The Greek Island of Ikaria is a haven for bushwalkers and nature lovers. Unlike many Greek Islands that tend to be dry and windswept (though still beautiful), Ikaria is thickly forested and covered in gorges, rivers and waterfalls… i’m starting to sound like a travel agent or a travel documentary! Way too formal.
Well, as much as i love beaches, freshwater rivers and waterfalls amongst shady forests are really my favourites, there is something more surreal and almost imaginary about them. Its probably something left over from my childhood when i would ride off on my bicycle into the bush and spend the day wading around in creeks and rivers catching little freshwater crayfish and turtles (then letting them go again), only to turn up at home again hours later wet and smelling of the swamp!
Whatever the reason, for me Ikaria was a paradise of rivers, waterfalls and freshwater crayfish (i tend to eat those now…), with lots of long lovely walking trails through shady forests and rocky gorges, that would take you down to places like this one…Chalares Canyon, Ikaria.
Are there any Hobbits living here? Chalares Canyon, Ikaria
I didn’t find any freshwater crayfish, but i did find some very cute little freshwater crabs and some very small shrimp… I didn’t eat any of them, and i did spend many hours here just sitting. Bliss.
Again, for those who are interested, this is an 18 image (actually 18 pairs of bracketed exposure) stitch shot on the Canon 5D Mk2 with the 16-35mm f2.8L lens set to 35mm, using the Really Right Stuff pano head. they were all stitched in PT Gui, then manually blended to hold the detail in the brighter rocks and the darker shadows. At 300dpi the image comes in natively at 2m long and takes up 3 Gb of space…
Lesley Walker 
Carol Darby 
Luke Austin 
Carol Darby 
Richard Cofrancesco 
Rob Lewis
How beautiful the texture of stones , how clear of the water, and how fresh the air,this simple and pure composition brings me the strong feelings of Calmness.
Perfect, thats exactly what it felt like being there.
[...] Chalares Canyon, Ikaria [...]
Hello Adam
I saw your photos in Eleni’s blog. I would like to thank you on behalf of the Hikers of Ikaria who make the paths. Or should I say the”bushwalkers”? That’s a great Australian word too.
Regards
Angelos
Hello Angelos, i assure you, its my pleasure! What a beautiful island you have, even with the massive (goat wrought) changes that have happened to parts of it i’m it will just be different not reduced. I look forward to returning and dooing some more bushwalking on those new trails through Chalares Canyon. I’ll look you up when i’m headed back, perhaps you and Eleni can show me some more beautiful spots?
You will be our guest of honour! Eleni is travelling a lot but I am always there. For now warm congrats for the Kimberley campaign! No place is safe and size and position on the map doesn’t matter. As if goats weren’t enough, we are facing the same problems with stupid greedy industrialists even in small and unknown Ikaria!
Angelos, thanks for the warm welcome, i look forward to returning. I had a look at your blog link and saw many familiar sites, unfortunately i dont speak Greek, so i don’t get the specifics, but the pictures speak volumes. Greed will be the downfall of humanity without doubt, we need to change our ways fast, the beautiful places are rapidly vanishing and with them goes our humanity.