Weekly Photo Challenge: Rare Skies

Our trip across Africa last summer took us to the Island of Likoma in the middle of Lake Malawi/Nyassa. These Islands are close to the Mozambique coast, surrounded by Mozambican waters but part of Malawi nonetheless. We had three great days at Mango Drift, a Backpacker resort.

One of the best things about our time on Likoma were the night skies – devoid of light pollution it gave us an unrivalled view of the night sky. At this time there was a conjunction of Venus and Mars ( the planets appeared close to one another in the night sky), which doesn’t happen all the time. This and the low light gave me a great picture – on a long exposure the two planets shine brightly. Mars appears a deep red and venus white – so bright it casts a reflection on the water – ‘venus light’.

My submission to this week’s photo challenge: Rare.

Those same skies – later gave the best view of the Milky Way I have ever seen – the pictures don’t do it justice.