Monday, June 23, 2008

Skaftafell and Svartifoss


Continuing on the previous post, our trip took us to the Skaftafell national park, in South-Eastern Iceland. Apparently it's the largest national park in Europe, though we only stopped there to see the lovely Svartifoss waterfall. It's visible after a short hike up the mountains.

I found the hike to be disorienting at first, and even a bit claustrophobic, because I was not used to such amounts of vegetation and trees any more! You'd think you were in Europe while climbing, and not on this barren rock. But from time to time there are views of the sandur (a black sand desert formed by the melting of the glaciers and the erosion that they bring), so then it feels like Iceland again :).

The waterfall we saw is surrounded by black basaltic columns and is quite beautiful. The name Svartifoss means "black waterfall".

Trees!

More trees!

A cute waterfall

Boundaries

Very green...

At least the sandur is still there

Another waterfall

Finally, Svartifoss appears

Columns on the side

Jó by the water

This is what happens when you drop the camera lens cover

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi.

Vatnajökull National Park is the largest one in Europe. It encompasses all of Vatnajökull glacier and surrounding areas. Skaftafell is only a small part of the park.

Pétur

Djaddi said...

Ah yes, I remember reading something about this new Vatnajökull park being created recently. Takk.