Frog Spotting in Suriname

Do you see him? I'll give you a hint he's slightly left of center and looks exactly like the jungle floor he's sitting on. I have no idea how I found this expertly camouflaged guy as I was tromping through Brownsberg Nature Reserve in Suriname. I do love frogs and always keep an eye out for them but I think this beauty represents my best eagle-eyed effort. The most specific name I could find for this critter is "leaf frog."

Brownsberg is about 100 km south of Suriname's capital city Paramaribo. I was only able to visit the preserve on a day trip but it was well-worth the drive with its endless deep-Amazon jungle walks and views over Brokopondo Reservoir. You can also stay over-night in the park in huts or dorms, which looked clean, comfortable and made me wish I could have stayed longer.

Jumping Off a Cliff in a Tunisian Oasis

Mid-July heat in the Sahara is enough to make anyone want to jump off a 10-meter high cliff.

This desert oasis is just south of the village of Tamerza, a few hours drive from the oasis town of Tozeur. There are several surreally lush pockets like this scattered throughout the area and we'd invariably find them deserted save a few local kids swimming and some sleeping vendors. But then tour buses would come through, 40 or so tourists would meander around for about 20 minutes, more vendors would appear out of nowhere then everyone would leave and we'd have the places to ourselves again.

These local kids practice their jumping when no one is around then get tourists to pay them to jump when the tour buses are in. We watched a few scared kids jump for the first time during the quieter moments, getting nudged on by their older brothers. The water here was skin-piercing cold. It was wonderful. I didn't jump (I'm actually in this picture on the shore near my kids) but my husband Josh did.

Photo of the Week: Bunaken Island Sulawesi, Indonesia

Bunaken Island off of Sulawesi, Indonesia is known for its world class diving, so I was expecting the diverse, thriving and colorful undersea world we found - what I didn't expect was the plethora of walking trails through friendly traditional villages and a gentle culture where Muslims and Christians live harmoniously together.

Everywhere we walked people would come up and say hello and maybe share a snack. No one was aggressively friendly like you find in some places in Indonesia; on Bunaken everyone was just downright pleasant. One sweet woman about my age walked with me for 45 minutes across the island and gave me a fabulous Indonesian lesson.

This photo was taken by Josh at the Christian graveyard in Bunaken Village - just down the road is the local mosque. While it looks like the boy is praying, he's actually flying a kite.

Photo of the Week: Kaietuer Falls, Guyana

I took this picture from the edge of Kiaetuer Falls - the drop from here is straight down 741 feet (250 meters). On average there are 30,000 gallons of water being shot over every second. Swifts nest in the fall's overhang and at sunset you can watch them dart in and out of the water; stretching away from the falls are swaths of virgin, misty and surreal Amazon Jungle. This is, by far, the most stunning waterfall I have ever seen anywhere, ever.

To get to the falls you have to either hike five days through untamed tropical forest (a dream trip of mine) or do what I did and fly in a chartered 5-seater airplane. I flew in with my father and a two-person documentary film team. The only reason I had the guts to go and stand on this ledge was that the documentary cameraman stood in the same spot and filmed the falls gushing for several minutes.

When my father saw him there he yelled to the other documentary partner, "That guy's got balls!"

To which she responded, "He's got three!"

Yet after the guy had been there awhile it looked pretty safe and not so scary so I slowly inched out to where he had been standing. The water was only up to my ankles and the current at the far side here wasn't strong. I held out my camera to the edge and *snap*.

Jam Session at the Tahiti Immigration Office

This photo was taken by my friend Fletcher Irwin when he stopped by the Papeete Immigration office at noon on a Thursday. He got his visa and hung out and drank beer and played music with these guys for about four hours. Paradise.