Seattle, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Khartoum, Addis Ababa, Istanbul, Amsterdam, Seattle

I'm fresh off the plane from having spent almost three weeks in Africa. I traveled there with three other photographers and after landing in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia we headed south. Journeying to Africa's most remote tribes, whose way of life remains mostly untouched since ancient times. The valley is remote, the landscape is arid and harsh and it takes three days of driving on rough dirt roads to get there. We loaded up with four jerry cans of diesel, 80 liters of water, and enough ramen noodles to last us two weeks. We camped. We slaughtered a goat, and ate it for dinner one night. We sometimes stayed in hotels. In sleeping bags, on air mattresses for fear of getting bitten by bed bugs. I always checked my shoes for scorpions. Took my malaria pills. And wondered every time I heard someone cough, if it was tuberculosis. And I loved every minute of it. I saw monkeys, crocodiles, hippos, gazelles, and more types of birds than I have ever known. Vultures, Cranes, Herons, Robins and Starlings. There's donkeys and roosters that wake you up in the morning. There's UN trucks and World Vision signs everywhere. And most people carry water in bright yellow canisters, in addition to a machete and/or an AK-47 or Kalashnikov. The coffee is fantastic. The billboards serve as educational tools promoting safe sex or washing hands with soap as opposed to serving as advertisements. Every kid I encountered asked for water bottles, candy, a t-shirt, money, or shoes... and sometimes all 5 in the same sentence. One of the tribes we visited is 100% HIV positive. Please check the galleries for more photos. I was sad to leave, happy to come home, and already ready to go back. xo, Brookelyn

I'm off in a couple of hours for Amsterdam and then onto Ethiopia. There's not a whole lot of internet access over there, so no updates for a while. I'll be back November 7th with about a million photos to post. xo, Brooke