November 2023 – Page 2

“Hunting” tigers (#1 in 3 part series: tiger country)

Published November 8, 2023 by Pelidoug

“Hunting” tigers (#1 in 3 part series: tiger country)

If you wish to see tigers “in the wild”, India is your best destination.

It contains circa 25% of the world’s remaining tiger habitat, but India is currently home to around 75% of “our” globe’s wild tigers.

There is no such thing as a reliable estimate of India’s wild tiger population, let alone the world’s.

The likely-best available figures come from the Global Tiger Forum.

On 10 September 2023, Global Tiger Forum published its latest global estimate: 5,574.

That is 74% higher than their 2010 figure. (click here for more detail)

It is impossible to know how much of the apparent increase reflects better monitoring rather than actual increase.

That said, there are grounds for believing that in some nations – India, especially – wild tiger numbers really are rising, after many years of steep decline towards seemingly-inevitable extinction.

This little series looks at Nagarhole Tiger Reserve in Karnataka, south India.

The featured image and the one immediately below show what the local tiger habitat looks like.

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European surprises (#20 & final in single-image teaser series: “not a museum”)

Published November 6, 2023 by Pelidoug

European surprises (#20 & final in single-image teaser series: “not a museum”)

On Sicily’s northwestern corner, Erice sits atop a very steep hill, 750 metres above the Mediterranean.

Highly picturesque and spectacularly-located, it is essentially-medieval, but this village’s history extends very much further – Erice was conquered rather than created by ancient Greeks.

As the photo illustrates, some 21st century visitors to Erice find it difficult to recognise exactly what they are looking at…

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European surprises (#19 in single-image teaser series: wayang, far from Indonesia)

Published November 4, 2023 by Pelidoug

European surprises (#19 in single-image teaser series: wayang, far from Indonesia)

As will be more clear if you zoom in on/enlarge the featured image, it shows a very fine set of Indonesian “shadow” puppets, of the Wayang Kulit kind.

Italy abounds with museums and galleries.

Not a few of them are excellent.

Some are truly singular, albeit highly likely to be crowded.

Often, they are an “embarrassment of riches” – altogether too much to be comprehended/appreciated properly in the space of a single visit.

Our nicest museum surprise in 2023 was Palermo’s Antonio Pasqualino International Puppet Museum.

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European surprises (#18 in single-image teaser series: great, Greek, not Greece)

Published November 3, 2023 by Pelidoug

European surprises (#18 in single-image teaser series: great, Greek, not Greece)

You wish to visit one country only, in order to see the world’s best-preserved Doric temples?

They are located in what – 2,500 years ago – was one of the major Greek cities.

You won’t be going to Greece…and if you time your visit carefully, you are likely to be pleasantly amazed by how uncrowded is this very special site.

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European surprises (#17 in single-image series: toxic “nuttery” reaches Sicilian nutfest)

Published November 1, 2023 by Pelidoug

European surprises (#17 in single-image series: toxic “nuttery” reaches Sicilian nutfest)

#16 in this series celebrated a happy surprise; this episode documents a nasty one.

Italy has many attractive, spectacularly located, historically rich hilltop villages.

Sicily’s Motta Camastra is one such; it feels quite “remote”, but is in fact not far from Messina, and even closer to Taormina.

Taormina overlooks the Ionian Sea and is gorgeous…but hugely over-touristed/touristy, and chock with “luxe” boutiques et al. (all those aspects will be evident in future, multi-image posts)

Inland, and closer to Mt Etna, Motta Camastra is still resolutely real, rural.

It is noted for the excellence of its local produce, most especially nuts.

Our day trip coincided with its annual festa della noce, which proved good clean tasty fun.

The nut festival attracted many welcome/d visitors…plus one “toxic nut”/ conman.

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Month: November 2023

“Hunting” tigers (#1 in 3 part series: tiger country)

European surprises (#20 & final in single-image teaser series: “not a museum”)

European surprises (#19 in single-image teaser series: wayang, far from Indonesia)

European surprises (#18 in single-image teaser series: great, Greek, not Greece)

European surprises (#17 in single-image series: toxic “nuttery” reaches Sicilian nutfest)