Knott’s Berry Farm is one of the most famous theme parks on the west coast, alongside Disneyland and Six Flags Magic Mountain. The theme park is located in Buena Park, CA. Unlike other theme parks on the west coast that are owned by movie studios, Knott’s Berry Farm is a manufacturer of jams and preserves. Besides the Knott’s Berry farm theme park in Buena Park, the Knott’s company also started the famous Camp Snoopy theme park in Mall of America, in Minneapolis, MN.

Knott’s Berry Farm got its start in 1920, when Walter Knott and his wife sold berries from a stand on the roadside. During the 1930s Walter created the world’s first boysenberry, which is a combination of blackberry, loganberry and raspberry. Also during the 1930s, Walter’s wife Cordelia began serving fried chicken dinners and within a couple years, the restaurant became a phenomenon with enormous lines outside of it, leaving customers waiting for hours.

Walter put on his thinking cap and decided to create a ghost town in 1940 to entertain the people who came to get some of his wife’s cooking. The ghost town was made up of buildings from old Western town such as Prescott, AZ and Calico, CA. In 1968 Walter decided to apply his entrepreneurial mind to his ghost town, so he fenced his farm and began to charge people for admission, this is when Knott’s Berry Farm the amusement park was born. Since Knott’s Berry Farm has a history that’s traced back to the 1920s it claims to be “America’s first theme park”. In 1995 the Knott’s Berry jelly and preserves business was sold to ConAgra foods and in 1997 the theme park was sold to Cedar Fair L.P., which owns an amusement park in Ohio called Cedar Point.

Since being under the ownership of Cedar Fair the park has added numerous thrill rides and large roller coasters. Today Knott’s Berry Farm includes six different themed areas including, Ghost town, the Boardwalk, Indian Trails, Wild Water Wilderness, Fiesta Village and Camp Snoopy. Ghost town is the oldest part of Knott’s Berry Farm and it contains most of the buildings that Walter had brought from ghost towns through out the west. Fiesta Village has a Latin flavor to it because of its carnival like setting and roller coasters, such as Montezooma Revenge and the Jaguar! The Boardwalk was originally set up as a gypsy camp and a 20s settings. Today the Boardwalk contains most of the parks thrill rides like the Windjammer racing coaster, Supreme Scream, Xcelerator and Perilous Plunge.

Camp Snoopy is the most advertised part of Knott’s Berry Farm, it is targeted to a younger crowd with most of its rides being meant for kids and the theme is based on Charlie Brown and the peanut gang. Wild water wilderness is themed after nature, with rides including Big Foot Rapids and the mystery lodge. Indian Trails is the newest addition to the park, it is a fairly small area and it sits between Ghost town, Camp Snoopy and Fiesta Village, this area has no rides because it is entirely devoted to Native American culture.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to theme-parks-guide.com/ Theme Parks

Browse through the list of Dresden attractions, and you will be surprised to see that along with recently renovated Frauenkirche and Famous Zwinger Palace there is dairy shop in this list.

Opened by the Pfund brothers, Dresden dairy store is located in the New City. Its walls, ceilings and floor are decorated with multicoloured tiles and, according to the Guinness Book of Records, it is the most beautiful dairy store in the world. Those who don’t trust Guinness should go and see it for themselves. The store’s clients have been enjoying this opportunity for 125 years now, with several intervals when it was closed during the socialistic times. This 125-year anniversary is celebrated as the city’s remarkable date.

Customers are greeted with dozens of angels, playing children, various animals and flowers. Each tile is painted by hand – altogether they occupy the total space of 248 square meters. Experts in arts think that in some ways these ornaments and colours are similar to the works by the Delft masters.

Nowadays up to thousand visitors come to this dairy store every day. Those who need more than beautiful decorations to be fully satisfied, can buy dairy food, for instance, cheese – various sorts of this product are placed on a four-meter counter, just like many years ago. Huge old refrigerators are kept here in their original form. Of course they are equipped with modern details – but the outer parts of these refrigerators look like those of the old ones.

Paul Pfund, the shop’s founder, came to Dresden with his wife and six daughters in 1879. He was a milkman and was going to open a store here, and so he did. Some time later his brother Friedrich Pfund joined him.

