Seeing double
Watery reflections from different parts of Earth
Inspired by the Water Reflections challenge on SNAPSHOTS, I plowed through my extensive collection of photographs over the past few years and selected a few of my favorites. I am sure that you will enjoy looking at these as much as I did when I took the pictures.
My header image is from Zambia, where I’m currently based. It’s a panoramic view over the Kafue River, which flows through western and southern Zambia, passing through a number of national parks, before pouring into the mighty Zambezi River.
I should share some more reflections into the same river, this time seen from within the Kafue National Park.
My next photograph is from Cape Town, on the southern tip of the same continent, in the country where I was born. A decorative waterwheel and waterlilies adorn a pond in Green Point Park, where Signal Hill and Lions Head reflect in the water.
Let me also reflect on a country with a very watery history — The Netherlands. (Apologies about my attempted pun, I couldn’t resist!) We lived in Eindhoven for a number of years and took many walks along a little stream close to our home. The Dommel is a little stream that flows through the rather pastoral landscape close to a major city, after coming all the way from Belgium.
As you would expect from a country that exists largely below sea level and has a long history of trading, it is full of waterways and boats. Some of these were originally freighters for carrying goods through the country and through this region of Europe, but have since been converted into passenger craft. We used one of these during a running (and swimming) weekend on the IJsselmeer with the local kennel of the Hash House Harriers.
Leaving Europe behind, let’s look at some reflections from North America, from western Canada, to be more precise. We traveled through that part of the world during the summer of 2017, and it was a truly magical experience!
I think my favourite “water reflection” image is the following one. It features the Rocky Mountains and a cloudy sky reflecting into the Bow River at Canmore, in Alberta.
A few days later on that trip through Canada, we passed through the towns of Banff and beautiful Lake Louise, and hiked up to Lake Agnes. It was early June, but there was still a lot of snow (and ice), which will provide the background for another story, one day. But it allowed for the contrasting white snow and dark rocks to reflect beautifully onto the surface of the lake.
To conclude, I want to return to Africa, and to a brilliant sunset reflecting into the waters of the Zambezi River. I have yet to see a sunset here that is not impressive.
