Strandja Natural Park in Bulgaria is home to a relic species of Rhododendron (Rhododendron ponticum), which can be found in Europe only here and in Caucasus. The plant likes to live in the cool and humid gorges usually under the shady umbrella of tall beech trees. These places are so green, lush and rich with vegetation, that I often feel like being in an European jungle. I wanted to film and record this place on a rainy day, when all the leaves are wet and shiny and the colors are even deeper and more pronounced. So I came here one day in spring to try to realise this idea. Here is the result: https://youtu.be/VPmDEsdd7y0
This year I happened to be in England exactly at the right time for the blooming bluebells. I have long had the idea to film this incredible natural beauty. I was incredibly happy and lucky to see them densely covering the forest floor all around the nearby forest in Hertfodshire. I spent a few days getting up early in the morning before sunrise, driving to the place and walking around the woods for almost the whole day, filming different scenes, breathing the faint fragrance of these delicate flowers and recording the spring songs of the birds there. After a few days of carrying the heavy photographic rucksack all day, my back started to hurt and I had to stop and give it a rest. Fortunately, I have already collected a big variety of footage in order to make a three hour long video, with no repeating scenes in it. I was extremely happy with my success and this is still one of my most favourite videos, that I sometimes play at home to create a relaxing atmosphere when I need it. You can watch this enchanting natural beauty here: https://youtu.be/IsPBplWLImI
Brightly coloured natural carpet over the forest floor.
Krushuna waterfalls in Bulgaria is magnificent gorge, carved into the limestone rocks, where a small river creates a number cascades and waterfalls with incredible beauty. Embraced by lush vegetation, the constant stream of water springs out of a cave and carves a variety of stone formations and basins. The rich in limestone water in those basins has a specific turquoise color. Unfortunately, a few years ago one of the big rock surrounding the gorge broke and fell and since then a big part of the cascades are no longer accessible or are gone. Two of my videos of some of the remaining waterfalls and cascades can be found here: https://youtu.be/4himVgExTDM and here: https://youtu.be/ixr0Plq0T2M.
On my first trip to Thailand, I spent a month on an island in the South of the country. I flew to Bangkok and took a bus to the Sounth on the same night, as I didn’t want to stay in this big crazy city. When I arrived on the island I was amazed by the totally new for me sounds of animals and birds, that could be heard in the daytime or in the night. On the first evening I was shocked by the sight of a big gecko on the ceiling in my bath. I quickly moved to get my camera, but when I came back, it was gone. Later I heard a strange sound, that turned out to be the same kind of tokay gecko. It is still one of the most adorable sounds for me. You can hear it in this video of nighttime frog, chickets and gecko sounds that I recorded: https://youtu.be/9xyUEVeJPO8
I couldn’t wait to start exploring the jungle there and to see all these exotic types of plants and trees and hear all the sounds of these tropical forests. Unfortunately it rained, and rained, and rained… It rained most of the time for nearly two weeks, even though it wasn’t supposed to be the rainy season. In the end I decided to try to film and record the rain. After many successful and less successful tries, I managed to collect enough footage and sound, to make this video: https://youtu.be/c9pQYOGIWM8
When the sky finally cleared, I started exploring and filming the island’s and jungles and beaches. I also went on a two-day boat trip to the nearby marine national park – an amazingly beautiful and wild place on it’s own. I made a video of one of it’s many wild beaches: https://youtu.be/xGRjCa49C6U
The jungles in the area were lush and rich with vegetation and wildlife and there were some very big old trees and exotic plants. One sound that I didn’t particularly like and I was trying to avoid in my recordings was the sound of what I later found out to be a type of cicada. It sounds like a very high pitched constant noise and I didn’t imagine that the people watching the video would find it relaxing. This is the result of my few hikes in the local jungles: https://youtu.be/MCuFfW3X324
On my way back to the airport, I spent a whole day in Bangkok and started to appreciate how relaxed, peaceful and friendly it’s atmosphere was, despite the constant traffic, crowds and noise. Overall I loved Thailand and will certainly be coming back there.
Here’s a video collection of some of the most beautiful and peaceful beaches, that I managed to film: https://youtu.be/BZYMzs0Jt94
And here is a short film with music with different scenes and aerial shots of the tropical beauty that I saw in Thailand: https://youtu.be/c8vN7Llnyqo
I cannot describe how peaceful a warm tropical evening like this one feels…
Little huts in the jungle.
No rain at last!
Mangrove plants.
Boat trip to the local marine national park.
The dense and lush jungle vegetation.
A local man quietly fishing in the evening.
Pristine wilderness.
The steps to get to here are pretty steep and exhausting, but it’s surely worth the effort.
