Taking a city trip back in time – ancient Beit She’an

Travelers heading to Israel: we would like to give you a few words of advice in case you are planning a city trip in this country. If you ask us: forget about Jerusalem and Tel Aviv all together and don’t even bother to head over to Haifa or Akko. For the ultimate city trip experience in Israel we advise …

Visions of Svalbard: landscapes and wildlife around Ny-Ålesund.

This is the final blogpost in our “polar” series, dedicated to those days when Maarten (who is writing this) was sent to the arctic and antarctic in order to research the marine fauna there. Until now, I have written about my experiences in Antarctica. This blogpost is the only one about my stay on the island …

A walking safari in the Antarctic

After a few tiresome weeks of intense lab activities at the Dallmann Laboratory and occasional field excursions in Potter Cove  on King George Island, my work in Jubany (nowadays known as Carlini Station) finally came to an end. This was November 2007. Antarctic Summer. And just as on all my other expeditions, it’s only at the end that I realized …

Jubany: a research station on King George Island.

Sometimes the most memorable travel memories are made when you least expect them. Even when you think things are completely heading in the wrong direction, something spectacular might happen eventually. In November 2007, I got stuck on an Argentinian military base for almost 2 weeks (all about that unfortunate chain of events here), awaiting a transfer to Jubany, …