Krumel's VirtualTourist Home Page

For years my travels have only been within Europe, in particular to Ireland which I visited once or twice a year before finally moving to Dublin in 1999. I've been to most corners of the island at this stage, and very much enjoy that I am able to go on weekend trips to the remaining corners that I haven't seen yet, whenever I feel like it and without having to get on a plane to get here :-)

It's really one of the most beautiful countries on the planet, especially when the sun is shining, and I have not regretted moving here for a minute!

Originally I come from a tiny village in Germany called Hesborn. In the (unlikely) case you have never heard of Hesborn: It is situated in North-Rhine Westphalia in an area called "Sauerland".

And then I lived in Dusseldorf for 10 years, where I prepared myself for my future life in Ireland in the local Irish pubs.

And now that I can explore Ireland at my leisure all year round I felt drawn to the more far-flung places of this world, and I started off with visiting Kenya in September 2001. Africa has always held a magical attraction for me, and even as a child I loved watching programmes like "Born Free" or "Daktari" on TV, so I went to Kenya with high expectations, which were even exceeded when I arrived there. I spent the most amazing two weeks at Sweetwaters Rhino Reserve as an Earthwatch volunteer and got infected with the "Africa-Bug".

So I went back to Kenya in November 2002 on yet another Earthwatch expedition, this time a lion-project in Tsavo. This trip did not help at all in getting rid of the Africa-Bug, quite on the contrary. The "infection" got so bad that I had to take a 3-month leave of absence in early 2004 in order to volunteer on yet more wildlife projects in Kenya, this time it was sea turtles in Watamu and elephants near Amboseli.

And of course it didn't end there. The turtle project really touched me and I went back yet again in February 2006 for another 2-week stint of turtle conservation, and for a week-long safari to Lake Nakuru and the Maasai Mara, which was absolutely out of this world.