filipdebont's VirtualTourist Home Page

In July / August I've made a Trans South America trip.

That was in 4 weeks from coast to coast, from Santiago de Chile towards Rio de Janeiro, and that all overland, by busses

Before I started this Trans South America trip, I did spend one fantastic week on Isla Pasqua (Easter Island).

From Santiago de Chili we went up North to San Pedro de Atacama, then we crossed the border to Argentina, via Salta, Cafayate, Tucuman, we arrived in Posadas.

Then we crossed the border with Paraguay for one day, to see some Jesuit missions. Then back to Argentina to see the worlds biggest waterfall : Igazou, first on Argentina side, then on the Brazilian side.

From Foz de Igazou we continued vis Curitiba towards the beautiful city of Paraty. And we finally ended up in the vibrating sound of samba in Rio de Janeiro.

This was a fascinating trip with big diversity on landscapes and people.

Trans South America pages :

Santiago de Chile page - FINISHED

Vina del Mar page - FINISHED

Work in Progress :

Easter Island / Isla Pasqua page

While we where visiting Rio, our guide made a few times the comparaison with Lisbon in Portugal, that is why I booked a short city trip to Lisboa beginning of October, I want to hear and feel the real fadistas in the old part of Lisboa.

Next trip(s) :
- July 2009 : Chili - Bolivia - Peru
- September 2009 : Budapest

So 6 months of preparation . . .

and it is already history

A one month trip through Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, Nevada and California

A magnificent trip, Sunshine, tropical temperatures, T-storms

Good for 5860 Miles (9376 kilometres) on the counter of my rental car(s)

Also resulting in almost 5.500 pictures

and now to big task to share this all on VT

well I have already started :

Rock Springs, Wyoming page

Flaming Gorge Recreation Area, Utah page.

Jackson, Wyoming page

.
.

During our big Australia Roundtrip, we visited the Tower Hill Game reserve along the Great Ocean Road.

This is a good place to spot Kangaroos, Emus and Koalas.

You are welcome to vist my Tower Hill Game Reserve page

Wednesday 14th of June, the second concert of Robbie Williams in the Koning Boudewijn Stadium.

Despite the bad weather, the concert was Mega - Mega (or like the say in Antwerp - gewuun Mega bangelijk . . . . )

Before the concert began, we could listen to Orson and then the amazing sound of Basement Jax.

And then there was the moment 60.000 fans waited for . . . a show no one will ever forget . . . again Angels did give me Goosebumps . . . (thanks Jessica - (JessH( - for correcting the chickenskin - lol)

another great moment was when Robbie started to sing spontaneous I'm singing in the rain and the whole stadium continued singing . . and I'm happy again . .

It was a great evening

So I just returned from a Kenya - Uganda trip.

In Kenya we visited the Nakuru N.P. and the magnificent Masai Mara National Reserve.

In Uganda we visited, Sipi Falls near Mount Elgon, we visited the local people near Namwenda. We stopped at the source of the Nile near Jinja, after a quick visit at Kampala (the Capital); we headed for Kibale N. P. where we made a Chimpanzee trekking. In the Queen Elisabeth N.P. we did see a lot of Hippos during a beautiful boat ride.

After this water experience there was time for the real highlight of this trip, a trekking in the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, in order to discover the Mountain Gorillas. Wow, that was magnificent; the huge Silverback was only a few metres away. What an unforgettable experience.

After Bwindi, we visited Lake Buyoni and Lake Mburo, and then we headed back to Jinja where some of our group did some rafting on the river Nile. And then it was time to head back to Kenya, to catch our flight back home.

The first park we did visit during my Kenya - Uganda trip, was the Lake Nakuru National Park.

This was a very interesting park.

The highlight in this park are the thousands (maybe even millions) of Flamingos. These Flamigos colour the lake really pink.

You are welcome to vist my Lake Nakuru N.P. page

In May, I visited St Petersburg.

I spent 5 days in this wonderful city.

Highlight number 1 was the Hermitage museum.

I also went the theatre in St Petersburg: on saturday evening I went to the Mussorgsky Theatre to see the Swan Lake Ballet and on sunday evening I went to the big Mariinski theatre to see the Opera Aida. Just a unique experience.

This page is still under construction.

My new St Petersburg page

Belgium : Roeselare (my hometown), Kanegem, Kwaremont, Oudenaarde, Nieuwpoort, Mechelen, Planckendael, Tielt, Wemmel, Oostende, Averbode, Blankenberge, Zillebeke, Leuven Laroche, Turnhout, Zillebeke (+ update Brugge, Gent and Antwerpen)

Netherlands : Marken, Leiden, Volendam, Zaandam, Rotterdam, Beekse Bergen, Maastricht (+ update Amsterdam)

Mexico : San Christobal de las Casas, Yachilan, Palenque City, Palenque ruines, Merida, Campeche, Uxmal, Chitzen Itza, Playa del Carmen

Guatemala : Chichicastenango, Antigua, Guatemala City, Rio Dulce, Livingstone, Tikal, Flores, Bethel

Honduras : Copan

More :Barcelona (Spain), Kwa-Zulu Natal (S-Africa), Swasiland, Greece (cyclads, Corfoe, Athens), Vienna, Prague

West Coast USA : San Fransisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Joshua Tree N.P., Grand Canyon, Moument Valley, Rainbow Bridge, Bryce Canyon, Arches N.P., Las Vegas, Death Valley, Yosemite N.P.

Italy :(Venice, Roma, Napoli, Firenze, Siena), France (Lille, Roubaix, Alpes, Pyrenees, Paris)

Ecuador (Saquisili, Chimborazo, Cuenca, El Cajas, Quayaquil) + Galapagos trip

China - Tibet trip (Beijing, Lanzhou, Chengdu, Lhasa, Shigatse, . . .) + Katmandu (Nepal)

Kenia : Masai Mara Natiol Reserve, Kericho

Uganda : Sipi, Namwenda, Jinja, Kampala, Kibale N.P., Queen Elisabeth N.P., Bwindi Impenetrable Forest,Lake Bunyoni, Lake Mburo,.

As you can see a huge (a very huge list). Maybe I should stop travelling for a year or so, and take a year holiday to work fulltime on my VT pages. Or maybe I should hire a secretary to write and translate my travel tips.