Amani Sunbird is a rare inborn bird of a very small and fragmanted forest range of Kenya and Tanzania. Amani Sunbird is scientifically known as Anthreptes pallidigaster and its original habitat is the Arabuko-Sokoke Forest in Kenya and in the East Usambara Mountains in Tanzania. The male Amani Sunbird has iridescent upperparts and head with belly, flanks and vent contrasting white. When agitated, shows red pectoral tufts. The female Amani Sunbird has overall greyish plumage.
Amani Sunbird – A rare inborn of Kenya & Tanzania – image by Steve Garvie
Amani Sunbird, the rare inborn of Kenya and Tanzania is endangered species which has permanent threats to its remaining population due to the quick loss of its natural habitat. There is expeditive clearance of the forest reserves for the cultivation, excessive pole-cutting, and pit-sawing that are resulting into the accelerated habitat destruction of the Amani Sunbird.
Kenya is a place of more than 40 ethnic communities and thus it is a unique African country having rare traditions and culture. Although, Kenya has no specific national dress, yet many acknowledged outfits are particular identification of this African nation that can be assumed as the traditional dress of Kenya.
A tribal warrior of Kenya in his traditional wear – Image : Retlaw Snellac
The modern population of Kenya use the Western dresses as the men usually dress up in suits with ties while the women wear skirt and blouse along with a Khanga (A wrapped cloth around the body). . The Khanga is a piece of clothing about 1.5 m by 1 m, screen printed with beautiful sayings in Swahili (or English) and is largely worn by women around the waist and torso. Similarly the Kenyan children also wear the American dresses.
A Kenyan women wearing the traditional dress – Image: Pam Morris
But what is so interesting for the student of culture and traditions about Kenya? Obviously, this is the clothing of the Kenyan tribes. Kitenge is a popular traditional dress of Kenya which is actually a cotton fabric made into various colors and designed through tie-and-dye and heavy embroidery. Kitenge is not declared as the official dress of Kenya but as it is commonly worn during ceremonies and non-official functions. Each tribe has kept alive the tradition to wear its own cultural costumes, but the Masaiare dress is truly the traditional dress of Kenya. Masai tribe is the most well known Kenyan community and similarly the Samburu and Turkana people are also specially known for their traditional costumes.
Masai Mara women in their traditional dresses – Image : The Dilly Lama
Massai women can be seen wearing vast plate-like bead necklaces, and the colorful Kanga. The men are famous for wearing a red-checked Shuka ( A typical Masai blanket) and carry a distinctive ball-ended club. The Red color is the symbol of chivalry and bravery for the people of Masai.
The Kenyan tribal men wearing the traditional Shuka – Image: Katharine Heathcock
The traditional dress of Kenya also includes the conventional sandals that are actually smooth footwear, sometimes soled with pieces of motorcycle tires. The adult tribal men traditionally dye their hair red with ochre and fat in order to present the warrior look.
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The Lovely Planet has enormous human population full of biological variations and races. These variations include traits such as skin color, eye color, hair color and texture, height and built, and cranial features varying clinally across the globe. In this series naming Women of the Lovely Planet, we hereby present before you a collection of the women portraits from different parts of the world. This is the part 1 of the series.
1- An Afghani Woman in Kabul – Afghanistan
An Afghani Woman: Image by Martien Van Asseldonk (Location : Kabul)
2- An Australian Lady in Leiden, Australia
An Australian Lady in Leiden, Australia ( Photo: Ricardo Liberato )
3- A Pretty Austrian Girl ( Austria )
A Pretty Austrian Girl ( Image by Noiseroute )
4- A Girl from Bangladesh
A Girl from Bangladesh ( Image by David Lazar )
5- A Glorious lady of Belarus
A Glorious lady of Belarus in Kchowa (Image: Jenya Korn )
6- A Kenyan Woman ( Location:Kenya )
A Kenyan Woman (Image: Bioversity International) Location:Kenya
7- A women from Bosnia and Herzegovina
A women from Bosnia and Herzegovina ( Photo: Soroptimist International )
8- A Beautiful British Lady in London
A Beautiful British Lady in London (Photo by Damian De La Ferra)
9- A Danish Girl in Denmark
A Danish Girl in Denmark ( By: Bentborn )
10- The Maltese Girl ( Malta )
The Maltese Girl (Malta) By: FotoBlu
11- A cute Chilean Lady from Chile
A cute Chilean Lady ( Matt.JP's Image captured in La Habana )
12- A Chinese woman in Kunming, China
A Chinese woman in Kunming, China (Dave Stamboulis Image)
13- A Croatian woman in her traditional dress
A Croatian woman in her traditional dress ( Image: angusforbes )
