CLOUD TRIPS ARE A TRIP!

A sojourn in the clouds is one of the most beautiful trips you can experience. While most people wish for sunshine and clear blue skies on their vacations, cloud lovers enjoy the lush, peaceful landscapes found only in cloud forests, the soft secluded cool of remote cloud-enshrouded islands and peninsulas, and the exclusive views from the highest mountaintops, with clouds stretched out as carpets below.

Photo: Courtesy of Wikipedia. Prince Edward Island, South Africa.

If you really love clouds, check out the cloudiest place on earth on your next holiday: Prince Edward Islands in the southern Indian Ocean, off the coast of South Africa. It is under cloud cover over 97% of the time, with rain on an average of 28 days per month. It’s chilly all the time. It’s not for everyone. But if you connect with raw, extreme, remote environs, this is your nirvana.

Consisting of two islands, Prince Edward Island and Marion Island, both volcanic in origin, collect 2,400 to 3,000 mm of rain each year. Ongoing meteorological and biological research is being conducted there by the South African National Antarctic Program.

Photo: Dr. Samantha Peterson. Prince Edward Island, South Africa.

This year (2013) South Africa made conservation history by declaring Prince Edward Islands a marine protected area. The marine biodiversity of the Prince Edward Islands is of global importance. Wildlife includes a number of species of seals, albatross, penguins, killer whales, seabirds, Patagonian toothfish, and a range of insects. The local flora consists mainly of mosses, lichens and some grasses. Unfortunately, many species have been threatened by illegal and unsustainable fishing practices in the past, resulting in significant economic and ecological losses to South Africa.

Photo: Courtesy of Shields Around the World. Mindo Cloud Forest, Ecuador

Cloud forests are a type of rainforest, with unique environmental conditions, found at elevations where water in moist rising air masses condenses, creating a shroud of mist and fog, generally between 2,000 and 3,500 meters above sea level. Several distinct vegetation zones include exotic mosses, ferns, and epiphytes. Trees are short and crooked, stunted by the cloudy weather.

Photo: Sean Reynolds. Mindo Cloud Forest, Ecuador.

One of my favorite places on earth is the Mindo Cloud Forest in Ecuador.

The Reserve Mindo-Nambillo Protected Forest rises up to kiss the sky at about 4,800 meters above sea level. Over 400 species of spectacular birds dart through the mist across 14,170 hectares (35,000 acres), of dense mossy jungle. Golden-headed quetzal, pale-mandibled aracari, and choco toucan are seen regularly, along with tanagers, flycatchers, foliage gleaners and loads more.

Photo: Nancy Deckel. Butterflies. Mindo, Ecuador.

A kaleidoscope of butterflies flutter among exotic bromeliads and orchids, with wings and petals all reveling in the cool moisture. Waterfalls cut through, tumbling down to crystal streams and rivers. And everywhere you look, you see life as you’ve never seen it anywhere else.

Photo: Courtesy of La Hesperia.

You’ll drive about 2 hours from Quito to get there. There aren’t many places to stay --- but that is a good thing -- it keeps your cloud experience pure. We stayed at the El Monte Reserve Lodge, a jewel, nestled in the thick of the forest, with private spacious cabanas on the banks of the Rio Mindo. El Monte is an eco-lodge, built using only locally harvested materials and operated with strict earth-friendly protocols. Access is only available via tarabita, a hand pulled cable car, that carries you across the river rapids -- feet and luggage dangling over the edge.

Photo: Anna. El Monte, Mindo, Ecuador.

You’ll dine Amazon-style, on a mostly vegetarian, yet super-diverse palette of green, yellow, purple and red fruits, vegetables, and roots. They serve no red meat, due to the inefficiency of beef production and the resulting destruction of tropical forests. It may not sound tasty, but I can assure you, it is incredibly delicious.

Photo: Mary Ferguson. El Monte, Mindo, Ecuador.

The cloudy climate produces quite a bounty. The cooks are indigenous people who have a special way of blending ancient native recipes with local Ecuadorian specialities, like seafood and vegetable cebiches, tamales (with home ground corn and green bananas), encocados (grated coconut sauce), yuca, as well as exotic juices such as maracuya, tomate de arbol, and papaya. Each morning, we treated ourselves to mugs of hot chocolate, ground on the premises, all thick and rich and gorgeously bitter.

Photo: Fred Hoogervorst. Clouds Rain Forest, Costa Rica.

You’ll be astounded by the cloud-festooned beauty in the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve and Santa Elena Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica, where trails lead to a viewpoint on the continental divide. You can see both Caribbean and Pacific shores, as well as the active Arenal Volcano.

 

Photo: Courtesy of Volare. Resplendent Quetzal. Costa Rica.

Rare quetzal birds, jaguars, ocelots, tapirs, bare-necked umbrellabirds, and three-wattled bellbirds are your neighbors here. Scientists, bird watchers, and wildlife lovers from all parts of the world come to explore the virgin forests, tangled with alien-looking vegetation, including ancient strangler fig trees. Ogle the deep gorges with their dramatic waterfall cascades. Take a canopy tour via suspension bridge or zipline. Visit butterfly and hummingbird gardens.  Stay overnight in a hut.

Photo: Lee Robertson. Noctilucent Clouds in Cold Bay, Alaska

If you live in the US and want a cloud trip closer to home, head to Cold Bay, Alaska, a tiny community on the Alaska Peninsula in the Aleutians East Borough. Cloud covers over one-quarter of the Cold Bay sky on an average of 354 days a year. The math tells you that only eleven days a year get clear sunny skies. St. Paul Island in the Bering Sea, nips at the heels of the cloud cover record, with 287 cloudy days annually. Juneau, on Alaska’s panhandle, enjoys 280 cloudy days each year. 

Photo: Jeff. Harbor Patrol Boat at Hilo, Hawaii

If you prefer something a bit warmer, head to Hilo, Hawaii, which clocks in at 329 cloudy days  (90%) each year. If you want to stay within the contental US, you’ll need to go to Mount Washington, New Hampshire, with 244 days a year with heavy cloud cover, (67%).

Photo: Zimble Thimble. Himalayas

Perhaps you'd rather enjoy your clouds from a different perspective, from high above them. If so, the Himalaya Mountains are perfect for you. Above the Clouds is a great guide, taking you on an authentic adventure, climbing high, through pristine trails, past tiny villages to what will probably be the peak experiences of your life.

Read about the beauty of Clouds all this week, as it relates to Arts/Design, Nature/Science,Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact including Head in Clouds, Feet on Ground,The Wild Beauty of Clouds, New Clouds, New Life, New Beauty, New Tastes as Light as Cloud, and The New Art of Clouds.

Get busy and enter the BN Competitions, Our theme this week is Beautiful Clouds. Send in your images and ideas. Deadline is 9.22.13.