Travel Photography Blog by Nisa Maier and Ulli Maier. » Nigeria

The World Is A Crazy Place.

Nisa — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 08:49:45 +0000

I usually don’t write about any sort of political issues. Not because I’m not interested (the opposite is actually the case), but because Cookiesound is travelling is about travel, adventure, experiences, impressions and inspiration … Yet the latest happenings really made me think and led me to writing this post.

Yes, the world is a crazy place with bombings happening at the Boston Marathon; an event where sport, fun, action and happiness are in the foreground. There’s no doubt that this is a real tragedy. BUT (and this is a big but), bombings in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and many other countries are the daily business and no one seems to really care any more.

If you go through the terrorist incidents of 2013 alone, you’ll see, that almost all of them didn’t occur in western countries, and you’ll also realize that you haven’t even heard of 95% of them. You might have heard of the other 5%, but their headlines – “32 killed through bomb blast in Iraq” or “42 people killed through suicide bombings in Damascus” or “40 killed through US bombs at a wedding in Afghanistan” – don’t seem to bother us any more. It’s the daily business and therefore “nothing” special. These bombings also hit innocent people in places you’d never expect a bomb to go off – markets, buses, public buildings and even churches … As soon as the Western world is hit by something like this (even if the number of casualties is little to none), times seems to stand still.

I do care about this! In my opinion, there’s definitely something wrong with this picture!

Destruction left behind after an attack on Sigili village, North Darfur. Photo: UNAMID/Albert González Farran

Associated Press – A suicide car bomber attacked a Catholic Church during Mass in Nigeria, killing at least 10 people.

Associated Press/Arshad Butt – Pakistani Shiite Muslims sit in protest next to the dead bodies of their family members killed in a bombing.

Iraq Suicide Bombings. Photo credit unknown.

Afghan policemen and NATO troops inspect the site of a suicide attack in Faryab province, Afghanistan. Photo: REUTERS

Travelling Through Africa In The Early 70’s.

Ulli — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 10:44:32 +0000

If you’ve read our “About Us” page, you might have seen that we have been travelling the world for quite some time. Ulli: “Since I have been travelling from the early 70’s, when all those modern gadgets were not yet invented, travelling overland through remote and unexplored regions of the black continent was a privilege for only a hand full of people. Today a lot of regions that I explored by 4×4 truck with the simple method of a compass and map, are no longer accessible, at least not without an unease feeling. Back then, with Nisa in tow, the little white girl opened doors to the grimmest police officer just with her smile.”

I would now like to show you a couple of photos of these Africa-adventures. I think it’s really fascinating to see the difference to our travels today…even though we’re still as adventurous & crazy.

Travelling through the Congo was a real adventure (Baby Nisa in tow).

Fishermen pulling in the catch near Lome in Togo.

An approaching sand storm in the Sahara desert, Niger.

Pygmees in the Ituri Forest in the Congo.

Working conditions at Apapa harbour in Laos, Nigeria.

A bunch of kids in Rwanda.

Little Nisa & and an African boy in the Sudan.

Black & white kids kissing in the Sudan – this is our most viewed picture by the way…

This crowd in Morocco wanted to be photographed really badly :)

That’s what I call “being stuck in the mud” at Lake Magadi in Kenya.

Camping in the middle of the Sahara desert in the Sudan (again with baby Nisa in the picture).

Our companion while travelling through Africa was an Unimog truck.

Wild animals in Kenya, Africa.

Masai boys posing for us in Kenya, Africa.

On our first journey through Africa, we went with an old Graef & Stift truck.

Travelling through the Serengeti in Africa.

The Unimog was a great car for travelling Africa back in the days. Here we are in the Kalahari desert.

Working Conditions In Apapa Harbour In Lagos, Nigeria.

Ulli — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 08:41:47 +0000

Apapa is the major port of the city of Lagos, Nigeria, and is located to the west of Lagos Island, across Lagos Harbour. Workers in Lagos harbour unloading cement. It’s like in an ant’s hill; busy, busy, busy. We were there in the 1970’s but nothing has really changed until today…