Tag Archives: Rivers

French Views: Wondrous Waters Of The River Seine

FRANCE 24 English Films (August 24, 2023) – The Seine is literally the center of life in Paris, flowing right through the heart of the capital. Considered one of the most romantic rivers in the world, the Seine is overflowing with history and is a great way to discover the city of light.

More recently, officials have given the Seine a facelift, making the banks more accessible and improving the quality of the water. Join Florence Villeminot and Genie Godula for this aquatic episode of French Connections Plus where they dive into the wondrous waters of the river Seine.

Travel Tour: The Rivers And Rainforests Of Laos

O-KI Films (August 22, 2023) – Laos is a Southeast Asian country traversed by the Mekong River and known for mountainous terrain, French colonial architecture, hill tribe settlements and Buddhist monasteries.

Vientiane, the capital, is the site of the That Luang monument, where a reliquary reportedly houses the Buddha’s breastbone, plus the Patuxai war memorial and Talat Sao (Morning Market), a complex jammed with food, clothes and craft stalls. 

Japan Travel: A Tour Of Kikuchi Gorge On Kyushu

Brücke Films (August 7, 2023) – There are many wonderful places in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, where my cabin is located. I will introduce a small portion of them on my own walking tour.

Kikuchi Keikoku (Kikuchi Gorge) is a 4km long gorge located in Aso Kuju National Park. The water runs from the outer rim of the Aso Crater. It is also known as Kikuchi Suigen (water source), and was selected as one of the 100 best waters in Japan

Travel: Landmarks, Cities And Landscapes Of India

8K World Films (July 13, 2023) – India is a country that occupies the greater part of South Asia. Its capital is New Delhi, built in the 20th century just south of the historic hub of Old Delhi to serve as India’s administrative centre. Its government is a constitutional republic that represents a highly diverse population consisting of thousands of ethnic groups and likely hundreds of languages.

India

Video timeline: 0:00 – Beautiful view of Himalayan mountains in clouds, India 0:11 – A beautiful little fountain, named is uma ceking 0:13 – A car is running in the middle of the deep forest in India 0:17 – Indian Peacock looking at camera with spread wings 0:21 – Beautiful seen of Camel ride at sunset in Rajasthan desert 0:26 – Blue sky with white snow covered mountains 0:28 – Cinematic view of India’s Taj Mahal in the afternoon 0:33 – Drone view of Mumbai city at night 0:38 – Amazing view of mountains with clouds in Himachal Pradesh, india 0:40 – Aerial view of mumbai city with cloudy sky 0:51 – A big temple of in india with buddha statue 0:55 – Beautiful view of sunset in Goa, India 1:02 – Cinematic view of India’s Taj Mahal in the afternoon (part 2) 1:08 – A river flows between rocky hills in Ladakh, India 1:16 – View of high rise buildings in Mumbai during the sunny day 1:28 – Aerial view of a suspension bridge in fog 1:32 – Beautiful view of Mount Everest with blue sky 1:36 – Night view of big buildings of Mumbai city 1:40 – Amazing view of mountains with clouds in Himachal Pradesh, india (part 2) 1:44 – Snow covered mountains in Himalayas 1:53 – A jaguar in a zoo in India 1:59 – A wonderful view of a village in Maharashtra, India 2:20 – A beautiful little fountain, named is uma ceking (part 2) 2:25 – A beautiful tea garden in Kerala, India 2:32 – Close-up of monkeys and tigers in Indian zoos 2:48 – Beautiful view of the waterfall from the rocky hill 2:52 – A variety of Indian food arranged on the table 3:08 – Beautiful view of the waterfall from the green hills 3:23 – Amazing drone view of Maharashtra hills 3:27 – Metro Rail in India 3:30 – Green field with herd of cows in Kashmir 3:34 – The snow-covered Himalayas are extraordinary mountains 3:38 – Amazing drone view of Maharashtra hills (part 2) 3:47 – A wonderful view of a fountain in the cinema view 3:57 – Super high-rise building with Mumbai with Metrorail 4:07 – Taj Mahal during the sunny day 4:12 – Super high-rise building with Mumbai 4:32 – Sunset during twilight 4:35 – Dense fog with Himalayan mountains 4:39 – Amazing drone view of Maharashtra hills (part 3) 4:43 – Sea of Goa with green hills 5:15 – A wonderful spring in the mountains 5:25 – A quiet road in the middle of the forest 5:48 – Himalayan small hill houses with amazing mountains 6:06 – Sea of Goa with green hills 6:32 – Beautiful green meadow in kashmir, india 6:50 – A quiet road in the middle of the forest 7:07 – India’s famous Hawa Mahal in sunny day 7:22 – Kerala green tea garden on foggy day 7:32 – Small houses covered in Himalayan snow 7:43 – Traditional festival and food of Indian people 8:02 – Amazing view on the sea during sunset 8:15 – Time-lapse view of blue clouds with Himalayas 8:50 – Indian Peacock looking at camera with spread wings (Part 2) 12 8:58 – indian girl dancing in holly tradition 9:07 – Amazing village scene in Maharashtra hills and village mail bond 9:16 – Goa’s amazing beaches with coconut trees 9:49 – Amazing view of Taj Mahal in Agra during the day 10:01 – Spectacular views of Ladakh’s rivers and mountains 10:11 – Amazing view of Taj Mahal in Agra during sunset 10:20 – Himachal Pradesh has amazing scenery with hills and green forests 11:06 – Mumbai’s high-rise buildings are a spectacular sight 11:30 – City Lake in Popular Place in Rajasthan, India 11:50 – Spiral road with snow covered mountains and white clouds, Himachal Pradesh, India 13:12 – A view near the Taj Mahal in Agra during the sunny day 13:24 – A magnificent palace of Indian old architecture 13:40 – India’s national animal is the Royal Tiger 13:47 – Multi-storied colorful building in Delhi 14:02 – A narrow road through the dense forest 14:31 – Time-lapse view of the Taj Mahal in the afternoon 14:37 – Mesmerizing springs flowing from rocky hills 15:37 – Jaguar and monkey sightings in Indian zoos 15:56 – Aerial view of Mumbai city at night 16:15 – Beautiful view of Himalayan mountains in clouds, India (part 2) 16:24 – Beautiful seen of Camel ride at sunset in Rajasthan desert (part 2) 16:44 – Wonderful sunset view with green fields and mountains 17:33 – Amazing view of Taj Mahal at dusk 17:42 – Natural beauty of Ladakh’s rivers and mountains 17:53 – Worship of Hinduism, the oldest religion in the world 18:07 – Humayun’s tourist attraction in Delhi 18:18 – Amazing agriculture of the hills in the middle of the hills 18:31 – Time-lapse view of an extraordinary mosque in Delhi 18:42 – Aerial view of amazing mountains in India, with blue sky and clouds 19:32 – Stunning view of the lake in Rajasthan in the evening 19:41 – Landscape of narrow road in Indian village 19:53 – Aerial view of amazing mountains in India, with blue sky and clouds (part 2) 19:57 – Camel ride at sunset in Rajasthan desert (part 3) 20:10 – End title of the video

