Islands

From Makassar (formerly Ujung Pandang) you can reach the offshore island of Samalona with small outrigger boats. We lived there with an Islamic family in a stilt house and were even allowed to spend the night in the owner's bedroom. The family was extremely amiable and despite our poor language skills, communication went well.

The sunsets on the Strait of Makassar are impressive natural spectacles and the beaches of the small island invite you to relax.

The black-browed albatross or Mollymauk (Thalassarche melanophris) from the albatross family (Diomedeidae) spends almost its entire life in the air over the Southern Ocean. We were able to photograph these wonderful birds in Saunders, one of the Falkland Islands, where a large colony of this species is situated.

The ten German Halligen are grouped in a circle around the island of Pellworm. These "young" islands only exist in the North Frisian Wadden Sea. Their land masses protrude a few meters from the sea and are regularly flooded by strong floods (colloquial: "Landunter"). Their residents live in houses on artificial embankments, the terps. These are high enough to withstand "normal" storm surges.

On Pebble Island, one of the Falkland Islands, one occasionally encounters "immigrants" - including theErect-crested Penguin (Eudyptes sclateri), which is actually at home on the New Zealand Bounty Islands and the Antipode Islands. It belongs to the genus of crested penguins.

Kauai, the garden island, lures with impressive trails to waterfalls and the lush cliffs in the north of Kaua'i stand in stark contrast to the drier west side. There are long sandy beaches on the coast and the heavy surf can sometimes be threatening. We had strong wind and the palm leaves flew past the window of our hotel, so that weather-related hikes were out of the question. But after the storm subsided, we went out into the impressive landscape.

Hawaii or Big Island is the largest island in the US state of Hawaii. When the "Pacific Plate" moved over a hot spot in this region, the volcanoes that formed the current morphology of the island emerged. The five largest volcanoes are called: Kohala, Hualalai, Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa and Kilauea. At the top of Mauna Kea, the Mauna Kea Observatory is one of the most important astronomical observatories.

When you talk about Hawaii, you think of hula, volcanoes and surfing and places like Waikīkī, a district of Honolulu, the capital of the state of Hawaii. Waikiki with its famous hotel beach and the Kalakaua promenade is the tourist center of Oahu. Honolulu means "protected bay" and has 337,000 inhabitants. (Wikipedia)

Honolulu was also our first port of call on our trip, fromwhere we started to visit four of the impressive Hawaii islands.

Gentoo penguins at Volunteer Point in East Falkland. The place can be reached from Stanley by Land Rover in about two hours.

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