Simploring 2018 (89) Black Bayou Lake

23 Oct 2018 3 Comments

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , ,

When I saw the first reviews of Black Bayou Lake on scoop.it SL Destinations I knew I had to see this sim. It is the newest creation of Serene Footman and his partner Jade Koltai. Serene Footman is the creator of places like Furillen, Dunkirk – La Digue du Braek, Khodovarikha and Isle of May, all of which I visited and wrote about (read here: Furillen, Dunkirk – La Digue du Braek, Khodovarikha, Isle of May). All these sims have one thing in common: they are built according to a place in the physical world – and so is Black Bayou Lake.

Impressions of Black Bayou Lake in Second Life (1)

On Serene Footman’s website you find a detailed description about Black Bayou Lake:
“Black Bayou Lake (link to wikipedia) – the inspiration for our sim – is located in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana. The lake is part of an 800 acre nature reserve – there is a factsheet about it here – which seethes with wildlife: there are many species of bird, insect, reptile and fish, along with a variety of trees such as cherrybark oak, cedar elm, ash, hickories, willow oak, shortleaf pine, loblolly pine, mockernut hickory and post oak. It’s a stunning place, which attracted us because we had not yet tried designing a sim that consists mainly of water…...”

Black Bayou Lake in Second Life is a virtual interpretation of the nature reserve in the physcial world. The most outstanding feature both places have in common is a long wooden footpath that visitors can use to explore and to even walk out onto the lake. The swamp with it’s unique flora and the bare trees is another feature they share. Even some of the huts that are scattered on the sim look similar to those found in the nature reserve.

Impressions of Black Bayou Lake in Second Life (2)

I didn’t change the windlight setting that was provided. The atmosphere is very foggy and mystic, you can almost sense the humidity. I walked along the whole footpath, enjoyed the views, sat down here and there, listened to the birds singing (don’t forget to turn on the ambient sound!) and took a lot of pictures.
When I left the wooden footpath, I fall into the swamp several times. Luckily that’s not dangerous in Second Life, nonetheless you’d better watch your step.

Impressions of Black Bayou Lake in Second Life (3)

Visiting Black Bayou Lake was a great experience that I really enjoyed. I looked up a lot of information about the Black Bayou Lake National Wildlife Refuge. It did not replace a visit to it in real life, but together with some pictures of the real place it felt as if I were there. I assume just the smell and the damp heat is what I missed *winks*.

Thank you Serene Footman and Jade Koltai for sharing your creation with the public!

Landmark for Black Bayou Lake
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Gainesville/144/204/21
Serene Footman’s website
https://furillen.org/black-bayou-lake/
Black Bayou Lake on Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Bayou_Lake_National_Wildlife_Refuge
Description from a visit at Black Bayou Lake
https://flatfooting.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/black-bayou-lake-national-wildlife-refuge/
Black Bayou Lake Factsheet
https://www.fws.gov/southeast/pdf/fact-sheet/black-bayou-lake-national-wildlife-refuge.pdf

Simploring 2018 (88) Machinima Open Studio Project – LEA 6

20 Oct 2018 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

I read about “Machinima Open Studio Project” at LEA 6 at scoop.it SL Destinations. Many blog posts have been published about it before. “Machinima Open Studio Project” at LEA 6 is just the newest sim. It is built by Chic Aeon. “Machinima Open Studio Project” is described as “a community resource for filmmakers and photographers. Full sim environments with careful attention to production values, LODs, flow and framerates. Full sim night city with backlot film studios; rustic town ground level. Machinima friendly. 20 min rez.“

Impressions of “Machinima Open Studio Project” (1)

The landmark I grabbed led me to a town scenery, a street canyon surrounded by skyscrapers, quite a dodgy environment. I took a few pictures and searched how to leave there but there was no teleport pad and no hint. The scenery was built into a box. Finally I used the map to leave the box. Outside I saw several other boxes and spheres with different scenes, be it plain countryside or a colourful fantasy scene. All these scenes were at a level of 2.500m and I traveled to different levels and found more scenes.

Impressions of “Machinima Open Studio Project” (2)

At the 1.000m level I found an office with very helpful information about “Machinima Open Studio Project“, there’s a website and a long notecard with helpful hints for making films using Second Life. I provide this landmark with this blog post. I think that’s the official starting point for visiting “Machinima Open Studio Project“. Here you can also get a folder with all the landmarks to go directly to the scene you’re interested in – and there many different scenes!

