CONVERSATION
CONVERSATION
CONVERSATION
HUMAN TRACES:
ETHIOPIA
HUMAN TRACES:
ETHIOPIA
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
THE BALANCE OF FACTS
DESTINATIONS
DESTINATIONS
The Dreamtime, or the Dreaming, portrays the Aboriginal beliefs in spiritual existence. According to the tribes that first settled down in the continent, the Dreaming's roots date all the way back to the very begging of the creation of the world. The meaning and ideology of the term is generally not so well-understood by non-indigenous people as it is referred to as part of the culture of one of the early nations, which differs from modern perceptions.
The Spirits were the creators of everything. They made the land and the seas, the rocks and the plants, the sky and the earth. They were the higher power and the Australian Aborigines spent their lifetimes honoring this power, which guided their path and shaped their way of thinking. Not only creators of everything, which could be seen as well as felt, the Spirits also gave the Aborigines the Dreaming.
The time when everything started existing according to the initial Australians, was called the Dreaming. This is the foundation of the continent's culture. The origin of the Dreaming goes way back - 65 000 years back in time to be exact. The Ancestors of the nation shaped the land, forming some parts of it as sacred. The Aborigines were very careful and overprotective of those places, strongly believing in their significance.
The Australian Aborigines are known to have believed that the world didn't have any shape and was therefore empty. Darkness dominated, and life was simply asleep, but this changed when the creation began happening. After the Dreaming and the influence of the Spirits, objects began taking shapes and came to be. They created the four elements: water, earth, air and fire, as well as all the planets, the Sun and the Moon. The Dreaming therefore is a continuous process, which never ended. It is a small cosmos on its own, unifying the past, present and the future into one.
The Australian Aborigines' home riches so many vivid areas of the continent, including Fraser Island, Tasmania, Palm Island, Groote Eylandt and Mornington Island. The Aborigines had very strong believes in relation to the powers of the land, claiming that they never owned it - it rather owned them. The only reason they were able to call it their home is because they were looking after it and the land was taking care of the people in return.
Equally important to the Dreaming was the tribes' understandings of the disappearance of the Spirits. There came a time, when the creators of everything vanished from sight. Some of them were thought to have started living in sacred places, which is why the Aborigines perceived their homeland to be so sacred. The ancestors of today's Australians used to believe that the creators started living in rocks, in water holes and some went up to the sky to guide the people from above and keep them safe. Others transformed completely, taking the forms of the rain, the lightnings and the thunderstorms so they could be part of peoples' life.
Among the hundred's different Aboriginal languages, there isn't a word to describe 'time', because to them this simply doesn't exist. Dreaming and Dreamtime are used to replace it and summarize the ideologies of the Aborigines about everything they knew, everything they could see, feel and experience. This is why the Dreaming has such a vivid, and overwhelming meaning and has survived the obstacles of time. For the past couple thousand years, the Dreaming has built a rich cultural heritage that can identify a whole nation.
Read more about the Land, its connection to people and the way it has been perceived from different generations in the very first print issue of ORIGIN. The Land Issue covers varied topics, most of which remain related to cultural aspects of the land and its importance.
A lot of people travel to explore places and learn about them which is the message that ORIGIN wants to spread. With traveling, however, comes certain responsibilities that we should all be aware of. Elephants riding has become a popular way to explore locations by land. People have been doing this as part of their trips, mostly to places such as Thailand, Nepal, Cambodia and other parts of Asia. It is a common thing to see in certain places in Africa as well. We investigated the activity to explain why it is wrong and riding elephants should be banned everywhere.
Our first print issue studies culture and traveling represented through the land. We explored various location around the globe and learned what makes the land so valuable, which nations cherish it and how it helps us establish an identity. Traveling is important to us but traveling responsibly and making an impact is what we feel proud to stand behind. This is why riding elephants as a way of amusement should be reconsidered.
Let’s talk about the details. Elephants are very caring and extremely intelligent animals. It is a well-known fact that they never forget anything. When kept in captivity instead of spending their life in the wild, elephants die younger. Unlike in other species, this is common for the gentle giants and is often a result for stress.
