The Smoke That Thunders – Victoria Falls

© 2005 Jonathan Hanson

 

ARTICLE LENGTH: 1400 words

SEASON: June - September

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Travel tips and contact information sidebar included

PHOTOS: 6 high-resolution JPEGs available

RIGHTS AVAILABLE: One time use.

DELIVERY TIME: Immediately available.

by Jonathan Hanson

 

LIVINGSTONE, ZIMBABWE - To David Livingstone it seemed his canoe was about to drop off the edge of the world.

The tepid current of the Zambezi River, swirling past islands forested with acacia and fig trees, gave no hint as to the apocalypse just ahead. But the roar that filled his ears, and the curtain of mist that rose to the sky—visible a day’s journey away—said otherwise. Then, in the distance, the broad blue reflection of African sky on African river simply ceased to exist.

The native paddlers pulled into an island impossibly suspended in the midst of the phenomenon, and Livingstone walked beneath the trees and out to a rock edge and beheld a sight that even he, with 15 years of African exploration already behind him, had never imagined.

For a half mile on either side the mighty Zambezi hissed over a lip and plunged into a chasm in the earth so choked with spray that the bottom, 300 feet below, was invisible. The sound produced by the impacting water so pummeled the air that Livingstone could not hear what his nearby companions shouted. Beneath his feet the very rock hummed, as if the entire island must soon yield to this unstoppable power and be yanked into the abyss.

Future explorers would inform the tourists following Livingstone that three million gallons of water every second thunder over the falls during the rainy season. All Livingstone knew was that, “Such scenes must have been gazed upon by angels in their flight.” So moved was he that he broke his longtime and very un-European habit of retaining native names for places and features he visited. He christened the falls after his queen, Victoria.<clip>

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 Sea Kayaking Destinations: An Outside Magazine Adventure Travel Book (WW Norton, 2001)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 EACH CHAPTER IS AVAILABLE AS AN ARTICLE; SOME STOCK PHOTOGRAPHY AVAILABLE; ALL INCLUDE AT LEAST ONE TOPICAL SIDEBAR; GUIDES AND OUTFITTERS INFORMATION; WHAT TO EXPECT SECTION; AND SUGGESTED READING.

To purchase a story, contact Jonathan or Roseann Hanson by phone, or email .

by Jonathan Hanson

Part One: Setting Out

BRITISH COLUMBIA: Johnstone Strait (PHOTOS AVAILABLE)

FLORIDA: Everglades

THE BAHAMAS: Exuma Islands

BELIZE: Caribbean Coral Reefs

GREECE: The Cyclades Islands & Crete (READ SAMPLE)

MADAGASCAR: Masoala Peninsula

MALAWI: Lake Malawi (PHOTOS AVAILABLE)

FIJI: Kadavu           

PALAU: The Rock Islands

 

Part Two: Deeper Waters

MAINE: Maine Island Trail

NEWFOUNDLAND: Notre Dame Bay

MEXICO: Baja California (PHOTOS AVAILABLE)

NORWAY: Lofoten Islands

AUSTRALIA: The Queensland Coast

NEW ZEALAND: Marlborough Sounds & Fiordland National Park

 

Part Three: The Outer Limits

THE ARCTIC: Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula (PHOTOS AVAILABLE)

GREENLAND: Disko Bay

CHILE: Tierra del Fuego

SCOTLAND: The Isle of Mull

SCOTLAND: Orkney and Shetland Islands

 

 

 Sea Kayak Destinations: The Cyclades Islands & Crete

©Jonathan Hanson

 

THIS IS A BOOK EXCERPT FROM: Sea Kayaking Destinations by Jonathan Hanson (Outside Magazine Adventure Books/WW Norton, 2001).

ARTICLE LENGTH: 1600 words main article; two 300-word sidebars; resources

SEASON: April-May, September-October

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: What to Expect, 2 topical sidebars (The Minoans; A Landscape Created by Humans), Guides & Outfitters, and Recommended Reading

PHOTOS: No

RIGHTS AVAILABLE: One time use.

 DELIVERY TIME: 1 week

At-A-Glance

Total Trip Length: 20 to 25 miles

Trip Length: 7 to 10 days

Physical Challenge: 1

Mental Challenge: 1

Price Range: $1,800 to $1,950

Prime Time: April-May, September-October

Staging City: Athens

ATHENS - Are the storied Ionian and Aegean seas that wash the shores of Greece really such a deeper, more midnight-toned shade of sapphire than other seas? Does the sun really burn with a more brilliant, golden light on the spare Grecian hillsides? Or is it an illusion, an optical effect created by contrast among the bold strokes of primary colors that make up the landscape: whitewashed buildings rising in ranks from the shore, red-tiled roofs, dense green shade of tamarisk and juniper trees. Perhaps it's not the light or color itself, but the heady awareness of human history that heightens perception and frames each day spent in Greece as in no other country except, perhaps, Egypt.