14- A portrait of a Cuban lady – Cuba
A portrait of a Cuban lady (By: Romtomtom)
15- A beautiful girl of Cyprus
A beautiful girl of Cyprus ( Image: Istanbul mike )
16- An exotic image of a girl of Finland
An exotic image of a girl of Finland (Som Sol' flickr)
17- An awesome French girl ( France )
An awesome French girl (Photo: markfoster999)
18- A Lady from Germany
A Lady from Germany ( Photo: Eddy Van 3000 )
19- A girl in the traditional Guatemalan dress – Guatemala
A girl in the traditional Guatemalan dress ( Image by Rafael Magallanes Quintanar )
20- From Haa Valley in Bhutan: A Bhutanese Lady
From Haa Valley in Bhutan, A Bhutanese Lady (Photo:rpb1001)
21- A Hungarian girl in traditional dress – Hungary
A Hungarian girl in traditional dress ( Image by Tibor Aknay )
22- A gorgeous Indian girl in the traditional clothing – India
A gorgeous Indian girl ( Image by Joe Routon )
23- An Indonesian woman (Image by Alex Saurel)
An Indonesian woman (Image by Alex Saurel)
24- A woman of Iran
A woman of Iran (Image: Aria Mehr)
25- An Israeli Woman- Israel
An Israeli Woman ( Image :Marisa Ross )
26- A Jamaican woman ( Jamaica )
A Jamaican woman ( Jamaica ) Image: Kevin Williams
27- A Japanese Girl (Japan)
A Japanese Girl (Japan) - Image: Andrew Murray
28- A girl of Jordan
A girl of Jordan ( Image: Joao Lucio Azevedo Filho )
29- A Kazakh lady in her cultural dress (Kazakhstan)
A Kazakh lady in her cultural dress (Kazakhstan- Image by Jonathan Newell)
30- A Latvian woman in her traditional dress- Latvia
A Latvian woman in her traditional dress (Image: Gatis Staprens)
31- A Lebanese woman ( Lebanon )
A woman from Lebanon (IPS Inter Press Service's Image)
32- A girl from Liberia
A girl from Liberia ( Photo: Bob Richards )
33- A Libyan woman in her traditional dress- Ghadamis , Libya
A Libyan woman in her traditional dress- Ghadamis ( Image: Eric Lafforgue )
34- A Lithuanian girl in traditional dress- Lithuania
A Lithuanian girl in traditional dress (By: Londonietis)
35- A Malaysian lady in her traditional clothing – Malaysia
A Malaysian lady in her traditional clothing ( Image : Mohd Mustakhim Noor Rehan )
36- A Moroccon woman – Morocco
A Moroccon woman ( Image: Jack Wickes )
37- A Burmese girl – Myanmar
A Burmese girl - Myanmar ( Image: Diane Wolkstein )
38- A Namibian girl of Himba Tribe – NAMIBIA
A Namibian girl of HIMBA TRIBE - NAMIBIA ( Image by Eric Lafforgue )
39- A young Tonag girl, near Binga, Zimbabwe
A young Tonag girl, near Binga, Zimbabwe
40- An indigenous Nepalese girl from Nepal
An indigenous Nepalese girl ( Image by Tim Webster )
Water Lakes are the water bodies that are usually surrounded by land and are normally found in the mountain areas, rift zones and glacial places. The reservoir of water in the lake may be either salty or fresh and it is different than the pond although both are water bodies. Ponds are smaller in their sizes as compare to lakes with no water flow and lakes are deeper than the ponds. Lakes are often fed with big streams and rivers having short-lived landscape features, as they tend to become silted up by sediment from the streams and rivers that feed them. Apart from natural lakes, in many countries of the world, there are many artificial lakes built for the irrigation of agricultural land, producing electricity and for industrial needs. The global ecological degradation has marked worst effect upon the water lakes as they are shrinking on a rapid rate. Some of the lakes in the world have tremendous importance for the environment of their respective area and some of them are famous for their extraordinary scenic beauty. Many beautiful lakes of the world have huge attraction for the visitors from all over the world and are considered as the real wonders of the nature. Here are some wonderful images of some beautiful lakes of the world;
1- Plitvice Lakes of Croatia
Green view of the Plitvice lake of Croatia ( Image: Antoine Khater )
2- Five Flower Lake of China
Five flower lake of China ( Image: by Hock How & Siew Peng )
Sunset has its own appealing philosophy in nature. Clouds, mountains, streams, rivers, seashores, trees, fields even man made architecture becomes fascinating at the time of sunset. For poets, lovers, thinkers and meditators the time of sunrise and sunset is so ravishing. Every evening, the sun vanishes below the horizon in the west and the twilight starts. The atmosphare becomes full of amazing colors at the time of sunset and it has different shades in different parts of the world in accordance with the existing seasons. Somewhere it is blazing orange, somewhere it is pearly pinkish and somewhere it is magnificent purple. Following are some of the beautiful images of the sunset around the world;
1- Camel Caravan in Sunset, Australia
Camel Caravan in sunset ( A Symoto Image )
2- Sunset : Chakri Punjab, Pakistan
The super Sunset ( Chakri Green Fields, Punjab Pakistan ) Image: By Abeer J. Chaudhri