Environment: The Grand Canyon Is Losing Its River

Long shadows are in the foreground of a view of the reddish canyon walls, which loom on either side and ahead. The sky is blue with ribbed white clouds.

The New York Times (June 6, 2023) – Down beneath the tourist lodges and shops selling keychains and incense, past windswept arroyos and brown valleys speckled with agave, juniper and sagebrush, the rocks of the Grand Canyon seem untethered from time. The oldest ones date back 1.8 billion years, not just eons before humans laid eyes on them, but eons before evolution endowed any organism on this planet with eyes.

The Grand Canyon, a Cathedral to Time, Is Losing Its River

Written and photographed by Raymond Zhong, who joined scientists on a 90-mile raft expedition through the canyon.

About half a dozen people with orange life jackets ride a blue raft on a murky, brownish and somewhat choppy Colorado River. Rust-colored canyon walls loom on either side and ahead of them. Three other rafts are in the distance.

Since 1963, the Glen Canyon Dam has been backing up the Colorado for nearly 200 miles, in the form of America’s second-largest reservoir, Lake Powell. Engineers constantly evaluate water and electricity needs to decide how much of the river to let through the dam’s works and out the other end, first into the Grand Canyon, then into Lake Mead and, eventually, into fields and homes in Arizona, California, Nevada and Mexico.


Spend long enough in the canyon, and you might start feeling a little unmoored from time yourself.

A spring that looks like a narrow waterfall cascades out of a hole in a canyon wall down into a calm part of the Colorado River. The canyon walls are rust-red.
North Canyon, and a spring at Vasey’s Paradise.

The immense walls form a kind of cocoon, sealing you off from the modern world, with its cell signal and light pollution and disappointments. They draw your eyes relentlessly upward, as in a cathedral.

You might think you are seeing all the way to the top. But up and above are more walls, and above them even more, out of sight except for the occasional glimpse. For the canyon is not just deep. It is broad, too — 18 miles, rim to rim, at its widest. This is no mere cathedral of stone. It is a kingdom: sprawling, self-contained, an alternate reality existing magnificently outside of our own.

And yet, the Grand Canyon remains yoked to the present in one key respect. The Colorado River, whose wild energy incised the canyon over millions of years, is in crisis.

Read more

Travel: An Epic Road Trip Into Patagonia, Argentina

Curves Magazin (March 20, 2023) – An epic road trip through Patagonia in Southern Argentina.

