Iberá Wetlands, Argentina

The Pantanal of the Pampas


reptile patrol
Alligator keeps attentive to the movements of capybaras and other possible prey in the surroundings.
Cardinal of the Bathed
One of the many bright birds that inhabit the Iberá lagoon.
capybara or carpincho
Capybaras semi-immersed in the water full of amphibian vegetation of the Iberá lagoon.
Iberá de Y Berá (shining waters)
Official identification sign for Laguna Iberá, one of the largest freshwater reserves in South America.
summer tone
The end of the yellowish day ends another hot summer afternoon in the region of Laguna Iberá.
On its own
Couple set sail from Pousada Laguna by canoe for a tour of the surroundings.
Torquata Chauna
A trio of tachãs, also known in Brazil as inhuma-pocas, chajás, anhumas-do-pantanal, tarrã (Rio Grande do Sul) and tachãs-do-sul.
twin shadows
Palm trees form emblematic silhouettes of the sub-tropical landscape of Laguna Iberá.
Peasants of the Pampas
Gauchos work at the Swiss Agro cattle farm.
a natural channel
The arm of the lagoon that leads to the Pousada Laguna harbor, in the vicinity of Colónia Pellegrini.
Sunset in Ibera
The sun sets behind one of the many palm groves that fill the islands in the middle of Laguna Iberá.
A community of loons
Cormorants share the warm water of the vast Iberá lagoon.
Howler monkeys, or howlers
Guide photographs a bunch of howler monkeys, known for their howl.
Perfect landing
Cormorants dry in the sun on branches projecting from Lake Iberá.
On the world map, south of the famous brazilian wetland, a little-known flooded region appears, but almost as vast and rich in biodiversity. the Guarani expression Y bera defines it as “shining waters”. The adjective fits more than its strong luminance.

Sunday dawned in the capital of the last province of northeast Argentina, Posadas.

The day was not exactly a rest day. It wasn't yet eight in the morning when we left town driven by Sancho, a talkative young driver and a lover of Latin pop music.

Half an hour after departure, we realized, in part, because he had caught us in a pickup with a rural look, aged and dusty.

The asphalt is finished. We went to a straight line of beaten red earth, lost in the flat immensity of the high pampa, which seemed to be more than 100 km long and that only the successive highs, lows and holes and the chat continuous made it less monotonous.

It was midsummer in the southern hemisphere.

Esteros del Iberá, Pantanal Argentina, sunset

The end of the yellowish day ends another hot summer afternoon in the region of Laguna Iberá.

This region, sandwiched between the extreme south of Brazil and the mysterious Paraguay, was warming before our eyes. "Do you think it's hot now?" the boy behind the wheel warned us almost indignantly. “This is nothing. In these parts, in December and January, the temperature rises to 50º”.

When we reached Colonia Pellegrini, shortly after midday, we had already crossed from the Misiones lands to the less green ones of Corrientes.

The heat continued to build. In such a way that we perceived the strong radiation rising into the air and the lethargy to which that oven voted the few residents as we passed.

Esteros del Iberá, Pantanal Argentina, Iberá de Y Berá (shining waters)

Official identification sign for Laguna Iberá, one of the largest freshwater reserves in South America.

Check in at Colonia Pellegrini and at the Beira dos Esteros del Iberá

This was not the case for porteña Doña Elsa, owner of the Posada de La Laguna, which oscillated between a curious but effusive welcome and the effort required by the various tasks of her establishment planted on the edge of the Iberá lagoon.

The usual introductions and explanations having been completed, we installed ourselves in a room almost on top of the fresh water. A bell that rang from the main house fulfilled the long-awaited communal signal for lunch.

We had planned to work on the computers after the meal but the summer intensity of those breaks took its toll.

It forced us to take a long recovery nap.

By five-forty in the afternoon, the brazier had died down. A five-foot-tall maid with a freckled face who reminded us of one of the eccentric characters in “black cat, white cat” knocked on the door.

Announced in soft Hispanic:

“Mr Maximo is waiting for you to go out to the lagoon. But first, go through the villa. They have a snack there.”

Enthusiastic about the pioneering incursion into the lacustrine domain that had attracted us from so far away, we dispatched the teas and the slices of cake and headed for the jetty from which we were supposed to set sail.

Esteros del Iberá, Pantanal Argentina, departure canoe

Couple set sail from Pousada Laguna by canoe for a tour of the surroundings.

