Contributions
Cape Town Minstrel Carnival
Created on December 30, 2010 by Leroy FlowersI’ve been hearing about the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival but I’ve never experienced it. So when I got the news that we’ll be celebrating New Year in Cape Town, I was so delighted. I will be going with my whole family in time for the famous Cape Town Minstrel Carnival or what they call “Kaapse Klopse”. According to some of my friends, Cape Town Minstrel Carnival is like the mardi gras in New Orleans and the carnevale in Rio de Janeiro. But when I searched it at the internet, it says it isn’t, not quite, but it has its roots from them. But whatever, I’m still excited of going. We packed our things and set-off for Cape Town which is in the Republic of South ...
Ngorongoro Crater
Created on December 30, 2010 by Leroy FlowersI have always been fascinated looking at craters on TV or pictures but definitely I wouldn’t dare go near it for fear of extreme heat coming from the lava. But when I learned of the Ngorongoro Crater I readily took a different stand. And who wouldn’t especially if the place being described is called “Africa’s Eden” and the “8th natural wonder of the world”. True to its description, I learned that Ngorongoro Crater is home to large herds of zebra, sleeping lions, black rhino, goats, forests and scrub bush. It has a conservation area where tribe such as the Masaai lives. The place is home to Olduvai Gorge, where the Leakeys discovered the 1.8 million year old skeleton that served as one of the distinct ...
Discover Puente Nuevo, Spain
Created on October 18, 2010 by Leroy FlowersOn first strike reading this title comes into mind of some ancient city or some Spanish product. In reality it is a bridge of special sort situated in city of Ronda Spain. Ronda is one of the few cities in the world to have a deep gorge (a deep ravine usually with a river running through it) running through the heart of the city and is even luckier still to have the Puente Nuevo bridge spanning it. The gorge also served as the most formidable defense Ronda’s enemies have ever tried to attack. The creator of this pleasing artwork was José Martin de Aldehuela. It is this remarkable architect's magnificent masterpiece that spans el Tajo today, at a breath-taking height of over 300 feet. Standing ...
Discover Millau Bridge, France
Created on October 18, 2010 by Leroy FlowersWhen you are in France, you should never miss Millau Bridge. I got this rare opportunity to see the famous bridge when I was invited by a close friend to spend the holidays with her family in France. It was such an experience to pass at the highest road bridge in the world. The Millau Bridge is located at Southern France and crosses the River Tarn in the Massif Central Mountains. It was 300m (984 feet) high and is the world’s highest road bridge, weighing 36,000 tons. According to my friend, the bridge was opened in December 2004. It was breathtaking as we viewed the beautiful scenery to where we stand. The bridge loomed above the Tarn Valley and according to a tour guide that ...
Sung Sot Caves
Created on October 08, 2010 by Leroy FlowersCave is an underground enclosure with access from the surface of the ground or from the sea entwined with the beauty of nature. Sung Sot caves, or the “Cave of Surprises” in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam, were discovered in 1901 by the French. The cave is located on Bo Hon Island. One of the most popular in the bay with tourists, the cave requires a separate ticket to enter. Sung Sot cave is filled with unusual rock formations, which are highlighted by colored lights. These formations include a Buddha and a large tortoise, but the most well-known is a massive phallus in the cave's second chamber, which is lit by a pink spotlight. The penis-shaped rock is known as a fertility symbol to locals. Path ...
Cruising Along the Rhine River
Created on October 08, 2010 by Leroy FlowersAre you looking to get away from the daily hassles of life? Why not consider a relaxing two-week excursion across the Rhine River? The Rhine River is one of the most important water channels in Europe. It stretches 766 miles and originates from Switzerland, traveling through France, Germany, and Holland, making its way to the Atlantic Ocean. Cruises are available year round, but the low seasons are November through March. If you are interested in driving alongside the river instead of riding the cruise ship, car ferries are available, traveling from the left side of the river to the right side, making its way back again. Riding the ship is a perk because you essentially stay in one place, allowing you to need to pack ...
