If you live in a European city like me, wildlife photography is something that you immediately link to a big trip to Africa or maybe South America.

It is true that even within Europe you can shot wildlife, for example brown bears in Easter Europe or Germany, or reindeers in Scandinavia, so it is my fault that I never explored my neighbourhood for this type of photography.

“Thanks to Covid-19” (probably one of the few things that we can thank this global tragedy ), I discovered amazing opportunities to do wildlife photography even in urban northern Italy: the beautiful Alps and its natural parks.

There are several places and occasion to see widlife in the Alps, that of course require a little bit of trekking and patience (not like sitting in a car doing an african safari). A good one is in October for the “belling of the deer” season, where their sounds echo all around the forests.

A very good place to start your trekking is the National Park of Gran Paradiso, a nature paradise that surrounds the italian regions of Piedmont and Aosta Valley. We’ve organized a trekking with local guides of NaturaAlp, that focused our excursion on our fitness level and our goal in taking wildlife photography.

Our first spotting, not quite wildlife, were these very particular cows of a local breed, that really looked like bisons… I know, they are just cows, but I found them quite beautiful. (here the breed if you are interested)

The beginning of the trek was already quite lucky, as we spotted a chamois walking in the breezing morning around the empty houses of a local village:

Along the trekking up into the mountains, we’ve spotted other chamois, getting quite close to them.

After almos 3 hours of trekking we reached our destination, at around 2,300 meters of altitude, and I have to say, the landscape was well worth the (extremely intense for my level) trekking.

At this point we even spotted a couple of birds of prey (not sure of the correct species), very close to us, and I gave it a shot trying to capture them on camera.

But my hope (and final goal) for my italian wildlife safari in the alps was to find the Ibex, and thankfully we’ve been lucky spotting an herd right in front of us: I have slowly crawled on the rocks as close to them as possible and spent almost an hour taking photography of them.

I wish I had some camouflage with me to get close to them, but I have to say that for being my first time ever in shooting  mountain wildlife, the results are quite ok!

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Here an extract of the interview:

Barbie around the World is a photography project born out from my long distance relationship with my girlfriend: at that time I was living in India while she was in Italy, and we were planning a trip to meet halfway in Israel.

 

Barbie Around the World: From Mumbai with love

 

We wanted to have a different kind of photo memories so we came up with the idea of using alter egos as protagonists of our trip: Barbie and Ken, the perfect couple and an icon of POP culture.

So Barbie (aka my girlfriend) was coming from fashionable Milan while Ken (aka me) from the bustling streets of Mumbai, together for an unforgettable road trip along the main sights of the Holy Land, from Jerusalem to Nazareth, from the Dead Sea to the Negev Desert.

Going around with dolls (and their extensive wardrobe) definitely got the attention of locals, and I would say a definitely weird conversation with Israeli airport security, especially when they found my bags full of Barbie!

The shots are the mirror of our experiences, from gazing the sunset from the roofs of the Old City of Jerusalem to floating on the salty water of the Dead Sea, from offroading in the desert to relaxing in the Golan Heights.

 

The opening exhibition in Milan was a success with international coverage from all around the world, and some criticism about a potential political background: our goal was just to have fun and take the good out of a beautiful place like the Holy Land, leaving out for once all the hateful problems that afflicts the beautiful people living there.

 

The following year we decided to travel again with our plastic companions, but this travel in time and space to Cuba! With original dolls and accessories from the ‘70s, all the photos were shot with an original Polaroid camera, replicating in photography the vintage look of Cuba, from the american vintage cars in the streets of Havana to the Che Guevara graffiti all around the country.

 

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Kolmanskop is a ghost town at the edge of Namib Desert, in Namibia. At the beginning of XX century, diamonds were found in area, and a prosperous mining town was build by the Germans, at the time in control of the area.

Buildings were lavish, and built in the german style.

After the world wars, the decline in diamonds lead to the abandonment of the town, and the last families left in 1956, leaving the desert reclaiming back all the houses.

Now it is one of the most popular attraction of Namibia, and a paradise for photographers. Wooden houses are invaded by desert sands, creating impossible landscape.

I would put it among the top 3 highlights of Namibia, and unmissable for any photographer.

How to get there?

Kolmanskop is 1 hour from the nearby town of Luderitz, and literally in front of the Luderitz Airport, which has domestic connections with other town of Namibia.

If you wanna drive straight from Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, consider it would take at least 9 hours, driving straight with no stops within. I personally drove from Windhoek to Keetmanshoop, and it took 5 hours on the gravel B1 road, with no stops at all.

From Keetmanshoop to Kolmanskop is another 3 hours and a half, and near the ghost town the gravel road is invaded by desert sands, forcing you to slow down and being extra careful.

You cannot drive at night in Namibia, and I tell you this from a quite experienced driver whom drove all around the world. The reasons are simple:

1. Car rental insurances will not cover you for driving after sunset.
2. There are not street lights at all
3. After dark, there are a lot of careless truck drivers speeding up in the opposite lane of yours, making the drive VERY challenging.
4. You can encounters wildlife, sheeps or cows crossing without any sign the road.
5. it is the the first country in the world for car accidents.

