Silke Gondolf // Locations

2019 North India

Ladakh: Leh, Matho, Chilling, Likir, Alchi, Lamayuru, Basgo, Rangdum, Padum, Zanskar, Darang Durung Glacier, Parkachik, Nun Kun Mountain Massif, Karsha, Kargil, Dzongkhul monastary, Stod Valley, Mune Gompa, Tsarap River, Zanskar River, Pangong Lake, Tso Moriri, Tso Kar.
Autumn in North India: most tourists have left Ladakh and Zanskar, the farmers and herders prepare for another long and probably harsh winter in the some of the highest Himalayan region on earth.

2017 Japan

Kyushu: Oita, Beppu, Saiki, Ume, Fujigawachi Valley, Hoto Island, Tsukumi, Usuki Buddha, Mt. Shiroyama, Kagoshima, Sakurajima, Fukuoka, Nagasaki. Honshu: Hiroshima, Miyajima Island, Kawaguchiko, Mt. Fuji, Nara, Kyoto, Osaka.
Japan by train, best thing ever.

2015 Moldova

Chisinau, Dorotcaia, Crocmaz
Moldova’s simplicity is comforting. Spending a couple of days in a public school, at the border of Transnistria, was inspiring. Moldovans have solutions for almost everything.

2014 Myanmar

Yangon, Bagu, Bagan, Mandalay, Myitikyna, Wai Maw, Kyaing Tong, Inle Lake
A gold mine for foreign investments. The Burmese government is selling the land and their people. Myanmar has a Chinese touch already.

2014 Cambodia

Siem Reap, Anlong Veng, Cambodia, Northern Thai Border Area
Khmer people are energetic, alert and they havea sense of humor. Cambodia is still recovering from the tragic loss and harm during the Khmer Rouge regime.

2013 Vietnam

Hanoi, Ha Giang, Yen Minh, Pho Cao, Dong Van Province, White Hmong
Pho Cao, this is one of the remotest places I have been. The Hmong believe that people have seven souls and they prepare for their deaths as early as puberty starts.

2013 USA

New York, Brooklyn
I often go back to the former home to get inspired. Breathing in the different speed and the energy of NYC. I am glad I have moved away. I am able to come back and be a guest.

2012 Kenya

Nairobi, Dandora, Nakuru, Great Rift Valley, Central Province, Nyeri
I experienced Kenyans as especially sceptical human beings. When you have fair skin and are a journalist – everyone is expecting the worst from you.

2010 Argentina

Bariloche, Esquel, Tierra de Fuego, Ushaia, Isla Martillo, El Calafate, Strait of Magellan, Bajo Caracoles, Nahuel Huapi Lake, Ruta 40, Ushuaia
Gaucho country, endless fields, endless lakes and skies. This country invites you to breathe and open your view. Best steaks ever.

2010 Chile

Santiago de Chile, Osorno, Chanaral, Pan de Azucar, ESO Paranal Observatory, Torres del Paine, Porvenir, Iquique, Humbertstone Salpeter Mine
ESO, the biggest observatory in the world, is in Chile. Seeing the full length of the Milky Way with my bare eyes was a very touching moment.

2010 Peru

Atacama, Lima, Cusco, Tacna Sibayo, Chimbote, Chiclayo, Sipan, Piura, Lambayeque, Arequipa, Nazca Lines, Arequipa, Colca Canyon, Tacna
The Atacama is endless. I swore I will hug the first tree I see, after days of driving through nothing. But then I visited a guinea pig restaurant in Lima.

2010 Ecuador

Quito, Guayacil, Sigsig, Macará, Cuenca, Catamayo, Cajas National Park
Caja National Park has an average of 4,000 meters of altitude – it’s a Tundra. The air is so clear, that you can’t judge distances.

2010 Panama

Panama City, Colon, Pacific & Atlantic coast, Darién Gap, Yaviza
The little villages along the Panama Canal are completely untouched, people from those villages work all for the Canal. The Darien Gap, a muddy Isthmus between Panama and Colombia, is called one of the most dangerous places on earth. It is a drug and people smuggling highway, commuting through the dense, uninhabited jungle.

2010 Costa Rica

Golfito, San José, Piedras Blancas, Canoasv, Monteverde National Park, Gulf of Nicoya, Tamarindo, Langosta Bay
Living in a treehouse. Sleeping at eye level with toucans and listening to the night sounds of the jungle. Zoom on long steel zip lines through the jungle of Costa Rica, to the next tree house.

2010 Nicaragua

Border El Espino, Somoto
I got in contact with the wrong sort of Sandinistas, the ones that were, after elections, no longer supported by the newly-appointed government – and since then I am an enemy of the state and I am not allowed to ever travel in this country again.