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Birding in South Sinai

Posted on October 20th 2007 by Arthur in Birds, Travel

We took pictures of 26 different species of birds on our holiday in Sharm El Sheikh and South Sinai last week, nine of which are lifers (bringing our grand total to 326). Here they are: More »

Another great experience with Colona Divers

Posted on October 20th 2007 by Amy in Scuba Diving, Travel

Last week we had our second excellent experience with Colona Divers, this time in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. Colona is a Scandinavian dive operator with shops in Hurghada (where we first dived with them in 2005) and El Gouna in addition to Sharm.

Diving with Colona at Sharm El Sheikh

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“For transporting tourist”

Posted on October 19th 2007 by Arthur in Funny, Travel

We took many taxis on our holiday in Egypt last week, most of them flagged down on the streets of Sharm El Sheikh. It’s always a big hassle to agree a price with the driver before you get in. You know from seeing official price lists and reading travel books and trip reports what constitutes a fair price, but still they laugh in your face if you mention anything near these prices and make you pay something many times more. More »

Do not feed the fish

Posted on October 19th 2007 by Arthur in Funny, Travel

At Ras Mohamed National Park we saw this extremely cute “Do not feed the fish” sign. It’s the way the fish looks at the (mysterious object in the) hand that makes it a really funny sign, I think:

Cute fish sign

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Yolanda and Shark Reef at Ras Mohamed National Park

Posted on October 19th 2007 by Arthur in Nature, Scuba Diving, Travel

On Sunday 14 October we had our fourth diving day in the Red Sea (see our photo album of this trip) with Colona Divers and our guide David took us to Yolanda and Shark Reef for our first dive of the day. It took about an hour for our boat to arrive there from the Travco jetty in Sharm El Sheikh. The famous dive site (which is often listed among the top dive sites in the world!) is located at the southernmost tip of the Sinai Peninsula in Ras Mohamed National Park, where the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba flow into the Red Sea:

Location of Yolanda and Shark Reef Map

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Photos of our trip to Egypt

Posted on October 18th 2007 by Arthur in Personal, Photos, Travel

From 6 to 16 October we visited South Sinai and stayed at Amar Sina Hotel in Sharm El Sheikh. We dived and snorkeled with Colona Divers and visited Ras Mohamed NP, Nabeq NP and St. Catherine’s Monastery.

View all photos at Picasa »
View large slideshow in our photo album »

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Storks falling from the sky at Sharm El Sheikh sewage ponds in Egypt

Posted on October 17th 2007 by Arthur in Birds, Nature, Travel

Yesterday we visited the sewage plant North East of Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt to look for birds. We had a very hard time getting there as our taxi driver didn’t speak English (see the directions below), but the visit was well worth all the trouble. We saw many birds, including thousands of White Storks!

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Hunnebedcentrum in Borger

Posted on August 3rd 2007 by Arthur in Life in Holland, Travel

A hunebed (Dutch for ‘Dolmen’) is a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, consisting of three or more upright stones (megaliths) supporting a large flat horizontal capstone (table). Most date from the early Neolithic period (4000 BC to 3000 BC). The Netherlands have 54 of these prehistoric graves, and 52 are in the province of Drenthe. The largest one is located near the Hunnebedcentrum visitor center in Borger that we visited last Sunday.

Hunebeddencentrum
Hunebed D27 near the visitor center in Borger

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Treetop walking in Drenthe

Posted on August 2nd 2007 by Arthur in Life in Holland, Nature, Travel

Last Sunday we visited Boomkroonpad (‘Tree Top Path’), a 2,500 hectare (6,000 acre) forest preserve in Drenthe, here in the Netherlands. The main attraction at Boomkroonpad is a path of 125 meters (410 feet) through the tree tops, reaching a height of 22,5 meters (74 feet). Unfortunately it was pouring down on our visit and we didn’t see any birds or wildlife. But still it was an extremely fun walk that we will need to do again once when the weather is better. There is also a very nice visitor center with shop, restaurant and lots of activities and trails.

Boomkroonpad
Entrance to the Boomkroonpad area

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Fast food still bad at Disneyland Paris

Posted on June 30th 2007 by Amy in Disney, Food, Pop culture, Travel

Last month we visited Disneyland Resort Paris (DLP) for two days. The park is celebrating its 15-year anniversary with new shows, new attractions and new decorations. Unfortunately they did not take the opportunity to improve the dining experience at the parks, which remains dismal. More »