autumn 2012 - 4-Seasons.de

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Travel
The first night in our sleeping bag underneath the tarp,
the second night under a duvet in a romantic hotel.
The summer tourists are long gone. Many birds are going to head off soon too. Lars and Niels Hoffmann.
noon we arrive at our second destination in the town of Ludorf, set
on the west bank of the Müritz. This time, we choose exquisite
accommodation for the night. Instead of sleeping underneath a
plastic sheet we take the duvet in the romantic hotel Gutshaus
Ludorf.
Through grand hallways in outdoor clothes.
We check in with little luggage and might have attracted some attention
with our outdoor clothes as we shuffle through grand hallways.
Manor houses are fairly common in this area, often in the
centre of a village. Many manor houses got rebuild and renovated
after the reunification, some turned into hotels or cottages. Although
there is solidity and nobleness in the air, they offer a very
relaxed atmosphere, promises Manfred Achtenhagen, owner of
the manor. »How about a Finnish sauna after your canoe and bicycle
tour?« It sounds perfect, you cannot finish an autumn day any
better. Or can you?
Our host seems to know something even better. »You have to go to
the viewpoint Gnever Kuhle. You have a magnificent view over the
nature reserve Großer Schwerin, a peninsula in the Müritz. At sunset,
there are more than 5,000 cranes looking for a resting place
for the night. You can only see this natural event during autumn
when all the birds get together to fly towards the south.« Manfred
certainly knows how to get us interested.
So in the evening, we squint against the setting sun, in front of us
the wide Müritz. Cranes circle in large formations above us, and
one by one they land on the flat bank of the peninsula. We have
never seen anything like this. Again, it is the sound of the landscape
that moves me: the hooting of the birds and the rushing of
the wind. My favourite soundtrack of the Mecklenburg Lake
District during autumn.
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Travel Brothers
Lars Hoffman has been working as a nature and
outdoor photographer for many years. He does not
only share his surname with author Niels Hoffman,
but also his passion to discover the unknown.
The brothers have been travelling around in all
directions, no matter what season, by foot, with
skies or dog sled, and of course by kayak and canoe.
They paddled down the Donau as »Die Donauten«,
accompanied by a 3sat/ZDF-TV team, wrote articles
for the Kanu-Magazin straight from the river and published the photography book
»Gesichter der Donau«, including their travel story.
Fresh from the press is their latest large-format book about the Mecklenburg
Lake District. The National Geographic Photographer praises the book: »You can’t
visualise a love letter to the Mecklenburg Lake District any better way than that.
This book has a special quality.«
»Die Mecklenburgische Seenplatte«, Photography by Lars Hoffmann, Publishing
House Edition Morizaner, Globetrotter order number 21.58.15, 224 pages, 143
photos, 29.90 euros. Available in German.