Falkland Islands
After we left the Argentinian coast we had two days of sailing ahead of us before we reached the western parts of the Falkland Islands, or Islas Malvinas as they are called in Spanish.
In a historical point of view the Falkland Islands might be most known for the Falkland War that pestered the islands during the year of 1982. The islands were governed by Great Britain, but were invaded by Argentinian forces because Argentina wanted to have the islands under their territory. That claim is still present today and you can still find mine fields on the islands.
(Map from mapquest.com)
Our visit to the Falkland Islands started with a landing at Carcass Island in the western part of the islands. Here we saw gentoo penguins, magellanic penguins, caracaras and different kind of geese.
One couple is permanently living on this island and they had invited all of us to their home. They had baked 16 different kind of cookies for us! It was a very hard choice to pick the ones that we wanted to try, since it was not possible to try them all!
When we were back on Ocean Nova is was time for lunch. I'm guessing that not all of us were hungry at that point. :-) On our way to the next destination I went out on deck and was lucky to spot some dolphins playing very close to the ship. They were black and white in colour and later I heard that the species is called Commerson's dolphins. Beautiful and playful creatures!
After lunch it was time to go on shore again. This time we stopped at Saunders Island. This island showed out to be inhabited by gentoo penguins, rockhopper penguins, a few king penguins, blue-eyed shags and the very majestic black-browed albatrosses.
Our visit to the Falkland Islands ended with a day in the capital Port Stanley. The weather was nice and sunny and the temperature quite okey, but it was extremely windy!
In Port Stanley we got the opportunity to visit war memorials, a little museum, the post office and some souvenir shops before we continued our trip.
The shopping in Port Stanley went under the theme penguin! I bought penguin stamps, a penguin pin, penguin candy, three miniature penguins and a book about penguins written by the Swedish photographer Brutus Östling. Brutus was actually travelling together with us on this trip and he wrote a personal greeting to me in the book, so it became a very good memory from the trip.
The nature on the Falkland Islands is really breathtaking and to be able to get so close to the birds that are living here was a memorable experience. I was so happy already after our landings here. At that time I couldn't know that our next destination; South Georgia was going to be even more breathtaking.
Antarctica
(Map from PolarQuest)
Antarctica is the seventh continent and the enormous land mass is bigger than Europe. Almost all of Antarctica is covered by an ice cap which is up to 4.5 kilometres thick and acts as a storage of approximately 75% of the world's fresh water.
In October last year it was time to fulfil one of my biggest dreams; to visit this remote continent. The trip was arranged by the Swedish travel agency PolarQuest.
In Argentina I boarded the ship Ocean Nova, my home for the following 20 days. The trip started in the coastal town Puerto Madryn and took us, via the Falkland Islands, Shag Rocks, South Georgia and the South Shetland Islands to the Antarctic Peninsula.
Now I'm going to share some of the fantastic moments from the trip of my life with you!
Kilimanjaro
It is a little more than year ago since I was standing at the summit of the highest mountain in Africa, Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro is actually a 5895 meters high volcano situated in the northern part of Tanzania. Since it's the highest summit in Africa it's included in the Seven Summits, which is the common name for the higest mountain of each continent.
It was back in December 2010 that I, together with three Norwegian girl friends travelled to Tanzania to try to climb the highest mountain in Africa. We landed at Kilimanjaro International Airport late in the evening to be welcomed by the fact that one of the girl's luggage was missing! Sadly she never saw her luggage again...
Early the following day we started our climb. Our poor friend was in a good mood in her rented African mountain equipment.
We met our guides and porters at the gate to the national park; Marangu Gate. The first day we walked through the rainforest to the first camp site; Mandara Hut at an elevation of 2720 m a.s.l. It took us about 4.5 hours to get there.
Already the first evening I felt the height. I had a headache and felt a bit nauseaous, which gave me a reduced appetite. It was nothing else to do than drink a lot of water and go to bed early.
Every morning we were served hot tea and we were also provided with some hot water so that we could wash ourselves. After that it was time to enjoy the breakfast before we started today's climb.
After about one hour we came out of the rainforest and the landscape became more open. We could see trees looking like palm trees and colourful flowers. Around noon we always had a break to eat our lunch packets.
Every morning we were served hot tea and we were also provided with some hot water so that we could wash ourselves. After that it was time to enjoy the breakfast before we started today's climb.
After about one hour we came out of the rainforest and the landscape became more open. We could see trees looking like palm trees and colourful flowers. Around noon we always had a break to eat our lunch packets.
After 6 hours of walking we reached today's goal, Horombo Hut at an elevation of 3720 m a.s.l. Here we were welcomed by a well deserved dinner.
The painful headache came back during the afternoon, but a try to cure myself with far too many painkillers and lots of water actually helped. We celebrated our achievements so far by buying rather over priced Coca-Cola cans, since it was the day before New Year's Eve.
On New Year's Eve we had planned to have an acclimatization day. We walked up to Zebra Rocks at an elevation of about 4000 meters and then back to the camp site at Horombo. This was to get our bodies more used to the height and maximize our chances to reach the summit.
The weather was clear and we had a nice view over the mountain range Mawenzi. Some of us seemed to be in a very good mood!
