The 2025 Edition of the Jordan Rally was amazing!
It was competitive!
It was rough!
Crazy Hot!
… and great scenery!
A collection of the best photos from the event!
Abdullah Al Rawahi and Ata Al Hmoud — Runner-up, MERC Jordan Rally 2025 🥈
A great performance from Abdullah and Ata, who pushed Nasser all the way and finished 2nd at the Jordan Rally 2025 in what was one of the closest battles of the season.
Ahead of the 2026 edition, the pair head back to Jordan looking to go one better on the stages where they proved they can fight for the win.
Enjoy some of the images from their impressive run.
Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and Cándido Carrera | Winners, MERC Jordan Rally 2025 🏆
Ahead of the coming round of the 2026 Jordan Rally, a championship filled with drama, Nasser heads to Jordan with his sights set on the win.
The classic stages of the Jordan Rally always prove to be amazing, revealing new angles, different action, and stories all over.
Enjoy some of the images of Nasser and Cándido ahead of this year’s edition.
Did you know that Baatara Gorge Waterfall, also known as Balou’ Balaa or the Three Bridges Chasm, is a natural sinkhole plunging 250 meters into the mountainside, featuring a 100-meter waterfall flowing between three natural bridges? Located in @livelovetannourine , it’s a place where you can hike, camp near the sinkhole, and explore the stunning Tannourine Cedars Forest Nature Reserve.
📸 @khaledkaram
#Tannourine #beautifuldestinations #LebaneseBeauty
Baatara Gorge
Tannourine, Lebanon 🇱🇧
The Cave of the Three Bridges, one of the most breathtaking natural wonders in the Middle East. Discovered in 1952 by French speleologist Henri Coiffait, this 255m sinkhole features a waterfall that drops through three natural Jurassic limestone bridges. Best visited during snowmelt season (March–May) when the falls are at full force.
#Lebanon #BaataraGorge #Tannourine #
Beiteddine Palace 🇱🇧
Built over 30 years starting in 1788 by Emir Bashir Shihab II, this place sits 900 meters up in the Chouf Mountains, and it still takes your breath away.
The architecture blends Ottoman, Arab, and Italian influences, from the carved cedar wood ceilings to the inlaid marble floors, the mosaic courtyards, and the arched balconies.
It’s been a royal residence, and since 1943, the summer residence of the President of Lebanon. It survived wars and was carefully restored to what you see today.
Every corner tells a piece of Lebanon’s story. If you haven’t been, put it on the list.
📍 Beiteddine, Chouf District, 45 km southeast of Beirut
#Beiteddine #Lebanon #BeiteddinePalace #ChoufMountains #LebaneseHeritage
The Cockatiel 🐤
Native to the semi-arid regions of Australia, the Cockatiel is one of the most expressive birds you’ll ever come across, and we spent time with two very different versions of it.
Swipe → to meet them both in photos and videos.
The first is the Normal Grey, the wild-type coloring that cockatiels carry in nature. A sleek grey body, white wing patches, a bright yellow face, and those signature orange cheek patches that look like permanent blush. The crest tells you everything, straight up means alert or excited, gently tilted back means relaxed, flat against the head means back off.
The second is the Lutino, a bred mutation that removes the grey pigment entirely, leaving the bird almost fully white with a soft golden wash and those same unmistakable orange cheeks. Same species, completely different look. One built for the wild, the other a product of decades of selective breeding. Side by side, it’s like looking at two chapters of the same story.
What makes cockatiels truly special is their voice.
They don’t just chirp, they whistle full melodies. Males are known to learn entire songs, mimic household sounds, and even sing in sync with music. Their “contact call” is a sharp whistle they use to check on their flock, and in captivity, you are the flock. Walk out of the room and they’ll call after you until you whistle back. They grind their beaks when content, the bird equivalent of a cat purring. And when threatened? They hiss. Yes, like a snake.
Scientists have even documented cockatiels singing human melodies in near-perfect synchrony with a live performance, a level of vocal flexibility rarely seen outside of humans.