If you are a good driver, you could stretch the driving after sunset maybe for 1 hour or so, but don’t attempt to drive longer than that. I will write more of this!

Where to get tickets?

You can get regular tickets at the gates. If you want a photography permits, that allows you to enter 1 hour before the other guests, you should buy it in Luderitz, in cash, with this agency

How much time does it take to visit Kolmanskop?

We had to visit Kolmanskop in 1 hour, visiting 90% of the houses, but it was in a super hurry, but due to our schedule we had no choice.

I suggest to spend for regular visitor 2 hours there, and for photographers allow 3-4 hours to take the right time to find nice spots in the houses.

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The second chapter of my video project Life UnderWater has been shot here: best seen in 4k, full screen.

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We had only one long day in Mexico City, landing at 5.30 am and leaving at 8 pm, so we decided to do an half day visit to Teotihuacan and spend the rest of the day in Mexico City.

To make things easier, we rented a driver for picking up at the airport (at 6.30am) and bring us to the site, and then back to the city at around noon. We used this car service, which I find reliable, for around 140USD just driver, and 160 USD with the “guide”: just take the car, you can find guides on the site, which I strongly recommend you.

Once we arrived on the site, the sky was full of hot air balloons, and the sun was rising behind them, truly a beautiful sights. We didn’t do it, but it looks amazing to view sunrise on Teotihuacan!

The Pyramid of the Sun is connected to the Pyramid of the Moon by a huge avenue, called avenue of the Dead. This is an aerial shot of the pyramid of the sun, which I truly love:

You can actually climb up to the top and see all the site:

And taking selfies with a super extra long selfie stick (a new gadget I bought for the occasion, even if my long hatred against selfie stick…)

From the sky you can see the huge avenue crossing though the site:

You can’t climb up the pyramid of the moon, just getting to a mid-way platform, which faces the avenue of the dead.

As you can see from the shots, the sky was full of hot air balloons, making the place even more magical.

Next to the pyramid of the moon, and on the way to the exit of the site, you can’t miss the Palace of Quetzalpapálotl, which still has colors and painting of over 2000 years old!

Next to it, there are some underground excavations where you can spot the original colors of the whole archeological site.

Back in Mexico City, we had just time for devouring tacos and see the main spots, which are all round Plaza de la Constitucion/ Zocalo. Here you can visit the Templo Mayor, an amazing archeological site which has been buried for centuries below the new city of the Spanish, built on top of the ancient one. There is a parte above ground, with wall built by hundreds of skulls:

And a beautiful museum where the best pieces are preserved:

Last the National Palace (free entrance, quite a long line), where you can see the amazing murals of artist Diego Rivera (also husband of Frida Kahlo), that shows the history of Mexico, with also the slaughtering of local population at the time of the spanish conquistadors.

Palacio Nacional Diego Rivera mural Enrico Pescantini travel photographer 2

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In the package you can’t do a walk among the hanging bridges, and see the cloud forest from a slower pace! Beware of the heavy rains in Monteverde, otherwise you will literally drawn like we did!

On the way down from Monteverde, you could stop to Puntarenas for a 1-day tour to beautiful Isla Tortuga, a small island famous for snorkeling and water sports. Best way to visit it is with the beautiful catamaran of Calypso Cruises:

On the way down from Puntarenas you can’t miss a crocodile tour in Rio Tarcoles, a national park along the massive river Tarcoles. You really can see them from an extremely close point of view and watch the guides feeding them, watch the video on here!

Next stop is Marino Ballena National Park, the best spot in Costa Rica for whale watching, and worth sleeping 1 night.

On the way down to Corcovado National Park, you should stop to have what I considered the best meal in Costa Rica, in a very nice restaurant along the way down, called Ballena Bistro.

Ballena Bistro Costa Rica Restaurant

Ballena Bistro Costa Rica Restaurant

Corcovado National Park is one of the most remote places you can visit in Costa Rica, but it is definitely worth while. Main village to access there is Carate Beach, a group of hotel and hostel right on the beach. Here you can mainly chill out in the jungle and walk along the endless volcanic beach: beware that you cannot swim here, at all!

costa rica carate beach

costa rica carate beach

If you are lucky, you can witness the green turtle nesting right on the beach, without any tour or ticket entrance, just right there on the beach. We’ve been that lucky, and this is what we saw right when we arrived in Carate:

The 1 day hiking activity to Corcovado National Park allows you to see different wildlife, according to your luck. Consider an 6-7 hours of walking, under a very warm climate, so be prepared.

