Phaspani | Sky Above, Sky Below | Driving in the wet season in Salar de Uyuni, it feels like you are in a sailboat on the ocean - splashing in the wat

stay in a - Fernwayer Travel Stories & Experiences

Bolivia

Driving in the wet season in Salar de Uyuni, it feels like you are in a sailboat on the ocean - splashing in the water and watching mesmerizing reflections of the sky. It’s incredibly surreal.

The newly discovered planet Crait in The Last Jedi was set in this breathtaking and luminous salt-covered land. We stay in a gleaming Airstream parked on the salt lake, and are greeted by a salt version of R2D2 that apparently starred in the movie.

On a still day at the start of the rainy season, a thin layer of water covers the salt, forming a great mirror reflecting the sky. It’s disorienting, because you can’t judge distance or perspective. 

The Salar is so flat across its 10,000 square kilometres, that the surface is used to calibrate the altimeters on board earth’s satellites. At dusk, we watch the International Space Station slowly cruising past in the sky above us, like a bright star, and we watch lightning in the horizon all around us.

Sky Above, Sky Below

United States

Faroe Islands

None of my map apps seem to work. After years of relying on a mechanical voice to navigate me in strange lands, I am back to poring over paper and asking for directions. I actually like driving here! 

Except when negotiating a one-lane tunnel. Then I am terrified! Unless I have right of way, I have to duck in - at just the right moment - into one of the spaces marked M, and stay there till the dark tunnel ahead is clear of oncoming headlights. This game needs nerves of steel! There are two such tunnels to get to Gásadalur, the waterfall that tumbles recklessly into the ocean.

The best photos require descending down the cliff to the beach below. There is a helpful set of concrete steps, and a big signboard in Faroese that can only be a warning, since it has a lot of exclamation marks. 

I hold on for dear life to the wobbly rusted handrail and descend half way before I realize that the rail isn’t connected to the cliff wall! The view, however, is just perfect.

Tumbling Recklessly

Kenya

[🦓]
Each year, over 2 million wildebeest, zebras and antelope migrate from the Serengeti in Tanzania to the Maasai Mara in Kenya in search of water and fresh grazing . Experiencing this during July-October is an absolute spectacle. 
[🦛]
The Mara Triangle is particularly great for watching river crossings in August and September - perilous for the animals as the river is packed with wily Nile crocodiles. 
[🐊]
We stay with this herd of zebras for 3 days - waiting for them to decide to cross. It’s a matter of life and death for them - so they are understandably cautious  The zebra get to the banks more than 20 times, giving up at the very last minute, often spooked by a territorial hippo or a sneaky crocodile. 
[⚠️]
Finally, a brave zebra leaps forward into the water. And a second one follows fast. Suddenly it’s mayhem with hundreds of zebras and wildebeest splashing into the river. 
[⛺️]
There are several great lodges in the Mara Triangle - we stayed at the Angama Mara.

Zebra Crossing

Norway

I am sitting at a window ledge table in the kitchen of an authentic rorbu, a fishing hut on stilts. 

It’s after midnight during Midnattsol, but it’s hard to tear myself away from the view. Yesterday was bright and sunny, but today is stormy and the sea is asserting itself. 

This rorbu is located at the very end of the peninsula so there’s no escaping the force of the wind and the water in any of its rooms. The landing area has been left untouched – fishermen used to haul in their catch here via massive doors opening out to the sea – the old floorboards have gaps and you can see the sea underneath and hear the waves lashing on to the rocks. 

Reine is a scenic fishing village with bright red wooden huts steeped in tradition, once housing the fishermen who made their winter pilgrimage to the world’s most fertile cod fishing grounds. 

In summer, all that remains are the empty fish drying racks between houses, a reminder that – despite the stunning beauty, it’s a very harsh life.

Stay in a Rorbu

All my life, I called it |trom-sow|, but the locals insist on |troom-sa|. 

