Yes , even I necessitate a vacation from plants .
So , after a long , and rather mild ( and yet latterly snowy ? ) late winter here in New England , an ‘ island vacation ’ seemed to be in order . When the opportunity to call Iceland with some friends came along , I acted cursorily . Republic of Iceland is chop-chop becoming an ‘ it ’ destination , Iceland , although it has been on my ‘ must jaw ’ list for an embarrassingly looooooong clock time .
Like….from the 1970 ’s when I was a child .
My next-to-last high shoal bibliothec surely knew this , as there was one book that I checked out so often that I retrieve her telling me that I should just buy it . This misstep really start with ‘ Iceland Summer – Adventures of a Bird Painter ’ , a summer of birding chronicle by the take down bird watcher and bird artist , George Miksch Sutton .
late , I found an old copy on eBay , and it made it ’s mode in my grip to northern Iceland , where I now sit near a windowpane in the small urban center of Akureyi , about 40 miles from the Arctic Circle . It ’s where we are lead off our journeying around the westerly and southern side of the country .
I am here with my friend Jess ( who is neither a birder , nor a nature person , but we can compromise between design inquiry , and rare birch coinage . ) . Because of this , I am just handle this trip-up more as a sourcing trek , than anything else – so that next prison term , when I number here , I ’ll know where to go , and how things work .
There are few places on Earth so dwell by nesting chick , however , and although most of the birds which transmigrate here have not arrived yet for nesting , there are few song fowl – most are cram species or waterfowl . Still , Iceland is considered a global birding hot spot with million of fowl due to arrive any week now .
One does n’t go to Iceland to see plants , and even from the alpinist ’s perspective , the plant life itself , is just not that rare . The nation ’s closing off has kept many species of plants restrain ( and gratefully , even reptiles and mosquitos do n’t exist here ! ) , but this isolation and abrasive climate also brings with it challenges for the few works which live here .
Tree , in fact , are so rare , that the few forest which remain are little , and precious . Any native species of plants are face challenge from over - shaving , let alone raw challenges bring on by the harsh climate which affects soil bug and kingdom Fungi . All of this hamper any raw growth as it is because microbes feign soil fertility . Factor in a instinctive lack of nitrate and phosphate in the geologically ‘ unexampled ’ grime , and any maturation with trees or plant , is circumscribed .
The few forests which exist were live with arctic birches . Only a few square Swedish mile of these old forests stay on today , know as Kjarr – the Icelandic Birch Forests , where even ancient trees are only a few meters tall . ) .
To the tourist , and even the skill minded who bang some ecotourism , the landscape painting and nature in Iceland is nothing but magnificent – – so unique , that few billet on our planet can offer such an experience . Few news can capture the beaut and magnanimousness of nature here .
Any trip to Iceland will doubtless include a tour around the ‘ Golden Circle ’ , a popular tourist track which can take you around a few of the island ’ impressive natural curiosity , but journeying beyond the road , and one can really experience remote lulu . This is what I love about Iceland – it can be so remote , that an electrical light , another railroad car or even a gas post might not be seen for a hundred miles ( worth noting , when it comes to gas ! ) .
Some of these ecological challenge are being lift though through re - introduction of native species and some controls on grazing . IT may be impossible to reverse the introduced coinage which are more strong-growing such as the ironically iconic and lovely blue lupines so often featured in promotional range of a function on travel land site and web log . The lupin was preface with safe intent , in an effort to keep the overgrazed and baren volcanic stain from gnaw at , and in many instances they have attain what they were introduced to do , but reverse this invasive plant which has seed most everywhere , has been difficult .
We drove along the western sea-coast of Iceland , through the many fiord and inlets , to the northern city of Akureyi where we made basecamp in a nice AirBNB . From here , we took Clarence Day trip to destinations ranging from glorious waterfalls and a geyser to the Icelandic Winter Games , where we took in some Arctic Circle skiing and even a snow roving mass meeting .
All in all , the landscape here is stunning if not epic when it comes to mantrap and raw wonders . Geysers , glorious waterfalls , monolithic canyons , and rare geologic formations ranging from basalt towers to deep fissure make Iceland like no other billet on ground . Add in ice sheets , huge glaciers and some of the clean piddle and air in the world , and one can see why Iceland is so democratic .
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