Kaş, once an unspoiled fishing village, is now a relatively unspoiled tourist town on the southern bulge of Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. The area around Kas belongs to the Top 100 diving destinations worldwide. This is because this area have an high amount of underwater life, combined with very clear water (up to 40 meters visibility) and beautiful underwater landscapes. Actually there are around 30 different dive spots and many great places for swimming and snorkelling:  a destination really worth a Turkey holidays, in my opinion. Always, while I’m afloat on the sea surface, I know that a more or less intense underwater life is going on just under my feet: this fact simply makes me feel dizzy!  What then,  if you are bathing or -better- snorkelling a diving spot notoriously crowded by baracudas, stingrays, sea-turtles, rare snails, dorades, jack-fishes, soldier-fishes, octopusses, muray-eels, trumpet-fishes, brasses of many kinds, as well as huge groupers? What would be your feeling when so many amazing underwater lifeforms are to be seen regulary in unpolluted and crystal clear sea waters like Kaş’ ones? Would you realize at last, that a crowded, sunken and parallel world coexists with the one we are used to  ive in?

Illustration Friday topic is: mesmerizing

Kenya wildlife is the main attraction to many visitors. The country offers a wide selection of National Parks were it is easy to watch wild animals. Young travellers really on a shoestring might think to avoid them at first, due to the cost of lodging there. Moreover you need a car since there no public transportation which allows tourist to freely wander within a Park boundery. So car hiring is the only chance, but usually  the main car rentals are not exactly cheap. Yet it is possible hiring private cars from individuals, or retail car shops, so making your cheap holiday a cheaper holiday. That’s what I did with my friend Andrew, a fellow traveller from Perth, who I met one morning at Uhuru Park in Nairobi. An almost brand new Toyota Corolla rented from some Indian car traders at a very reasonable rate at our disposal! What else? We just had a great week in Amboseli National Park hanging around among enormous elephants all day long, and camping at night in confined and secure sites: yes!

I have been visiting once upon a time, the little natural reserve of “Ripa Bianca”, just a few kilometres from home, on May, the 25th. It is a very  little area, sponsored by Italian WWF , bordering the river: actually an ideal spot for bird watching.
And I was trilled by watching, just befor sunset, a magnificent couple of herons flying slow and steady: a mother heron with its baby.

Illustration Friday’s topic is: baby

I always hated the zoo. Simply I try to figure the way an animal feels behind the bars of a cage, or what it might prefer to do instead. I like to think that every living creature was born to be somehow free, so set them free…
The cute, black, little monkey spent long hours jumping frantically inside its narrow bamboo cage. My bungalow’s neighbour, an excited fellow and an absolute beginner of the Tropics, had bought it at the local market place for a few ringit, maybe thinking to help some poor Malay chap’s wealth.
The poor animal deprived of its freedom, was moreover tortured by the constant sight of a bunch of yellow, small and extremely sweet bananas that had been bought on the purpose to feed the monkey but carelessly left nearby. And every day, as soon as the fellow came back at sunset from the beach, the little starving monkey had its meal lastly. Fortunately after a couple of weeks the proud tourist left alone, thinking that I might possibly take care of his monkey; and I did so just setting the monkey free at last,  in the forest, its belly full of bananas…

Illustration Friday’s topic is: the zoo

Red groupers typically have a stout body and a large mouth. They are not built for long-distance fast swimming. They can be quite large, usually largest fish of the grouper family, and their body, soft dorsal and anal fins, are covered with scales and thick skin.
Lapu Lapu is the Pilipino name for red grouper. In the archipelago they are important food fish.
As most other fish species which are sold in the market (talipapa) groupers are generally sold very fresh and, sometimes almost alive…The flesh is snowy white and can be cooked either as filets cut thin or as steaks cut thick.

Illustration Friday’s topic is: scales

Hotei – one of the seven gods of happiness, is also the happy god of abundance and good health. Hotei is also seen carrying a large bag over his shoulder that is said to contain gifts and fortunes for those who believe in his virtues.
He is distinguished by his body of generous proportions and round stomach exposed beneath loose robes.
As a wandering jovial monk, a spiritual activist who travels about transforming the sadness in the hearts of people, Hotei is a genuine symbol of of spiritual growt…

Illustration Friday‘s topic is: grow

Many fish use camouflage to blend into their surroundings. Camouflage has two purposes: it helps fish avoid being eaten and allows them to make sneak …among them stonefish are found in the tropical waters of the Pacific and Indian oceans. Averaging about 30 centimeters in length, their subdued colors and lumpy shape provide them with exceptional camouflage. Few fish can match the sinister reputation of the stone fish: when stepped on, the fins in the dorsal spine inflict an extremely painful and sometimes fatal wound. The stonefish is a master of disguise and deception, it looks like a piece of coral or sand covered rock, so alas, never put your bare hands upon rocks while diving tropical seas: it turns out to be really dangerous sometimes!

Illustration Friday‘s topic is: camouflage

About IF’s rejection, here are three works I like: cate anevsky ; gee,that’s swell ; zari_ZHM

Though I mostly travelled warm or tropical countries, yet the remote northern areas of Greenland and Iceland always fascinate me because of their extreme nature. As everybody should know by now, northern regions fauna are endangered by the increasing global warming, and among the rarest species, the huge polar bear is number one…
This illo was done last year after I’ve been asked to draw a Conan O’Brien vs. Bear illustration…Now I hope that it will be useful somehow, for spreading of the information: polar bears are threatened by global warming, and the zoo is far from an ideal …

Illustration Friday‘s topic is: polar

Dogs are one of the few animals that will actually swim just for the pure pleasure of it. They have also, like not many animals, a natural ability to deal with sea currents, a peculiarity that always amaze me. As a matter of fact some dogs are trained to be sea-rescue dogs; they have to learn all sorts of skills which include searching, flying in helicopters, working with human beings and other dogs…And they are very effective!
I wonder what these superdogs would think of their own. I guess they might like better to swim in open waters and maybe snap for fun at an occasional fish… or maybe this is just one of the childish fancies that very often come to my mind.

Illustration Friday’s topic is: snap

“Monkey King (or Sunwukong) was born from a stone. He wanted to be like the immortals and be free from death. He was extremely smart and capable, and learned all the magic tricks from a master Taoist. He could transform himself into seventy-two different images such as a tree, a bird, a beast of prey, or a bug as small as a mosquito so as to sneak into an enemy’s belly to fight him or her inside out. Using clouds as a vehicle, he can travel 180,000 miles a single somersault…”
Monkey is the Chinese classic by ancient scholar Wu Ch’eng-en I am reading these days. It combines the divine and human and is an allegory of own personal journey to spiritual development.

Illustration Friday’s topic is: super hero