At the office of the “Machinima Open Studio Project” you can grab a folder with all landmarks and other useful information

It’s interesting to see how you can built scenes on quite small pieces of land with a comparably small amount of prims. The scenes are not just great for making a film but also provide a great background for pictures, in particular when you play with the windlight settings and with shadows.
Being inworld more than 10 years now, I still discover new elements of Second Life. Not that I didn’t know about making films in Second Life (I did that myself a couple of years ago), but I was not aware that there’re sims like “Machinima Open Studio Project” that provide backgrounds particularly for this use. And the provided information and hints are very helpful in case that I decide to make another film some time.

Some Information about Chic Aeon (for reading click to zoom)

Thank you Chic Aeon for providing the “Machinima Open Studio Project“, and as I understood you do this for many years already. Thanks also to the Linden Endowment for the Arts program, that provides the sim for it for 3 years already.
I really enjoyed to discover and explore it.

Landmark to “Machinima Open Studio Project” – leads to the office
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/LEA6/109/28/1003
Website of “Machinima Open Studio Project”
http://machinimasl.blogspot.co.uk/

Simploring 2018 (87) Pendle Hill

18 Oct 2018 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

For my simploring tour on Saturday, October 6th, I picked Pendle Hill from scoop.it SL Destinations. Pendle Hill is owned and created by Lauren Bentham, who also owns Arranmore. I visited Arranmore in 2016 (read here). Pendle Hill reminded me a lot of Arranmore and you can easily recognize that both were created by the same person. The atmosphere is foggy and dark and fits into the current Halloween season, yet Pendle Hill is like Arranmore a permanent sim and open all year round, not just for Halloween.

Impression of Pendle Hill (1)

Lauren Betham writes in the notecard that you get upon entering that “Pendle Hill is a fictional sim, but the name Pendle Hill is actually a real place east of Lancashire in the north of England, and is linked to the Pendle witch trials of 1612.“

Impression of Pendle Hill (2)

To fully enjoy exploring Pendle Hill you have to enable advanced lighting, enable ambient occlusion and have to enable shadows created by sun/moon and projectors. With these settings and with adding the flashlight you also get upon entering the sim, you might see objects, people, ghosts or horrifying objects in the spotlight of the flashlight that you would miss otherwise. And turn your sound on!

Impression of Pendle Hill (3)

Pendle Hill offers a lot of opportunities for taking pictures with a particular dark, foggy and scary atmosphere. Some details are obscured by the fog and the dark and only appear either in the spotlight of your flashlight or when a lightening illuminated the scenery. Many ghosts live at Pendle Hill, some of them only show their hands playing the piano or trying to grab you when you look into a mirror or walk up stairs.

Impression of Pendle Hill (4)

There’s a lot to discover at Pendle Hill and I’m sure that I still missed most of them. Thank you for creating and sharing Pendle Hill with the public, Lauren Bentham. I really enjoyed my visit a lot!

Landmark for Pendle Hill
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sweet%20Illusion/43/128/21

Simploring 2018 (85) The Pines at Jacobs Pond

12 Oct 2018 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , ,

Inspired by a picture I saw on scoop.it SL Destinations  I visited “The pines at Jacobs Pond”. What caught my eye was that this sim was just set into Autumn mode showing the foliage, a season that I really like. There’re a lot of blog posts about “The pines at Jacobs Pond”, I’m by far not the first one who visited it and wrote about it. But for me it was new.

Impressions of “The Pines at Jacobs Pond” (1)

“The pines at Jacobs Pond” is a family sim, a moderate homestead, owned by a group named “End of Time”, founded by Liu (liu kaos). There’s not that much to see nor to explore. “The pines at Jacobs Pond” is an American village, a village that could be anywhere in the Northeast of the US. Some stores are along the main street, a gas station, a grocery store, a laundry. Besides the stores there are many residential homes along the main street as well as parallel to it. A little food market offers regional good and, according to the seasom pumpkins. All is quite neat.
The colours of Autumn, the falling leaves are just beautiful and add to the feeling of being somewhere in the Northeast.

Impressions of “The Pines at Jacobs Pond” (2)

What else would you expect? Yes, a little stadium. In this case it is a baseball stadium and the local club plays in the Second Life Little League. On one side of the island is a fishing pond, a stable for horses, a hunting hut and you can also see some deers. That’s it. At least that’s what I saw. Nonetheless it is a small piece of paradise, normal life, a sleepy village, a place to retreat into family life, be it at night or on the weekend – and I liked it.

