Wadden Sea, Netherlands (July 2004)

This place is for the birds

Deborah M. Buehler – Travel Chronicle

I recently moved to the Netherlands and a few weeks ago I had my first Dutch bicycle accident. It was a typically rainy afternoon and a pigeon that had obviously had enough of the Dutch weather decided to attempt suicide by jumping under my front tire. My bike jack-knifed and I was catapulted forward and slid across the wet pavement for a couple of meters before skidding to a stop. Not wanting to be labeled as a typical foreigner who can’t ride a bike I quickly hobbled to my feet and after a bit of repair work both the bike and I survived (the pigeon was OK too).

Bicycles are one of the first things that come to mind when most people think of the Netherlands. Cyclists and windmills on a flat countryside crisscrossed with canals, dikes and tulip fields make up a quintessential Dutch landscape. But north of the mainland a different world exists, a world full of far more interesting birds than city pigeons, where the landscape is one of dunes, beaches and rich mudflats flooded daily by the shallow waters of the Wadden Sea.

 

The Wadden Sea takes its name from the Dutch word “waden” which means “to wade” and is a shallow, semi-enclosed part of the North Sea, consisting of tidal mud flats, sand flats and salt marshes. The area is bordered by a series of barrier islands, and stretches along the North Sea coast from Den Helder, Netherlands to Esbjerg, Denmark. It is of international importance as a nursery for shrimp and fish stocks, a staging area for several million migratory birds, and home to many species of breeding birds and healthy populations of Common and Grey Seals.

One of the bird species that relies on the Wadden Sea is the Red Knot, a medium sized shorebird barely bigger than an American Robin yet capable of amazing migrations. Red Knots breed in the high arctic and as the short arctic summer ends they migrate to such diverse locations as Tierra del Fuego, New Zealand, West Africa and Western Europe. Just like I migrated to the Netherlands to study birds, “Canadian” knots that breed in the northern extremes of the Queen Elizabeth Islands migrate to the Wadden Sea to feed, rest and moult during migration. Different knots that breed along the northern coast of the Taymyr Peninsula in Siberia also use the Wadden Sea en route to wintering areas in West Africa.

In a recent article in the National Post (July 10, 2004) Cleo Pascal described the plight of Red Knots in the Americas. Those knots belong to yet another group and are dependent on an abundance of horseshoe crab eggs in Delaware Bay to fuel their northward migration each spring. In the Americas knot numbers are in drastic decline - the birds are in trouble because horseshoe crabs are harvested before they can deposit their rich eggs in the sand. Tragically, the numbers of knots using the Wadden Sea may also be declining. Just as the North American knots rely on horseshoe crab eggs for food, knots using the Wadden Sea rely on an abundance of shellfish to fuel their migrations. The Wadden Sea has always provided this abundance, but in the past few years destructive cockle fishing practices have damaged some of the richest and most important areas of the Wadden Sea.

In the midst of this ecological drama scientists and volunteers are monitoring both shorebirds and their food. I visited the Wadden Sea as part of a research expedition with the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ). Several times a year NIOZ teams set up half a kilometer of fine netting out on the mudflats. At night these nets are almost invisible and birds that fly into the nets are carefully marked and measured. By day the scientists walk the mudflats to take cores of mud. These samples are sifted through a fine mesh so that worms and shellfish can be counted.

The Wadden Sea is a very special place for scientists and tourists alike. You don’t have to be on a NIOZ expedition to see what the area has to offer. In the Netherlands both boating and walking tours are available to explore the wonders of the mudflats. My first night on the Wadden Sea serves as a perfect example of what visitors may experience. The water was perfectly calm and overhead millions of stars were visible in the moonless sky. In the distance I could hear the mournful howls of seals resting on a nearby sandbank and, closer, the soft calls of shorebirds on the mudflats were barely audible. A few lights from towns on the nearby islands twinkled on the horizon and reflected in the glass-like surface of the water – but something was strange – the sea was twinkling too! All around the water sparkled with a green luminescence. As our boat cut through the water the boat’s wake glowed, and later as we waded out onto the mudflat droplets of water from our feet twinkled as they splattered onto the ground. It looked like magic, like something had enchanted the water, but the real cause of the glow was tiny organisms called seasparkles, which are single-celled algae. Millions of these microscopic creatures were floating in the water and making the sea glow.

The sight of the Wadden Sea twinkling and glowing in the peace of a night was a wonderful experience. It is this type of experience that reminds us how important areas like the Wadden Sea truly are. These areas are sanctuaries not only for migrating birds but also for an amazing array of creatures from tiny seasparkles to lumbering Grey Seals. These creatures have shared the bounty of the Wadden Sea in a sustainable manner for thousands of years. Isn’t it time our species did the same?

