit Moos bedeckt. Hat an manchen Stellen schon fast was von Sleepy Hollow. Ich finde ein Schwarz Weiß transportiert sich die Atmosphäre von dort nochmal wesentlich besser. Vom Wetter und dem Rest bekommt man im Wald nicht viel mit. Es ist immer leicht dunkel und nebelig. Also eine gute Aussicht oder so hat man dort nicht wirklich, obwohl man auf über 1000 Meter ist. Aber die braucht es ja auch nicht immer. Dafür gibt es andere Orte auf La Gomera

 

The Marabou

The Marabou

What a suprise. On my last holiday I went to a free flight show of exotic birds at the Palmitos Park. After some parakeets they anounced a very smal bird and than it was a marabou. It was not the first time I saw one, I have already seen Marabous in Kenia, but I have not payed much attention to them because they where allways sitting on dark trees, now moving, not flying. So it was a big suprise for me and seeing such a big bird in flight, a good chance for taking pictures. It was very easy taking the marabou, because its a very huge bird, a stork family member. I used a Nikon d800 and a 70-200 for shooting the marabou in flight.

Ich hab zwar im Palmitos Park auf Gran Canaria nicht meinen ersten Marabou (Marabu) gesehen, allerdingt war dieser deutlich aktiver als seine brüder in kenia. Von dort kannte ich sie nur auf Bäumen rum sitzend und nichts tun. Nur mal laut kreichen wenn man ihnen zu nahe kommt. Auch wenn er zu einer Vogelshow gehörte war ich doch sehr froh mal einen marabou im Flug fotografieren zu können. Diese art von Storch sieht man ja sonst außerhalb Afrikas eher selten. Denke ich jedenfalls. Und in einen Vogelkäfig gehört er bei der Größe nun nicht wirklich. Da schaut man ihn sich doch lieber in der Luft bei einer Vogelflugshow an 🙂

Anaga

The Anaga Mountains

Pictures from a hiking trip to Tenerifes beautyfull Anaga mountains. The Anaga mountains, a part of north Tenerife. You have a good view for the snowy peak of Pico Del Teide shere und over the north part of the island. The Clouds from the atlantic ocean moves over this part of the island and get down by the trees. So the view can change from bright sunlite to very much fog in under two minutes.

Das Wetter wechselt ziemlich schnell im Anaga Gebierge. Innerhalb von 2 Minuten hat man den Wechel von tollem Sonnenlicht zu sehr dichtem Nebel. Also ideal für Fotografen die gerne bewegte Wolken oder umher ziehenden Nebel in ihren Bildern haben. Sowas geht da gut, und es ist eine imemr grüne Gegend 🙂

Marina Rubicon

Just some Boats at the Marina Rubicon

Just some Boats I saw on my vavation trip to Lanzarotes Marina Rubicon. The Marina Rubicon is a very nice marina at Playa Blanca in the south of Lanzarote. A good place for vacation or a daytrip. The beautyfull Playas del Papagayo are neaby. A couple of natural wild beaches.

City of Yaiza pictures

Yaiza, cityscapes from a vacation trip

Yaiza a city in the south heart the canary island Lanzarote. I have passed the city on one of my last vacation trips. It looks like you would imagine it. Full of white painted buildings, blue sky and a dark, vulcano based dessert hill background. I am shure I will visit Yaiza again. Next time with a own rented car to take some sundown pictures with the Timanfaya fire mountains in the background there. Its also a winery area. They don`t have much water there, but they grow sweet grapes to make sweet wines.

Yaiza ist eine kleine Stadt im Herzen von Lanzarote. Zu ihr gehört auch der Timanfaya Nationalpark. Kleine, nicht mehr als zweistöckige, weiß gestrichene Häuser, mit roten Ziegeln. Ein paar grüne Pflanzen davor, blauer Himmel, umgeben von dunklen, durch Vulkane entstandenen Hügeln. So in etwa würde es wohl ein Reiseführer beschreiben, und so sieht es dort auch aus. Leider hatte ich sehr wenig Zeit in Yaiza, nächstes mal nehme ich mir einem Mietwagen, und bleibe etwas länger. Jedenfalls werde ich keine deutsch/ holländsiche Reisetour mehr buchen, mit der wir dort gelandet sind. Das hält man auf Dauer nicht wirklich aus 🙂 Vieleicht bleibe ich ja dann bis zum Sonnenuntergang. Mit den Timanfaya Bergen im Hintergrund sieht es bestimmt sehr gut aus.

 

Chiamada

Chiamada

Chiamada – the old cave village on top of the Anaga Mountain. With a nice view over the north part of Tenerife island and the snowy peak of the Pico del Teide. Its a quick wheather changing areafrom sunny to fog in two minutes. Because the Atlantic clouds move there over the island. Some of the village pictures looks like landscapes for a model railroad.