Impressions of “The Pines at Jacobs Pond” (3)

Did I miss anything? Yes, a church, a New England Baptist Church is missing at least for me to make “The Pines at Jacobs Pond” perfect.
Of course I took not just one picture. The foliage offers a particular atmosphere in Second Life as well as in Real Life. Thank you Liu (liu kaos) for sharing the sim with the public. It felt like a short visit to the Northeast.

Landmark to “The pines at Jacobs Pond”
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Jacob/113/93/21

Simploring 2018 (82) Destiny Gardens

03 Oct 2018 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , , ,

Inspired once again by scoop.it SL Destinations and the pictures published by AJ (anyajurelle) in her blog “AJ’s Second Life – Travel Guide” I had a look at Inara Pey’s blog post “Destiny Gardens in Second Life” and decided to visited Destiny Gardens.

Impressions of Destiny Gardens (1) – around the landing point

Destiny Gardens is a full, moderate sim owned by Destiny Milos and as I learned from Inara’s post it was primarily landscaped by Adalynne Romano (AdalynneReed). To put it in one word – it is just beautiful!
At the landing point are places to sit and to play chess and I discovered a sculpture created by Mistero Hifeng. During my visit I came across of some more of Mistero Hifeng’s sculptures, most of them I had seen before. They add perfectly into the beautiful environment. The landing point area, that is located on a hill, I went down to the shore and took the trail that leads you around the island and into the inside.

Impressions of Destiny Gardens (2)

I personally was overwhelmed by the views. The ground is covered by blooming wild flowers, the trees are planted thoughtfully to provide shade and to add to the composition of colours. The trails lead over all kinds of bridges that you’d expect in a garden. And there are a lot more places to stop and sit down admiring the beauty of nature, a true virtual paradise.

Impressions of Destiny Gardens (3) – around the two residential houses

Exploring Destiny Gardens you will find 2 residential homes that blend in perfectly, their roofs are covered with moss, their own gardens are neat and offer more places to sit again.

Impressions of Destiny Gardens (4)

I also found an French garden with accurate cut hedges and, what a contrast, with several buxus cut into the form of a bunny. Behind the formal garden is another patio that invites to sit down and relax.

Impressions of Destiny Gardens (5)

I spent an hour admiring Destiny Gardens and taking pictures and had a very enjoyable time. Thank you, Destiny Milos for providing your lovely place to the public.

Landmark to Destiny Gardens
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Destiny/62/59/38
Inara Pey’s blog post “Destiny Gardens in Second Life”
http://modemworld.me/2018/09/04/destiny-gardens-in-second-life/
Pictures of Destiny Gardens in “AJ’s Second Life – Travel Guide”
http://ajssecondlife.wordpress.com/2018/09/19/destiny-gardens/

Simploring 2018 (77) Venesha

21 Sep 2018 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , ,

For my simploring tour on Sunday, September 2nd, I selected Venesha from scoop.it SL Destinations.

Venesha is the home of Hera (zee9), an adult homestead, her gothic interpretation of Venice. The landmark description defines it as “a place to come hang out, chill out and enjoy the place and its facilities in whatever way takes your fancy.”

Venesha overview

The landing is at the dock, the gondolas are TP points for moving around the sim if you don’t like to explore on foot. At the landing point you also get a notecard with some basic rules, including some background about Venesha: “This is my rather Adult, Gothic interpretation of Venice. If you have been around SL for a few years you may recall a place called Venexia. Well this is a stripped down homestead version of that. And yes I built the original, nuff said on that subject.“

Impressions of Venesha (1) – around the dock and the Basilika (lower right)

I’ve never been to Venexia, hence I can’t compare Venesha to it. But for sure I can say that Venesha is an impressive rebuilt of Venice in Second Life, in particular if you take into acount that it is a homestead and therefore prims are short.

Impressions of Venesha (2) – interior of the Basilika (left) ond of the Library (right)

Impressions of Venesha (3) – the piazza and the cafe

Not all buildings are furnished, some are just houses with a fitting texture outside, but when you walk through Venesha or take a row boat at the grand canal you get a really good impression about the particular atmosphere of Venice.

Impressions of Venesha (4) – the clubs and baths

In the above overview map I marked the places of interest which I visited. These buildings are furnished and I recomend a view inside. The adult part is at at the club and baths, between the club and the theatre is a prison. The interior is selected with care and fits well to the surrounding, elegant and luxurious with a touch of decadence. The Basilika is another gem you should miss to have a look at.

