To set the scene – an extended weekend retreat in the Knuckles.
It’s 4.30 am. I’m packed and ready to go – The Girls keep watch for the van while I speed-sip a cup of tea. (I’m so glad I packed the umbrella!)
Now, close your eyes … We turn left off the main road and almost immediately decelerate into first gear as the van labours up the steep twisting blacktop onto the Knuckles Mastiff and the vivid green plateau that obliterates any memory of the tiny village there. The silence grows as we plunge down through the forest, toward the stream flashing and roaring in the rock-strewn valley below. On our left, the hillside rises almost sheer before we pull up at an ambalama in a little clearing beside a bridge. We’ve arrived. (Click any image to activate the gallery.)
I’ll post some of the gorgeous details and closeups soon! For today I wanted to show you this hillside – a place where the hand of ‘man’ is barely discernible, where garden morphs into forest and frames distant vistas.
The Wanderlust Gene 
I’m reading this with snow crusting all our windows here in NY after a huge storm.
Love “speed sipping.” What a gorgeous spot you live in!
I love the idea of looking at ‘paradise’ from snow-bound places – it must seem unreal.
Truly beautiful …
I’m so glad you think so too – I was bowled over by it 🙂
how gorgeous 🙂 gardens morphing into forests – Oh I love it!
Damn but this seems to be just the place to be… I love it…
Wow, I really enjoyed looking at these photos.
Fantastic photography. How nice to be there instead of suffering another dismal UK day. I can almost imagine it thanks to you.
gorgeous and lush. loved the misty pics, especially. felt like my own little moment of zen flipping through them.
Such a beautiful and ideal place for meditation. Green and beautiful!
I felt myself relaxing just looking at the photos.
Mmmm I love the green, misty outlook. How beautiful 🙂
all so organic, truly a place to rest in nature, sheltered and nurtured, and that misty forest to bring you peace 🙂
Lovely! Thanks for the mini vacation. 🙂
What an incredibly peaceful-looking place. I could feel myself relaxing just looking at those photographs.
Wow. So lush. I love the dogs watching out the door. So dog-like.
What a serene, peaceful place. Lucky you.
Gorgeous photos M! Two things, 1: I love your orange bag/purse (how pedestrian, no?) and 2, If I ever get another pet, I’m naming it Ambalama.
It’s a lovely sound, isn’t it? On top of which is the wonderful connotation of succour 🙂
A very wet rainforest visit! Thanks for sharing your experience.
So real, beautiful and verdant. I was wishing for a time machine this morning, to instantlyly take the G.O. & I somewhere… now I know where somewhere is 🙂
Such a beautiful landscape, everything so lush and green. Some of your photos gave me a chuckle, just as going to tropical areas always have. Looking about and seeing all of the beautiful plants growing wild reminds me of all the plants — their relatives — that I’ve brought home over the years, only to watch them eventually wither. I quit the practice a number of years ago. I can’t explain it but now when I enter a plant nursery, I sense the plants are happy to see me. 🙂
I just had to google the Knuckles as I’d never heard of it! Sounds magnificent and I look forward to seeing more photos. What an amazing range of climate and diverse flora and fauna 🙂
The photo of the sunset is so beautiful and atmospheric. The shades of red are not something I’ve seen except in warm places, and it makes me long for a summer eveving on a hillside with a long cold drink with lots of condensation on the outside of the glass in my hand!
So peaceful and serine. The photos seem very emotional to me. I can almost feel myself climbing those stairs and looking out from that meditation room.
A quick trip with your photography througha very peaceful and tranquil place that is breathtaking. GREAT post … look forward to more quiet moments with your pix’s.
I feel like I’ve had a mini holiday, Wanderlust! Did the dogs come along too? What a wonderful retreat…so green…
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Once again, very beautiful photographs. I can imagine the rain dripping through the trees…
The shortcut to the summit is like magical stone staircase. Incredible setting and photos.
Very beautiful. I can’t walk well or long enough to get to see something like that except through your pictures – thank you.
Paradise indeed! Beautiful and just so serene. A perfect escape and retreat.
Idyllic vistas Meredith! Love the purple sunset and the view from the meditation room seems so conducive to calm reflection.
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wow…what a wonderland
So peaceful and pretty…..
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