Seminar and holidays

Last week-end, we had the chance to cross the whole country to attend a seminar in Nemunas Delta Regional Park with about a hundred attendants : employees and directors of almost all regional and national parks of Lithuania, employees of Protected Areas from Vilnius, and members of the Ministry of environment. The seminar last for a day. Then, on saturday and sunday, with colleagues of Aukštaitija National Park and Labanoras Regional Park, we spent some good time together in Nemunas Delta and near Klaipėda, by the sea.

The director of Nemunas Delta Regional Park welcomed all participants of the seminar :

employees and directors of regional and national parks, as well as the ministry of environment,

Protected Areas (the national institution in charge of all parks in Lithuania) and EVS volunteers of course





Nerijus and Leonas, from our hosting organisation Deineta, said how important it is to

spread the word about volunteering in Lithuania, something still not wellknown enough

Two boats allowed all of us to (re)discover Nemunas Delta

 

The atmosphere was great during the boat trip on the Delta



                           
                   

                      

Picking up rabbish near the river : task accomplished!



Let's apologize for polluting rivers and be thankful for the water...

...said this group of volunteers, beside the seminar,

 for an association of protection of water ressources.



Ramūnas Lydis, director of Nemunas Delta Regional Park,

thanked in some symbolic and funny way,

with cold water poured over his face and half-naked body

by these women of a folk group



               

The lutheran church of Rusnė,

little town in the heart of Nemunas Delta Regional Park,

on an island separated by rivers from the mainland.

On the other side of the river : Kaliningrad (Russia).

The bridge separating the island of Rusnė from the mainland



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Here is the very end of Ventės Ragas (literally 'world's edge').

It is a sparsely inhabited area on the tip of the south-pointing promontory of the delta,

which, with its dramatic nature and uplifting isolation, is beautifully wild.



The main attraction here is the Ventės Ragas Ornithological Station,

66km south of Klaipėda at the end of the Kintai-Ventė road.

 

The lighthouse of Ventės Ragas was built in 1862

No, the bagpipe is not only irish, it is

actually a traditonal instrument of Lithuania.

Gydrius, from Labanoras Regional Park,

is one of the few dozens of people who have one.

Our mentor Linas used to play it regularly
and is actually pretty good at it

Place and time chosen to play were perfect...

On the 6th and 7th of June 2009, 1000 hats were hanged on this tree,

as an original way to commemorate Lithuania's 1000th anniversary.

Every visitor had a chance to contribute in that record. 

A hat on a tree is a symbol which means

"It was good to be here, and I'm going to be back"

It was sunset time at Olando Kepurė (or Dutchman's cap,

in reference to the shape of this 24 m high cliff overlooking the sea)

From left to right : Edouard, Irena, Andrius, Vanda, Linas, Sigutė and Florence

One of the last summer week-ends on the beach. Lithuanian seaside remains

wild and natural enough, with no hotels, houses or restaurants by the beach.

Just sand and mostly pine trees. A big change compared to french or spanish coasts!

The sea was pretty wild on sunday.
A good occasion to have fun in the Baltic waves altogether