No matter—the source of the illusion is not as important as its effect, which is to amplify every experience, to lend more import to landmarks and passing scenes, and to make even a short passage in a small boat seem like an epic journey of discovery—almost, well, Homerian, if you would.

Beginning long before the heroic but hapless Odysseus "weathered many bitter nights and days in his deep heart at sea, while he fought only to save his life, to bring his shipmates home," the ocean has exerted a constant, profound influence on life in Greece. A full one-fifth of the country's land area is islands—1,400 of them—which ring the mainland from the Ionian Islands (Odysseus's home) off the west coast, to the largest, Crete, in the south, to the Sporades and Aegean Islands in the northeast, many of which are much closer to Turkey than to the Greek mainland.

The history of Greece is, at its heart, the history of humans, and that extends to its islands, which have been inhabited for thousands of years. In fact, two of Europe's earliest Bronze Age civilizations, the Cycladic and the Minoan, were born on Greek islands, the Cyclades and Crete, respectively. Beginning nearly 5,000 years ago, the people of the Cyclades, a group of islands just off the southeast coast of the mainland, began producing exquisite, slender marble statuary—forerunners of the great classical Greek marble works, but more abstract in form—and also developed an extensive maritime trading economy, a tradition that has continued right up through twentieth-century celebrity Greek shipping tycoons whose freighters cover the earth.<clip>

 Sidebar: The Minoans, Preserved

            In Iraklio, on Crete, is an astounding archaeological museum housing many of the treasures of the Minoans. Plan to spend most of a day here.

            The exhibits follow the rise and fall of the Minoan civilization, beginning with early pottery and figurines, continuing through metalware, finely crafted sculpture, and frescoes. One intriguing artifact is the Phaestos Disk, inscribed with symbols no one has yet been able to decipher. There is a beaked jug with a detailed painted figure of an octopus writhing across its surface, and another covered with abstract geometric figures and whorls. And of course there are the frescoes, including scenes of Minoans turning somersaults over bulls and boxing with each other. The museum is a fitting highlight to any visit to the Greek islands.

To purchase this story, contact Jonathan or Roseann Hanson by phone, or email .

 

Desert Mountain Biking

 

©Roseann Hanson

ARTICLE LENGTH: 575 words main article; 1 150-word resource sidebar

SEASON: October - April

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Travel resources included

PHOTOS: Yes

RIGHTS AVAILABLE: One time use.

DELIVERY TIME: Immediately available.

 

by Roseann Hanson

 

 

TUCSON -   Not all desert mountain biking hazards have thorns.

I was moving fast down a steep, rocky single-track in the Tucson Mountains, intent on avoiding chainring-smashing rocks below and flesh-tearing saguaro cactus to the sides, so I didn't notice the herd of javelina (a pig-like critter with an attitude and the teeth to back it up) milling around the dry arroyo at the bottom of the hill.

Unable to stop, I did the only thing I could think of: I lifted my feet high above the top tube and flew into middle of them, sending panicked javvies leaping left and right like flumes of parted water. I'm not sure who among us shrieked more loudly. I stopped on the opposite bank of the arroyo and looked back at the bifurcated herd, whose members stood glaring at me, huffing and justifiably pissed. The biggest one stamped a hoof, so I beat a retreat, smiling at their indignant piggy faces.

Such animal encounters—javelina, coyotes, mule deer, and jackrabbits—are fairly routine on the trails of Tucson Mountain Park, an urban preserve that features some of the best riding in Arizona, from easy to expert. For something a little more remote and wild, try the grasslands of Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge a little over an hour southwest of town, with dozens of possibilities for all-day rides.<clip>

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Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains

 

©Jonathan Hanson

 

ARTICLE LENGTH: 900 words main article; one 200-word resource sidebar

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Travel resources included

PHOTOS: Yes

RIGHTS AVAILABLE: One time use.

DELIVERY TIME: One week.

 

by Jonathan Hanson

SHERIDAN, WYOMING - It costs $10 in gas to drive north along Wyoming's historic State Route 85 from Cheyenne to Interstate 90, where you turn left to reach the Bighorn Mountains. Why note such an arcane piece of travel trivia? Because 125 years ago a third-class ticket on the Cheyenne stagecoach line, which traveled through here en route to the Black Hills gold fields at an average eight-miles-per-hour, also cost $10. And "third class" meant you had to get out and walk on steep grades to spare the horses—first-class passengers forked out an extra ten bucks to heckle you from the coach.

 Although I took a slight detour to retrace that gold rush stage route, I never had to search for history in the shadow of the Bighorn Mountains, my destination last June in north-central Wyoming. The nearer I drew to the massive, still-snowcapped range, the longer I skirted its flanks, and the more I probed into its passes and treeless Alpine cirques, the more cramped my notebook grew with remarks on the signs, obelisks, and plaques commemorating the tide of events that washed these slopes.