First Incursion into the Pantanal dos Esteros

Maximo was already back from the engine.

Contrary to what we expected, I had company. Another couple of even more anxious guests had dispensed with the snack but not the front of the vessel. It was Fred and Lena. He is Austrian, group travel guide and nature photographer, she Russian, model.

When we got settled in, it didn't take long for us to realize the inflated amount of photographic equipment that, together, we were carrying on board.

The chubby Máximo took the opportunity to break the ice of the first moments: “with what they bring there, I won't even ask you about expectations. I imagine if we don't see the best of everything, they'll throw me to the alligators.”

Esteros del Iberá, Pantanal Argentina, Alligator

Alligator keeps attentive to the movements of capybaras and other possible prey in the surroundings.

It was soon confirmed that it would not be necessary. The vastness of swamps, bogs, lagoons, stagnant lakes and riverbeds we were sailing on extends for 20.000 km2, 13.000 of which (14% of the area of ​​the province of Corrientes) are part of the Iberá Nature Reserve.

Esteros del Iberá, the Great Pantanal of Argentina

It is the largest protected area in Argentina and one of the most important freshwater reservoirs in South America.

Now all this water flanked by land, by comparison, elevated on the banks of the Paraná (west) and Uruguay (to the east) is life.

Esteros del Iberá, Pantanal Argentina, Corvos Corvos

Cormorants dry in the sun on branches projecting from Lake Iberá.

Lots of life.

As we moved into the greater Iberá, the scenery dotted with plants and aquatic herbs – in some cases, veritable floating islands of reeds, hyacinths and water lilies – proved to be sumptuous.

They sheltered deer from the pampas, flocks of capybaras and otters, these controlled and chased by alligators, caimans and furtive anaconda.

Esteros del Iberá, Pantanal Argentina, Capybara or carpincho

Capybaras semi-immersed in the water full of amphibian vegetation of the Iberá lagoon.

We also saw herons, colonies of loons drying in the sun and other birds of prey, countless fish and amphibians, among so many different species of that prodigious lacustrine ecosystem.

Such biodiversity attracts and loves biologists and photographers from around the world who return year after year. This was the case with Fred who, like us, frantically aimed his telephoto lenses at the specimens that most inspired him to record.

This hyperactivity contrasted with the relaxed and elegant contemplation of Lena, the Lolita blonde escort of the rude, almost brutish, Austrian, she who dazzled us with an unexpected confession: “I was born in Kamchatka, I don't know if you know?

Almost Night Return to Posada de la Laguna

It's on the other side of the Russia. "

Knowing until we knew, but just seeing and reading, we had never been there. Like any traveler who is always dissatisfied with the places he has visited, we dreamed of exploring it as soon as possible, or it was not one of the volcanic regions most remote, untamed and majestic to the face of the earth.

We returned to the Posada Laguna pier over sunset. The sky above the Iberá was burning.

The water was tinged a warm blue, here and there, dotted with the restless shapes of hundreds of cormorants afloat, startled by the vessel's late, shrill intrusion.

Esteros del Iberá, Pantanal Argentina, cormorants

Cormorants share the warm water of the vast Iberá lagoon.

An hour after disembarking, we were reunited with Fred, Lena and other guests around a dinner that Doña Elsa had ordered prepared in the gastronomic style that the Chef son of a renowned restaurant in Buenos Aires had created for the family's inn.

Today, Laguna is one of a few businesses located on the vast banks of the Esteros del Iberá, largely around the hamlet that looks like a caravan park in Colonia Pellegrini.

Conquerors, Missionaries and Guarani Indigenous People: a Fuzzy History

The region was not always barren. Upon the arrival of the Spanish conquerors, in the XNUMXth century, various Guarani or “Guaranized” sub-ethnicities populated these areas by force after overwhelming attacks that ended with frightening cannibal rituals.

As the elders of Mercedes and Colónia Pellegrini recount, until shortly after the turn to the XNUMXth century, screams were heard coming from the most remote areas and yet to be discovered by the white settlers of the lagoon. It was assumed, then, that they were still inhabited by descendants of these natives.

In any case, due to the inaccessibility of the Esteros del Iberá region, few villages settled there. The Jesuit missions came to dominate and operate in territories with close limits, but the flooded area was for a long time considered uninhabitable.