Glastonbury Festival
Created on October 08, 2010 by Leroy FlowersAs the name depicts that a festival is a day or period of time set aside for organized series of acts and performances and so Glastonbury Festival is one of the great tourist attractions and desired point of destination for music lovers. The festival takes place in south west England at Worthy Farm between the small villages of Pilton and Pylle in the county of Somerset, six miles east of the town of Glastonbury. The farm is situated in the beautiful valley of Avalon, at the head of the river White lake. You most probably have some prejudice concerning it if you had never been there before. This festival for the first time was organized by Michael Eavis, a farmer in a Somerset valley. He ...
Hear the Roar of Taiko Drummers During the Gion Matsuri Festival
Created on July 02, 2010 by Leroy FlowersFor the last thousand years, the thundering sounds of the Japanese taiko drum has seen off evil spirits , signaled the start of war, and celebrated festivals. Once believed to have been inhabited by gods, the drum soon found its place in religion, and its sounds can be heard during the month long Gion Matsuri Festival in July.
Kabuki
Created on June 09, 2010 by Leroy FlowersMy son kept asking me that we go see a Kabuki presentation the moment we reached our hotel room when we visited Japan for the first time. At first I thought that what he was prodding me was something like a fashion show of Japanese girls in very white make-up just like the Geisha girls in the movies. But my son laughed, explaining that Kabuki is a traditional Japanese form of theater which originated in the Edo Period. He further added that Kabuki is popular with the masses and not of the higher social classes. I was amazed. “How did you know all of that?” I blurted. And he explained that he had Nippongo classes in college and they used to watch Kabuki as part ...
Ride the Cables to the Top of Table Mountain, Cape Town
Created on November 23, 2009 by Leroy FlowersNelson Mandela once described Table Mountain as a beacon of hope representing the mainland to which he would one day return after his years of incarceration. To this day, Table Mountain is still portrayed as a precious and sacred place where people come to enjoy the views and reflect. One of the quickest and entertaining ways to reach its summit is to ride the Table Mountain cable car. They operate every day as long as the weather permits, and although the mountaintop can also be reached by walking, it’s easier and more exciting to take the cable car. It’s okay if you're a little scared of heights, as it will all pay off once you’re up the mountain and the views take over you. Riding ...
Anastenaria Festival
Created on July 28, 2009 by Leroy FlowersThe most shocking and physically dangerous and against the nature heard and seen is The Anastenaria festival. It is a traditional fire-walking ritual performed in some villages in Northern Greece and Southern Bulgaria. The communities which celebrate this ritual are descended from refugees who entered Greece from Eastern Thrace following the Balkan Wars of 1911–12 and the exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey in 1923. The Anastenaria is a festival with deep pagan roots blended with Christian rituals. The Christian Orthodox festivals revolve around various Christian saints; the Anastenaria Festival is celebrated in some villages of Greece and Bulgaria to honor Saint Constantine and Saint Helen. A popular legend associated with its origin is that once the church caught fire with the saints trapped ...
Trelawny Yam Festival
Created on July 28, 2009 by Leroy FlowersYam is a sweet potato with deep orange flesh that remains moist when baked. Trelawny is a parish in Cornwall County in northwest Jamaica. The yam is one of Jamaica's most popular ground provisions. It can be found in a many of the traditional, local dishes and soups, and this event, which celebrates that yam, attracts thousands of Jamaicans. Trelawny Yam Festival was an idea derived from community members in 1997 as a way of raising funds to support the local community and STEA (Southern Trelawny Environmental Agency). With a community support base and with the planning ability of STEA the Trelawny Yam Festival was born with the intention of celebrating yam, the food that is so important to the livelihoods of the people of ...
