Maasai Warrior

This man is a member of the Maasai tribe in Kenya. He is wearing a lion mane in on his head. Maasai warriors traditionally had to prove their bravery by killing a male lion as part of the rite of passage into manhood. Today, with lion populations on the brink of extinction, Maasai are competing in a Maasai Olympics instead. Events are based on traditional Maasai skills, including running, spear and club throwing, and vertical jumping.

A Little Pop of Color

One of the things I like about living in New Mexico is the color. Sure, the landscape is brown with a touch of light green in some of the native desert weeds. But there is color to be found.

The sky is an amazing crystal blue due to the high altitude (I live at about 5,300 feet), the very low humidity and the lack of air pollution. Sunrises, especially in winter, can be amazingly beautiful. 

And perhaps to compensate for the brown, dry-as-dust environment, New Mexicans like to add color wherever possible, such as this bright blue gate set in a gray stone wall in Santa Fe. These pops of color -- whether turquoise, blue or red -- are always a delight to the eye. 

Visit to an Ancient Capital

This panoramic shot of the Kremlin and the Moscow River was taken during a visit to Russia in the summer of 2012. Moscow dates back to 1147, making it a very old city indeed. 

I promised to take my daughter, who was born in Russia and lived in that country for the first 11 years of her life, back to her homeland when she graduated from high school. We started our trip in Moscow, where I had lived for 3-1/2 months in 1999, and then we journeyed to Tyumen' in western Siberia. We got to visit the nearby village of Berkut, where she had lived in an orphanage and we met with the orphanage director and a few of the caregivers, who treated us to a typical Russian lunch. Then we flew to St. Petersburg for a few days.

A Helping Hand

An orphan elephant gets a helping hand from a caregiver at Nairobi's David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust.

The center runs a center for orphanaed baby elephants, usually after their mothers were murdered by poachers in Kenya. The babies are provided with special milk and emotional support to help them recover from the trauma of watching their mothers, and sometimes their entire family, gunned down for their ivory. The DSWT is the most successful orphan-elephant rescue and rehabilitation program in the world and one of the pioneering conservation organizations for wildlife and habitat protection in East Africa.

This photo was taken during my 2016 visit to the orphanage during the noon feeding, which is open to the public. The Nairobi center typicalls has around 35 orphans in residence. Once they are considered ready, they are transferred to one of the Trust's reintegration centers, where the orphans can interact with wild elephants, learning proper elephant behavior. Some of the ex-orphans have returned to the reintegration centers to show off their newborn calves. The Trust has so far raised some 150 calves and released them into their natural habitat.

I am sponsoring three orphans. If you want to get involved by sponsoring a baby elephant, you can do so for only $50/year.

www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org

Moving Forward

This week's image is of a school boy passing a mural in the Fusterlandia area west of Havana. The mosaic mural, one of many found in Fusterlandia, shows the boat on which Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and other leaders of the 1959 revolution came ashore in Cuba.

Cuban artist Jose Fuster began decorating his humble house in a run-down area of Havana with brightly colored mosaic tiles in simple, almost childlike designs in 1975. He asked neighbors if he could also decorate their homes and businesses. As he continued to add mosaics to the neighborhood, the once economically depressed area began to attract tourists. Today, his colorful creations cover an entire neighborhood and are a popular tourist attraction.

On the Road Again

This coyote was spotted trotting down a plowed road in Yellowstone National Park last winter. Coyotes, bison and other wildlife frequently walk down plowed roads rather than expending valuable energy forcing their way through deep snow. Bison in particular struggle to find enough food beneath deep snow. Some 10 percent of Yellowstone bison reportedly do not survive each winter.

Valley of Monuments

Monument Valley is part of the Colorado Plateau and includes areas in both Utah and Arizona in the American Southwest. 

At an elevation of 5,000 feet to 6,000 feet, the valley is marked by the presence of many red buttes that get their color from the presence of iron oxide. 

Monument Valley is owned by the Navajo Nation as part of Navajo Tribal Park. It has served as a backdrop for numerous movies, particularly Westerns.This is a place I had wanted to visit for several years, so last year I decided to spend my birthday there.