In it fugitives took refuge. From it lived hunters and fishermen without other resources.

We continued on the trail of expressions and images of that impressive amphibian nature.

Esteros del Iberá, Pantanal Argentina, Sunset in Iberá

The sun sets behind one of the many palm groves that fill the islands in the middle of Laguna Iberá.

An Early Raid

The next day, we woke up for a new route embarked in the lagoon, in search of more and more of the species that continued to proliferate there, without great hope of finding any of the resident anteaters and jaguars who, in addition to being scarce and elusive, were nocturnal.

We reached areas of large dry land islands filled with dense palm groves where howler monkeys jumped and hooted, agitated by the unexpected visit of a solitary pampas deer.

Esteros del Iberá, Pantanal Argentina, howler monkeys

Guide photographs a bunch of howler monkeys, known for their howl.

Palm trees had little to do with the ones we used to see when in Portugal.

They were buritis, jataí and others as or more exotic as Indaiá.

Some of the highest ones served as observation points for several tachãs, birds endemic to these parts of Argentina and southern Brazil.

Esteros del Iberá, Pantanal Argentina, tacks, Chauna Torquata

A trio of tachãs, also known in Brazil as inhuma-pocas, chajás, anhumas-do-pantanal, tarrã (Rio Grande do Sul) and tachãs-do-sul.

On our return from the last incursion, Doña Elsa rewards us for the enthusiasm we put into the work. Offer us an extra night at the inn.

We took the opportunity to investigate other even more distant corners of the lagoon, we went back to peek at the strange Pellegrini Colony and accompanied a veterinarian and a team of gauchos during a long vaccination at a cattle ranch called Swiss Agro.

Esteros del Iberá, Pantanal Argentina, gauchos

Gauchos work at the Swiss Agro cattle farm.

However, we left that Argentine wetland. We traveled further south into the endless pampa.

Colónia Pellegrini, Argentina

When the Meat is Weak

The unmistakable flavor of Argentine beef is well known. But this wealth is more vulnerable than you think. The threat of foot-and-mouth disease, in particular, keeps authorities and growers afloat.
Passo do Lontra, Miranda, Brazil

The Flooded Brazil of Passo do Lontra

We are on the western edge of Mato Grosso do Sul but bush, on these sides, is something else. In an extension of almost 200.000 km2, the Brazil it appears partially submerged, by rivers, streams, lakes and other waters dispersed in vast alluvial plains. Not even the panting heat of the dry season drains the life and biodiversity of Pantanal places and farms like the one that welcomed us on the banks of the Miranda River.
Miranda, Brazil

Maria dos Jacarés: the Pantanal shelters such Creatures

Eurides Fátima de Barros was born in the interior of the Miranda region. 38 years ago, he settled in a small business on the side of BR262 that crosses the Pantanal and gained an affinity with the alligators that lived on his doorstep. Disgusted that once upon a time the creatures were being slaughtered there, she began to take care of them. Now known as Maria dos Jacarés, she named each of the animals after a soccer player or coach. It also makes sure they recognize your calls.
Iguazu/Iguazu Falls, Brazil/Argentina

The Great Water Thunder

After a long tropical journey, the Iguaçu River gives a dip for diving. There, on the border between Brazil and Argentina, form the largest and most impressive waterfalls on the face of the Earth.
San Ignacio Mini, Argentina

The Impossible Jesuit Missions of San Ignacio Mini

In the century. In the XNUMXth century, the Jesuits expanded a religious domain in the heart of South America by converting the Guarani Indians into Jesuit missions. But the Iberian Crowns ruined the tropical utopia of the Society of Jesus.
Maguri Bill, India

A Wetland in the Far East of India

The Maguri Bill occupies an amphibious area in the Assamese vicinity of the river Brahmaputra. It is praised as an incredible habitat especially for birds. When we navigate it in gondola mode, we are faced with much (but much) more life than just the asada.
Caño Negro, Costa Rica

A Life of Angling among the Wildlife

One of the most important wetlands in Costa Rica and the world, Caño Negro dazzles for its exuberant ecosystem. Not only. Remote, isolated by rivers, swamps and poor roads, its inhabitants have found in fishing a means on board to strengthen the bonds of their community.
Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica

