Saturday, June 30, 2012

Acadian Village--A Living Historical Museum




Canada. New Brunswick. Acadia. Caraquet. Village Acadien (Acadian Village). Reliving the past.
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Canada. New Brunswick. Acadia. Caraquet. Village acadien. Revivant le passé.




Thursday, June 28, 2012

On the Way to a Party


Brazil. Amazon rain forest. Carrying bows and arrows, Yanomami Indians arrive at a manioc soup drinking party. They have stopped to wait for the women and children following behind before entering the host yano (communal house).
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Bresil. Foret amazonique. Munis d'arcs et de fleches, des indiens Yanamamis, invites par un clan voisin a partager une soupe de manioc, se sont arretes pour attendre femmes et enfants qui les suivent de loin. 

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The Tuareg, Admirable Moslems, Grant Greater Rights to Women than to Men




Niger. Sahel near Tchin Tabaraden. Noble Iullimiden Tuareg nomads socializing. Contrary to other Moslems, and for belonging to a matriarchal society, the Tuarerg give women greater rights than to men. 
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Niger. Sahel pres de Tchin Tabaraden. Nobles Tuaregs Iullimiden conversant sous la tente de la fille du chef de tribu. Contrairement aux autres Musulmans, et pour appartenir a une societe matriarcale, les Touaregs reconnaissent plus de droits aux femmes qu'aux hommes. Et ce sont les hommes qui se voilent le visage, quoique pas pour raisons religieuses.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

I Was once a Tuareg



To avoid distinguishing myself from my Tuareg friends on a 102-camel salt caravan across the Tenere, one of the Sahara's most dangerous regions, I wrapped my face up like theirs, though not all the way to the eyes. At age 30 I was reporting on the caravan on assignment for National Geographic.
 
A year earlier, over 30 days, I had ridden a camel with the Tuareg from Agadez, Niger, to Tamanrasset, Algeria. My story had made the cover of Venture magazine and led me to the National Geographic assignment. It also ended as a cover story and would be followed by many more adventure stories in that magazine.

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Pour eviter de me distinguer entre mes amis Tuareg au milieu d'une caravane de sel de 102 chameaux qu'a l'age de 30 ans je suivis durant pres d'un mois a travers le Tenere, l'une des regions les plus dangereuses du Sahara, je me suis fait habiller par eux.
 
L'annee precedente j'avais deja voyage a chameau un mois entre Agadez, au Niger, et Tamanrasset, en Algerie. Cela m'avait valu un reportage en couverture dans Venture magazine et un contrat de National Geographic pour cete nouvelle aventure, qui resulta en un nouvel article de couverture et bien d'autres aventures pour ce magazine.


 

Monday, June 25, 2012

Life in the Amazon



Brazil. Rio Negro at Manaus.Canoes bring plantain and bananas to land, where men carry them up to warehouses for sale at markets.
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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Motherhood under a Leather Tent


Niger. Sahel. Tuareg nomad mother and baby boy sitting on the sand of their leather tent.
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Saturday, June 23, 2012

Celebrating the Coronation of a New Zulu King




 On a 1957 Brussels-Cape Town Vespa scooter journey across the length of Africa, I took this picture of the celebration of a new Zulu chief near Durban, South Africa. I was trying to become a photojournalist  but failed in that first intent. One of the reasons was that tiny Belgium was not the right place for such a dream. To live the dream, for which I'll ever be grateful, I emigrated to the United States. 
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Thursday, June 21, 2012

Male Beauty Contest



Niger. Sahel. Standing in a moving row,  Wodaabe nomad men, including these two, are swaying more than dancing the gerewol while showing to a parallel row of women facing them the whiteness of their eyes and teeth. More than anything, the gerewol is a male beauty contest between clans. A few women, selected by the elders for their own beauty, are kneeling between the two rows of opposite genders. They will select the best looking men and take them to the bush. Folded on their heads are the blankets they will use to rest in pairs.
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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Shared Sadness


Ecuador. Andes Mountains. Otavalo. Otavalo Indian waiting for a bus after buying a piglet at the market.
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Sunday, June 17, 2012

Legendary Africa



Benin. Near Boukombe. Somba women. Spears and fly chasers, male attributes, signal the new higher class of girls parading in their dikuntiri (initiation). Recognized as adults,  they may formally join the husbands to whom they were legally married  in childhood. They are crossing a harvested millet field under a sky whitened by the harmattan, a  sand-loaded wind blowing from the Sahara to the north.
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Saturday, June 16, 2012

Thursday, June 14, 2012

The Strong Backs of the Weaker Sex


Colombia. Guajira Peninsula. Waiuu Indian woman carries 60 kilos of salt to a truck. It took two men to heave it on her back. Much heavy weight in the developing world is carried on women's backs. And are they strong! I once watched a woman in the Marquesas Islands lift a drunk men who was nagging me in her tiny restaurant, carry him to the street, and throw him out the door.
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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Across Africa on a Vespa Scooter





Once, in a previous life, and as a first of many great adventures, I rode a Vespa 125cc from Brussels, my home town, to Cape Town through the length of Africa. Here I was, in this scratched image, struggling against the Sahara,  and later among the Pygmies of the Congo's Ituri forest.

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Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Sensual Desert Woman



Niger. Sahel. Tuareg woman sitting under her leather tent . Though Moslem, Tuareg Women like her enjoy freedom and rights that Western women could only envy.
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Sunday, June 10, 2012

Saddle-hardened, a Colombian Cowboy's Butt Finds Comfort Sitting on a Corral Fence's Picket



Colombia. Llanos Orientales. Resting from spending a day separating calves from cows and felling them to mark them in a sea of mud, a weary and muddied cowboy sits on a corral fence's picket, the only dry spot around. Colombian cowboys use no boots. They work and ride horses barefoot.
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Saturday, June 9, 2012

Kuna Mother and Daughter


Colombia. Choco rain forest. Gulf of Uraba. Kuna Indian mother and daughter sitting inside their hut.
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Friday, June 8, 2012

Manicure al Fresco, a Woman at each Hand




Philippines. Negros Island. Bacolod. Manicurists attend customers in the town's central square. A man, elsewhere on the square, is doing someone's feet.
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Thursday, June 7, 2012

Armed and Dangerous Colombian Cowboy


Colombia. Llanos Orientales. A revolver at his side and a cigarette in his right hand, a cowboy is selecting, among a herd of horses in a corral,  the four horses that he will exhaust, one after another,  in a day's work. 
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Monday, June 4, 2012

If You Can't Move A Sheep, Carry It.


Bolivia. Near Potosi. Quechua Indians carrying sheep to market.

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Sunday, June 3, 2012

Mimiature Mother Substitutes of Benin



Benin. Yta Djebou (near Sakete). To help their mothers, little Yoruba girls are taking charge of their baby siblings.

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Saturday, June 2, 2012

Red Sea Shark Fishing


Eritrea. Red Sea near Thio. Misty morning. Danakil fish sharks to export their fins to China via Aden (Yemen). This tiger shark, too big for that purpose, is being returned to the sea after the Danakil removed its liver for oiling their boat.


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Friday, June 1, 2012

Samburu Moran Playing the Flute


Kenya. Mathews Range. At sunset a Samburu moran found a quiet spot to be alone with his flute.


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