 With increasing astonishment I realized that this single mountain range had been a backdrop to many of the most iconic episodes of the 19^th century American frontier. To confirm this, I drew a 100-mile-radius circle on my map, centered on 13,167-foot Cloud Peak, the highest point in the Bighorns. Within the circle I located the Little Bighorn Battlefield, Hole-in-the-Wall (Butch and Sundance's hideout), Johnson County (site of the Johnson County War, the big-rancher-against-little-rancher feud that spawned innumerable westerns), and Fort Phil Kearny, where Red Cloud's Lakota warriors fought the U.S. Army to a standstill in 1867, resulting in a treaty ceding much of northeastern Wyoming and the Dakotas to the tribes (a treaty abrogated eight years later when that gold turned up in the Black Hills).

 My circle just missed the Oregon Trail—but scooped it up comfortably if I moved the center to the southern end of the range. And scattered thickly within its circumference were markers indicating significant passages in the lives of Buffalo Bill Cody, Sitting Bull, Jedediah Smith, Calamity Jane, and many others.

 By the time I parked the rental car at a trailhead and crunched up through old snowpack into the 195,000-acre Cloud Peak Wilderness Area, it was effortless to envision myself clothed in buckskins and moccasins instead of Gore-Tex and Vibram, and carrying a flintlock rifle instead of a camera, just like my boyhood idols the Mountain Men—trappers and explorers who were the first Europeans to penetrate these mountains scant years after Lewis and Clark passed by to the north.

 The Bighorns did nothing to destroy the fantasy. <clip>

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Discovering the San Pedro River

 

©Roseann Hanson

ARTICLE LENGTH:  variable (this is a book excerpt); multiple 150 to 200-word resource sidebars available

 SEASON: All year

 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Travel resources included

 PHOTOS: Yes

 RIGHTS AVAILABLE: One time use.

 DELIVERY TIME: Immediately available.

 

by Roseann Hanson

Thunder falls off the shoulders of the Huachuca Mountains and boils east across the San Pedro River Valley. The muddy San Pedro laps at the toe of my boot, while the other boot swings on the sagging and rusting barbed wire fence that casually marks the international boundary with Mexico. When the thunder passes, the fence trembles, a message from the gods that I am not in an ideal location for experiencing a summer storm in southern Arizona. 

At certain times when I am out in the field, an inner voice, which I am sure belongs to my father, reminds me to watch for rattlesnakes, to drink plenty of water, and to seek shelter when a thunderstorm approaches. My four siblings and I spent a lot of time running around the Arizona desert, and this litany of warnings was repeated so often it now lives permanently in my mind. Which isn’t to say I often listen to it. I usually forget to watch for snakes until one buzzes a foot from my boot, and when the late-summer thunderstorm season arrives, I am drawn to the valleys to watch the storms cover the mountains with sheets of black rain and fill the dry riverbeds with ribbons of roiling, chocolate water. 

Which is why I am standing along the San Pedro this afternoon in late July, while the Huachucas, also called Thunder Mountain by old-timers, cook up a storm that wets anew the hot, sandy bed of the San Pedro. Not a drop of rain fell between May and July, a typical summer dry season for this valley where the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts meet, and like nearly every other year most of the surface flow had retreated to the Cimmerian depths between bedrock and sand. But with the arrival of the summer monsoon season a few weeks ago, the river was again coaxed to the land of light and now flows under the tall gallery of cottonwoods and willows. Serious meteorologists do not like the way we Southwesterners use the word “monsoon” to describe our rainstorms, since it is more properly the name of a season of rain or a seasonal wind, depending on which scientist is objecting, but the word has stuck as a generic descriptor of summer storms and I like its dramatic appeal.

 When the thunderstorm finally breaks and rain chases the thunder down the mountain, it heads not to where I am at the border but northeast across the city of Sierra Vista and the Army base at Fort Huachuca. Between a break in the trees downriver, I can see fingers of lightning probing a path in front of the storm’s dark skirt of drenching rain. More thunder rolls across the valley. When rain clouds such as these liberate their cargo over an area on the earth's ground surface, the water follows the contours of the land. Flowing water always seeks the lowest elevation--usually the ocean, the basin of which is lower than the neighboring continent's upper landform (there are inland "sinks" such as the Willcox Playa in southeastern Arizona that do not have outlets and collect water in vast shallow lakes that evaporate quickly). <clip>

To purchase this story or a similar one, contact Jonathan or Roseann Hanson by phone, or email .

Traveler's Tips - How to Choose and Plan the Perfect Birding Trip

 

©Jonathan and Roseann Hanson

 

ARTICLE LENGTH:  400-word tutorial; 400-word regional destination top picks

SEASON: All year

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Travel resources included

PHOTOS: Generic birdwatching tour photos.

