Posts Tagged ‘nature’
Hiking And Camping Is Undergoing A Revival
December 22, 2010
Are you interested in getting closer to nature? Do you like walking and sleeping under the stars – or under canvas at least? If you do, then a walking or hiking and camping holiday may be just the thing for you. A hiking and camping holiday will get you out in the fresh air, permit you to observe nature first hand and cost you very little to boot. In short, hiking and camping are the ideal blend, if you are looking for a healthy, low-cost break outdoors.
Not only that but you can either go alone with a few good books, take a lover, take a friend or take the family with you. All in all, you have many options available to you if you want to trek off into the wild blue yonder on foot.
There are a couple of ways of approaching a vacation of this kind. You can either book into a hiking and camping site or you can literally only head off. If you have children with you then the camping ground is a necessity, but otherwise the decision is yours, although it has to be kept in mind, that camping off site is or can be illegal. Trespass is absolutely illegal as is causing a nuisance of yourself, putting wild animals under stress for no good reason, damaging trees or property and littering.
So, if you are a novice to hiking and camping, you will probably be better off going to a hiking and camping site or park. Do not be put off by this thought, some of them are truly enormous. Check out the Poconos and other national parks for instance.
There is no doubt that price is a factor in the choice of a camping holiday for many young people, but it is hardly ever the sole reason why people like to get away and sleep under the stars. Going back to nature and bird- and animal-watching are other common reasons.
If you fancy this sort of holiday, it is worth bearing in mind that hiking and camping have become highly popular pastimes of late. They always were well-liked, it is true, but they waned in the Eighties and Nineties, and are seeing a resurgence now. Therefore, do your homework, think about where you would like to go, get some leaflets or look on line and book up early. Yes, nowadays you have to book up early to get into the best hiking and camping sites again.
A final note of warning, if you decide to go off into the wilderness outside a camp site, let people know where you are. Take your mobile phone and a couple of fully-charged extra batteries and say when you are going to phone in that you are safe and make certain that you abide by it. It is very expensive if Air-Sea Rescue are called out on a wild goose chase.
Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a number of subjects, but is now involved with the egg crate foam mattress pad. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Egg Crate Mattress Pad For Sale.
Ways To Have A Wholesome and Environmentally Sound Boating
May 10, 2010
If you are looking for a fun activity that the entire family can enjoy, consider boating. It has the added benefit of being educational, and relaxing as well.
It’s important to take care of nature while having fun boating. Boating can be hard on marine ecosystems if proper precautions are not followed. If you are careful, you can avoid polluting the water or disturbing ecosystems. The tips below will help you to be a more green and eco-conscious boater.
1. Bring a trash bag: It may seem like a no brainer, but it bears mentioning just the same. To be a responsible boater, you must bring a trash bag so that you don’t leave anything in nature that wasn’t already there when you arrived.
2. Prevent fuel drips: Be aware of the potential for fuel drips when you refuel your boat. Never top off the tank. Instead, leave 10% empty to help prevent spillage. Be careful and go slowly when refueling, and use a rag to stop dripping around the nozzle.
3. Perform maintenance on land: Whenever possible, avoid doing any sort of maintenance on a boat if it is in the water. Wait until you are back on land. It is far better for paint chips, fuel, or debris to fall on land than into the delicate aquatic ecosystem.
Whenever possible, follow the rule ‘fix it on land.’
4. Use clean non-toxic paints: When you paint your boat, use non-toxic paint. Even though the paint will be dry by the time it goes into the water, using a toxic paint is dangerous to marine life. Paint can chip, and the chips can then dissolve into the water.
Cheaper paints are especially likely to be toxic. Check ingredients to gauge whether a paint should be used on a marine craft.
The writer additionally frequently contributes articles about things including knee pillow and lumbar support pillow.
Playa Del Coco, Party Town – Guanacaste, Costa Rica
April 17, 2010
One of the best beaches you can hang around in Costa Rica is Playa Del Coco. This beautiful and eventful beach of Costa Rica is situated in Guanacaste, near the Daniel Oduber International Airport, Liberia.
As I’ve already said, Playa Del Coco is very eventful and it has all the things that you want for a fun time starting from Sports fishing (which is a famous thing out here)or you can watch exciting waves, the busy beach and of course, Scuba Dive! The beach is very popular among the locals as well as the tourists. The place has many good facilities such as shops, restaurants, bars, discos, casinos, hotels, resorts and markets.
Let’s look at 5 things you can do enjoying this beautiful place:
1) Nightlife in the Beach: This is the best part of Playa del Coco. The daytime is not even close to being as beautiful as it is at the nighttime. People from all over the world keep on coming here and it’s definitely a delightful sight. Even if you want a tour in the middle of the night, it is available.
2) Snorkeling in Playa Ocotal: Walk to your left from the parking lot and make sure to bring your sneakers because you’re going to walk over some volcanic rock. Once you get around the corner, you’ll find a small beach with easy access to a vibrant reef. Here I’ve seen turtles, mantas, and dozens of bright tropical fish that I can’t identify.