Tortuguero: From the Flooded Jungle to the Caribbean Sea

After two days of impasse due to torrential rain, we set out to discover the Tortuguero National Park. Channel after channel, we marvel at the natural richness and exuberance of this Costa Rican fluvial marine ecosystem.
Tortuguero NP, Costa Rica

The Flooded Costa Rica of Tortuguero

The Caribbean Sea and the basins of several rivers bathe the northeast of the Tica nation, one of the wettest and richest areas in flora and fauna in Central America. Named after the green turtles nest in its black sands, Tortuguero stretches inland for 312 km.2 of stunning aquatic jungle.
NP Gorongosa, Mozambique

The Heart of Mozambique's Wildlife Shows Signs of Life

Gorongosa was home to one of the most exuberant ecosystems in Africa, but from 1980 to 1992 it succumbed to the Civil War waged between FRELIMO and RENAMO. Greg Carr, Voice Mail's millionaire inventor received a message from the Mozambican ambassador to the UN challenging him to support Mozambique. For the good of the country and humanity, Carr pledged to resurrect the stunning national park that the Portuguese colonial government had created there.
PN Hwange, Zimbabwe

The Legacy of the Late Cecil Lion

On July 1, 2015, Walter Palmer, a dentist and trophy hunter from Minnesota killed Cecil, Zimbabwe's most famous lion. The slaughter generated a viral wave of outrage. As we saw in PN Hwange, nearly two years later, Cecil's descendants thrive.
Saint Lucia, South Africa

An Africa as Wild as Zulu

On the eminence of the coast of Mozambique, the province of KwaZulu-Natal is home to an unexpected South Africa. Deserted beaches full of dunes, vast estuarine swamps and hills covered with fog fill this wild land also bathed by the Indian Ocean. It is shared by the subjects of the always proud Zulu nation and one of the most prolific and diverse fauna on the African continent.
El Calafate, Argentina

The New Gauchos of Patagonia

Around El Calafate, instead of the usual shepherds on horseback, we come across gauchos equestrian breeders and others who exhibit, to the delight of visitors, the traditional life of the golden pampas.
Salta and Jujuy, Argentina

Through the Highlands of Deep Argentina

A tour through the provinces of Salta and Jujuy takes us to discover a country with no sign of the pampas. Vanished in the Andean vastness, these ends of the Northwest of Argentina have also been lost in time.
Mendoza, Argentina

Journey through Mendoza, the Great Argentine Winemaking Province

In the XNUMXth century, Spanish missionaries realized that the area was designed for the production of the “Blood of Christ”. Today, the province of Mendoza is at the center of the largest winemaking region in Latin America.
Ushuaia, Argentina

The Last of the Southern Cities

The capital of Tierra del Fuego marks the southern threshold of civilization. From Ushuaia depart numerous incursions to the frozen continent. None of these play and run adventures compares to life in the final city.
Beagle Channel, Argentina

Darwin and the Beagle Channel: on the Theory of the Evolution Route

In 1833, Charles Darwin sailed aboard the "Beagle" through the channels of Tierra del Fuego. His passage through these southern confines shaped the revolutionary theory he formulated of the Earth and its species
Ushuaia, Argentina

Last Station: End of the World

Until 1947, the Tren del Fin del Mundo made countless trips for the inmates of the Ushuaia prison to cut firewood. Today, passengers are different, but no other train goes further south.
Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina

The Resisting Glacier

Warming is supposedly global, but not everywhere. In Patagonia, some rivers of ice resist. From time to time, the advance of the Perito Moreno causes landslides that bring Argentina to a halt.
El Chalten, Argentina

The Granite Appeal of Patagonia

Two stone mountains have created a border dispute between Argentina and Chile. But these countries are not the only suitors. The Fitz Roy and Torre hills have long attracted die-hard climbers
Believers greet each other in the Bukhara region.
City
Bukhara, Uzbequistan

Among the Minarets of Old Turkestan

Situated on the ancient Silk Road, Bukhara has developed for at least two thousand years as an essential commercial, cultural and religious hub in Central Asia. It was Buddhist and then Muslim. It was part of the great Arab empire and that of Genghis Khan, the Turko-Mongol kingdoms and the Soviet Union, until it settled in the still young and peculiar Uzbekistan.
Host Wezi points out something in the distance
Beach
Cobue; Nkwichi Lodge, Mozambique

