Aerial Photos taken on KLM Flight 565 from Amsterdam to Nairobi 2015-12-8

Aerial Photos Taken on KLM Flight 565 from Amsterdam to Nairobi 2015-12-8

I was sitting on the window seat at 16A on the port side on KLM flight 565 from Amsterdam to Nairobi, and had a good view outside from my seat. The flight took off at 10:56 local time (GMT+1). 

The area surrounding Schiphol International Airport in Amsterdam was mostly greenhouses and neatly cultivated farms (P1150578, 1150584). 

The country was flat and the coastlines were very complex (P1150587).

From the air, I could see several smoke stacks puffing out smokes or steams. Definitely one was a power generating station (P1150594). 

And others might be from factories (P1150596). There seemed to have a high density of these smoke stacks in a given area, and we might be flying over an area with intense concentration of factories. According to the flight path of KLM flight 565 which I had downloaded, it was supposed to fly over Germany, Austria, Italy, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and finally Kenya, but according to the on-board flight broadcast, it flew more to the east, and we flew over Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, Greece, and entered Africa airspace through Egypt. 

In 14 minutes after air borne, we started to see hills (P1150597). 

For the first time that I saw the clouds and mists clearly delineated the outline of the valley like a big bay branching out into rivers (P1150599, 1150603). 

On top of the almost flat cloud cover, there were a few columns of clouds sticking out like pins on top of a table cloth (P1150607, IMG_2588). They revealed the locations of smoke stacks underneath. 

South of Munich, we passed but not overhead, a site which looked like a complex and large archeological site or a mine find dug out from ground (P1150610). It had buildings of many different sizes and shapes, and they certainly didn't have the ancient look.

As we approaching the Alps in Austria, the flat thin clouds were replaced by feather shape clouds (IMG_2592). 

And soon we saw the snow cover peaks of the Alps (IMG_2594, 2598, 2601). The mountains were very different from those seen in the Rockies. In the later, the mountain had very individual and distinct peaks, and the ranges looked more like the fruit inside a durian which were well separated by a valley, but in Alps they didn't have any distinct shape but just a lump of giant rocks liked worn out molar teeth. 

The mountains were either well eroded or had sharp ridges. At last, we saw a neat and well defined parallel row of north-south mountain ridges to our east (IMG_2507).

At 12:04 Amsterdam time (GMT+1), we were west of Villach near the southern border of Austria and north of Triglav National Park in Slovenia over the Julian Alps. I saw the beautiful snow capped Trenski Peak and the steep and sharp ridges around it (IMG_2611). 

Trenta Valley cut through the mountains in north-south direction (IMG_2612). 

The legendary Soca River was seen running along the valley (IMG_2614). This river was famous for its emerald-green colour water for its entire length, and extensive towns and villages were seen in the valley. 

In another 10 minutes, we flew over a plateau covered by snow, and the land was well marked like the face of a person disfigured by smallpox (IMG_2615, 2616). The area might be south of Lake Bohinj.

We then flew over an area where major erosion had produced steep cliffs and deep canyons (IMG_2623).

A river was running north-south along a wide valley, it then turn gradually westward (IMG_2626). Upstream and downstream of this section of the river appeared to be blocked by dams, and the width of this blocked section was twice wider than the rest, and made the section appeared like a reservoir. Downstream of the lower dam, the river continue to flow south until it reached a major city and then resumed its north-south direction.

East of the lower dam, there was a long, high, steep and sharp ridge stretching eastward like a giant dragon.

A long runway appeared toward the southern edge of this large city on the east shore of the river, However, there was no airplane seen on the ground, and there was no major building like a control tower and an air terminal seen from the photo (IMG_2627). A road was running west of this runway, and there were many buildings between the road and the river. This whole area was surrounded by agriculture lands to isolated it from the remaining of the city. The river might be Sava River and the large city could be Kranj, but the runway didn't fit in with the Ljubljana Airport at Kranj.