Impressions of Venesha (5) – just enjoying the views (left) / the theatre (right)

Venesha can be a place just to take pictures but I can imagine that it is as well a place for role play. I enjoyed my visit a lot. I liked walking through the narrow alleys and the luxurious interior of the buildings. Very well done! Thank you Hera (zee9) for providing your place to the public!

Landmark to Venesha
https://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Lyme/209/121/21

Simploring 2018 (79) Sea Monsters

13 Sep 2018 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

I picked “Sea Monsters” from scoop.it SL Destinations for my simploring tour on Tuesday afternoon, September 11th. Sea Monsters is, according to the landmark description a photo and installation art exhibition of Citta Wiskee. It was opened September 1st and is going to stay at least until September 30th.

Impression of “Sea Monsters” (1) – overview and around the landing point

The landing at “Sea Monsters” is at a wooden pier. You see another small island not far away from the pier, the secenery is mystic (I kept the proposed windlight settings for my visit), a white glowing small being is next to you, a whale jumps out of the water nearby and hides again in the sea, you hear some kids talking or singing but can’t understand it, there’re white particles hoovering in the air and soon you’re caught in this fantasy world.
I walked into the forest that begins just at the pier and found more ot the white glowing beings gathered in a forest glade in the center of the island. Walking to the other end of this island some other glowing particles hoover over the water, looking like mushrooms or flying jellyfish.

Impression of “Sea Monsters” (2)

I continued my simploring tour getting an overview and zoomed out into an arieal view. “Sea Monsters” consists of several small islands, the one you land on is the largest of them. A big whale with a tree growing around it’s body flies over the islands like an airship. You can take a ride on this whale. Some other whales circle above the islands flying.

I visited the other small islands and each of them holds a little fantasy art installation. There’s one with a piano where you can sit down and play, another with several cushions to sit down and to watch a slideshow that tells the story of two girls exchanging their dreams and wishes, one with a little bird in a cage. And on every island you find groups ot white glowing fantasy beings. It is a really mystic but very peaceful world.

Impression of “Sea Monsters” (3)

Under water is an exhibtion of Citta Wiskee’s photos. I assume that at least some of them, if not all, were taken at “Sea Monsters“. They show scenes of people interacting with eachother or with whales. The pictures are not flat and there’s a film of algae wavering on the surface of the pictures that provides a very particular impression in addition with the fishes swimming around. I liked it.

Impression of “Sea Monsters” (4) – under water exhibition of Citta Wiskee’s art

Last but not least I tried to find out more about Citta Wiskee and looked up her profile. She owns a store named ATTIC that sells mesh objects, a few extraordinairy clothes and weired stuff. A lot of stuff is sold as gatchas though, a way of selling that I don’t like. But I like the little items she creates and sells. And some of it you’ll also find at “Sea Monsters“.
Next to Citta’s store is CLAVv, a store for Men’s Mesh Clothing and Accessories, owned by Pierre (thepierrot)…. and Pierre is the founder of the group, that owns the sim, where Sea Monster’s is installed right now.

Thank you Citta and Pierre for this fantasy world, this piece of art to discover, explore and hang around dreaming.

Remark: As “Sea Monsters” might close by the end of the month, I publish this blog post ahead of schedule.

Landmark to Sea Monsters
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Yankari%20Island/150/60/23
Landmark to Citta’s store ATTIC
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Solara/136/215/33

Simploring 2018 (74) Meadow Rose

09 Sep 2018 5 Comments

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , , ,

I got a hint from Annie Oh (anniebrightstar), who runs scoop.it SL Destinations, to have a look at Meadow Rose. I found time for simploring Sunday, August 26th, and visited it.

Meadow Rose overview

Meadow Rose is an adult homestead sim, owned by Rye Falmer. Later, when I met Rye after my simploring tour, he told me that Kitty Templeton (kittytempleton) is co-owning Meadow Rose. Their main estate is Templeton Cove Estates & The Lake House and compromises 16 sims (American Lakes and Wilderness Themed Estate, Residential & Recreational, Light Sailing, Riding & Hiking Trails). I saw a small part of Templeton Cove when I visited it during my Halloween tour 2016 (read here).
Rye loves to landscape at Templeton Cove Estates & The Lake House but he’s not good with managing renters, that’s Kitty’s part together with someone else. Meadow Rose was originally embedded into Templetom Cove Estates, but it dosent go with the theme of the other sims so Rye decided to create it remotely again. In addition Meadow Rose is adult which goes against the family ethos of templeton estate.
I’ll take Templeton Cove Estates on my list of sims to explore.