The Hidden Mozambique of the Creaking Sands

During a tour from the bottom to the top of Lake Malawi, we find ourselves on the island of Likoma, an hour by boat from Nkwichi Lodge, the solitary base of this inland coast of Mozambique. On the Mozambican side, the lake is known as Niassa. Whatever its name, there we discover some of the most stunning and unspoilt scenery in south-east Africa.
The Zambezi River, PN Mana Pools
safari
Kanga Pan, Mana Pools NP, Zimbabwe

A Perennial Source of Wildlife

A depression located 15km southeast of the Zambezi River retains water and minerals throughout Zimbabwe's dry season. Kanga Pan, as it is known, nurtures one of the most prolific ecosystems in the immense and stunning Mana Pools National Park.
Braga or Braka or Brakra in Nepal
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 6th – Braga, Nepal

The Ancient Nepal of Braga

Four days of walking later, we slept at 3.519 meters from Braga (Braka). Upon arrival, only the name is familiar to us. Faced with the mystical charm of the town, arranged around one of the oldest and most revered Buddhist monasteries on the Annapurna circuit, we continued our journey there. acclimatization with ascent to Ice Lake (4620m).
A Lost and Found City
Architecture & Design
Machu Picchu, Peru

The City Lost in the Mystery of the Incas

As we wander around Machu Picchu, we find meaning in the most accepted explanations for its foundation and abandonment. But whenever the complex is closed, the ruins are left to their enigmas.
Boats on ice, Hailuoto Island, Finland.
Aventura
Hailuoto, Finland

A Refuge in the Gulf of Bothnia

During winter, the island of Hailuoto is connected to the rest of Finland by the country's longest ice road. Most of its 986 inhabitants esteem, above all, the distance that the island grants them.
Moa on a beach in Rapa Nui/Easter Island
Ceremonies and Festivities
Easter Island, Chile

The Take-off and Fall of the Bird-Man Cult

Until the XNUMXth century, the natives of Easter Island they carved and worshiped great stone gods. All of a sudden, they started to drop their moai. The veneration of tanatu manu, a half-human, half-sacred leader, decreed after a dramatic competition for an egg.
Luderitz, Namibia
Cities
Lüderitz, Namibia

Wilkommen in Africa

Chancellor Bismarck has always disdained overseas possessions. Against his will and all odds, in the middle of the Race for Africa, merchant Adolf Lüderitz forced Germany to take over an inhospitable corner of the continent. The homonymous city prospered and preserves one of the most eccentric heritages of the Germanic empire.
Cocoa, Chocolate, Sao Tome Principe, Agua Izé farm
Lunch time
São Tomé and Principe

Cocoa Roças, Corallo and the Chocolate Factory

At the beginning of the century. In the XNUMXth century, São Tomé and Príncipe generated more cocoa than any other territory. Thanks to the dedication of some entrepreneurs, production survives and the two islands taste like the best chocolate.
Obese resident of Tupola Tapaau, a small island in Western Samoa.
Culture
Tonga, Western Samoa, Polynesia

XXL Pacific

For centuries, the natives of the Polynesian islands subsisted on land and sea. Until the intrusion of colonial powers and the subsequent introduction of fatty pieces of meat, fast food and sugary drinks have spawned a plague of diabetes and obesity. Today, while much of Tonga's national GDP, Western Samoa and neighbors is wasted on these “western poisons”, fishermen barely manage to sell their fish.
4th of July Fireworks-Seward, Alaska, United States
Sport
Seward, Alaska

The Longest 4th of July

The independence of the United States is celebrated, in Seward, Alaska, in a modest way. Even so, the 4th of July and its celebration seem to have no end.
Christmas in Australia, Platipus = Platypus
Traveling
Atherton Tableland, Australia

Miles Away from Christmas (part XNUMX)

On December 25th, we explored the high, bucolic yet tropical interior of North Queensland. We ignore the whereabouts of most of the inhabitants and find the absolute absence of the Christmas season strange.
View from John Ford Point, Monument Valley, Nacao Navajo, United States
Ethnic
Monument Valley, USA

Indians or Cowboys?