Paul Pfund introduced new technologies of milk processing and new recipes for the dairy products. Special attention was paid to hygiene and sanitary measures. Pfund was the first in Germany to offer condensed milk to its clients. In 1900, they started to pasteurize milk. Thanks to this, they could now expand their business and offer their products to more clients.

The firm was developing rapidly. Several subsidiaries were working, employees were enjoying good working conditions: each of them got medical insurance.

After the company’s founder died in 1923, the business was inherited. It was by some miracle that the building was intact during war and socialistic times (even though in 1972 it was nationalized). During the GDR times the store continued selling cheese (there were only three sorts of it, though), food for children and milk. Communists wanted to destroy its unique interior, but luckily this never happened.

Some time after Germany reunited this property again went to the hands if its former owners. The store was restored and production process revived. Only five per cent of its tile had top be replaced during the renovation works. In 1995, the dairy “heaven” opened its doors again and now, in addition to unique design, 120 sorts of cheese and other dairy products are waiting for you.

This Dresden attraction is so popular that sometimes travel buses even have to queue to get there.

You can go to nbportal.com/travel-destinations/germany/dresden/ Dresden hotels reservation to book a room in Dresden hotel.
nbportal.com/ nbportal.com nbportal.com – online hotel reservation.

South Western Kenya is the heartland of the Maasai.

The Maasai are a strongly independent people who still value tradition and ritual as an integral part of their everyday lives. They regard themselves not just as residents of this area but that they are as much a part of the life of the land as the land is part of their lives.

Traditionally, the Maasai rarely hunt and living alongside wildlife in harmony is an important part of their beliefs. Lions and Wildebeest play as important a role in their cultural beliefs as their own herds of cattle. This unique co-existence of man and wildlife makes this Maasai land one of the world’s most unique wilderness regions.

At the heart of these lands is the Maasai Mara Game Reserve, widely considered to be Africa’s greatest wildlife reserve. The Mara comprises 200 sq miles of open plains, woodlands and riverine forest. Contiguous with the plains of the Serengeti, the Mara is home to a breathtaking array of life. The vast grassland plains are scattered with herds of Zebra, Giraffe, Gazelle, and Topi. The Acacia forests abound with Birdlife and Monkeys. Elephants and Buffalo wallow in the wide Musiara Swamp. The Mara and Talek rivers are brimming with Hippos and Crocodiles.

Each year the Mara plays host to the world’s greatest natural spectacle, the Great Wildebeest Migration from the Serengeti. From July to October, the promise of rain and fresh life giving grass in the north brings more than 1.3 million Wildebeest together into a single massive herd. They pour across the border into the Mara, making a spectacular entrance in a surging column of life that stretches from horizon to horizon.

At the Mara River they mass together on the banks before finally plunging forward through the raging waters, creating a frenzy as they fight against swift currents and waiting crocodiles.

The wildebeest bring new life to the Mara, not just through their cycle of regeneration of the grasslands, but for the predators who follow the herds.

The Mara has been called the Kingdom of Lions and these regal and powerful hunters dominate these grasslands. Cheetah are also a common sight in the Mara, as are Hyena and smaller predators such as Jackals.

The Mara is an awesome natural wonder, a place where Maasai warriors share the plains with hunting lions, a place of mighty herds and timeless cycles of life, death and regeneration.

The Mara is probably the best serviced of all Kenyan Parks and Reserves with a wide range of Accommodation for any budget. The Reserve is a popular attraction with Safari operators. The reserve is ideal for game drives, and some lodges and camps offer walks and balloon safaris.

Wildlife moves freely in and out of the reserve, and through neighbouring Maasai lands. Outside the boundaries of the reserve there are many other small camps and lodges, some of which offer walking, horse riding and other safari options.

The Loita Hills and the Nguruman Escarpment, both considered sacred to the Maasai, offer high forest trekking opportunities for the adventurous traveller…..

Getting there:

The point of road access to this region is Narok, a 3 hour drive from Nairobi. There are regular buses and matatus to Narok from Nairobi and other destinations. Some people choose to Fly to the Mara, which is serviced by 2 airstrips. There are daily scheduled flights from Nairobi, and the coast. Private Charters also use these strips.

Come for a visit.

