Category Archives: environmental portraits

The Kara/Karo people, a small tribe of Omotic people, living on the east bank of the Lower Omo River in Ethiopia, are perhaps best known for their love of beads and face paint. With fewer than two thousand members, the Kara are one of the smallest tribes in the region. They are related to the […]

View full post »

Anyone familiar with the rugged, jungle-clad terrain and dearth of infrastructure across Papua New Guinea will be horrified by the news of the recent rise of Covid-19 cases in the country (e.g. Covid Cases Triple). The very remoteness of tribal territories that helped keep the epidemic at bay until now also complicates the delivery of […]

View full post »

As we parked our car and followed the stone and concrete walkway into Wadi Bani Khalid, I had Maria Muldaur’s Midnight at the Oasis dancing through my head. Walking towards the green date palms after two days in the magical Sharqiya Sands Desert (see: Sand Songs and Desert Dreams and Life in the Desert), it […]

View full post »

“Respect all religions. Practice your own.” So said a Swami visiting Australia many years ago in interview when asked if he wished to attract people to his Hindu faith. Proselytisation is an alien concept in Indian religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Sectarianism violence has played – and still plays – a central […]

View full post »

India is an intensely sensory experience. For me – a Westerner who grew up in a conservative culture of lowered voices and subdued shades in the northern prairie lands of snow and open spaces – the colours, the smells, the heat, and the press of the crowds in India can quickly lead to sensory overload. […]

View full post »