Iconic Western filmmakers like John Ford immortalized what is the largest Indian territory in the United States. Today, in the Navajo Nation, the Navajo also live in the shoes of their old enemies.
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Got2Globe Portfolio

life outside

Vairocana Buddha, Todai ji Temple, Nara, Japan
History
Nara, Japan

The Colossal Cradle of the Japanese Buddhism

Nara has long since ceased to be the capital and its Todai-ji temple has been demoted. But the Great Hall remains the largest ancient wooden building in the world. And it houses the greatest bronze Vairocana Buddha.
Islands
Hailuoto Island, Finland

Fishing for Truly Fresh Fish

Sheltered from unwanted social pressures, the islanders of Hailuoto they know how to sustain themselves. Under the icy sea of ​​Bothnia they capture precious ingredients for the restaurants of Oulu, in mainland Finland.
Northern Lights, Laponia, Rovaniemi, Finland, Fire Fox
Winter White
Lapland, Finland

In Search of the Fire Fox

Unique to the heights of the Earth are the northern or southern auroras, light phenomena generated by solar explosions. You Sami natives from Lapland they believed it to be a fiery fox that spread sparkles in the sky. Whatever they are, not even the nearly 30 degrees below zero that were felt in the far north of Finland could deter us from admiring them.
View from the top of Mount Vaea and the tomb, Vailima village, Robert Louis Stevenson, Upolu, Samoa
Literature
Upolu, Samoa

Stevenson's Treasure Island

At age 30, the Scottish writer began looking for a place to save him from his cursed body. In Upolu and the Samoans, he found a welcoming refuge to which he gave his heart and soul.
Eternal Spring Shrine
Nature

Taroko George

Deep in Taiwan

In 1956, skeptical Taiwanese doubted that the initial 20km of Central Cross-Island Hwy was possible. The marble canyon that challenged it is today the most remarkable natural setting in Formosa.

Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Argentinean flag on the Perito Moreno-Argentina lake-glacier
Natural Parks
Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina

The Resisting Glacier

Warming is supposedly global, but not everywhere. In Patagonia, some rivers of ice resist. From time to time, the advance of the Perito Moreno causes landslides that bring Argentina to a halt.
Solovestsky Autumn
UNESCO World Heritage
Solovetsky Islands, Russia

The Mother Island of the Gulag Archipelago

It hosted one of Russia's most powerful Orthodox religious domains, but Lenin and Stalin turned it into a gulag. With the fall of the USSR, Solovestky regains his peace and spirituality.
now from above ladder, sorcerer of new zealand, Christchurch, new zealand
Characters
Christchurch, New Zealand

New Zealand's Cursed Wizard

Despite his notoriety in the antipodes, Ian Channell, the New Zealand sorcerer, failed to predict or prevent several earthquakes that struck Christchurch. At the age of 88, after 23 years of contract with the city, he made very controversial statements and ended up fired.
New South Wales Australia, Beach walk
Beaches
Batemans Bay to Jervis Bay, Australia

New South Wales, from Bay to Bay

With Sydney behind us, we indulged in the Australian “South Coast”. Along 150km, in the company of pelicans, kangaroos and other peculiar creatures aussie, we let ourselves get lost on a coastline cut between stunning beaches and endless eucalyptus groves.
Passage, Tanna, Vanuatu to the West, Meet the Natives
Religion
Tanna, Vanuatu

From where Vanuatu Conquered the Western World

The TV show “Meet the Native” took Tanna's tribal representatives to visit Britain and the USA Visiting their island, we realized why nothing excited them more than returning home.
On Rails
On Rails

Train Travel: The World Best on Rails

No way to travel is as repetitive and enriching as going on rails. Climb aboard these disparate carriages and trains and enjoy the best scenery in the world on Rails.
Society
Margilan, Uzbekistan

An Uzbekistan's Breadwinner

In one of the many bakeries in Margilan, worn out by the intense heat of the tandyr oven, the baker Maruf'Jon works half-baked like the distinctive traditional breads sold throughout Uzbekistan
Daily life
Arduous Professions

the bread the devil kneaded

Work is essential to most lives. But, certain jobs impose a degree of effort, monotony or danger that only a few chosen ones can measure up to.
Etosha National Park Namibia, rain
Wildlife
PN Etosha, Namíbia

The Lush Life of White Namibia

A vast salt flat rips through the north of Namibia. The Etosha National Park that surrounds it proves to be an arid but providential habitat for countless African wild species.
Bungee jumping, Queenstown, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown, the Queen of Extreme Sports

In the century. XVIII, the Kiwi government proclaimed a mining village on the South Island "fit for a queen".Today's extreme scenery and activities reinforce the majestic status of ever-challenging Queenstown.