sachara's VirtualTourist Home Page

The beauty of the desert....
The picture of me in Tin Merzouga is made by Caroline Klaassen.

Tin Merzouga in the south-east of Algeria near the Libyan border has amazing sanddunes. We stayed at this spot for 2 nights, so I had enough time to climb the dunes. I did not reach the top. After every edge were new and higher tops. It was marvellous to be there for hours with only the blue sky and the fascinating empty landscape around. It gave me the feeling to be in connection with myself and the cosmos.

Africa

I travelled in four continents. My favourite continent is Africa ! It is under my skin since my first visit or maybe even longer. Some VT-ers think I am originally from Africa. I am not and don't ask me why I don't start to live there yet. Meanwhile I visited Africa 34 times and 32 countries.

2004 was for me the best Africa year ever. First I travelled three months from west to east, visiting Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania. Later I did my first transsahara trip, coming from Gambia, Senegal and Mali, crossing the Sahara in central Mauritania, Western Sahara and Morocco.

2005 was an European and Asian travel year. In Europe I visited Madeira, Italy, England, France, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Germany. In Asia Thailand and Cambodia.

2006 brought four continents. Europe (Poland, Madeira, Spain, Scotland, Denmark), Africa (Libya), Asia (China and Hong Kong) and Central America (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras & Belize).

In 2007 Africa again. Morocco and Egypt for the 8th time, Madagascar and Mauritius. And in Europe England, Germany, Belgium and Greece.

My newest travelpages
Europe:
The Netherlands: Updated Rotterdam (december 2007)
Greece: VT pictures of Euromeet2007: Santorini, Fira, Oia, Nea Kameni, Thirasia, the sailing trip: Kea, Serifos, Sifnos, Ios, pre-meet in Athens
Africa:
Updated: Rissani (may 2008), Morocco & Agadir (april 2008).

Pages under construction
Africa:
Egypt: updating Sharm el Sheikh,
Morocco: Nkob, Merzouga, Dades Valley, Todra Gorge, Ouarzazate, Essaouira, updating Marrakech

From African astrology:
The traveller (4 sep- 3 oct)
If born under the sign of the traveller, you are endowned with a wanderlust which makes you always want to see what is over the next hill. The traveller has a duality of character. They feel sadness at their departure and they feel a certain joy in the anticipation of the arrival at their destination. The traveller must rely on intuition and common sense on the journey in life.

Emmen is a modern municipality with industrial and horticultural areas. Emmen is situated in the north east of the Netherlands near the German border. Emmen has 110.000 inhabitants. Within the borders of Emmen is a lot of open and green space. Near the German border is a large nature reserve the Bargerveen (veen = moor). For information about the aera www.moorismeer.nl
I live in the centre of the city Emmen in one of the last historical districts. www.oudallee.nl For more information about my home-town, you can visit my Emmen page, the website of the municipality www.emmen.nl or read the brochure eMMen Makes More possible.

In spring and summer there are a lot of activities in the citycentre of Emmen. For example the last friday in May is the Jazz & Blues Night, in July is the CestlaVie Festival and the last sunday in August is the Full Colour Festival.

Emmen is known because of its zoo. It's one of the most beautifull zoo's in Europe.The zoo is just behind our backyard. From the first floor of our house we can have a look at the African savannah with giraffes, zebras, rhinos, impalas and wildebeasts. For more information see my travelogue Noorderdierenpark or www.noorderdierenpark.nl

In the zoo nextdoor we have big wild cats as neighbours (tigers, panthers and servals). In our own home and garden we have our own ''wild'' cats of a smaller size. The cats are used to the heavy roaring of their big sisters in the zoo.

This is our second cat, which was behaving more like a dog. She walked always together with me, especially outdoors.

At the 4th of august 2007 she died, only 8 years young....
I miss her talking during the day, her bright blue eyes looking straight into my eyes and her laying on my mouse when I am too long at VT.

Since April 2004 we have a third cat, Bushman. His former family missed him and wanted him back, so he left us for 2 weeks. But finally they find out, that our home and garden is a better place for him. So we are happy to have him back.