The slogan for Pairi Daiza is Un jardin des Mondes and the brilliant landscaping designs of this world garden definitely lives up to that motto as they take you on a trip around the globe… from China (La Cité des Immortels)… to Indonesia (Le Royaume de Ganesha)… to Africa or home of the Big Five (La Terre des Origines) which …
Pairi Daiza, Part Two
As much as I would prefer to encounter animals of all species roaming in the wild as opposed to being paraded around in captivity, for me this visit to Pairi Daiza was a real treat of seeing and touching some animals that I would otherwise only get to see on TV or in magazines. In Part Two of our visit …
Pairi Daiza, Part One
In old Persian pairi daiza means closed garden, an early reference to the idea of paradise. In today’s entry I’m taking you on a photographic escape into Pairi Daiza, a private 140-acre zoo/botanical garden in the Hainaut province of Belgium. This place was once a sanctuary of a different kind, a Cistercian abbey–Abbaye de Cambron to be exact: In Part …
Rail Bike
I’m not much of an outdoors person, and I would fare much better in a concrete jungle than the one filled with foliage and bugs. And yet, the most rewarding trips to me are usually nature related. Maybe just the sense of surviving a whole day without checking my email is a feat in itself. But back to where I …
Hautes Fagnes
The expression take a hike takes on a new meaning when I’m in this part of the world. Instead of being shooed out of some place where I’m unwanted, when I get asked to take a hike in the Hautes Fagnes region of eastern Belgium, I am truly being given a gift of nature. I’ve hiked through this huge ecological …