Maldives. On firm ground
From the book "Straight to the South", part 2 "Shark archipelago", episode 10.
13.03.2018 | 0°26'16.37"N 73°34'7.09"E |
Early evening, we were allowed to go ashore. Well it is necessary ever to walk the surface of the ground once during the entire trip :)
Maldives. Fish dining room
From the book "Straight to the South", part 2 "Shark archipelago", episode 9.
11.03.2018 | 0°44'29.40"N 73°25'46.90"E |
How to protect marine life: wild tuna fishing does not covers the growing demand, so three plants have been established in Maldives where this valuable seafood is produced for industrial purposes, and one of them is located near Koodoo airport in the inner lagoon. They grow young fish and fishing only for adult individuals, then prepare it for sale as frozen or canned products. Feed and giblets fall into the water, their smell attracts myriads of other fish. And oceanic blacktip sharks, there were 20-30 of them. Excited by the smell of blood they rapidly raced around, almost poking us by their faces, and they are large, up to two-three meters in length, and teeth are very sharp, plus the speed.. Well, it was scary, to say the least :)
Maldives. Ocean patrol
From the book "Straight to the South", part 2 "Shark archipelago", episode 8.
13.03.2018 | 0°44'33.30"N 73°26'23.20"E |
We should describe one of our dives especialy, it was at Huvadhu. We started the dive at the same place, on the East external party of the atoll in the open ocean near the strait, but we didn't swim inside, we remained to hang in blue. And we were not sorry about it. Of course there were a little animals there, but we saw sea hunters who didn't come close to the reef.
Maldives. Diving in the Straits
From the book "Straight to the South", part 2 "Shark archipelago", episode 7.
10-14.03.2018 | 0°43'56.46"N 73°26'3.55"E – Koodoo Island airport |
We spent the first four days of our seven-day stay onboard of safari boat Emperor Leo at the Huvadhu Atoll.
Maldives. Shark archipelago
From the book "Straight to the South", part 2 "Shark archipelago", episode 6.
10.03.2018
Maldives, a tiny state washed by the equatorial waters of the Indian ocean. It was the idea of diving next to the sharks on the southern atolls with names from Arabic fairy tales - Huvadhoo, Foie Mulan, Addu - what attracted us to make this trip, everything else was attached during its planning, which looked something like: how to get there? It was much cheaper and easier for us to go through Sri Lanka, so why not stop there for three days, to look what kind of country is Sri Lanka? Safari in the Maldives lasts only 7 days, so why not to extend the pleasure? Since we're out of the home, we need to see something else! And how much does it cost, for example, to fly from Maldives to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands? So it's very inexpensive and the places there are nature reserves! So go ahead!
Sri Lanka. Sigiriya mountain
From the book "Straight to the South", part 1 "Expedition to the heart of Sri Lanka", episode 5.
09.03.2018 | 7°57'27.89"N 80°45'36.66"E |
It is time to speak of Sigiriya, the last capital of the ancient state of Sri Lanka, we spent our last day in Sri Lanka here. The perimeter of the city, which arose near the Royal residence (Lion Rock), is protected by wide ditches filled with water, perfectly preserved to this day. They also played the role of the irrigation system: the population of a large city needed water and the surrounding fields also should be irrigated.
Sri Lanka. Kaudulla national park
From the book "Straight to the South", part 1 "Expedition to the heart of Sri Lanka", episode 4.
08.03.2018 | 8° 8'1.06"N 80°52'36.98"E – entrance to the national park |
Jeep-safari to Kaudulla national park starts in the afternoon. In the morning and at noon, elephants hide in the jungle in the shade of trees, and in the evening they walk to the lake, where you can see them in details and photograph them on open spaces.
Jeeps at the entrance to the park
Sri Lanka. Polonnaruwa
From the book "Straight to the South", part 1 "Expedition to the heart of Sri Lanka", episode 3.
08.03.2018 | 7°56'30.35"N 80°59'54.23"E – ticket office and entrance to the archaeological museum |
A trip to the medieval town of Polonnaruwa - the second oldest capital of the Lankan kings, where they ruled from 1070 to 1293 years. Until this time, from the middle of the I century BC, the administrative capital of the island was the city of Anuradhapura, which we could not visit because the day before there were religious riots there, and the government temporarily restricted visiting its surroundings.
We drove with stops: souvenir shops, beggars-monkeys on roadsides.. Well, of cause we threw bananas for those pretty little guys!
Wooden carved bas-relief at the entrance to the souvenir shop
Sri Lanka. Pidurangala mountain
From the book "Straight to the South", part 1 "Expedition to the heart of Sri Lanka", episode 2.
