Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
Our China “expedition” had two other key destinations: nature reserves in environments much wetter, warmer – and lower – than the Tibetan Plateau.
Various aspects of Tangjiahe and Labahe will eventually be explored in individual posts on Pelican Yoga.
Comments closedThe world’s largest and highest plateau is bigger than Western Europe. Many of its plains are more than twice as high as mainland Australia’s highest peak. The China-mislabelled “Tibetan Autonomous Region” contains less than half of it.
2 Comments“My” local daily paper – The West Australian – has recently become relentlessly parochial and adopted inane journalese as its house style.
Its headlines especially grate: almost all are prime examples of what smug dullards consider “clever”, of what twits mistake for wit.
The West‘s editor may or may not be a bona fide idiot; perhaps he is just a bright young lickspittle, fulfilling a brief to “dumb everything down, cut every cost and cross-promote the linked TV station, endlessly”.
So, it was a particular joy/relief to encounter some actual journalistic flair…
Comments closedPropithecus diadema – the Diademed Sifaka or Diademed Simpona – is a large, utterly distinctive lemur.
It is critically endangered, but relatively easy to see in the (rapidly diminishing) wild, only a few hours away from Madagascar’s capital city.
The next image will explain why many people regard the Diademed Sifaka as the loveliest lemur.
Comments closedMadagascar-bound, flying from Australia?
Lucky you!
You’ll be even luckier if you spend some days on Réunion Island, en route; if the natural world is more your world than “resort world”, Réunion and Madagascar are infinitely more rewarding Indian Ocean island destinations than is Mauritius.
Comments closedOne of the world’s most spectacular volcanic creations, Réunion is young, geologically; the island emerged around three million years ago.
Territorially part of France, Réunion is geographically much closer to Africa.
At 3,069 metres above sea level, Réunion’s Piton Des Neiges is the Indian Ocean’s highest mountain.
One Comment(this little trilogy is best experienced in “1,2,3” order)
Remember the “apparently lifeless” appearance of the tidal flats that dominated this trilogy’s first image?
A closer view shatters that illusion…
Comments closed(second episode in an occasional series)
The featured image shows this individual as he or she first became visible to us.
In Hokkaido the local foxes “belong” – they are not feral, and most local humans do not regard them as “vermin”.
Accordingly – when well aware of nearby human presence – some of Hokkaido’s foxes behave in a relatively “relaxed” fashion that would be unimaginable in Australia.
Comments closedAs the immediately-preceding post observed, Madagascar’s emblematic domesticated animal has a great many uses/aspects.
Its horns can be turned into “cattle birds”, so to speak.
First step, once the abattoir has delivered the horns to the artists/craftspeople: throw the horns into the fire…
Comments closed
