Natural splendour, real musics, wines, wordpower
This post’s image does not at all resemble #30’s shot of a “Silk Road” remnant.
Its vantage point, however, was only a few footsteps distant from #30’s; #31’s photo was taken less than a minute later, from the same side of the Karakoram Highway, whilst en route from Gilgit to the Hunza Valley.
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In the “western” world, polo is associated with toffs and tycoons.
That is certainly not the case in northern Pakistan.
There, we witnessed a much “earthier”, less “regulated” kind of polo.
Its players – both human and equine – were highly skilled.
Their stamina was remarkable.
Arguably, the match’s conduct and spirit were closer to polo’s origins than would be any match played on 21st century “western” turf.
Khaplu’s polo ground has no turf…
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Amritsar’s Golden Temple complex is refreshingly non-commercial; even its suitably-huge toilets are free. (and meticulously maintained)
All nearby streets are another matter, entirely; shops abound.
Rents for commercial premises are reportedly among India’s highest,
However, a lot of commercial activity does not benefit landlords – it is “informal”, “al fresco”, conducted on the actual streets.
Every word in today’s subtitle applies to the Hoarusib River, shortly before it sometimes flows into the Atlantic.
Comments closedEach photo in this post has a distinctly different “feel”, I think.
All three were taken within the same “window”, of fewer than four minutes.
The (400 mm) telephoto image, below, looks closely at what occupies just a small portion of the left side of the wide-angle (30 mm) featured image, above.
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Some Namib-dwellers – plants and animals – look extremely tough, “hard-shelled”, “brutal”.
Others, however, have a surprisingly “delicate” appearance.
I have no idea of even the common name of the pictured example.
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This post and the next two in this series are devoted to striking examples of plants that have evolved/adapted to survive in the least-rainy part of the Namib Desert.
The featured image’s stark centre of attention is (I am almost sure) a particularly hardy member of the geranium family.
It is probably one of the “Sarcocaulons” – members of what was formerly the generally-recognised genus Sarcocaulon.
Since 1996 these plants are usually numbered as members of the genus Monsonia.
One species – which may or may not be the one pictured above – contains a highly flammable resin which persists even when the plant is “dead”…or “dead”-ish.
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A hunch about the “castles”…
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Our vantage point and the time/date were essentially “as per immediately-preceding post”, but instead of looking due west, to the Atlantic, this post has heads and camera turned in other directions.
To our east, south and north, the view was almost 100% “dunescape”.
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Construction of a cableway on Mount Etna began in the 1950s.
The first version began operations in 1966.
Etna first “intervened” in 1971, destroying the cableway’s upper section.
Various other eruptions have since wreaked varying degrees of destruction, resulting in repeated closures, rebuilds and realignments.
Since the spring of 2023, the cableway and its (new) cable cars have been as they appear in my photo.
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