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Author Archive | Heidi Sequenz

Senja – a winter fairytale

By on 6. March 2016 in Europe, Norway
winterlandscape with fjord

wintery landscape on Senja

A blanket of thick snow covered the entire island beginning of February, trees reminded of artful structures, their branches heavily burdened by snow, often touching the ground. Numerous fjords intrude into the island, dotted with beaches, fishing villages and framed by rigid mountains,  the perfect photo-ops.

The island of Senja is a two-hour drive from Tromsø and the perfect place for a photography workshop. The light conditions in February could not be more favourable, especially the blue hour.

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Chasing the Northern Lights

By on 29. February 2016 in Allgemein, Europe, Norway

 

Nordlichter, 10

Northern Lights, Senja, Norway

We were about to open a bottle of Austrian red wine to celebrate my birthday. That very minute Marc stormed into our comfy apartment with the news we had longed to hear. The northern lights were in the sky, exactly on my birthday!

Even better, on my very first day of our stay on Senja! Of course I had secretly wished for this birthday present, but for it to really happen?

After hastily wrapping myself in seven layers of clothing, grabbing the tripod and the camera, I dashed up the little hill, right next to our little hotel complex. Eagerly searching the skies I saw nothing, absolutely nothing that looked like the bright green lights I had so often seen marveled at on photos. In the distance drifted bites of wafts that could have qualified as light fog.

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Traveling Benin the rough way

By on 26. February 2016 in Benin
zem Idaatschland

Riding a zem through Idaashaland

 My handicaps were plenty – my very poor French, travelling on my own, hardly any other tourists to exchange information with and the absence of a public transport system in Benin.

Benin lacks pubic transport to an extent I didn’t think was possible, it just doesn’t exist, Not even taxis. When Beninoises speak of taxis they talk about run-down cars that pick up people as they go, but it is not a taxi you have to your own, unless you pay for all the seats. For longer trips the taxis often don’t leave unless they are filled to the rim, with a roof full of cargo.

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Meeting the locals

By on 26. February 2016 in Benin
Roch's family

Roch's parents and wife

 

Roch, a resident of Puerto Novo participated in a teachers’ exchange program in Vienna years ago. Only days before departing for Benin I learned about this through my friend Linde Magg, who hosted Roch during his day in Vienna. He answered my mail immediately and met me already on my first day in Cotonou. Quickly it was decided that I would welcome the New Year with his extended family in Puerto Novo.

New Year’s Eve was rather quiet. Roch’s adult children had invited friends from Nigeria and hung around the house before leaving for a club. But January 1 was an unparalleled life time experience.

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Benin through the lens of an EOS 70D

By on 26. February 2016 in Benin, Travel Photography
Leaves coated with red soil

Leaves coated with red soil

A nasty grey sky was the first thing I spotted when opening the curtains on my very first morning in Cotonou. Was it going to rain any minute? A quick check of the weather app said „low visibility due to dust“. Eventually it sank in, Harmattan season. This wind bis lowing from the Sahara across West Africa between December and March fills the air with thick dust. The horizon is greyish white, a photographer’s nightmare. A kind of blue skies would sometimes reappear late afternoon.

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The twin village Camate-Shakaloke

By on 26. February 2016 in Benin
Path separating Camate& Shakaloke

Path separating the two villages of Camate&Shakaloke

A small path separates the two villages of Camata and Shakaloke. Why they never merged? Two different clans reside there, explained Monsieur Bash, who works for Conetre e Protégé Nature. This local NGO supports villagers with all kinds of projects, like collecting rainwater, a school was built, the value of herbal medicine is kept alive and the occasional tourists in the area is shown these achievements.

A privilege that I had more or less to myself, in the four days around Dassa I did not see a single tourists.

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Yellow Fleet of Cotonou

By on 26. February 2016 in Benin
zem fleet28. Dezember 2015

Zems in Cotonou

    Forget New York, the true and real yellow fleet calls Cotonou its home. Streets are buzzing with young men on motorbikes, wearing bright yellow vests, registration number printed on the back. Even before I arrived I Benin I was determined to explore places by zemidjan, or simply zem, as they are called. Since Cotonou, nor any other town in Benin, provide urban public transport that is your choice. Half a Euro is a trip to most places around town. Despite the zigg-zagging through traffic, using sidewalks as escape routes during traffic jam, I was never really afraid. The only downside, zem drivers don’t provide helmets for their passengers like they do in Rwanda.

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Benin Photo Gallery

By on 25. February 2016 in Africa – Photos, Benin, Benin – Photos

Benin Photos

New Years Party at Roch's family home, outdoor kitchen

Roch's family home, outdoor kitchen

Traveling to Benin has been on my mind for years, especially experiencing the voodoo festival. X-mas 2015 it finally happened. a total of 17 days I spent leisurely moving around Benin. From the capital Cotonou I did short trips to the stilt village of Ganvie, to Ouidah and Puerto Novo, mostly by motorbike taxis. Dassa was the most northern city I visited, from where I moved to Abomey, the former residence of the Dahoman Kings. The voodoo festival in Ouidah was the definite high-light of this trip.

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Ouidah – from slavery to voodoo capital

By on 25. February 2016 in Benin
Place du Chacha

Place du Chacha

Quite a few memorials remind of the dark past of this city, most of them along the route de esclaves, a 4km sandy track that starts at Place Chacha where the slaves were auctioned off. Shaded by a large tree the square now radiates an almost idyllic ambience. Francisco Felix de Souza, the Brazilian slave trader, resided right there, his former villa seems almost modest considering the money he must have made trafficking human cargo to Brazil. Local narrative has Souza watching the horrid business transactions from this very villa, he would even check on the ships leaving through his binoculars until they disappeared on the horizon.

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Ancient Karima – Tombs, Temples and a Petrified Forest

By on 10. February 2016 in Sudan

Karima is plastered with ancient sites, ancient in one case means millions of years. The Petrified Forest outside the village of El Kurru is that old. A lot younger are the pyramids and tombs from the Kushite Period and the remains of Palace of Amun at the foot Jebel Barkal.

View from Jebel Mountain

View from Jebel Mountain

On our way to the village of El Kurru our taxi driver pulled up to a few men chatting next to the road. Eventually one of them climbed into our taxi, leaving Kelly and me confused. Having experienced many such moments when traveling I stayed calm and as it turned out the taxi driver had stopped to ask Mohnad, a local who spoke some English, whether he would serve as a guide for the two lady tourists. Eagerly Mohnad joined us on this little excursion and we learned so much we would have missed otherwise. Continue Reading →

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