2,300 years ago Alexander The Great became the first European to rule the East. In 334BC he discovered a highly developed civilization along the banks of the mighty Oxus River. Shot on location in inaccessible, dangerous and war ravaged areas, this six part series follows Australian photojournalist and director David Adams on an epic 7000km journey from Greece to the borders of China to follow the trail of Alexander The Great.
Dr Maya Angelou, the well respected author and civil rights activist speaks so eloquently in this video about the true power of love.
She passed a couple of days ago, May 28, 2014. Read more about this amazing woman.
Camel fights Navroz (Spring Festival) Tournament, Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan
Great news for those adventurers in North America. Our most recent 6 part documentary, Alexander’s Lost World, is now showing in the US through American Public Television.
The DVD set of the series is also available, only to North America Region 1 through – Amazon; Barnes & Noble and Acorn.
Journeys to the ends of the Earth
Journeys to the Ends of the Earth – Screens on Foxtel History Channel – Australia & NZ every Tuesday at 730pm and Sunday 830pm right through February, March and April. Originally commissioned by the Discovery Channel, this 13 part series was driven by the motto, “If Marco Polo were alive today, where would he go?”
For those of you who live elsewhere remember you can see “ Journeys” online, anytime when you join David Adams Films.
Vale Russian Archeologist
Viktor Sarianidi , who has died aged 84, was a Russian archaeologist who found himself starring in his own Indiana Jones adventure when he unearthed six burial mounds at Tillya Tepe on the plains north of the Turkmenistan mountains in the historical region of Bactria, northern Afghanistan.
The graves — of five women and one man — contained almost 22,000 gold artefacts which had remained undisturbed for more than 2,000 years. Sarianidi made his discovery in 1978 when he was looking for sites from the much earlier Bronze Age.
The identity of the graves’ occupants is disputed. Possibly they were Sakas, a nomadic steppe people known to the ancient Greeks as Scythians, who roamed across huge swathes of Central Asia and had overthrown the Greco-Bactrian empire in the second century BC. In any case, the grave goods testify to the richness of a culture, straddling the Silk Route, which borrowed from the civilisations with which it came into contact, from the Chinese and Indians to the Parthian civilisation of Iran and Greece.
The year 1978 was not the most auspicious for an archaeologist, let alone a Russian archaeologist, to make such a discovery in Afghanistan. The country was sliding towards a civil war sparked by a Soviet-backed communist coup the previous year. In 1979 the Soviet Union would send troops into Afghanistan, initiating a war against the Western-backed Mujahideen which lasted for nine brutal years.
Sarianidi recalled that in the days before the first items were uncovered in late 1978, he and his Afghan workmen had been surprised by a group of armed tribesmen charging towards them on horseback “like sand devils off the desert”. The workmen begged him not to reveal what they had been doing, fearing they might be shot.
Extract from the UK Telegraph. Read More of this fascinating history. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10564751/Viktor-Sarianidi-obituary.html
Viktor Sarianidi, born September 23 1929, died December 23 2013
Skateistan is an innovative, non profit organisation set up by an Australian. They use skateboarding as a tool for empowering youth, to create new opportunities and the potential for change. They connect youth and education through skateboarding in Afghanistan and Cambodia.
If you haven’t seen it already, check out the new Spitfire Wheels x Skateistan collaboration wheel. A portion of the proceeds from all sales go towards Skateistan’s activities in Afghanistan and Cambodia.
You can help spread the word about Skateistan, their activities and the latest Spitfire wheels! Share the video or post any of the images from our blog on Facebook or Instagram and tag #keepskateistanrolling and @skateistan.
http://spitfirewheels.com/skateistan/
http://skateistan.org/blog/spitfire-x-skateistan-wheels
Jimmy Nelson Karo Tribe – Ethiopia
British photographer Jimmy Nelson has travelled the world for three years, visiting 35 tribes in all five continents, to document their lives and customs before they disappear. His book, “‘Before They Pass Away” is a superb record of a “fast disappearing world”.
As it happens our next adventure is visiting some of the same tribes along the Omo River in Ethiopia, before a controversial dam changes their way of life forever.
weather.com
Until November 2012, Plosky Tolbachik hadn’t erupted in more than three decades. Now the volcano, located on Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, is no longer considered dormant. And photographer Andrey Zemlyansky was in the right place at the right time to capture the deep hues and intense heat of flowing lava from an active volcano.
The images above are the awe-inspiring results.
In mid-July, Zemlyansky and his wife visited the volcano in an effort to get some photos. “We had been standing up quietly, sipping vodka. Lava was flowing past calmly,” he said. “When I went to pick up my camera that was lying on the edge of the lava crater, I noticed it was filling with lava, while the lava stream in the canyon had almost dried out.”
A few minutes later, a jet of gas spewed from crater, making a sound akin to porridge leaking out of pan, as Zemlyansky described it. Plosky Tolbachik was at it again.
Michele Berger -www.weather.com/news/science/incredible-photos-plosky-tolbachik-volcano-erupting-20131010
Too many rhinos are being killed, too fast. Dr Joseph Okori, head of our rhino programme in Africa, has told us about the African rhino poaching crisis in this video.
Learn more and spread the word: http://bit.ly/1d7lZuy
Alexander’s Lost World – History Channel – Australia & New Zealand
Alexander’s Lost World will be showing on Tuesdays at 7:30pm from August 13 till September 17, on the History Channel in Australia and New Zealand! Click the link for more information.
David Adams Films Blog 
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