The pueblo of grass roofed buildings, round river-stone plazas and pre-Colombian magic is off limits to camera-clad foreigners.

BBC: Colombia��s spiritual centre

We zipped past islands of emerald hippo grass and pairs of moody crocodiles, docking on the Botswana side of the river.

BBC: Safari by water in southern Africa

But this Saturday, we all later agreed, was the first day of summer: the smell of plowed fields and first-cut grass, the river flushed by rains, its banks covered with ferns and May apples and early wild flowers, dame's rocket and white trillium.

NPR: Excerpt: 'Gone Tomorrow'