Night Desert Safari Dubai, 2014

During my one week stay in Dubai this year,
I took a night safari in the desert.
( http://www.dubai-reisen.info/ausfluege/wueste_nachtsafari.html - website from which the tour was booked)
We were a group of 4 with a guide (from Egypt).

Pick-up time was 19.30 from the hotel.
It had to be this late for the temperatures to cool down a bit AND for ti to be dark.
The drive to the desert took about 45 minutes through the southern parts of Dubai;
were the world Expo 2020 is being constructed (and the builders live in large fast constructed villages).
We also passed the "Arabic" Dubai - a settlement for newly web Arabic "native" Dubai residence where each couple gets 500 m² for free (or a small house). So they don't die out. Dubai has now only about 14% natives. The rest are all foreigner workers.

Then we reached the Dubai Desert Conversation Reserve - yes, the tour is inside a reservation, to make sure the animals stay inside and no "hunters" (2- and 4-legged) come inside. There is also an extra part fenced off inside the reservation for intensive study on the animals and their food.

Entry gate to the reservation: more information in below links
http://www.ddcr.org/en/
http://www.ddcr.org/en/reserve/location/

It is better to have all the tourists concentrated in this one area - than have them wander off, alone or with guide, through the real desert, destroying the sensitive ecosystem there. But to have an exclusive and expensive resort there with a pool for each room/bungalow? That is a bit too much for the tourists. The managers there sure know how to make money ..................

Anyway:
We changed to the range rover - open and from the 1950's. It is a loan from the museum in private property of a sheikh to use until it breaks down. (There are about ten of those for those desert tours.) And the guide handed each of us 2 half liter bottles of cooled water - which we had no time to drink until the snack camp, where we got two more half liter drinks.

the car

We drove for a bit along desert roads, the guide pointing out bushes and trees that the nomads used for remedies and food. (Sorry, no photos from them.)
Then we went for a walk, about an hour and half. The guide had a torch and a UV light. The latter was very important as only with that you could spot the sand scorpions.

Sand Scorpion

in UV light and torchlight

in UV light

in torchlight with flash

The we also saw beetles:

This one kept putting the butt up and head down -
to protect its most sensitive body part

And we saw some bigger animals, like gazelles and antelopes (I don't remember their specific names):

Best of all I like the Gecko:

Then we had a small snack in the desert with a look at the major stars, like big and small dipper and the North star. And see the setting half moon through a telescope. 

Nope, I didn't use the sischa.

They even had built a toilet house out of stones in to the desert at this snack place for the tourists - with running water in the wash basin and water-flushed toilet like in a hotel room!!

By 23.00 it was time to go back - not without "bashing" some dunes with the car, the guide telling us to "hold on tight" for each deeper dip it took. It was fun, getting some hot dust into your face. Yes, it never cooled down really, temperatures stayed around 28°C. 

Just leaving the reservation gate I saw some more animals, ANTS.

Large ones - about 2cm long each, devouring some dropped fruits.

Tired, but happy tourist me at the reservation gate.,
camera ready for the paparazzi . 

This then ends my report from the night safari. If you ever get to be in Dubai - try and do one too. You won't regret it. =))

Low water in the creek - update March 2014

It's been some time I posted about the little creek running through the village where I live.
Last year the water levels were stable, although still low.
Only a few days they were the "normal" height. Those were the days right after we had downpours.

This winter has been the driest and warmest. NO snow except for a few days, and not much - maybe 10 cm at the maximum.

So, there is no Spring melt this year - the water level seems even lower than in the hottest Summer days.
Up to now Spring has been dry too; there is fire watch already for the forests.

The few times it did rain, the water didn't even rise. It only turned muddy for a few hours and then was clear again.

Here some visuals of what it looks now:

Another Garden Experiment - Update Spring 2013

Maybe you still remember the bush that has gotten replanted into ever smaller pots over the years?

This is what I wrote in the Autumn update.

I guess it's time for the Spring, nearly Summer update of this "Bonsai" bush experiment.

Although it was a very wet Winter and Spring, the bush did not drown fully or freeze to death outside.

A bit later than the other years it did get it's flowers too.

Only one twig, and a few leaves. The other branches do seem to be dried out and dead, before I had planted it into the white bucket.

Here some photos I took of it recently:

Lots of water covering the soil.
I remove it regularly, as I have not yet managed to make drainage holes into the bucket.

A closer shot of the flowering twig in the middle of the bush. 

And a close-up of some of the tiny leaves sprouting.

