Friday, December 14, 2007
Senegal/West Africa – Back to the Basics!
First of all, here's another picture of Canada we wanted to share with you. The Canadians really are great guys!
We didn't have a particularly good start into Dakar/Senegal. We arrived in the early morning hours, and once in the baggage claim area we had a hunch that the trip to the hotel might be a problem; after all, we'd seen more than one baggage claim in our lives ...
Before you board a taxi you need some cash money, best are small bills. So where's the next ATM? I walked out of the arrival hall in order to find one; hundreds of people approach you immediately. "Wanna change, man?! – Good change!" I found a machine and tried to draw some money but unfortunately my credit card seemed not to work. "Hey my friend, wanna change, huh?!" You really had to keep them at a distance. Damn, what was the problem with this ATM? It had swallowed my card and just showed a blank blue screen. "Change?! Good change, da best change for you my friend!" After an eternity the machine returned my card, nothing seemed to have happened. "I will give you special price, man – best price for you my friend!" Yah yah, fine, I will also give you special price, right after sending you to hospital, my friend!
With the help of some "security guy" I found out that choosing English as a language was the problem. Select French and the thing works! Okay, so I got some money; back to the arrival hall. "No change, man?!"
With 8 pieces of baggage, half of them on a trolley, we were on our way to the taxi booth. The "security guy" had come with us as recommended by airport officials. It was still dark outside and if you have as many bags as we do, then in countries like Senegal this is a huge problem. Dozens of people will jump on you and before you can even blink there's ten hands on your luggage. Most of them just want a dollar, some others will want several dollars, and then there's the guys who simply want the baggage and no dollars.
We reached the taxi together with a bunch of people. Saskia and I tried hard to stop them from stuffing our bags into the car. The first guy had the camera, the second guy had our hand luggage, the third was tearing at our backpack while numbers four to eight dropped the big heli box the second time. It's too big for the trunk but nobody cares; everybody wants to help. The "security guy" now tells you that for all of his efforts he would like to get his fair share – or a bit more since we are stupid Europeans and get our money for nothing. Everybody knows that, most of all the small kids.
Once you are in the taxi it is hard to tell whether or not all the baggage is on board. There's still many people behind the trunk and even more at the windows asking for tips; they all helped, didn't they?!
So the four of us went off in direction of our hotel. Uuupss – the four of us?! Just before the driver stepped on the gas another "security guy" hopped onto the passenger seat. So what now, stop the whole journey like in India and get out to the pack of wolves again?
We talked to the guy and he explained he had to help the driver with the location. So let them drive for a minute and see what happens; if they try any nonsense you can still kill them. ;-)
Things seemed to be fine and we were rumbling over half-finished roads when suddenly a second taxi showed up on our right-hand side. Our driver accelerated like wild, and so did the other car. The speed was insane for this kind of street and I shouted to the driver to stop racing the guy. He did not react and instead decided it was time to ram the other car. After the collision both cars slammed on the brakes. Our driver got out, so did the other driver. It was all shouting and pointing; the other guy's wing mirror was broken. Whether or not the cars had any additional dents was hard to tell; they looked like if their technical certificate had run out ten years ago anyway (pretty much all cars there do!).
We finally got to our hotel and paid the fare; we knew we're being screwed, but better not make a fuss about it. Just try to get all your baggage in one piece and into the hotel lobby. We were lucky because early check-in was possible; the time was about 8 AM by now. Next thing we did was to sleep for 10 hours.
In the evening I felt a little worn out. Saskia was still fighting her cold she'd caught in Canada. We strolled a bit through the streets trying to get some food. After all we had not really eaten in almost two days since we'd left Toronto and spent our time in transit in New York (we had to go from Newark to JFK airport) and on planes.
This morning I felt like hit by a bulldozer and was too weak to stand upright. I had no choice but to swallow a number of pills and to stay in bed. Meanwhile Saskia tried to figure out what might be the best landmark to visit with the heli given the current circumstances. We knew there was a former slave island with a big French fort not far away from the coast. There are not many other monuments that Senegal has to offer – virtually none in the Dakar area.
However, we learned about a mysterious red lake which is said to lie in Senegal. We don't know if it's true and if the water is really red. But if the lake does exist, we'll find it and fly there - that's for sure! We'll get back to you tomorrow, stay tuned!
Labels: Africa, Canada, Dakar, illness, Senegal, taxi out of control
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Canada - Cool Country!
Yes, it definitely is. The people seem to be quite relaxed, and all those we met were exceptionally friendly and helpful. Canada is the second largest country in the world although its population of 33 million is quite modest in comparison.
