Durmitor National Park, Montenegro

Most travelers to Montenegro would make a beeline to its coast, notably to Kotor or Budva. And why not? Easily accessed from Dubrovnik in Croatia, Montenegro's tourism could easily benefit from Dubrovnik's popularity. But for those who love mountains, Montenegro has something to offer too!

Up in the northern part of Montenegro, Durmitor National Park is Montenegro's biggest national park. It is also inscribed in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites. Within the park are 18 glacier lakes and the Durmitor mountain range consists of 48 peaks. 3 river canyons meander through it, of which the Tara river canyon is the biggest at 80km long and 1300m deep! So in terms of scenery, sights, and activities, there are certainly no lack of it for tourists.

Zabljak - early "spring"

The access town to Durmitor National Park is Zabljak. During winter, most tourists come for skiing and in summer, there are plenty of hiking opportunities to keep tourists happy. In fact, just a short distance away from the town is one of the most popular of Durmitor's 18 glacier lakes - Black Lake. Numerous hiking trails surround the lake too, and so, makes for an easy and excellent outing from Zabljak.

Black Lake

Aside from glorious mountain views, the Tara river provides another avenue for a popular tourist activity - river rafting. Set within the Tara canyon, the river shone like a turquoise snake in the mountainside. And one of the best views of the canyon, river and mountains is from the Curovac viewpoint, 9km from Zabljak. However, when I was there in early spring, there was still heavy snow, and I couldn't quite make it to the viewpoint. Even then, from a rest-point along the trail, the views were already stunning!

Rest point with a view

Trail to Curovac viewpoint

The Tara River and Canyon

Durmitor National Park - winter to spring

Zabljak is easily reached from Podgorica, and Kotor even. For those who are touring the Balkans, try the border crossing from Bosnia and Herzegovina into Montenegro. Take the Sarajevo-Niksic bound bus. While not as popular, the scenery at the border crossing is fabulous!

Do check out the mountains of Montenegro!

El Chaltén - Los Glaciares National Park

Truly one of the most beautiful places I've been, and a dream destination come true for me, is Patagonia. Spanning both Argentina and Chile, the landscapes in the whole region are a photographer's heaven. Several National Parks are defined within each country, and the stunning Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina is a top favourite.

El Chaltén, a village within the park provides convenient access to the wonderful scenery. A very helpful visitor information centre/park ranger station provides excellent information for treks in the park, of which the favourites include 2 separate day treks to the Laguna Torre viewpoint and Laguna de los Tres viewpoint. Here, the famous beautiful peak of Mt Fitz Roy can be easily seen.

But words do little justice to the place, so here's a photo gallery to whet your appetite. But even then, I confess that my pictures also does not convey the feelings you'll get when you are there!

Nevertheless, enjoy!

The village of El Chaltén

Views from El Chaltén

Trekking in Los Glaciares National Park

Some treks go through beautiful ancient forests

Enjoying the views of Mt Fitz Roy and Laguna de los Tres

A lone hiker walking along the beautifu glacier lake Laguna de los Tres

Jagged mountains and snowy glaciers are just part of the landscapes

Alpenglow on Mt Fitz Roy!!

Alpenglow on the elusive Cerro Torre!!

Glacier walking

In the South Island of New Zealand, there are 2 famous glaciers on its west coast - Fox Glacier and Franz Josef Glacier. Here, you can undertake one of New Zealand's top attractions : glacier walking!


There are trained guides who will lead a small group of tourists up onto the glaciers, and all equipment will be provided for. In fact, you can't go up yourself, and have to signup with one of the agencies there. There are several options available, and for those who have the budget or are less walking-inclined, there are helicopter rides up as well. Me and my friends went to Fox Glacier for a half day trek up onto the glacier.

The 2 glaciers in New Zealand are quite special in that they recede down quite low, onto a temperate rainforest! According to my guide, there are only 3 such glaciers that exist side-by-side with a temperate rainforest, 2 of which is already in New Zealand. The other is in Patagonia in South America. It was indeed quite fascinating hiking through a rainforest, and suddenly finding myself onto a chilly glacier.

Walking on the glacier itself is not hard; you're equipped with crampons, or spikes that you can attached to your shoes. These will help bite onto the glacier ice when walking. Of course, you can't go round running, and due care is still required. In fact, our guide is pretty strict in us maintaining our walking discipline. Certain parts, "steps" will be cut onto the glacier ice for us to climb up! Fun!


There are crevasses, caverns, holes and ice formations. The cold blue glacier landscape is really quite a sight. For those taking pictures, do note that you may have to adjust your exposure settings as most camera's auto exposure may result in underexposure in all-whitish scenes. Other than that, have a great time!