Five minutes later, I saw a large reservoir (IMG_2629, 2630). The airplane was flying at a ground speed of 900 km/hr, and therefore this reservoir was located about 75 km south of the large city that I had seen previously. There was a small island in the middle of this reservoir. Half of the reservoir north of this island was wide, and it branched out into two major bays at its northern end. The bay on the south was three times wider than the one on the east. South of this island, the reservoir became gradually narrow in the shape of a funnel.

The tube of the funnel was long and the whole reservoir looked like a stomach and esophagus. At the southern end of this reservoir was an arch dam (IMG_2635). The lake was Bileca Lake, the river was Trebisnjika River, and the dam was Grancarevo Dam in Bosnia. There was a building at the base of the dam, and it could be a hydro power generating station. The photo also showed a significant large structure going straight from the top of the dam on the eastern side (right) of the dam to the river downstream, and this structure must be the two floodgates. Downstream from the dam, there was a bridge crossing Trebisnjika River. The significantly high dried bank around the reservoir indicated that the water level was low. Initially, I mistook the lake to be Perucko Lake, the river was Cetina River, and the dam was Dam Peruca in Croatia. They looked similar but not identical.

We flew over mountainous region, and I was surprised to find in the photo a large town and many villages along a narrow valley (IMG 2639).

Soon we saw Lake Skadar in the border of Albania and Montenegro (IMG_2641). The lake was the largest in Balkan Peninsula. The lake was bound on the west (bottom) by high and steep mountain ridges. It was filled by Moraca River at its northern end, and flowed into Bojana (Buna) River at its southern end to the Adriatic Sea. The white band on the east (top) shore of the lake was a small river called Diga e Sheut. The large town on its southern end was Shkoder. The photo also showed parallel ridge to the south of the lake, and a small lake called Lake Sas (Sasko) was found between these ridges.

The next photo was taken over one minute after we had the last photo of Skadar Lake (IMG_2643). It showed a large body of water where it was bound on the east shore with steep and high cliff. The photo also indicated the following prominent features found on the shore: a large river at the north (left); a large town further south; a lagoon with a very narrow entrance; steep cliff on shore; a large open bay with settlement on its shore. I looked at Google Earth for a lake with these features south of Lake Skadar without any success. Then by accident, I saw the east coast of Adriatic Sea south this lake, and found what I was looking for. The river was Bojana River as it emptied into the sea; the town to its east was Velipoje; the lagoon was Keneta e Vilunit; and the town on the shore of the open bay was Shengjin. And they were all in Albania. This photo suggest that flight path over this area was close to Adriatic Coast.

Soon we were flying over the 160 km long Pindos mountain range in southern Albania and northern Greece. I first saw the Devoll River near Gramsh, Albania flowing through the valleys between mountain (IMG_2646). Its river bed was almost dried. The large Lake Ohrid was hidden behind (east) of the mountains.

I saw the beautiful Dajti Mountain liked a complete vertebrate of a fossil giant dinosaur lying on the ground waiting to be discovered (IMG_2648).

We then entered Greece air space, and saw the snow capped Lakmos (Peristeri) like an octopus with its many tentacles (IMG_2662),

and Athamanika (Tzoumerka) like the molar of an elephant (IMG_2660).

The upstream of Achelous River which flowed into Lake Kremasta wound through the foot of these mountains (IMG_2664).

The prominent peak of Mount Olympus at the far distance on the other side of Greece was clearly visible (IMG_2658).

The flight path was west of Lake Kremasta, the largest reservoir in Greece. The main body of the lake was “L” shape and the top of the “L” was connected to an arm to the west. This arm was almost as big as the vertical arm of the “L”. There were three rivers flowing into the lake: Achelous River flowing into the northwest end of the western arm of the lake (IMG_2667);

Agrafiotis River emptying into the bend of the “L” shape lake; and finally, Trikeriotis River flowed into its eastern end (IMG_2669).

There were two bridge crossing the lake at its narrow: Tartana bridge at the join of the the western arm of the lake (IMG_2668),

and Epikospi bridge near the eastern end of the lake (IMG_2671).

