Stories

Wines of the Cape

May 19, 2005

1-415-77 stock photo of South Africa, Franschhoek, Sunrise on Groot Drakensteinberg

Behind a stately seventeenth-century mansion, set in a formal garden flanked by five ancient camphor trees, rows of manicured grape vines rise towards a phalanx of rugged peaks, maroon in the clear dusk light. On a similar crisp windy evening, 350 years ago, the first Dutch settlers urged their wagons across the low passes to the fertile valleys inland…

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Elegance among Elephants

May 18, 2005

7-399-26 stock photo of Zimbabwe, Zambezi NP, Sunset on the Zambezi River
text by Maxine Rose Schur

Sunset, Matetsi, Zimbabwe. The sun —a fiery globe — cast flames of light across the river. Though forty kilometers away, Victoria Falls filled the sunset air with a constant purr. Elephants grazed on the papyrus-covered islands and rolled in the mud wallows close to shore…

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A Festival of Masks

January 17, 2005

2-701-96 stock photo of South Korea, Andong , Mask Dance Festival, Portrait

Each October for the past six years, traditional Korean dancers from throughout the country have gathered along the banks of Nakdong River in the small town of Andong in the province of Kyongsangbuk-do for what is now one of the most popular mask dance festivals in Korea….

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Serendipity

March 28, 2004

8-602-3 stock photo of Laos, Luang Prabang, Fisherman on the Mekong River

Wow that was lucky! That’s amazing! How did you manage to get that? How many of us have heard comments like this when showing photographs from a recent trip?….

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By the Waters of Andaman

January 1, 2004

7-503-3 stock photo of Cruises, Clipper Ships, View from the fore mast, Star Flyer

The huge white squaresails billow with wind from a clear and cloudless sky. Lanyards hale and strain against the sturdy steel of the four masts as we speed forward across the turquoise waters of the Andaman Sea. The wooden deck rolls gently with the waves and the breeze fills our spirits too. It is the morning after leaving Phuket on the clipper ship SPV Star Flyer and we are finally under sail…

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Get up and Dance

December 7, 2003

8-176-4 stock photo of Trinidad, Carnival, Costumed dancer

The captivating rhythmic drumbeats of soca and calypso music echo across the broad green of the Queen’s Park Savannah and radiate out to the forested hills overlooking the city of Port of Spain. As you approach the central grandstand the sound grows louder, more varied, the syncopation more subtle. In the dusty forecourt crowds of dancers wait their turn to cross the stage with their bands, dancing to the beat…

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