Hopefully, I can find a better place for this bush to grow at permanently very soon. The rest of the garden is in good shape; the palm trees, for which this bush had to move, survived the Winter too.

=) Happy gardening to you.

Low water in the creek - 2013

I haven't posted much about the creek running thought our village and flowing along the train tracks this year.
Why? Because there was not much to post.

In the early months it kept low - about the same as last year. With little snow and rain in the winter months it had no chance to get much higher overall and stay that way.

Lots of dry ground with the low water
and cold temperatures.

The water itself is not frozen over.

High banks due to low water in Winter.

This month though, it rained a lot. Especially in the last few days, so the soil here is over saturated with water. Anymore water raining down on it will just run off. And so, we now have HIGH water in the creek. Not yet overflowing. We had that once after a downpour last Summer. Now, it's a few low fields flooded, but not from the creek. The water just has no chance to run off properly.

The creek in the village has high water - but still can take a lot more before it overflows here.

The other side of the street, where the other creek, the "Lillach" joins the one above.
Notice the darker water: it's clearer, the dirty one has a lot of "chalk" in it
hence it's name "Kalkach".

Along the train
this part of the creek has been blocked

as there is a house right below the water level.......

Further down the train tracks; the path going under the tracks is flooded -
the bridge of the path alone the track is still clear.

These last photos were taken on Friday, it is still raining. At least until Monday this high level will stay. Then the weather is supposed to change with more warmth and less rain.

Another Sun Halo - Partial

Yesterday, 13th of December 2012, a day after the ominous 12.12.12 date, I was on my way to work as usual with the train. Sun rises are late at this time of year; and with cloud cover even later.
And we had just gone through the coldest night of this season (so far). It was still -6°C at 8.45.

Arriving at the train station and getting off the train I took a moment to look at eh sun peaking out behind the haze of clouds and trails left by the plans crossing the sky. I suddenly saw it. A faint rainbow to the left of the sun. I had to take a snapshot of it.

Then, as I look to the other side I saw another faint rainbow like shine to the right, just above a tree slightly higher than the rest of them. I also took a photo of that.

And then, of course, although the "rainbows" fragments were so far apart from each other, I wanted to have both of them and the sun on one photo. I barely managed to get that.
When I looked at the photo later, I was amazed that I actually had caught three of these sun bows. One right over the sun as well. =))

Even the cable can not diminished the beauty of the sun and the sun-bows!! Thank you sun for this beautiful light.

Here a NASA link to explain this phenomena a bit more in detail:
Sunrings

Winter time is coming

So, today November 29th is the day we have first true snowfall in this Autumn to Winter change.
There had been a little bit of snow already on October. The palm tree in the garden had to be covered fast.

The first snow in October.

Now it's better prepared for the snow - all caged in.

Now caged in and leaves bound together to help it survive the winter,

To give you a sense of what it is like when it snows here (wet snow though at around 2°C above zero / freezing) I made a short video:

Enjoy it - snow is fun!! Have a great day.

From Summer to Autumn . TREES

A year can get rather long if you wait for the seasons to change to take the proper photo of single trees.

Although Autumn - with colored and falling leaves - seemed to start a bit earlier this year (in August; which was only due to the dryness all Spring and Summer long), 

the trees I have been photographing and thus watching took their time to show off the yellows and reds and half bare branches. 

Finally they did; not all at the same time though. 

It took about three weeks until I was satisfied with the change. Enough change to show the difference of Summer and Autumn on those trees.

So let's start with the Walnut and Cherry trees at the train station again:

in Summer

in Summer

The cherry trees were the first
to start changing color.

And shortly later they still have the leaves,
but the Walnut tree is nearly barren.

The Walnut tree alone.

And again a bit alter.

Next set of images is the Linden tree:

in Summer

in Autumn - still not lost many leaves

The Bloodplum at my house:

in July

in October - not much change ,
but lots of leaves already down

The small tree at the other train station:

in Summer

in Autumn, scrub in front is brown

The big Chestnut tree:

in Summer with chestnuts on

in Autumn with only half of the leaves

and the group of trees close to the wood where I go jogging in Summer.

in Summer, the wheat already ripe

in Autumn, starting to color

Autumn last year - circle completed.

Finally should come the Apple tree in the wheat field; but that one is still green AND the next season of wheat is starting to grow. It looks too much like Spring.

That will have to get it's own update once the leaves change color or have fallen off with still no snow around it. It's snowing today - rather early this year, but not the earliest ever!

And again I have noticed that there are more trees I have photos of - but forgot a season in between for this kind of report on them as well. Such is life!!