As tour guide Marlis Clock reports, a trip from Calgary via the Rocky Mountains to Vancouver Island and Vancouver to western Canada offered many surprises, not just mirror-smooth turquoise lakes such as Lake Louise, but also the Athabasca Falls or the Athabasca Falls. Roaring water too. Drive to the Athabasca Glacier in Banff and Jasper National Parks.
Information was provided on selected specialist visits to innovative farms at one of Canada’s largest hay producers and exporters. More than 12,000 hectares of hay and straw are exported worldwide, especially to Japan and Qatar.
A visit to one of the largest plant producers in the province of Alberta was also impressive for rural women. There grow plants that are essential for the reconstruction of oil fields in different climatic zones; Also for rehabilitation, resettlement/construction of houses.
“On a farm with over 100 horses, we were able to experience untouched nature on a covered wagon ride and then enjoy delicious steak at a barbecue,” says Marlis Klock. “We took the ferry to Vancouver Island through a fjord-like landscape.” In the 300-hectare Cathedral Grove Park, the world’s oldest natural population of Douglas fir was astonishing. The smallest specimens measure nine meters in circumference and are about 800 years old.
Victoria, the capital of the province of British Columbia, had magnificent historic buildings with a British atmosphere. “The Bouchard Gardens, the most beautiful and already 100-year-old garden in Canada, were mesmerizing,” reports the Clock. More than 900 different types of plants can be seen across 22 hectares – in the wonderfully kept themed gardens, with a total of more than a million plants planted each year by 50 gardeners.
After another ferry crossing, passengers again reached the mainland in Vancouver. “A wonderful city between tradition and modernity – and the Olympic City 2010”, is the verdict of rural women. “The fate of the indigenous tribes, now recognized as First Nations, was particularly poignant and all-encompassing.”
The meeting with a “wise lady” was also impressive. She was well connected in search of her roots, her traditional language, songs and customs. “All this was forbidden until the mid-1960s and many families still suffer from the tragedy that happened to them,” explains Marlis Klock.
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