For more information about the Dutch Wadden Sea visit: http://www.coastalguide.to/dutch_waddensea/main.html

For more information about the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research visit: www.nioz.nl

Switzerland – Mountains and more

Deborah M. Buehler – Travel Chronicle

Switzerland is known as a land of unsurpassed natural beauty and evokes images of snow capped mountains, pristine glacial lakes, precise watches and decadent chocolates. It is a land of extremes with climates ranging from the snowy heights of the Alps to the Mediterranean warmth of the south; a land where four different languages are widely spoken and a land into which the histories and cultures of many people have been incorporated. Even if you only have a few days to visit, this stunning country is guaranteed to delight.

From a cultural point of view, one of Switzerland’s most beautiful and historic cities is Luzerne. The main attraction is the famous Chapel Bridge built in 1333, and partly destroyed by fire in August 1993. Decorating the bridge’s ceiling is a chronological account of the region’s history. Walking across the creaking wooden floors of this ancient bridge gives a tangible feeling of what is must have been like to live in Luzerne in the 14^th century. From the Chapel Bridge, a walking tour along the old walls and watch towers of the old city provides a gorgeous view of Luzerne, bisected by the river Reuss, and flanked to the south east by the Vierwaldstrattersee and the snow capped Alps.

For those who love towering mountain peaks and year round skiing, a day trip to the Titlis Mountain (3239m) is sure to delight. To reach the station at 3040m, four separate cable cars are required, and the last one – called the Rotair - actually rotates as it ascends giving an unparalleled panoramic view of the Alps. At the station visitors may choose to walk through part of the Titlis glacier. Although I have been on many mountain tops, the experience of walking through a glacier was unique for me. I was impressed by the glittering beauty of the icy walls and the mere idea that I was under layers and layers of solid ice. Halfway down the mountain at 1795m lies Lake Trubsee, where visitors can enjoy hiking in the cool mountain air and amid the beauty of a myriad of alpine flowers. With icy alpine peaks far above and the sound of Swiss cow bells and Water Pipet songs echoing off the mountains, a stroll around Lake Trubsee is a quintessential Swiss experience. A pleasant dinner in the tourist town of Engelberg, the jumping off point for alpine activities in the area, is the perfect way to end the day.

A trip from Luzerne to the eastern canton of Graubünden offers a unique view of Switzerland’s cultural diversity, especially if you take a detour through the Gotthard Tunnel. At the northern entrance of the tunnel the landscape is typical Swiss German with classic “Swiss chalets” dotting the mountain slopes, but 16.9 km later as you emerge into the sunlight it is as if you had entered a different country. The Italian influence in the southern canton of Ticino is evident in the religion, landscape, language and architecture. The churches switch from being generally Protestant to generally Catholic and the landscape is dryer, especially along the Valle Leventina. All of the road signs are in Italian and the houses switch from white washed with dark wooden trim, to stone or plaster painted in pastel yellows and pinks. Traditional stone houses also appear especially near the town of Olivone and towards the Lucomagno Pass (1930m). These dwellings are made entirely of stone. The sight of large houses and even tall church towers made in this style, with even the roof tiles made of huge stone slabs, is truly impressive.

My favorite place in Switzerland is most certainly the canton of Graubünden. Hiking near the little known town of Trin-Mulin is one of my favorite activities. At 1100m the forest around Trin is diverse mix of conifer and deciduous trees which compared to the higher altitude scrub seem to tower above the trails. There is something amazing about breathing the smell of sun baked pine needles and then emerging from the forest to see snow capped peaks towering all around. Every hike includes several waterfalls and perfectly turquoise lakes. The stunning color of these glacial lakes never fails to amaze me. The blue green color is a result of tons of fine glacial material known as “rock flour” which is washed into the lakes during the melt each spring. This material is very light and stays suspended in the water for a long time. When light hits glacial lakes these suspended particles distort the wavelengths and reflect more of the green and blue end of the spectrum.

The Swiss National Park on the eastern border of Graubünden is a final must see during a short visit to Switzerland. To get there one must cross the impressive Flüelapass (2383m) where even in July the lakes are still frozen. The Swiss National Park was founded in 1914 and is one of Europe’s oldest national parks. It is located on the eastern edge of the country near the Italian border and in fact 58% of the park continues into Italy. Because the park is fully protected against any human development the alpine vistas seen there are truly unequalled. There are no towns, no homesteads and even (a true rarity in Switzerland) no ski slopes. The vistas seem to get more stunning with each corner turned. In the park visitors have a good chance of seeing marmots poking their heads out of their burrows, as well as a plethora of alpine bird species including the park’s mascot, the Spotted Nutcracker. A visit to the Swiss National Park is a wonderful way to end a quick visit to Switzerland. It is a perfect farewell to the mountains.