Impressions of Meadow Rose (1) – around the landing point and the church

But back to Meadow Rose. At the landing point you can join the Meadow Rose group. From there you can walk a real nice trail, which takes you around the island along the shore. I turned left and began exploring on foot. I passed a farm and came to a church with a graveyard. I visited the church and continued walking along the shore. The trail is just beautiful and you get lovely views. The landscape is natural, there’re lots of trees and flower fields, everything fits to perfection.

Impressions of Meadow Rose (2) – beautiful views

After some walking I reached a bay with a sailing boat anchored there. At the shore is a small shipyard for smaller boats. After staying there for a bit I continued my tour, I passed several nice places to sit and cuddle or to simply enjoy. Then I passed some ruins and saw a dandelion which you can use to make a tour flying over the island. I didn’t do that though. After passing the ruins I came to a park with a pond, another place just to enjoy. There’s also the possiblity to dance. Shortly after the park with the pond I reached the landing point once again.

Impressions of Meadow Rose (2) – the marina and the shipyard

But there’s more if you don’t take the trail along the shore but go to the inner island. I took the trail to the farm which leads further to a quite big manor that looks very British. Inside the manor is furnished luxurious and is a collection of antiques, of hunting trophies and of curiosities from all over the world. There’re tapestries and oil paintings decorating the wall. To sum it up: it looks very Britsh, maybe like the home of an Earl or a Duke, maybe of the Duke of Meadow Rose *winks*. I also had a look into the cellar. Surprise! The upper nobility has guilty pleasures and fetishes. I have to keep in mind this manor.

Impressions of Meadow Rose (4) – more beautiful views

Impressions of Meadow Rose (5) – the farm and the manor

Outside of the manor is a garden. Again it looks really British. Everything is neat and you sense that there are gardeners who care that every single flower is at the right place. In the garden I met Rye Falmer, the owner of Meadow Rose (the Duke of Meadow Rose?). We had a really nice chat and he told me about the above mentioned connection to Templeton Cove. We talked about his and our place and he might visit our island one day or even join our party.

Impressions of Meadow Rose (6) – the garden and Diomita Meeting Rye Famer, the owner of Meadow Rose

Meadow Rose is another hidden gem in Second Life and I admire how perfectly it is made. Rye has really a talent to make this place look like a piece of a British paradies. Thank you for sharing the place with the public, Rye!

Landmark to Meadow Rose
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Forever%20Neverland/25/97/25
Landmark to Templeton Cove Estates (Marina and office)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Amarantha%20Island/7/104/25

Simploring 2018 (72) – “The 7 deadly sins” by Oceanida

01 Sep 2018 Leave a comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , , ,

I came across Ana (oceanida) when I visited the R&D Gallery at Diotima (see here). Ana (oceanida) makes photographs in black and white. She plays with coloured transparent walls and with mirror effects that provide another and particular view at her work. Today, when I was looking where to go to for simploring, I saw on scoop.it SL Destinations, that there’s another exhibition of Ana called “The 7 deadly sins”, which is presented at the Niflheimer Art Gallery.

The Niflheimer Art Gallery, owned by Thor (anaadi), is located in an old plant building. The Gallery is curated by Yvan Slade. The old plant building is quite popular in Second Life and I saw it quite often already before used for different purposes.

“The 7 deadly sins” by Oceanida at Niflheimer Art Gallery

Ana’s exhibition “The 7 deadly sins” presents her black and white pictures again using coloured transparent walls as well as mirror and light effects. In addition Ana added furniture and other objects to enhance the effect of her pictures.

The seven deadly sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, is a grouping and classification of vices within Christian teachings. Behaviours or habits are classified under this category if they directly give birth to other immoralities. The standard list compromises pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath and sloth, which are also contrary to the seven virtues prudence, justice, temperance, courage (or fortitude), faith, hope and charity. (source wikipedia).

“The 7 deadly sins” by Oceanida at Niflheimer Art Gallery (1) – Lust

Ana grouped her pictures according to the 7 deadly sins. You enter the different rooms through transparent walls and the room, the pictures on the walls and all other objects are submerged by this colour. Most of the pictures do clearly represent the according deadly sin. I just had problems to interpret 2 of the 3 pictures related to the sin of sloth.

“The 7 deadly sins” by Oceanida at Niflheimer Art Gallery (2) – Sloth (lower left) / Gluttony (upper right) / Wrath (lower right)

During my visit I was dressed in a black latex catsuit and wearing a corset and I fitted quite well into the surrounding, particular in the space dedicated to the deadly sin of lust.

