A Traveller’s Eye, A Thinker’s Heart
I like to tell stories. I like to take photos.
And I like to share them. Enjoy.
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MY SCOTS-IRISH KIN
St Patrick’s Day is over here in Australia and I didn’t celebrate but I could have. I’m only one eighth Irish but I think that still qualifies me for a green beer. My Irish ancestry is the most colourful part of my family tree and includes a bunch of rough and tumble Scots-Irish immigrants to
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TWO ASCENTS OF CHIRRIPO
At 3,280 metres Cerro Chirripó is Costa Rica’s highest peak, the second highest in Central America and the 37th highest in the world. The peak is the centrepiece of the 50,000 hectare Chirripó National Park which was established in 1975. I climbed Chirripó twice –alone in January 1982 and with a couple of mates in
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BRAULIO CARRILLO
Recollections from travels in Costa Rica – 1981-1986 Just north of San José, looms Braulio Carrillo National Park, a rugged park of almost 500 square kilometres. Braulio has an elevation variation of almost 3000 metres so you’ve got seven life zones from cloud forest to lowland tropical forest. Yet despite its proximity to San José
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SANTA ROSA
After viewing the photos I’ve presented so far you might start to visualise Costa Rica as lush and verdant with raging rivers running through every valley. While that’s certainly the case in the Talamanca mountain range, if you travel less than 300 kilometres as the crow flies to the country’s northwest, to Santa Rosa, Costa
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THE EXPLORATION OF LA AMISTAD
In 1982, the Costa Rican government created the La Amistad Biosphere Reserve which covers a massive area in southern Costa Rica along the Talamanca mountain range. At the time, the biosphere was relatively unknown to scientists – very few had ventured into the depths of the Talamanca. The Costa Rican National Park Service hired wildlands
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LOST SOMETHING?
Some people have a knack for losing things … not me. I can tell you countless stories of how things I have ‘misplaced’ – wallets, phones, sunnies – have miraculously found their way back to me. And now I can add to that list a one hundred dollar bill. Padma and I received a card
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A NIGHT WITH THE BEDOUIN
In May of 1992, I joined my ICARDA colleagues, including my mate Ben Wedman on a journey to visit a Bedouin group in the eastern Steppe of Syria. The Bedouin are known for their hospitality to strangers and our visit was no exception. In this photo Ben joins our Bedouin hosts for breakfast and has
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AL FURAT
The mighty Euphrates River – better known as Al Furat to the locals – starts as a trickle in the highlands of eastern Turkey and flows for 700 kilometres through northeastern Syria before joining the Tigris River in southern Iraq. The basins of both rivers form the cradle of civilisation – Mesopotamia. The banks of
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THE ALAWITE
Hafez al-Assad, the father of Syria’s current president, employed a cult of personality during his 30-year term as President to create a larger-than-life figure. His personal hero was Saladin who defeated the Crusaders in the 12th century and unified the Islamic Middle East. Al Assad was a member of the minority Alawite sect and a
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