Peru – Land of the Incas and much more

Deborah M. Buehler – Travel Chronicle

My heart sank as I rounded the bend and was faced with yet another bank of steep Inca steps. I had been trekking for hours and still the trail climbed upward. With every turn I imagined the camp around the corner. Then just as I thought I could hike no more, I saw tents in the distance – I had survived Day 1 of the Inca Trail! Before me lay a stunning view of snowcapped peaks and between them a green valley with the winding trail that I had just climbed. Added to the view was a keen sense of accomplishment, a ton of endorphins from the climb, and a pleasant bit of light-headedness from the attitude – Ah what a feeling! 

Two days later I was again overcome by the beauty and power of the Inca Trail. This time I was standing amid one of Peru’s most recently discovered ruins - Huiñay Huayna. The name means “forever young” and the site is a small collection of peaked structures clustered amid velvet green terraces and thick cloud forest. Like Machu Picchu, the site was not found by the Spanish (in fact it wasn’t discovered until 1941, long after Machu Picchu’s 1911 discovery), so it remains almost entirely intact, but unlike Machu Picchu it is rarely visited and so, to me, it retains more of it’s ancient magic. Standing amid the Inca stones and gazing at the lush valley and tumbling waterfall that the Incas themselves once pondered, I could feel the natural power of the site flowing through my body. The experience solidified my belief that the Incas had a deep and powerful connection with the natural world, much more so than our culture can imagine.

 

Most visitors come to Peru to explore the ruins of the Incas. But the civilizations of Peru span beyond the Inca Empire and glimpses of these mystery shrouded civilizations can be seen throughout the country. In the northern desert near Trujillo, the ruins of the Chimú capital of Chan Chan seem to rise out of the sand. Built about 700 years ago these intricately decorated adobe compounds still retain some of their original splendor. Nearby lie the Moche temples of the sun and moon. These ruins predate the Chan Chan by about 700 years and the Huaca del Sol (the sun temple) contains 140 million adobe bricks and is Peru’s largest Pre-Columbian structure. There is something indescribable about standing atop the Huaca del Sol at sunset. Although the sprawling city of Trujillo now dominates the view, one gets an inkling of what the ancient Moche people might have seen.

 

Culturally southern Peru is no less stunning. On the south coast visitors and scientists, most notably German mathematician María Reiche, are still trying to decipher the Nazca lines - enormous geoglyphs etched into the pampas. In the high passes of the altiplano one still finds stone figures called Apachetas. These sculptures were first built by the Arriero pre-Incas to give thanks to the volcano gods for water. Today they are built by tourists who use them to make wishes. The Apachetas contrast the Arriero’s belief in giving thanks and our current culture’s unending need for more. At the southern end of Peru in the deep blue waters of Lake Titikaka one finds the floating islands of Uros. Although no pure blooded Uros remain (the Uros people intermarried with Ayrama speaking indeigenous Peruvians), their floating culture persists. The Uros people began their floating existence to escape invading Colla and Inca armies during pre-Columbian times. Their lives are literally “interwoven” with the totora reeds that grow in the shallows of the lake. The reeds are used to make everything from boats, to houses, to the floating islands themselves! Walking on the islands was quite an experience and gave me the sensation of walking on a firm sponge.

Yet even beyond cultural history Peru has much to offer. Peru is South America’s third largest country and can be divided into three geographical regions. To the west is a narrow coastal strip that is mostly desert, yet contains most of Peru’s 27 million inhabitants. Agricultural centers are found in oases within the desert created by rivers draining from the highlands into the Pacific. The Andes lie in the middle of the country, rising steeply from the desert and reaching heights of 6000m just 100 km from the coast. The mountains of the Cordillera Blanca to the north are a climbers dream and hold Huascarán, which at 6768m is Peru’s highest peak. Descending the eastern slope of the Andes cloud forest gives way to the lowland rainforest of the Amazon Basin. Occupying half of Peru, the Amazon region is one of the world's top 10 biodiversity 'hot spots', is awe inspiring to the ecologist and tourist alike. As an ornithologist both the highlands and the jungle delighted me. I’ll never forget the experience of watching eight Andean Condors (with 3m wingspans) soar around me in the Colca Canyon, or the sight of four Scarlet Macaws battling over a nesting site in the rainforest of the Tambopata-Candamo reserve.

Peru is a nation steeped in cultural history and natural beauty. It is the land of the Incas, but it is also a country that offers the visitor much much more. Within Peru lie the foundations of many great civilizations and it was recently discovered that even the Amazon River originates within its borders. An international team of scientists traced the mighty river to a stream beginning on Nevado Mismi, a mountain in Southern Peru!

