DISCOVER THE SWISS ALPINES
DISCOVER THE SWISS ALPINES
DISCOVER THE SWISS ALPINES
EN - Hello, my name is Beat Maglia and I am the founder of this project. In these following lines I would like to tell you how it all became reality and who was inspiring me to this idea many years ago.
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DE - Hallo, mein Name ist Beat Maglia und ich bin der Initiant dieses Projekts. In den folgenden Zeilen möchte ich euch gerne erzählen, wie es dazu kam und wer mich vor vielen Jahren zu dieser Idee inspiriert hat.
DISCOVER THE SWISS ALPINES
Alles begann in Nepal
Inspiration durch Begegnungen
Traveling means to encount, to encount means learning. So I have been enriched on four continents, I found and was found. Many of these people I have met given me the opportunity to broaden my horizons, to question preconceived notions, and not to perceive other things as foreign. What westerners often call as poverty is just another form of wealth. From a material point of view, many of these people often have nothing, but they share that very little something with all their hearts. They will never be able to afford visiting us in our homeland, but they feel homeland in the same way as we do. With their curiosity about our way of life and their questions, they help us to reflect and find answers about what seems important to us in our homeland, what makes it so valuable for us.
Mein kleines rotes Fotobuch
I never thought that my little red photo book would be the beginning of a multimedia project. This small album took space for about 30 photos, and I filled with pictures from Switzerland before I left home. The Alps and their snow mountains were a must, plus a few lakes, photos of chalets, gardens, myself and my family, that was the selection that I thought I could bring joy to distant countries. However, the pictures of our Alps sparked the greatest enthusiasm, as people had shining eyes at many places wherever I passed my photo book around. Again and again, I heard the people say: "You know, once in a lifetime, I want to visit your country and see these beautiful mountains!"
Dafutis Herzenswunsch
When I was working in Nepal as a volunteer for my second time, I have met the 12-year-old Dafuti in my guest home, whose parents ran a small lodge on the Everest Trail in the Solo Khumbu area. The teenager girl already knew YouTube at that time, and when they visited the local market in Namche Bazar, they briefly went to the Internet café at over 3500 meters above sea level and watched films with footages from the Alps. One evening in the kitchen while cooking with her family, the young lady asked me if I could also post such photos or films at Youtube. This would give her and her classmates the opportunity to visit Switzerland on the internet, since it is not realistic to save the money for a personal visit. And again there was this sparkle in her eyes, and the idea was born!
Endlich, nach vielen Jahren
I also introduced my idea for the project in other countries and all forced me to make it true soon. But years have passed before I found a way to realize a project. Simply posting videos seemed too simple to me, a kind of interactive map of Switzerland should bring the solution. It should consist of two parts, the "alpine driving" and the "alpine flying". I was able to complete aerial footages with many flights with my camera drones, but also with photos and videos as a "sandbag" on the co-pilot's seat on the way in the skies with friends.
Take a seat!
In August 2019 the time has come, the website "alpenschauen.ch" is online. There is a new channel with same name on Youtube, which I will gradually fill with videos. In the "Manual" section you will learn how you can use the interactive maps and what the symbols mean. Now you are just two clicks away from your discovery trip through the wonderful Swiss Alpine's wonderworld. Be warm welcome!