The drive through Andøya and Senja was so spectacular that we wanted to abandon our itinerary and stay on the islands overnight vs. driving into Tromsø. And then I would have missed a dramatic sunset/dawn. Everything - sky, sea, windows on buildings, Arctic Church, mountain tops - blazed fiery red for an hour before turning into several shades of blue, with bright pink thrown in for effect. It stayed like that all night long. 

The locals can’t seem to stop partying through Friday night all along Storgata, so the people-watching is riveting. We’ve got to sleep at some point, we kept telling each other.

Midnattsol

I N G R E D I E N T S 
One persistent cloud
Assorted resident ghosts
Longest fjord you can find
Pinch of recklessness

D I R E C T I O N S
1. Drive to Flåm. Navigate hairpin bends and tunnels alongside World Heritage fjords. If you plan well, you can even include the 24.5 km Lærdal Tunnel in your route – an engineering phenomenon, with psychedelic lighting.

2. When you encounter an astonishingly long cloud, you know you have arrived. “Flåm” means "little place between steep mountains”. Perfect for cycling and hiking.

3. Stay at the historic Fretheim Hotel – architecturally delightful, white wooden building located at the head of a mighty fjord. The historic rooms are described as places ‘where the atmosphere from the 1800s still lingers’.

4. Try to get up before 10 AM for an exhilarating RIB boat ride across to World Heritage Nærøyfjord.

5. Take the 2-hour round trip Flåm Railway to Myrdal. Climb 900m and see stunning views that only a hairpin tunnel that twists 180° can provide.

Viking Mashup

Portugal

Porto is a city with a unique mystique! its old buildings, colorful houses, the particularity of its wines and the joy of its people, make it a must-see.
The most exciting thing about not planning my stay was getting lost to find myself in small places rich in gastronomy, flavors that I never experienced before, local markets with the best ambient and desserts that made every minute in this city worthwhile.

Find yourself in Oporto

Colombia

Tanzania

On a cool morning drive in Ngorongoro Crater, we meet a pride of eleven hungry lions —  lean and menacing. We stay with them for five hours through several hunting attempts . 

🦁

One of the lionesses spots a herd of zebras. She masterfully rounds them up and sends them in the direction of her waiting pride. At the last minute though, the zebras, finding new energy or a brilliant leader, take a united front and flee. The zebras will live another day. 

Well, hello there! - say the lions to a group of wild buffaloes .. and quickly dissolve into the grass. The buffaloes can smell the lions. They start backing up and eventually escape. 

Next, the younger lions eye an ostrich In the distance. But it fluffs up its feathers with a disdainful air, and runs away.

- P  A  T  I  E  N  C  E  -

Mobile food is awfully hard to get your paws on. The lions decide to lie in the grass and wait it out. Someone will come by. It’s just a matter of time.

A Matter of Life

Staying at the Inn at Death Valley, we thought we would be able to get up just before sunrise and make a dash over to Zabriskie Point. In hind sight, we should have woken up a good 60 minutes earlier, since the viewpoint was packed with people as we got there. 


The stunning views of the badlands slowly fill up with yellow, orange, purple and brown colors - and every hue in between - as the sun comes up, totally makes up for the early rise. Once the sun has finished painting the badlands, it reaches out to color in the Panamint Range across the valley with gorgeous pinks and purples. If you want to avoid the crowds, do the 2.5 mile Badlands Loop hike. Right after the walk, you can drive the short 3 mile Twenty Mule Team Canyon loop drive before returning to Stovepipe Wells for breakfast. 

We had been told that the Death Valley National Park is all about extremes - and the Zabriskie Point is a visual representation of that.

Bolivia

Potosi Department

Sky Above, Sky Below

Faroe Islands

Vága Municipality

Tumbling Recklessly

Kenya

Narok County

Zebra Crossing

Norway

Nordland

Stay in a Rorbu

Troms og Finnmark fylke

Midnattsol

Vestland

Viking Mashup

Portugal

Porto District

Find yourself in Oporto

Tanzania

Arusha Region

A Matter of Life

United States

California

Painting with Light