The water of the lake flowed back to Achelous River through Kremasta Dam at the opposite side of the mouth of Agrafiostis River on the south side of the lake (IMG_2670). The capacity of the lake was 3.8 cubic kilomtres. The photos showed that the water level in the lake was significantly low.

There were many snow capped mountains south of Lake Kremasta (IMG_2673).










Immediately after seeing the lake, I started to see arrays of power wind mills installed on mountain ridges. The following were a list of locations where I saw them:

About one minute flight south of Lake Kremasta, on top of a straight north-south going ridge north-west of a large reservoir called Techniti Limni Evinou (IMG_2673). The reservoir was also clearly shown on the photo.

Northwest of Dafni and Kato on the north shore of Gulf of Corinth (IMG_2675). Mornos River that passed through these town also clearly seen on the photo

On the north shore of Gulf of Corinth near Skaloma (IMG_2676).

The airplane was then crossed the Gulf of Corinth and flew over Kamares and entered the air space of Peloponnese Peninsula (IMG_2678). The arrays of power wind mills seen were:

North of Rogi and Kerpini (IMG_2679). The photo showed a blue colour patch at the middle of the ridge. Google Earth showed that blue patch was an array of solar panels. These two villages and the road going up to the ridge was clearly shown in the photo.

North of Achladokampos (IMG_2683). The Wikipedia informed that these wind power mills were installed through a project with Ministry of Development and EEN Hallah SA of French. I wondered if all the power wind mills in Greece were installed under a similar arrangement.

On top of parallel ridges east of Koupia and northeast of Molaoi (IMG_2687). The small village at the centre of the photo could be Koupia. The mills close to the right of the photo were those near Molaoi.

The last photo taken over mainland Greece was Cape Maleas on the Peloponnese Peninsula. I was surprised that there was no wind power mill in the area (IMG_2689). The major town Neapoli was clearly seen in the photo. I scrutinized Google Earth to find the locations of the subject in each photo, and was surprised to find the extensive of roads in this mountainous country.

We flew over the western part of Crete. The clouds prevented us from seeing the island clearly, and we could only some mountains surrounded by clouds (IMG_2695).

According to the broadcast flight information, the flight would entered African air space at the north corner of Egypt near the border with Libya. We entered Egypt air space at 14:41 (GMT+1). I saw a thin dark line on the featureless brown desert, and wondered what it was (IMG_2700).

Five minutes later, I saw the first settlement and circles of agriculture lands (IMG_2703). According to the photo, the settlement was bound to the north (left) by water, and to the right by a straight man-made structure like a road. To its east was another smaller settlement and further east was another body of water. To its north was definitely a U-shape lake with short arms both running west to east. Since the airplane was flying at 900 km/hr ground speed, in five minutes, it should reached a distant of 75 km. Based on these information, I scrutinized Google Earth and found the closest match was Bawiti Oasis.

Southwest of the oasis, there seemed to be a geological remain left by an eroding volcano and its caldera (IMG_2704).

East of the Oasis were many circles of agricultural lands (IMG_2705).

Fifteen minutes later, I saw two beautiful crescent shape sand dunes (IMG_2713). This indicated that the area must be covered with soft sands.

Further south, the landscape turned into the combination of flat table top high land and wide valley and others. An oasis was seen in the valley, and it could be port Said north of Baris (IMG_2717).

I saw a circular shape highland like a table top, and on its top were many concentric circular feature like the tracks of racing chariots (IMG_2722). Its location might be west of Kharga.

I started to see extensive cultural lands near Tashka Lake, but I didn't see the lake itself IMG_2727, 2728).

And in one photo, it showed the agriculture lands and the Nile River in the background (IMG_2730).

I finally saw the large irrigation canal, Lake Naser and Abu Simbel where the famous temple with the same name was located. There was an airport in the city to take care of the influx of tourists (IMG_2734, 2735, 2738).

We were in the air space of Sudan after crossing Nile River, and the landscape was very rough and rocky (IMG_2740). I didn't see any agricultural land.

My aerial photo collection on this flight end with one showing a large natural maze built by rocks (IMG_2741).