World Marble Championship
Created on July 28, 2009 by Leroy FlowersWe were in a chess tournament when someone from the sports committee broke the news. He was inviting us to try World Marbles Championship. We all laughed. We were a group of ten guys who had been into sports of all kinds and World Marbles was new to us. “What? Do you want us to play jolens?” asked one of the guys. Marbles is jolens in our dialect and it is usually a little boy’s play. Jolens are small glass balls rolled on the ground and hit the opponent’s ball while making its way to make a shoot on the lined holes on the ground. But to our surprise, the jolens that we were describing was the same Marble championship that the guy was telling. ...
Keshwa Chaca
Created on July 21, 2009 by Leroy FlowersWhen one, reads the word for the first time it’s not only hard in pronunciation but also difficult in crossing. The Keshwa Chaca is believed to be the last remaining Inca rope bridge, spans the Apurimac River near Huinchiri, Peru, in the Province of Canas. The beauty of the bridge is its construction, the way it’s made of ropes hand woven of qqoya grass, a type of Andean bunchgrass. It is the sixth hidden wonder of the South America. Five centuries ago, the Andes were strung with suspension bridges. By some estimates, there were as many as 200 of them, braided from nothing more than twisted mountain grass and other vegetation, with cables that were sometimes as thick as a human torso. Over the centuries, ...
Explore the Wild Wetlands of Pantanal Brazil
Created on July 04, 2009 by Leroy FlowersEverybody has been to the Amazon a dozen times. Its dimensions are certainly awe-inspiring, yet its wildlife often fails to live up to expectations. But Brazil’s Pantanal is the world’s largest wetland and biggest swamp. The area of this tropical wetland spans 54,000 square miles and three countries and is home to 11,000 species of birds, fish, mammals, reptiles and invertebrates. In this truly spectacular wonder of the natural world, where the rivers are overflowing with fish and birds fill the vast skies, the biodiversity lures biologists, researchers, and visitors from around the world who come to witness and study this undisturbed natural environment. Humans are few and far between in the Pantanal giving it a feel of almost absolute isolation, although the abundance of ...
Kalahari Desert Elephant Migration to Okavango
Created on July 04, 2009 by Leroy Flowerselephants and buffalo head to the okavango for water after huge journeys across the kalahari
Solve the Enigma of America's Stonehenge
Created on June 01, 2009 by Leroy FlowersA four-thousand-year-old maze of man-made chambers, walls and ceremonial meeting places—America's Stonehenge is most likely the oldest man-made construction in the United States. America’s Stonehenge is located 40 miles north of Boston to Salem, New Hampshire, covering about 30 acres of land. There’s a certain amount of mystery over whether the archeological stone structures and large rock formations of America’s Stonehenge were constructed by Native Americans or by the early migrant European population. No one knows for sure, and so the site was named “Mystery Hill” by the new owner of the land in 1937 until it was subsequently renamed America’s Stonehenge. Take a detour to Salem when you visit New Hampshire, and see America's Stonehenge, a site that became open to the public under ...
Wingsuit over the Alps
Created on November 16, 2008 by Leroy FlowersWhether it is the thrill of flying to greater heights at faster speeds than the birds, or whether it is temporary insanity, to wingsuit over the Alps in the summer months is a breathtaking experience. A wingsuit is a special jumpsuit that has special fabric sown underneath the arms and between the legs, to shapes the body like an airfoil, which creates a powerful increase in lift. Different manufacturers make wingsuits with a diverse air inlet, airfoil shape or larger or small wings. The relative wind inflates the wings, one under each arm and one between the legs, causing the wings to inflate and form the airfoil. The flier guides himself, as lift is provided. For proper flying, there must be adequate altitude to enable ...
Drift into Sensory Overdose Diving the Reefs of the Red Sea
Created on October 13, 2008 by Leroy FlowersEnchroached along the coast of the Sinai penninsula .
Completed
leroy-flowers has not completed any experiences.
Wishlist
leroy-flowers has not added any experiences to their wishlist.
Location
Baltimore, United States Experience Map
Your widget will stay up to date with the experiences you mark as completed or desired. Embed it in facebook, myspace, your blog or your iGoogle! Seriously, you can grab and put this widget almost anywhere.