The state capital is Ottawa, not Toronto. However, with 5 million inhabitants the multicultural city and provincial capital of Ontario is the country's most important and best-known metropolis. It is a clean place, crime rates are reported to be low. World-famous landmark is the CN-Tower; with 553 m it is currently the tallest building on the planet (but will be surpassed soon by a skyscraper in Dubai). This said, also the Canadians are "cheating"; it seems that the competition of which country has got the highest construction is increasingly morphing into who can put the largest TV antenna onto a tower. ;-)
Canada was originally explored by the British and the French starting in the late 15th century. However, France finally ceded nearly all of its colonies in 1763. The process towards total independence from the UK was a long one; the last ties have been cut only recently in the Canada Act of 1982! The country today is a federation of 10 provinces and 3 territories; form of government is a parliamentary democracy and at the same time a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state. Official languages at federal level are English and French; this means quite some efforts as all documents, signs, etc. have to be bilingual.
It is quite a contrast when coming to Canada from Chile via Mexico – it was sweating whenever you moved, and a day later you walk out of the airport and it's piles of snow wherever you look. A strange and cool experience at the same time, and certainly only possible in today's Global Village.
Anyway, we collected our rental car and drove straight to Niagara Falls about 120 km south of Toronto – the name refers to both the city of "Niagara Falls" and the waterfalls themselves. They are (or let's better say: They used to be!) the most powerful waterfalls in North America. The height is "only" about 50 m, but the Falls are very wide. One distinguishes the Canadian Horseshoe Falls (the name owes to their shape) and the much smaller American Falls. And yes, this means the border between Canada and the USA goes right through the Falls (actually through one of the islands that separates the two parts). About 90% of the total water flow goes through the Horseshoe Falls; their crest is about 800 m long while that of the American Falls is considerably shorter, measuring a little over 300 m.
As you'd expect it is the Niagara River that dives down into the depth. The Falls were formed at the end of the last ice age when glaciers receded and the water from the newly-formed Great Lakes carved a path to the Atlantic.
Today the Falls are an important source for hydroelectric power; an unbelievable 4.4 GW are generated by a number of power plants. It is hard to believe, but up to 75% (!) of the Niagara River's water flow is diverted via a system of huge tunnels to the generators. Such things always have significant consequences for the environment; the one you can directly observe is that at night and especially during wintertime when there aren't that many tourists the Falls are "turned off".
Heeeehhh?! What does that mean?! Turn off a waterfall of the size of the world-renowned Niagara Falls – this cannot be possible, can it? Well, it's possible; the water going over the crest is a mere fraction of what the river brings along, and what you get to see today (it's still impressive!) is mainly there to keep the tourists happy. Consequently, during the nighttime the water flow is usually halved and there are already plans to build another tunnel and power plant!
Talking about tourists, the Falls are visited by over 20 million people a year! This most incredible figure tells you it will be pretty hard to pull off a model helicopter stunt during the summer season. Even in winter there's still busloads of visitors coming in. Because of this ever-growing number of tourists it is no wonder that hotels, casinos, etc. are just mushrooming. Nearly all you can see in the above picture has been constructed in the past few years – and this, too, comes at a price! The buildings changed the airflow around the Falls; the mist shooting up into the sky as high as 100 m is now increasingly blown towards the street and the visitor's platforms on the Canadian side. Especially in winter the street can be like glass.
The mist is the biggest problem for flights over the Niagara Falls. If it is blown towards you, you'll be wet to the pants in no time. Filming is impossible as the lens is covered with water in a split second. And conditions can change fast as we learned … The shot below shows the same spot one day after our flights – no way to fly under these conditions!
We inspected the location the first day and found – as Marc Endres had suggest before – that either you fly from greater distance with the Falls merely in the background or you really fly over the Falls, but then from one of the platforms upstream to avoid the mist. Problem here is that you merely see the water disappear over the crest, and that's it – no Niagara Falls in the picture. So what now?
The second day we were lucky with the weather – and especially with the wind! The mist was blown downstream most of the time so we dared to start right next to the Falls. Impressive view, still part of the Falls was barely visible through a cloud of mist.
The temperature was below freezing point; not good for battery packs, camera equipment and especially not for the pilot. I did not really want to fly with gloves and thus took them off for the flights. The humidity and constant breeze really make your fingers numb within a minute or two. Not so nice, especially when doing some aerobatics over a waterfall of this size!
Canada was definitely worth the visit even though standing in the cold for a prolong time got us a sore throat and Saskia even caught a more severe cold. But we're currently on the way to West Africa – it's a long flight with a quick stopover in New York. Unpleasant, because it means you have to go through U.S. immigration even though you're basically just in transit. But never mind, we look forward to Africa and will report from there. So once again stay tuned for the latest news from the forefront of R/C helicopter flying!
Labels: Canada, cold, Horseshoe Falls, mist, Niagara Falls, Ontario, snow
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