3) A day at the Hilton: If you are not staying at Papagayo Hilton, it doesn’t matter, you can easily visit its cool pool and beautiful gardens. A bus service is always available when you need it and it will take you up and down around the hills. The gardens and hanging out places are awesome. Just make sure you tell the guards that you will be eating in their restaurants!
4) The LLano de Cortez Waterfall: About an hour away from Coco, you’ll find a 60 feet waterfall. To get there you have to drive towards Liberia, and when you come to the “main” intersection (the one with the Burger King), make a right. Continue for about 30 minutes until you see an Aloe factory. Down the road to your right you’ll see a sign for the LLano de Cortez Catarata.
5) Dr. Will’s Nature Tour: Dr. Will is a retired veterinarian who offers guided nature tours in Ocotal Beach. You can walk with Dr. Will for a couple of hours along the beach, up into the mountainside, and then go back down to where you started. All of this for only $20 per person. You’ll see birds, lizards, monkeys, exotic flowers, and you’ll learn more about Costa Rican wildlife in 2 hours than you could have ever hoped to learn watching the Discovery channel.
People who enjoy nightlife and of course, beauty will have a blast here. You are invited by the beautiful beach and the buzzing town.
Marina K. Villatoro, lives in Central America – Costa Rica and Guatemala for the past decade. She has traveled all over these areas with her family and now she loves to organize vacations to Costa Rica and Guatemala. Contact her for advice and to plan your perfect trip! Grab a totally unique version of this article from the Uber Article Directory
Costa Rica: Our Photography Tour Of Fiery Arenal Volcano
March 8, 2010
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All our luggage and camera gear is packed in the van by 8 a.m. and we are on our way to our first destination, soon to become a real life adventure. We are on a photography tour so everyone is talking cameras and pictures. This is the first day, we are getting to know one another, and the level of excitement in the van is high looking forward to the tour.
We are on our way to Arenal, an active volcano in Costa Rica, but there are a few stops along the way. First, we stop in Sarchi, famous for its tropical furniture, where magnificent, brightly decorated ox carts are made in an eighty plus year old water powered factory. From there, we drive to the little mountain town of Zarcero where the focal point is the old wooden church with its much-photographed double row of topiaries leading to its entrance. You can fill your camera’s memory card just at these two places with the colours and patterns in Sarchi and the fantastic shapes of the topiaries in Zarcero.
Luis, our driver, is very familiar with the many potholes that make Costa Rica famous, so he cautiously makes his way along the road while most everyone else, on 2 or 4 wheels, pass us by. The number of wannabe Formula One drivers in Costa Rica is staggering. There is even a bus driver who has been known to have passengers find religion and speak directly to God on his overland route.
After our planned stops and lunch in La Fortuna we are now just a few miles from our lodge at Arenal. As we leave the main highway we find ourselves on a road that is one continuous pothole. It is January and the rainy season has just ended so most roads are in poor condition but what is unique about this road is that it was constructed from crushed lava rock.
We round a curve and a come to a clearing at a river and there is Arenal Volcano! Most have never been face to face with a volcano before and it is truly an awesome sight to see, a perfectly shaped volcano.
The point of the cone is cloaked in puffy white clouds with a beautiful blue sky as a backdrop. We immediately stop and quickly leave the van attaching cameras to tripods. Some of us wade into the river for a better image while some shoot from the riverbanks getting a different perspective.
Arenal is highly monitored and quite predictable so even being this close the volcano holds little risk of a sudden, catastrophic eruption, though small eruptions are very common. The base of the volcano is 1 km from the lodge and the cone is 2 km away, which gives the guests at this lodge many opportunities to experience the volcanic activity.
What a surprise that while we are unpacking and settling in, Arenal comes to life again! It roars loudly as smoke and gas shoot many hundreds of feet into the sky and rocks tumble down the slopes. Mantled Howler monkeys hoot loudly following the eruption but we really do not know if they are hooting in protest or howling in support.
While enjoying our meal in the lodge dining room mighty Arenal speaks again! Although there are many photo opportunities in Costa Rica, who would have imagined that while eating dinner we would be gazing up at a volcano erupting in front of our eyes? And this on our very first day of the tour!
For the next two nights most of us get very little sleep as we find comfortable chairs in the common area outside our rooms, mount our cameras on tripods and attach a cable release. I had already decided to use an 80-200mm lens set at 80mm and an aperture of f8, the camera shutter set at “B” for time exposure.
The activity of the small flare-ups at the cone and the lava flowing down the opposite side makes me think that a time exposure of more than 20 minutes could produce an ugly yellow blob of light and if there are no eruptions after this time I will close the shutter and start another exposure. In using a cable release the exposures are perfectly sharp and Arenal cooperates by putting on quite a display while we are there.
Arenal volcano was the first adventure for my photography group in Costa Rica. Everyone is looking forward to the next eight days and the marvelous and exciting photo opportunities they will have. Pura Vida!
Frank Scott writes from sunny Costa Rica where he is a professional Costa Rica Photographer offering unique photography tours. Some of his work can be seen in Costa Rica Vacations, a very popular travel guide to this unique country.