Most beautiful sightings of the place are macaws, in Carate there are tons of them, and you can see in the sky always a couple of them flying around. Or even upclose like below

During the walk in Corcovado we were followed by menacing, angry White-headed capuchin monkeys, marking their territory:

We also spotted colorful frogs:

And a tarantula spider:

From the solitude of Carate Beach we went back north to Manuel Antonio National Park, one of the most famous parks in Costa Rica. The beach in the main town is mainly for water sports, not so good for swimming, while the beaches inside the national park are quite beautiful.

Costa Rica From Above: Manuel Antonio National Park Tombolo

There is an high chance of spotting sloths, which I found the most funny and interesting animals of Costa Rica!

Last stop of the travel was Tortuguero National Park: the main reason to visit it is to spot the turtles nesting during the night, and visiting the river canals around. Honestly, since we experienced a turtle nesting in front of us in Corcovado, this part of the trip was not particularly exciting.

On the long way from San Jose to Tortuguero (bus+boat) we stopped for another species of sloath, smaller and cuter than the usual ones!

costa rica pescart sloath

Best thing for us was the night tour for spotting nocturnal wildlife, and the presence of beautiful red frogs!

Thanks for reading and follow me on Instagram or watch the videos from my travels on my Youtube Channel!

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t is thought as a digital Aquarium that will show you the beauty of marine wildlife from all around the world, without interference.

This first chapter has been filmed in Asinara Island, a very unique place in Italy. It has been a prison since the Second World Ware, and from the 70s it has been converted to a maximum prison facility.

The worst of Mafia criminals of Italy has been held here, and for more than an hundred years only prisoners and wardens lived here, besides donkeys, sheeps and an unbelivable marine life.

In 1997 it has been declared a protected national park, and the prison officially closed down. There are no hotels, restaurants or buildings in the island, only the ex-structures of the jails and a hostel, that was the house of wardens in the past century.

It is one of the more pristine places of Italy, and the amount of fishes in the sea it is truly unique.

I hope that with my virtual aquarium you can be there, at least with your imagination!

Videos are best enjoyed on 2k and big screens!

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The November 2017 edition will feature my Costa Rica From Above reportage! Check it out!

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Best tour operator is Jose’s, and from the reviews on the web you can be sure of the choice.

I worked with the guide to shot this amazing close up of crocodile feeding: the insanely brave guide was feeding the crocs with one hand and handling my go pro with the other one!

Most of the travelers just stop at the famous crocodile bridge, where you can park the car and trying to spot the crocs from the bridge, which, if you are on the run, it is worth it anyway. But I strongly encourage you to save some time for this activity.

Some info on the river from Anywhere.com:

The Tárcoles River is formed by the convergence of two rivers, the Virilla and the Grande de San Ramón, and empties into the Pacific ocean. In total, the river’s watershed covers over 2000 km. It forms the northern border of the Carara Biological Reserve, and helps irrigate important agricultural areas of the country. In addition to its agricultural significance, the river also helps generate electricity. It is, however, not a good place to swim, as it is highly polluted.

The river is perhaps best known for its abundance of American crocodiles. It’s said that the Tárcoles River has one of the highest populations of crocodiles in the entire world – 25 crocodiles per square kilometer. Several tour operators take advantage of this fact by offering river tours that guarantee croc sightings. Much of the time these large reptiles (which can grow to a length of seven meters) can be spotted swimming through the river or sunbathing along the banks.

In addition to the crocodiles, the river also supports more than 50 species of migratory, native and coastal birds, including a variety of heron and egrets, crested caracas, roseate spoonbills, scarlet macaws and more. Iguanas can often be spotted scampering about the sides of the river as well.

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First shot is from beautiful Island Tortuga, a famous snorkeling destination in the Gulf of Nicoya. I recommend you to get there with Calypso Cruises, and their beautiful catamaran.

Island Tortuga

Calypso Cruises

Enjoy beaches, snorkeling and a ride on banana boat!

Island Tortuga

This is a short clip of what to expect on the island, shot with drone:

Another popular destination for enjoying sunbathing and beaches is Manuel Antonio National Park: a couple of hours of driving from San Jose, it is a protected marine park.

This shot is made stitching together other 20 single shots from around 500 meters of altitude.

Manuel Antonio National Park Tombolo

Along the road, I drove through endless palm plantations… just a road in the middle of a jungle of palms… quite an extraordinary view!

Palm Plantation

Palm Plantation

Palm Plantation

Palm Plantation

Moving south, an unmissable spot is Punta Ballena, a marine nature park where is common to spot whales. The best part is that the spot looks like the tail of a giant whale!

Punta Ballena

Getting to the south of Costa Rica rewards you with beautiful Corcovado National Park, an isolated jungle next to a long, volcanic and wild beach. Here I took this shot, one of my all favorite ones.

Colors of nature

And these many more, around the area of Carate beach, the village at the gateway of the park:

Carate Beach

Jungle Broccoli

Carate Jungle Resort

On the opposite side of the country, lies the remote village of Tortuguero, along the banks of 2 rivers.

Rivers Collisions

And that was taken from this funny turtle swimming pool!

Tortuguero Resort

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