07 and 09.03.2018 | 7°57'55.62"N 80°45'42.82"E |
We had only three full days in Sri Lanka. It is quite a bit and we did not drive to the sea and decided to spend them in the Central province, near the city of Dambulla. Local places are steeped in history. Enough to say that ancient inhabitants of the island belonged to the Veddo-Australoid race, bringing together representatives of the Australian and Veddoid or Ceylon-Sunda lesser races. Scientists believe that these peoples were the first human group who leaved Africa (the ancestral home of mankind) in the stone age and settled part of South and South-East Asia and the Eastern part of the tropical belt of the Old World, from Hindustan to Indochina and the Malay archipelago, and even to Australia. At the same time, they are genetically isolated from Europeoids and Mongoloids and do not have common ancestors with Negroids, some resemblance to the Negroids can only be explained by living in similar climate conditions. And then people who settled the island of Sri Lanka had a lot of interesting ...
Small family hotel Sigiri Rock Side Home Stay (7°56'57.67"N 80°45'17.89"E, that in the vicinity of the ancient city of Sigiriya) was clean and cozy. The Breakfast room cost for us about USD 35 per night. In the mornings we were woken up by wild monkeys jumping on a roof, the hospitable hostess treated us with freshly prepared dishes - pancakes and cakes of roti with tasty sauces, scrambled eggs, fresh fruits and the owner, the archaeologist and the local historian, helped us to organize hikes on vicinities .
The road to our hotel
Flight Bishkek - Sri Lanka
From the book "Straight to the South", part 1 "Expedition to the heart of Sri Lanka", episode 1.
06.03.2018
Rare case, we are going to fly from our native airport Manas and even at a convenient time at 9:00 am. Flight Bishkek - Delhi by Air Manas plane, ticket costs 149 USD, time in flight about 3 hours. Let's fly!
the Tien Shan fnd Pamir mountains are hidden by clouds, the mountains started to be visible only after an hour and a half later, when Afghanistan was under us. It was a Hindu Kush mountains, then foothills of the Himalayas and far away rising to the sky - main ridge with its giant peaks. The sky is just a background for Nanga Parbat peak (8125 m), further it could be seen Gasherbrum I (8080 m) and the northernmost and second highest of the world's giants - Chogori or K-2 (8661 m), ascent to which is fatal for every fourth climber..
Then the mountains under us were replaced by a minorhills, then it gone and the plain of continental India began - scattered among green fields settlements-stars, rivers and canals, threads of roads..
Building density increased closer to Delhi and here you are the metropolis is under us, where among the poor areas of old buildings, as high bushes among the grass, modern high-rise buildings have grown and wide highways lay straight..
Indira Gandhi airport, Terminal 3, New Delhi
Kyrgyz Republic. Chon-Kurchak ski base
February 4, 2018 | 42°38'21.36"N 74°38'18.08"E |
Often our friends from different countries ask us: 'Can you go skiing in your country?' It is possible! There are several ski bases around the capital, there is a high-altitude base on the pass to the Suusamyr valley, where you can ski until the end of April (if weather enough cool). And, of course, Karakol ski resort at Issyk-Kul lake is the most beautiful and equipped base, where the season usually lasts until the end of March. Also you can go free-ride skiing on wild slopes, ski-touring on snow-covered mountain valleys, summer skiing on the glaciers using snowmobiles for lifting, quad bikes and helicopters.. Lots of options :)
Bali. Nusa Penida. Meeting with sea devils: Manta Point Baru
From the book "Bali Island", part 6 "Nusa Penida", episode 35.
8°47'44.10"S 115°31'33.40"E
Russian sailors who were pioneers of tropical waters called this relative of sharks as Sea devil. You can imagine what a superstitious horror they caused when this huge horned nightmare suddenly appears from the depths of the sea.. :-)
Bali. Nusa Penida. Mola mola: the venue - Crystal Bay
From the book "Bali Island", part 6 "Nusa Penida", episode 34.
8°41'0.60"S 115°28'57.70"E
Mola mola
Bali. Nusa Penida. Couldn't catch the sun: dive site Toyapakeh
From the book "Bali Island", part 6 "Nusa Penida", episode 33.
8°41'0.60"S 115°28'57.70"E
There is North of the Nusa Penida island, Toyapakeh bay, where people arrive by boats and ferries from neighboring islands. You can see small island of Lembongan not far to the West. It is separated by not wide (up to 1km), but rather a deep strait, powerful cold currents come along it from the ocean to the Bali sea and sometimes they bring large inhabitants of the sea.
Eye to eye..
Bali. Nusa Penida. Along the flow: dive site Ped
From the book "Bali Island", part 6 "Nusa Penida", episode 32.
8°40'30.00"S 115°30'52.80"E
Nusa Penida island is located closer to Lombok island then to Bali. But we will describe it in this section because almost all dive centers in Bali do arrange diving and snorkeling here, lovers of underwater world spend 20 minutes to come here by speedboats from the Padang Gulf.
Drift along a gentle underwater wall on the North of Nusa Penida island. Our georeference is arbitrary – you can come much East or West – the essence remains the same: all the dive will be along the flow. We had short stops during the dive for shooting the main attractions of this site – corals and fish scurrying around them..
Lionfish
Page 4 of 11