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A portrait from Inle Lake, Myanmar

Inle Lake Myanmar portrait in black and white

As our teak wood boat slowly drifted into the dock of a shop perched on stilts above Inle Lake, I noticed the man in the window.

He looked my way and we exchanged glances. I wondered if he was the owner or if he worked there.

I gestured towards my camera and as I pulled it up to my face to frame the shot, I looked for his approval.

He nodded and went back to what he was doing as I hoped he would.

Walking towards the shop I looked his way once more, smiled and nodded to thank him for the photo.

In that moment I wished my father and grandmother taught me Burmese growing up so I could’ve had a conversation with him and the many relatives I met in Myanmar.

A dead tamarind tree in Amarapura, Myanmar

Dead Tamarind Tree, amarapura, myanmar

This image is a dead tamarind tree in Taungthaman lake near U Bein bridge in Amarapura, Myanmar. My travels took me to 5 continents in 2015 which included two new continents — Asia and South America and new countries — India, Thailand, Brazil and Myanmar. Though I saw some breathtaking places and had incredible experiences, nothing compared to finally getting to my paternal ancestral home of Myanmar.

The feeling of walking in the footsteps of my father, grandparents, great & great-great grandparents and meeting about 70+ members of my family in Mandalay and Yangon is hard to put into words.

 

 

The Aboriginal Cultural Festival in Victoria, British Columbia

 

First Nations bear dancer
Four-year-old Lason Taylor is a 3rd generation performer in the Le-La-La Dancers First Nations dance company. I captured this image as he performed at the 2nd annual three-day Aboriginal Cultural Festival in Victoria, British Columbia in June 2015.

The Le-La-La dancers are from the Kwakwaka’wakh First Nation in Northern Vancouver Island. They have been sharing their culture and traditions through beautiful songs and sacred dances of their
ancestors under the direction of George Me’las Taylor locally and around the world for 27 years.

The passing of stories from generation to generation is how their rich culture has survived and will continue to survive. Events like this are important so that we may learn about cultures in our countries and in the places we visit in our travels. Gilakasla Le-La-La.

 

 

Karula a female leopard in South Africa

Karula leopard in Djuma. © Andrea Rees Photography.
Karula, a female leopard photographed in the Sabi Sands, South Africa

Meet Karula, the ‘Queen of Djuma’

In May 2015, I spent a night at Elephant Plains Game Lodge in the northern Sabi Sands. I was fortunate to see the female leopard known as Karula during both game drives.

My favourite encounter with Karula happened when we came across her and Tingana (a dominant male leopard in Djuma Game Reserve) on the morning drive. They were on the move. but stopped to mate. We spent 45 minutes following them through the bush.

She was a well-loved leopard in Sabi Sands but sadly, she disappeared without a trace and is assumed to be dead. Those mating sessions I witnessed did not result in cubs for Karula, but in February 2016 she had 2 cubs. They were named Hosana (male leopard) and Xongile (female leopard). Hosana still traverses the Sabi Sands. Sadly, Xongile disappeared without a trace just like her mother.

Photographing Karula

I was able to photograph Karula several times during those sightings, but my favourite moment and photo happened when Karula stood on a termite mound. I captured this image the only moment she looked my way. and had mere seconds to catch it. Fortunately, I was ready. This photo of Karula continues to be one of my treasured images as Karula was the leopard that drew me to the species and WildEarth.

WildEarth / safariLIVE

It was an amazing and surreal experience being in Karula’s presence because I have watched her over the years on safariLIVE by Wild Earth. WildEarth streams a live game drive from South Africa 2 times a day every day to their YouTube channel.

In November/December 2018 I had the opportunity to visit and live with the safariLIVE / WildEarth team and crew for 10 days. You can read about my experience on the WildEarth blog here.

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