Articles and photo series featuring coast landscapes and maritime habitats

Meeting the Saurians – The Dragons of Komodo

In the middle of the island kingdom of Indonesia, a prehistoric lizard species has survived that literally eclipses all other species: the giant Komodo Dragon. The Komodo dragon can be up to 3 meters long and 70 kg heavy. On the Island of Rinca it is easiest to observe the dragons, and I was even allowed to use the drone… Read More

Scottish golden Autumn Days

Scotland is much better than its food-based reputation. Meanwhile the notorious Scottish-English weather even excels our Berlin mix of clouds and rain. No matter if in the Highlands or in east coast cities and villages, there’s always a break in the clouds permitting the light of low standing October sun to push through and to stage the mountainous landscape between Edinburgh and the lovely Isle of Skye.… Read More

Small Stinkers – The seal puppies of Cape Cross

If conditions are good, then life in Africa becomes literally exuberant. One of those places is Cape Cross, where about 250.000 brown fur seals romp about the cold but rich in nutriment waters of Benguela Current. The home of one of the largest seal colonies of the black continent has a large kindergarten full of cute seal puppets, but out in the water lie great white sharks in ambush… Read More

The hippo baby of St. Lucia

Around St. Lucia, in the very East of South Africa, climate becomes tropically sticky and doesn’t let you sleep well. Where Swaziland isn’t far away and the waters of the Indian Ocean surge, the cohesive coastline scatters creating a lagoon landscape being an El Dorado for hundreds of hippos.… Read More

Fiji – Melting Pot of the South Seas

The Fiji archipelago is the perfect melting pot of the South Seas. In a very charming way its 332 small as well as big islands unite the culture of Melanesia and Polynesia plus the influences of British colonial times and the Indians being brought into the country back then by the Britons.… Read More

New Caledonia – Kagu’s threatened Home

When something is really expensive then it costs “an arm and a leg”. Against that proverbial background the French overseas department New Caledonia is so expensive, that it costs even the double. The island can be a grave for your hard-earned money, in particular the south, where the capital Noumea slaps your face financially and with the typical arrogant French attitude you can meet in St.… Read More

Living at the Landing Strip – The Tuvalu Atoll

Having a look at its actual landmass, Tuvalu is the second smallest nation in the world. Some of its islands are so tiny and narrow that you can literally spit from one side to another. The heart of Tuvalu is the Funafuti atoll being embraced in the east by the main island Fongafale.… Read More

Tonga – Where Time begins

What does the Island Kingdom of Tonga have in common with a high voltage cable? Correct, both things are pretty much isolated. The 136 islands of Tonga are the only Polynesian nation that never got colonialized by the west. The archipelago being called “The Friendly Islands” lies at the 10.8km deep Tonga trench, a fault where the Pacific plates submerges the Australian, which is at the same time also the International Date Line; a place where you can meet the new year as being one of the very few first people on the planet.… Read More

Abel Tasman National Park – Seal Puppy Playground with Dutch Roots

When it comes to discovering New Zealand there is no question that James Cook played the most important role, but it was the sailor Abel Tasman from Dutch East India Company who spotted the archipelago being located in South Pacific Ocean as first European ever and even some 100 years earlier than the Brit did.… Read More