The service was excellent. Very quick, safe and efficient turnaround and follow up.

I recommend everyone to have a copy.

The inside front page has the following message: “In Memory Of Sadri, who worked so hard for environmental protection, animals, and animal rights. He Will Be Sorely Missed.” It continues: “All proceeds of the sale of this book will be distributed to the Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan Fund For The Environment and the Earth Focus Foundation, Switzerland.” The back cover of the book has ” ANIMAL VOYAGE, Travels 1996-2007, Photographs by Hussain Aga Khan”

Well, I started to leaf through the pages and was mesmerized by all the high quality pictures taken from so many parts of the world. I realised very quickly that the person behind the lens is a maestro and I lost myself in those pictures as I tried to appreciate them. I particularly enjoyed pictures with the personal touch such as:

1) ”Page 45: Seagull eating our honeymoon breakfast, Heron Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia.” (The breakfast was a bowl of cereal.)

2) ”Page 65: My dog Bolivar and friend Zeph, Paris”
3) ”Page 74: “Broken Bolivar” – my dog wounded, France.” (The poor dog had a cast or bandage around its left hind leg and a large circular plastic collar around its neck to prevent it from biting the bandage off)

4)”Page 123: Petra and Bolivar, Sardinia”

This magnificent book of pictures by Prince Hussain Aga Khan captures a multitude of animals, trees, plants, waterfalls, habitats, ecosystems, agricultural settings, monuments and various indigenous peoples. It is a real eye-opener and I highly recommend it. As the author of a Blog on the link between science and religion in Islam, two quotes came to my mind as I went through the book:

“Muslims believe in an all-encompassing unit of man and nature. To them there is no fundamental division between the spiritual and the material while the whole world, whether it be the earth, sea or air, or the living creatures that inhabit them, is an expression of God’s creation.” (Aga Khan IV, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, 13 April 1984)

“Islamic doctrine goes further than the other great religions, for it proclaims the presence of the soul, perhaps minute but nevertheless existing in an embryonic state, in all existence in matter, in animals, trees, and space itself. Every individual, every molecule, every atom has its own spiritual relationship with the All-Powerful Soul of God” (Memoirs of Aga Khan III, 1954).

Ya Ali Madad.

This really binds our relationship with the nature. By observing nature and its habitat one recalls the Creator and his Creation – this inspire within us an internal echo to look after nature and ensure that it remains protected for a long time.