On New Year's Eve we all went to bed at around 20:00 and most of us had huge problems to sleep up in the high altitude.
The next day we woke up to a new year; 2011! Today's climb would take us to Kibo Hut at an elevation of 4700 m a.s.l., the last camp site before the summit. We walked over the Saddle, a very windy desert looking place. The weather was sunny and we had fantastic views towards both Kilimanjaro and Mawenzi. Happily we could see that there still was snow on Kilimanjaro, but it was actually alarmingly little snow.
After almost 7 hours we reached Kibo Hut. Here we were lodged in a room together with another couple and our guide informed us about the coming night. I felt excited and impatient, I wanted to start climbing directly!
In the evening we lay down to rest for a while. We were woken up at 22:30 to prepare ourselves for the departure. When I woke up I had a nightmare of a headache and I felt very nauseaous. I tried to eat an energy bar, but only managed to finish half of it.
In the light from our head lights we started to walk up in a zig-zag pattern. The weather was clear, but the wind was quite strong. Despite the fact that I was wearing all my clothes I felt cold. We walked quietly, too tired to talk. I was counting my steps to entertain myself. I counted to 100 and then I started all over again. In that way we kept on going for 6.5 hours, before we finally arrived at the crater rim at Gilman's Point. Up here at an elevation of 5681 m a.s.l. we stopped to have a cup of warm tea, that our amazing guide Alan has carried up for us. From here we watched the sun rise over Mawenzi.
We are on the Kilimanjaro crater rim and can look into the crater. We are very tired but we have to keep on walking for 2 more hours along the crater rim to reach the true summit; Uhuru Peak, at 5895 m a.s.l. We are close but it feels still far away!
The last part felt like we were walking in slow motion, but finally we reached Uhuru Peak. I had been thinking about this moment and wondered what it was going to feel like standing at the summit. Now when I was standing there I felt absolutely nothing... I took some photos of the famous sign and our guide wanted to be a model for the day.
When I sat down for a while I felt almost dissappointed over the fact that I didn't felt happiness over my achievement. I had reached one of my goals in life and I was not feeling happy. The fact was, that I was far too tired!
We started to walk down againg and that was actually much easier! ;-)
The last day we walked back to Marangu Gate. After a couple of hours the adventure was over for this time. In the afternoon we were back at the hotel Mountain Inn and finally we could have a shower! The shower was followed by a three course dinner. Life was good and the thought of one week of vacation on Zanzibar didn't make it worse!
We chosed to climb the Marangu Route also known as the Coca-Cola Route which is the most popular route. The lodging is in small huts with two separate rooms with four beds each. At the last camp; Kibo Hut the lodging is in dorms.
Problems that we had with the high altitude was mainly headache. It's not easy to get rid of the headache, painkilles don't help too much. The best thing to do is to drink a lot of water and put in extra days for acclimatization so that the body gets time to get used to the altitude.
To reach the summit you must be really determined and have a strong wish of making it!
Åre - New Year Celebrations
Last year me and a friend of mine had decided to celebrate New Year's Eve 2011 in a special way. We had decided to celebrate the upcoming new year in the Swedish ski paradise Åre! Two days before New Year's Eve we headed for Åre. When we arrived we checked in at Holiday Club, our home the coming four nights. We were lucky and got a room on the ground floor with a balcony just meters away from the Åre Lake. What a nice view!
Holiday Club is a large hotel complex combined with timeshare apartments. Here you can find a water world and even a Saunaworld with six different kinds of saunas.
(photo from Holiday Club)
Åre is a very cozy place for an evening stroll. At this time of the year all the Christmas lights are still there and give a nice atmosphere.
Holiday Club is situated in the central parts of Åre and it is just a short walk to the main square. From the square you can take the funicular up to the ski areas.
Åre served up a nice sunny winther weather during our stay. On New Year's Eve we had decided to reach the summit of Åreskutan, which is the highest mountain in Åre, 1420 m a.s.l. The ski lifts take you up to 1274 m a.s.l. Up here you can find a nice café. We went inside to have something warm to drink and found really nice Irish Coffees.
After that we started our journey to the summit. Neither me or my friend have got randonnée skis so we had to remove skis and snowboard and walk up in skiing boots. When we finally reached the top we could gaze out over a nice sunset. It was definitely worth the effort.
After the end of the skiing day we went back to the hotel for a shower followed by a four course dinner at Holiday Club.
In the skiing system you can find a lot of different places to have food. My favourite one is Fjällgården with a nice view over Åre.
Even if skiing is the main thing in Åre you can find a lot of other things to do here. A nice afternoon trip is to visit Åre Chocolate Factory, three kilometres east of Åre. Here you can buy chocolate in a well-sorted factory outlet shop.
On the first day of the new year we had reserved a table at Copperhill Mountain Lodge for dinner at the restaurant Niesti. The restaurant serveres high class local food.
Copperhill Mountain Lodge is situated on the mountain Förberget. It is a stylish modern hotel with a lot of copper details.
Just days after coming back home I found myself looking at Åre pages on the internet. I don't know what it is, but Åre is definitely a place I want to return to!
