Alison M. Jones: Recent Travels

Rio Grande at sunset in Albuquerque, NM

Rio Grande Expedition, New Mexico (Feb. 16 – March 3, 2009)

The Rio Grande offers interesting comparative documentation as a North American transboundary river basin facing both higher levels of water extraction and lower levels of snow pack. Extraction issues include agriculture, increasing domestic usage, evaporation, droughts and invasive species. As Project Director for No Water No Life, Alison Jones talked to local sources while in Albuquerque for the North American Nature Photography Assoc. board meetings and Summit. She then documented New Mexican reaches of the Rio Grande and Mexican border fence impacts on the watershed. Alison was joined by Bonnie Muench, NWNL Expedition Photographer, and Jean M. Thatcher, NWNL Researcher.

See more images from the US Southwest expedition.

Gabbra women at Kalacha, a Chalbi Desert oasis in Kenya

Dassanech man poling his dugout canoe across the Omo River, Ethiopia

Waters of Africa, Part II: Ethiopia and Kenya, Summer 2005

Dassanech children in the Omo River Delta, Ethiopia

This trip of boating and camping in the Lower Omo Valley allowed a small group of 7 photographers to document local tribes, including the Karo, Hamar, Nyangatom, and Mursi. From there we continued south by boat through the Omo Delta, home of the Dassanech tribe and a rich variety of bird species, and out onto Lake Turkana, known as the Jade Sea. We ended our boat trip on the northwest shore of the lake and then flew east to the Chalbi Desert to stay at Kalacha, an oasis frequented by the Gabbra women and their camels.

Waters of Africa, Part I: Flying Safari from Nairobi to Cape Town, Summer 2004

For her safari clients, Alison published a journal with her images from 20 previous safaris and research on water as a precious, yet very threatened, resource.