Overall “The 7 deadly sins” is a felicitous exhibition. Ana’s pictures are very expressive and the colourful environment once again provides a great contrast, something you can’t easily reproduce in the physical world.

“The 7 deadly sins” by Oceanida at Niflheimer Art Gallery (3) – Greed (upper left) / Envy (upper right) / Pride (lower left)

The exhibtion was opened August 5th and I don’t know how long it will be shown at the Niflheimer Art Gallery, so you should better visit it timely.
Thank you Ana for the great work and thank you Thor for providing the space for the art.

Landmark to Niflheimer Art Gallery
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Mirrors%20Edge/38/78/22

Simploring 2018 (71) Island of Trust

30 Aug 2018 1 Comment

by diomitamaurer in Exploring sims in Second Life Tags: , , , ,

For my simploring tour on Thursday, August 16th, I picked “Island of Trust” from scoop.it SL Destinations.
The landmark description is promising: “A breathtaking Africa themed sim with glorious beaches, magnificent scenery, beautiful animals, birds and marine life and lots of romantic places to cuddle, dance or bring a lover. You will land in a hub so use the TP board to explore!”
Island of Trust is owned by Krystal (Krystal Iridescent) who also owns the adjacent sim *Xtal* Garden and the *Xtal* store, which offers a wide variety of furnishings and a few homes.

Impressions of “Island of Trust” (1) – The landing skybox and landing at the island itself

The landing is in skybox. There you’ll get a notecard with some really basic rules you should follow when visiting “Island of Trust“. It is an adult sim, yet that doesn’t mean that you can do what you want and it is not a sex sim – in short: act like an adult. From here you can go either directly to the “Island of Trust“, or teleport directly to some points of interest there, or visit the above mentioned *Xtal* Garden or the *Xtal* store.
I decided to visit the “Island of Trust“, the teleport led me to the beach and to a couple of boards repeating the rules. Quite close to the landing I found a feather, on which you can sit down and that takes you on a tour over “Island of Trust“. That’s a prefect start for a simploring tour:
“Welcome to the Island of Trust! Sit back, turn off your AO, allow the region windlight and put your speakers on to hear the sounds as i take you on a safari! We have lions, leopards, cheetahs, rhino, monkeys, birds, gazelle, zebras, meerkats, lions and more here!“

Impressions of “Island of Trust” (2) – The feather tour

During the tour you get a lot more information about the wildlife, about the animals, the declining population and about some of the many endangered species all around the world because of human overpopulation causing habitat loss and fragmentation.
The tour guide also provides links to further information. Besides the great views I could collect during the feather tour the provided information is very serious and eductional. Krystal clearly wants to contribute to spreading the information about the endangered wildlife.

Impressions of “Island of Trust” (3) – The wildife

After the feather tour I visited “Island of Trust” on foot and I could take many great pictures. There’s a lot to discover and I’m pretty sure that I still missed a lot. In Second Life you can get very close to the animals, they won’t run away from you. You can even pose on them or next to them and take some really funny shots – and you don’t harm them at all. This kind of a safari is a very environmentally friendly and friendly to animals. I think the pictures show how much fun I had and what beautiful views I could get.

Impressions of “Island of Trust” (4) – The wildlife (and funny poses)

Impressions of “Island of Trust” (5) – great views

Besides the animals the nature is just great and Krystal has also added storm and rain. The places to sit and watch or to cuddle offer mostly a great view into the landscape. There are some huts and houses which provide further opportunities to sit, cuddle or simply talk.

Impressions of “Island of Trust” (6) – Some of the many places to sit or cuddle

I’ve never been to Africa in RL myself so far, but that’s how I’d picture a visit to it. Yet I doubt that I would see that many wildlife as on “Island of Trust” and for sure I won’t get that close to the animals and most probably I wouldn’t want to either *winks*.
I like the way Krystal has combined information with fun. “Island of Trust” is really a great place to have fun or to retreat and enjoy. I hope that I can fulfill my intention to go back for further simploring and for visiting the *Xtal* garden. Thank you Krystal (Krystal Iridescent) for this great place in Second Life!

Landmark to “Island of Trust” (Skybox)
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Island%20of%20Trust/127/128/1002
Landmark to *Xtal* Garden
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Moonlight%20Isle/91/58/38
Landmark to *Xtal* Store
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sultry%20Night/191/94/3506

Previous Older Entries Next Newer Entries