The Medersa Ben Youssef is a Koranic school that dates from the 16th century. It's definately worth a visit when you are in Marrakech, Morocco. The floor and pilars are real mozaic from very little tiles. The top of the pilars and wals are hand-made with very detailed stone/wood carving. Must have cost thousands of hours to make it. Very impressive! Please click on the pictures to see the large versions.
Little boys on side of the road near Azib Tamsoult, Morocco. Not my best picture from a technical point of view (very much cropped) but I liked the expression on their faces.
Portrait of our friendly local mountain guide on the Morocco trekking: Omar. He has his own website, please click here.
Panorama of Lac d'Ifni, near the Jebel Toubkal in the High Atlas mountains in Morocco. The water in the lake was clear, not too cold and very nice to swim in! It was quiet around there and we put up our tents on the rocks of the morene that was coming from the mountains.
Portrait of an old man. This shot was taken near the small mountain village Tizian (1635m) in the High Atlas in Morocco.
Girls collecting wood. The whole family has to work together to survive in the mountain villages in Morocco. This shot was taken near Imlil in the High Atlas mountains.
Lovely girl posing for me in an alley in the small mountain village Amsouzert near Lac d'Ifni in the High Atlas of Morocco.
A beautiful campsite near Lac d'Ifni. The refreshing water of the lake was welcome after a long walk from the Toubkal base camp.
During the Friday prayers in Marrakech, many shops in the souks are closed and the tourists make place for men playing a game. This is the first picture of my 2-week camping and hiking trip in the High Atlas mountains in Morocco. I'll post more pictures the coming weeks and finally create a gallery on my website.
This is the reason I always carry my 5.9 kg camera bag with me whenever I go hiking. Yesterday I ran across this beautiful animal during my daily walk through the Amerongen Forest (part of National Park "De Utrechtse Heuvelrug"). She was not scared and let me approach till about 10 meters.
Added sepia-toning and frame to one of the previous pictures. Post-processing these kind of images is really fun. But this might be the last one. (May 2006)
These spectacular clouds are called "Altocumulus Lenticularis" and are formed by wind passing at right angles over an obstruction (like a mountain range). When this happens, the air is forced upwards over the obstruction. If the wind speed increases with altitude, waves of rising and sinking air form on the lee side of the obstruction. The tops of these waves are often capped with lenticular clouds like these ones. (December 2005)
This one I dedicate to Hans Bakker. A shot of playing baby elephants near a waterhole in Ethosha National Park in Namibia. (August 2001)