Gerald Crawford was born in South Africa, studied electronics, telecommunication, eco-travel and african travel concepts. He taught responsible tourism in South Africa. If you have any questions or comments please e-mail me on. E-mail Address: mailto:southafricantravelarticles@12234455.co.za southafricantravelarticles@12234455.co.za Website Address: 12234455.co.za 12234455.co.za

Lightweight ’shell’ jackets. This type of jacket is normally made from lightweight ‘rip-stop’ nylon and either coated with a waterproof compound of some kind or else backed with thin PVC or another waterproof plastic. They’re fine for packing into a daysack if maybe you’re expecting a shower of rain but, because they don’t ‘breathe’ they are not really suitable for all-day use, especially if you’re the type of person who (like me), ‘runs hot’ when walking. You’ll end up as wet as if you hadn’t worn it!

Fleece jackets. Walking jackets made from this material have now become almost standard uniform for walkers and hikers the World over. Their combination of light weight, warmth and ‘breathability’ make them ideal for country walking and rambling and indeed for everyday use. Available in several different weights for differing climate conditions, they can be relied on to keep you snug even in really cold weather. Some also feature ‘windstopper’ linings to further increase their versatility. They are generally shower-resistant and, if they do get wet, dry pretty quickly.

Breathable ’shell’ jackets. Unlike the less costly variants mentioned above, these jackets are lined with a membrane that lets perspiration out of the jacket – but doesn’t let rain in. Available from virtually all walking jacket manufacturers, they are light and can be folded into a small pack, and are great for slipping over a fleece in rainy weather. Their only drawback is that they can be a bit ‘noisy’ to wear, so if you’re out wildlife spotting or hunting this can be a drawback.

Breathable ‘all-weather’ jackets. Similar to the above, this type of walking jacket is also usually insulated against the cold. Its strength lies in the fact that it can cope with almost any conditions you’re likely to encounter outside a polar expedition and it is intended for use where climatic conditions are expected to be harsh – high wind, cold, heavy rain etc. The downside is weight – although not really heavy, these walking jackets are substantially made and less easy to stow away if the sun comes out! Too, there is a risk that scrunching them up tightly can possibly damage the waterproof membrane, though to be fair this isn’t common.

Breathable ‘wicking-away’ jackets. This type of walking jacket is made by companies such as Paramo and work on a different principle to the membrane-lined type. They are made with a lightweight nylon shell that covers a specialised type of fleece interior that is ‘directional’ to control relative humidity. They’re also quiet to wear and very versatile. I have a Paramo jacket and just love the ‘feel’ of it. I find it great for Spring and Autumn wear, due to its flexibility. Further information on the technical side can of course be found elsewhere on the internet.

Ventile jackets. I’ve had a Ventile jacket for over ten years and would not exchange it for any of the above! Ventile isn’t seen much these days in the USA but continues to have a loyal following in the UK. Ventile is made from absolutely top-grade long-staple cotton and is extremely slow to manufacture. It was developed by the Shirley Institute in Manchester, UK, during the Second World War to be made into immersion suits for pilots in the RAF – and they’re still worn today. Double-layer Ventile jackets were used by Sir Edmund Hillary on the conquering of Everest. My own jacket is double-layer, with and extra layer on the yoke. So what’s so special? Well, it’s windproof due to the tightness of the weave and yet has 93-98% vapour permeability. That’s breathability to you and me! In the rain the cotton fibres swell and the material becomes waterproof, yet it dries very quickly. It’s quiet to wear if you’re nature watching or out hunting. The downside? Well, it’s not cheap. For a jacket like mine now, expect to pay £350 (about $700). Expensive? Certainly – but I confidently expect never to have to buy another.

It’s well to remember that there is nothing to gain from spending huge amounts of money on a high-performance jacket if all you’re planning to do is take hikes of a few miles in good weather – a decent fleece and a shell jacket is ideal. However, if you are intending to be out for days on end, maybe on an extended trail hike, consider one of the more durable and higher-performing walking jackets towards the end of the above article. It’s too late to get one when you’re up Ben Nevis or halfway along the Appalachian Trail!

Steve Dempster is actively involved in running several websites and spends part of his working day creating short, informative articles such as the one above. Get more info on walking in the UK at the countrywalkers.co.uk/index.html Countrywalkers website!