Patagonia, semiarid scrub plateau that covers nearly all of the southern portion of mainland Argentina. With an area of about 260,000 square miles (673,000 square kilometres), it constitutes a vast area of steppe and desert that extends south from latitude 37° to 51° S.

It is bounded, approximately, by the Patagonian Andes to the west, the Colorado River to the north (except where the region extends north of the river into the Andean borderlands), the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Strait of Magellan to the south; the region south of the strait—Tierra del Fuego, which is divided between Argentina and Chile—also is often included in Patagonia.

Desert and semidesert cover the Patagonian tableland that extends from the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean. The general aspect of this tableland is one of vast steppelike (i.e., virtually treeless) plains, rising in terrace fashion from high coastal cliffs to the foot of the Andes; but the true aspect of the plains is by no means as simple as such a general description would imply. The land along the Negro River rises in a series of fairly level terraces from about 300 feet (90 metres) at the coast to about 1,300 feet at the junction of the Limay and Neuquén rivers and 3,000 feet at the base of the Andes. The tableland region rises to an altitude of 5,000 feet.

South of the Negro River, the plains are much more irregular. Volcanic eruptions occurred in this area until fairly recent times, and basaltic sheets covered the tableland east of Lakes Buenos Aires and Pueyrredón. Near the Chico and Santa Cruz rivers, the plains have spread to within about 50 miles (80 kilometres) of the coast and reach almost to the coast south of the Coig and Gallegos rivers. In places, basaltic massifs (mountain masses) are the salient features of the landscape.

Restoration: How Rivers ‘Should Look’ In Nature

The Guardian – The quintessential image of a river you might recognize from post cards and paintings – nice and straight with a tidy riverbank – is not actually how it is supposed to look.

It’s the result of centuries of industrial and agricultural development. And it’s become a problem, exacerbating the impact of both extreme flooding and extreme drought. Josh Toussaint-Strauss looks into how so many rivers ended up this way, and how river restoration is helping to reestablish biodiversity and combat some of the effects of the climate crisis.

Alaska Views: ‘Salmon Reflection’ (BBC Earth)

BBC Earth – A unique relationship is changing in Alaska. In her film ‘Salmon Reflection’ Norwegian and Unangax̂ filmmaker Anna Hoover explores the effects of a changing world on the communities of Bristol Bay, one of the last surviving wild salmon ecosystems.

Scotland Views: The Beltie Burn – A River Restored

The Easter Beltie Restoration project returned a straightened agricultural stream to a natural meandering course, to improve habitats for nature and boost climate resilience.

The project was the only one of its kind in the north east of Scotland, and has created a new, two-kilometre stretch of meandering river corridor flowing through ten hectares of floodplain, rich in habitats where nature can thrive.

The Beltie Burn is a burn in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, which below Torphins and Glassel is known as the Burn of Canny. It begins in the hill of Benaquhallie, and flows for 25 km south-east through Torphins before joining the River Dee about 4 kilometres west of Banchory.

French River Cruises: Southern Burgundy

Hotel barge L’Impressionniste glides gently through the picturesque Ouche Valley in Southern Burgundy through locks with their charming lock houses. You will see medieval villages perched on hilltops and have the opportunity to discover a region famed for its history and viticulture, with visits to such places as Beaune, the regions ‘wine capital’, and the elegant city of Dijon.

What is hotel barging? Despite the growing popularity of cruising, especially on large river vessels, hotel barging is still a little known niche concept. Most hotel barges started life as cargo vessels but have since been painstakingly converted to offer luxury boutique accommodation for small groups of up to 20 passengers. This is cruising, but in a very different style to ships plying the big rivers or oceans.

The pace is slow, with a 6 day cruise covering maybe just 50 miles along a rural canal. Passengers can walk or bike the towpaths as their floating hotel glides gently along. Guests enjoy an intimate atmosphere, high levels of personal service and immersion into the culture, history and gastronomy of regions of Europe such as Burgundy, the Midi, or the Italian Veneto. Every day there is an excursion, perhaps to a chateau, a vineyard for a wine tasting, or some other ‘off the beaten track’ location.

About half of European Waterways’ bookings are for whole boat charters, ideal for families. Otherwise, clients book a cabin to join other like-minded people. A ‘slow boat’ European Waterways barge cruise offers the ultimate in experiential travel. A truly unique experience! European Waterways offer luxury hotel barge cruises on the beautiful canals and rivers of Europe, such as through Burgundy, the Midi, Alsace, the Po Valley, Holland and the Scottish Highlands.

The exclusive collection of hotel barges accommodate up to 20 passengers who may charter a whole barge with family or friends, or join a small group of like-minded travellers on an individual cabin basis. Each barge is fully crewed with a Captain, chef, hostesses, deck-hand and tour guide. The 6-night cruises include gourmet meals, fine wines, open bar, excursions and the use of facilities such as bicycles and spa pools.

Find out more: http://www.europeanwaterways.com/