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Greencaviar Travel

To take nothing but photographs, and leave nothing but footprints.

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The Banaue Rice Terraces: A Living Cultural Landscape

My interest in exploring the northern part of the Philippines started from looking at a piece of art at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, California. Among the display of ceramics and pottery engraved with gold and other decorative stuff, a wooden carving of a male figure squatting on a platform with the lower arms on top of each other, resting upon his knees, caught my eye. According to the docent, the wooden sculpture was called "Bului" which literally means "granary guardian" in the "Ifugao" tribe dialect. The carved wooden sculpture was set on a platform on top of another platform, a mortar. Our docent explained the significance of the wooden mortar (which was used with the pestle, to separate the husk from the rice, sort of rice mill) and linked the story to the Rice Terraces in the Cordillera Mountains of the Philippines built 2000 years ago by the “Ifugao” tribe. So two years and three hundred kilometers north of Manila later, we explo

Kenya Safari: Masai Mara National Park

Witnessing the Drama of Wildlife at Masai Mara Venturing into the wilds of Masai Mara National Park in Kenya promised an adventure unlike any other. Having previously experienced the thrill of a safari in South Africa's Kruger National Park, where I encountered the famed big-five, I eagerly awaited a different spectacle this time: the great migration. Timing my journey for August, I hoped to witness this awe-inspiring phenomenon firsthand, only to arrive a week late. Despite missing the migration, what unfolded was a safari filled with unforgettable moments of nature's raw drama and deep insights into animal behavior. I saw lots of animals; from different types of antelopes, elephants, necking giraffes, leopards, mongoose, to gentle zebras and the so-called ugly-five (hyenas, marabou stork, warthogs, hippos & vultures) to birds (Marshall eagles, vultures & secretary birds that take off and land like an airplane.) Encounters with Lions Our first game drive immersed us

Kenya: The Pink Lake

Encountering the Majesty of Pink Flamingos at Lake Elementaita. Stepping into the serene wilderness of Soysambu Conservancy in Kenya was a journey filled with unexpected marvels. Just on my second day in this breathtaking country, I embarked on an unforgettable safari that would forever be etched in my memory. A Rough Journey to Serenity Leaving behind the bustling Rift Valley, our path to Lake Elementaita, where our lodge awaited, was not without its challenges. A rugged, unpaved road tested our patience with its deep potholes over a 7-kilometer stretch. Yet, as we ascended towards the lodge perched atop a mountain, the vista that greeted us was nothing short of spectacular. Before us lay Lake Elementaita, its shores seemingly adorned with a pink hue that beckoned us closer. Later that day, our guide proposed a nature walk within Soysambu Conservancy. Boarding a safari jeep, we ventured through the conservancy's gates, treated to a mini game drive where impalas, buffalos and an ar

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The Banaue Rice Terraces: A Living Cultural Landscape

My interest in exploring the northern part of the Philippines started from looking at a piece of art at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, California. Among the display of ceramics and pottery engraved with gold and other decorative stuff, a wooden carving of a male figure squatting on a platform with the lower arms on top of each other, resting upon his knees, caught my eye. According to the docent, the wooden sculpture was called "Bului" which literally means "granary guardian" in the "Ifugao" tribe dialect. The carved wooden sculpture was set on a platform on top of another platform, a mortar. Our docent explained the significance of the wooden mortar (which was used with the pestle, to separate the husk from the rice, sort of rice mill) and linked the story to the Rice Terraces in the Cordillera Mountains of the Philippines built 2000 years ago by the “Ifugao” tribe. So two years and three hundred kilometers north of Manila later, we explo

Poland: The Wieliczka Salt Mine

One of the most spectacular UNESCO World Heritage Sites I visited this year was the Wieliczka Salt Mine near Krakow, Poland. It was founded in the 13th century to mine the rich deposit of salt. Salt mining stopped in 1996 when the low price of salt on the world market made it too expensive to mine and the mine was slowly flooding. But miners did more than just extract salt. They left behind them a breathtaking record of their time underground in the shape of statues of mythical, historical and religious figures. Part of the salt mine became an art gallery, chapels, cathedral, and underground lakes. Today, Wieliczka Salt Mine is one of the most visited National Monuments in Poland. For safety reason, less than one percent of the mine is open to visitors, but even that is almost four kilometers in length. There are 20 chambers to visit and 800 steps to climb of which 350 at the beginning take you down into the mine. You can’t just visit and wander around on your own. All of the visits

The Amazon, Part 3: The Tree Killer Tree

"There are 121 ecosystems in the world and 80 of those can be found in the Amazon, and it is in the Peruvian Amazon that you will find the green biome , more than two-thirds of the world's plant species,” said Vics, our naturalist-guide. Through our small boat excursions, we were able to see the most bio-diverse part of the Amazon, the Pacaya-Samiria National Reserve, the largest wetlands in the world. We went through its narrow rivers, tributaries and black waters and lakes to hike the “Amazon Jungle”. Day-3: Jungle Trek Strangler Tree or Tree Killer Tree From the Turmalina, we hopped into a small boat. The boat hardly moved, we just used it to get offshore. We walked a tiny bridge and short pathway to get to the lake. We then crossed the lake using a catamaran to get to the edge of the lake where we found the entrance to the trail. Within minutes of leaving the larger river, we entered a narrow trail into the canopy of trees, killer vines, kapok and ceda

Alaska: Port of Call Ketchikan

Ketchikan I just had time to muse about my wonderful experience exploring the Inside Passage and some parts of the Tongass National Park while on a cruise to Alaska with my sisters. Our first port of call was Ketchikan, a very small town famous for three things: rain, salmon, and totem poles. So, most of the shore excursions involve rainforest, fish and totem poles. The weather forecast on our arrival was rain, but for a city dubbed as the “rain capital of Alaska”, it was beautiful and sunny when we arrived. The arch sign “the Salmon Capital of the World” greeted us as soon as we got off the ship. I gathered from the sign that Ketchikan was a small enough to explore on our own because only small towns would build or put out signs as tourist attractions to draw crowds. We could have explored the whole town on our own in no time, but we already pre-booked a walking tour. We arrived a couple of hours before the scheduled tour, so we walked around to check the shops out (mostly souvenir

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