RIGHTS AVAILABLE: One time use.

DELIVERY TIME: Immediately available.

 

Choosing a Trip – 400 words 

Birdwatching as a travel activity can be as relaxed as sitting on a porch of an upscale lodge in the Sierra Madre, margarita in one hand, binoculars in the other, watching a dozen species of hummingbirds flash flourescently around the garden feeders, or as high-octane as racing full-speed across hundreds of miles of country, competing with fellow trip members to see who can see the most number of species in 24 hours. If you like companionship, you can jump in a van with a dozen other enthusiasts and share tales of worldwide birding adventure, or you can hire your own private guide for an intimate look at whatever suits your fancy at the moment. Whatever form of birding trip you prefer, there are fortunately lots of choices for you, one of 50 million U.S. birdwatchers (according to the American Birding Association). Look for tour companies on the Internet or advertized in birdwatching magazines (Birder's World, Wild Bird, Birdwatcher's Digest, Audubon, Birding); look in the same place for guides and education trips, but also check locally with Audubon or similar societies, land management agencies, and tourist information centers.

 

1. All-Inclusive, Relaxed

Most birdwatching tour companies fall into this category. Relaxed birding trips are for those birders who enjoy a few hours a day of leisurely nature viewing at easy-to-access and popular birding locales such as Cape May, New Jersey, or Southeastern Arizona. The emphasis is on quality, not quantity, and tour companies are often husband-and-wife teams. Group size ranges from half dozen to 20 people or so, with one or two guides. The smaller or lesser-known the company, the lower the price (in general). Everything is handled by the tour company, from airfare to your lunch tips. These are good trips for the "non-birding spouse." Look for companies that emphasize natural history as well as "target" birding species for life-listers if that is not your bailiwick . . . <clip>

 The Bird Gallery 400 words

 1. North America

Hummingbirds, Southeastern Arizona. As many as sixteen species of these diminutive flying jewels grace southeastern Arizona from May through August (peak migration periods are May and July-August), from the tiniest Costa's to the impressive Magnificent, and from the fiesty Rufous to the rare Berylline. Geese and Cranes, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, New Mexico. Each winter, December through early March, thousands of Snow Geese, Ross' Geese, and Sandhill Cranes (with a few endangered Whooping Cranes, on occasion) winter along the Rio Grande near Socorro, New Mexico. Each dawn and dusk the magnificent birds take flight en masse, tens of thousands of wings beating in unison; it's a spectacle of a lifetime, especially the dawn flight. Hawk Migration, Veracruz, Mexico. In September, millions of raptors, including Swainson's and Broad-winged Hawks, leave their summer homes in the north and head to Central and South America via the Gulf Coast of Mexico. A river of birds streams daily over Veracruz and environs. . . <clip>

To purchase this story or a similar one, contact Jonathan or Roseann Hanson by phone, or email .

Choosing the Perfect Binoculars for Your Birding Trip

©Jonathan and Roseann Hanson 

ARTICLE LENGTH:  300-word tutorial

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Purchasing resources may be included

PHOTOS: Generic binocular and birding tour photos.

RIGHTS AVAILABLE: One time use.

DELIVERY TIME: Immediately available.

Suggested sample binocular for picture: Swarovski 8x30, or Leica 8x32

Text written as an illustration of basic binoculars, with arrow indicators pointing to photo of binoculars.

1. [caption to indicate either the numbers on the binocular, or the front lens]

Binoculars are identified with two numbers, such as 8 x 30. The first number indicates the magnification, the second the diameter of the front (objective) lens, in millimeters. The bigger the objective lens, the brighter the image, and the heavier the binos. For all-round use, 30 or 32mm lenses are great. Go smaller if you need light weight, larger if you want to spot wildlife at dusk. As for magnification, 7 or 8 power is perfect for most use. Higher powers also magnify hand shake. 

2. [caption to indicate one lens tube of binocular]

There are two styles of binocular, the difference being in the configuration of the interior prisms, which fold the incoming light rays so your binos can be shorter than a telescope. Roof prism binoculars are straight-tubed and slim, but more complex and thus more expensive to manufacture. Porro-prism binoculars, with the dog-leg shape, are generally cheaper for the same image quality, but bulkier. Most super-premium binos use roof prisms, but if you're on a tight budget porros are a better bet. 

3. [caption to indicate lenses at front of binocular]

For superior image quality, look for fully multi-coated optics, which dramatically increase image brightness. Even better are phase-corrected coatings, which reduce scattering of the light as it passes through the glass, enhancing overall sharpness. The finest binoculars have silver-coated prisms for the ultimate in sharpness and contrast, and are filled with nitrogen to eliminate interior fogging. . . . <clip>

To purchase this story or a similar one, contact Jonathan or Roseann Hanson by phone, or email .