Experience Ecuador – El Mitad del Mundo

D. M. Buehler. 2004. Roof-top perch is a rail travel adventure. The Toronto Star. January 29, 2004.

At 8:30 pm on my first day of travel in Ecuador, I found myself seated in Quito’s glorious Iglesia de La Compañia de Jesús watching the Andean Instrument Orchestra play Bach on quenas, charangos and pan flutes. As the orchestra switched to the haunting tones of a traditional Andean ballad, I sat back to admire the golden interior of the church. La Compañia is decorated with over seven tons of gold, taken from the Incas by Spanish conquistadors centuries ago. Yet today, traditional music is being celebrated here amid the gold, played by Ecuadorians of both indigenous and Spanish descent, the music and the gold, strands of Ecuador’s historical fabric, woven together once more. This celebration of culture, past and present, is part of what makes Ecuador so attractive to the visitor. Ecuadorians have a lot to be proud of, and the fact that I was invited to an exclusive concert by complete strangers mere hours after landing in Quito, is a testimony to the kindness of the Ecuadorian people and their eagerness to share their country with visitors.

 

Lying along the equator with Columbia to the north and Peru to the south, Ecuador is no bigger than the state of Nevada, yet it has some of the world’s most varied geography. The country can be divided into four regions, a low coastal region to the west, the Andes running north/south in the middle, the jungles of the Amazon Basin to the east, and the Galapagos Archipelago off the Pacific coast. My Ecuador experience mirrored that of many budget travelers and focused on the Andean highland region.

The Andes Mountains bisect the country and hold the majority of the country’s 13 million inhabitants including its capital city, Quito. At 2850m Quito is the second highest capital city on earth (after La Paz, Bolivia) and with its modern tram and bus system I found it easy to explore on my own. The northern part of the city, known as the New Town, is modern and houses major businesses, embassies and travel agencies, but I gravitated towards the colonial Old Town to the south. With its narrow streets, beautifully restored plazas, and gorgeous colonial churches the Old Town is a delight, and was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.

But Ecuador offers much more than beautiful cities. Three days after my arrival in Quito I found myself near the summit of Volcan Cayambe, gazing in disbelief at the spectacular lobes and crevices of a glacier on the equator! It was hard to know whether my breathlessness was from the beauty or from the fact that I was hiking at 5000m. At 5750m, Cayambe is the highest peak in the world which lies on the equator and is a wonderful discovery for travelers who want to avoid tourist crowds at the only slightly higher Volcan Cotopaxi to the south.

Slightly more touristy, but a wonderfully different way to see the countryside, is the train from Riobamba to Alausí. Although passenger cars are available, most people ride on the roof. When I first heard of roof-top riding, I pictured a roof-top sitting area … imagine my surprise as I climbed a thin ladder up to the sloped roof of a box car, armed with nothing but a small plastic cushion! Although it felt a little precarious at first, my rooftop position offered a perfect view of Ecuador’s rich farmland, a mosaic of velvet greens blending with rich browns on the mountain slopes. The ride finished with a hair raising descent down el Nariz del Diablo (the Devil’s Nose), a sheer rock face that the train navigated by advancing and backing up on a zigzag of track cut out of the rock.

A single experience marred what was otherwise a wonderful excursion and it highlights the importance of responsible tourism when visiting developing countries. On the train many vendors walked the roof and a few of them encouraged tourists to buy candy for the children of the mountain villages. The children gathered around the train and vendors as well as tourists threw the candy to them. Obviously, the tourists felt that their gift was bringing a bit of joy into the children’s lives, but the result was just the opposite. The kids scrambled all over one another on the ground like dogs for the candy. The scene brought tears to my eyes. I have seen a great number of poor people in my travels and one thing that always strikes me is their dignity. But throwing cheap offerings to children as if they were animals robs them of their dignity. It teaches them that the people riding high on the train are better than them, it teaches them that tourists will give them treats for nothing, it teaches them to beg.

When traveling it is important to think about how your actions affect the cultures you are visiting. For example, giving candy to children in a mountain town with no dentists often causes more pain than joy, even if it is donated face to face in a dignified manner. If you would like to give something to the country while traveling, better options could be donations to local schools, or recognized agencies which provide food and housing in poor neighborhoods. Another avenue for donations are conservation agencies that train locals as guides.

Ecuador may be a poor country in terms of GDP figures and other measures of economic growth, but in terms of history, culture and natural beauty it is very rich. During my visit the country and its inhabitants delighted me; from wandering the colorful Saturday market in Otavalo, to soaking in the hot springs at Baños after a day of hiking around Volcan Tungurahua, to gazing in wonder at a towering Podocarpus tree (now Prumnopithis montana) in Podocarpus National Park. From its equatorial location in el mitad del mundo (the middle of the world), Ecuador offers a bit of everything and is a joy to visit.