They can live up to 25 years. They bow their heads for neck rubs. They comment on everything happening around them with soft little sounds. They are, in every sense, companion animals with personality.
Save this for the next time someone asks you what bird to get → Send this to the friend who already talks to their pet like it understands them →
📍 NOFA Wildlife Park — Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Shot on Sony Alfa 1 m2 | 70-200 | 200-600 |
@sonyalpha@sonymea@sonyalphasa
#cockatiel #cockatiellife #lutino # birdphotography
NOFA RESORT - THE WILDLIFE PARK
An hour and a half west of Riyadh, somewhere between the highway and the desert dunes, there’s an 18 km² stretch of land that feels like it belongs to another continent entirely. Beyond the wildlife park, the resort houses luxury villas with private pools, an 18-hole golf course, an adventure park, horseback and camel riding, and dining, so there’s far more here than a single visit can cover.
NOFA Wildlife Park is home to over 46 species and more than 1400 animals — giraffes, zebras, cheetahs, crocodiles, lions, exotic birds, and most of them roaming freely across open habitats, not behind bars. Very few are caged, and you feel that difference the moment you’re in. These animals have space. They have terrain. They move on their own terms.
We did the full tour the way any visitor would, from open-topped safari vehicles to the bird center, the walking areas, and what stood out just as much as the animals was the people running the place. The staff were genuinely warm, knowledgeable, and professional in a way that made the whole experience amazing.
Photographing wildlife that actually moves freely is a different game. These animals don’t pose and they don’t wait. You’re on a moving vehicle, the light shifts constantly, and the moment you frame a shot, the subject decides to turn away. The staff made it far easier than it should have been, adjusting the vehicle’s position, slowing down at the right moments, and knowing exactly where certain animals tend to gather. That kind of made the shoot very rewarding.
There’s something about driving through sand dunes and suddenly finding yourself face to face with a giraffe that resets your sense of what’s possible in Riyadh. It’s a getaway that doesn’t require a flight, just a willingness to be surprised.
More to come. In the next posts, I’ll be sharing the animals up close, one by one.
The Butterfly Sensation
Kfaraakab 2009
There’s something that happens when you slow down long enough to watch a butterfly land. The world doesn’t stop — but you do.
These photos were taken back in 2009, with very modest equipment and zero expectations. I wasn’t chasing perfection — I was chasing wonder. Crouching in the grass, heart racing, trying not to breathe too loudly, as if the butterfly could hear my excitement.
The burnt oranges, the deep blacks, the tiny flashes of red hidden between patterns no designer could ever draft. A butterfly doesn’t try to be beautiful. It simply is.
Some moments stay with you — not because they were grand, but they gave you this feeling of satisfaction.
@macro_spotlight@macro.viewpoint
#butterfly #butterflyphotography #macro #macrophotography #naturephotography
Yahchouch and the amazing 360 view into the beautiful Lebaneses coast and the myths of the off the valley.
Images from the valley, the unique Hydro plant and the coast with the magical sky imposing its presence.
Swipe to see a a collection of the photos from the area including more into the Nahr Ibrahim Valley.
The Nahr Ibrahim Valley - Lake Chouwen - Darjet Yahchouh - and the amazing coast of Mount Lebanon
The Myth says Adonis bled into these rivers. That the Forest watched empires rise and fall. That these terraces were carved by hands that loved this land more than life itself. The Mountains blend together to wave the way into the mysterious life of the valley.
The beauty of Lebanon from above!
#lebanon
#lakechouwen
#dronevideo
The Nahr Ibrahim Valley - Lake Chouwen
The Sky, The Mountain, The Valley, The River, The Lake…
Tucked inside the Jabal Moussa Biosphere Reserve on the slopes of Mount Lebanon, Jannet Chouwen — literally "Chouwen's heaven" — sits along the Nahr Ibrahim, the ancient Adonis River of Phoenician mythology. According to legend, this is where the god Adonis died, turning the river red with his blood. The lake lies roughly 40 km from Beirut at about 600 m altitude, near the village of Qartaba!
Lebanon is Beautiful and will remain…
