Rarotonga (COOK Is.)

This awesome card shows one of the lush high peaks on Rarotonga, Te Rua Manga, soaring to 413 meters above sea level. A very colorful air balloon stamp celebrates manned flight.

IVORY COAST / Cote d'Ivoire

This lovely card shows the Medy dancer group sporting traditional strings, headdresses and ornaments

Rep. of SOUTH AFRICA

This lovely card shows Kosi Bay, in the region of Maputoland, eastern kwaZulu-Natal province.

MALDIVES

This lovely card shows two of the 800 islands of the Maldives, as well as the traditional boats and pirogues that are used for inter-island transport; the card was franked with a floral stamp showing a rose

PANAMA

This card comes from the Pacific coast of Panama,and shows a fishing village. Part of Colombia until 1903, Panama became independent with help from the U.S. The canal was finished in 1914, and shipping has been a mainstay of the economy, alongside banking.

MAURITANIA

This amazing card show a caravan of dromedary camels in the Sahara beyond the capital, Nouakchott. The domestication of this species by humans several thousand years ago is widely thought to have allowed expansion of human settlements into desert areas otherwise too forbidding.

CHILE

This stunning card shows the Siete Tazas National Park in the Maule region of Chile. This pristine area is known for its series of cascading waterfalls, and its forests are home to a population of rare Burrowing Parrots.

CAMBODIA

Here is a stunning card of part of the Angkor (Khmer culture) ruins, reflected on the waters of the great lake Tonle Sap. Researchers believe that Angkor was the largest pre-industrial city ever built by man.

BENIN

This lovely card shows a nature reserve (most likely Pendjari National Park) in northern Benin, and two native mammal species. The waterfall shown varies in size with seasonal rains, typical of the savannah region.

YUCATAN (Mexico)

This lovely card came to me from a friend who was visiting the natural sights of the Yucatan Peninsula. The card shows flocks of Greater (Caribbean) Flamingoes, and was franked with a stunningly colorful stamp. Simply wonderful!

NAMIBIA

This lovely card came to me from Keetmanshoop, Namibia, and shows a grove of Quiver trees, typical for the region, and known as Kocherbaum in afrikaans.

NICARAGUA

This card is from a very special place, San Juan del Sur, a fishing village in SW Nicaragua not far from the border with Costa Rica. This is one of the most charming and memorable (for me) places in the "land of lakes and volcanoes"...