Many African cultures respect elephants, believing they symbolize strength, loyalty and power. However, power can be a very tender concept. Elephant used as a tourism tool suffer from great pain daily. Elephants can be hurt very severely from the weight of carrying people and a trainer on their backs. The reason for this is the design of their spines. They have sharp protrusions, extending upwards from their spine instead of having round spinal disks. The protrusions and the tissue that serves to protect them can be harmed easily from weight pressure. Once a damage to their spine has been made, there is no going back and sometimes the harm can be irreversible. While this can’t be physically seen, the harm that the chairs can do to the elephants’ skin is. It is often the case that the chairs and the weight on their back can damage the animal’s skin and cause pain to their body. The chair, called Howdah, that gets attached to their backs, rubs on their skin and can cause blisters, which can sometimes get infected.
The training that elephants are required to go through when in captivity sometimes adopts a traditional Thai ‘phajaan’ or ‘crush’ technique. Explaining the technique would compare it to the animals’ spirits constantly and continuously being broken by the means of torture and social isolation. This is done in order to tame them. Elephants are wild animals, this is their nature as they are born in such conditions. Making them safe and obedient around people requires them to go through such training. As horrible as it sounds, in some places young elephants are taken away from their mothers to be abused with nails, bull hooks and bamboo sticks to make them obey rules, given by people. The animals often lack sleep and are starved to become submissive.
Actions from such nature are cruel and harmful as the technique is used to crash the animals’ spirit. Once wild and free, elephants become a source of tourism and entertainment. Nobody, who cared about sustainable tourism should ever ride an elephant.
In a sense, elephants have a human soul. They socialise and feel everything – pain, happiness, grief, sadness etc. They spend their life building families and finding friends. The largest land animals are a gift from nature and it is our responsibility to take special care of them and make sure they live according to their nature. Many animals, who are kept in captivity, are forced to live in isolation and carry heavy loads all day long, which is a wrong way to treat them. Their strength and power shouldn’t be abused but treated gently and celebrated by people. Elephants require minimal care to stay happy and healthy, which comes from giving them freedom to behave naturally and socialise. It is our responsibility to be culturally aware while traveling and make sure to spread awareness about the problem.
You can read the rest of the article as published in the LAND issue.
3 MINUTE BULGARIA - ONE CAR, ONE PERSON, ENDLESS BEAUTY
Read NOMADSofORIGIN Magazine’s exclusive interview with Martin Grahovski, creator of the single biggest tourism campaign ever made about Bulgaria
Words: Aleksandra Georgieva
Photography and videos: Martin Grahovski
13 August 2019
3 Minute Bulgaria is a series of fifty short videos, which gathered over 44,000 followers on social media. Martin Grahovski travels across his home country in a beat-up car providing insights on locations visitors are less likely to know about.
Martin was born in Sofia, Bulgaria but soon afterwards his family moved abroad. While they lived predominantly in the States and Canada, every summer Martin visited his grandparents back home. In a way, one could say that the project began before the initial idea was even there. In his early teenage years, Martin did a short video about the small town of Sevlievo. After obtaining a Minor in Journalism, Martin dedicated 3 years to studying International Law in Netherlands. Upon graduation, his life took a different direction when he decided to spend 4 years travelling across Europe and Asia so he can work on documentary and photography projects. It was after this experience when Martin put all that work aside and in April 2017 he created the project that gives three-minute-insights to exploring Bulgaria from the biggest cities to the small corners that just a small number of people can say they have ever visited. 3 Minute Bulgaria continues to receive positive feedback from travellers to this day.
‘‘Working on 3 Minute Bulgaria is exciting because maybe it is one of the first big solely individual creative projects.’’
Martin Grahovski, founder of 3 Minute Bulgaria for NOMADSofORIGIN Magazine
According to Martin there is an amazing number of things to be seen in such a small country. "The history and the nature are undoubtedly mesmerising." Bulgaria was founded in 681 AD, which makes it over 1,300 years old. Certain cities have preserved the atmosphere of long-forgotten times. Many historical sites such as the Thracian Tomb of Kazanlak and the Belogradchik Rocks date centuries back in time. Tourists are often captivated by the country’s natural beauty. The Old Mountain range spreads from the north all the way to eastern Bulgaria and the Black Sea coastline. Many have heard of the famous Seven Rila Lakes and quality ski resorts. But there is more to be seen beyond the tourist hotspots.
‘‘I think that what people should do when they come here is really not stay in one corner of the country. It’s all so different, don’t stay in Western, don’t stay in Eastern, don’t stay in central, try and do a bit of everything.’’
Martin Grahovski, founder of 3 Minute Bulgaria for NOMADSofORIGIN Magazine
Through 3 Minute Bulgaria Martin shares his fascination with the sense of scale in the country. According to him, the diversity in Bulgaria is more inspiring than anything else. It takes no longer than a two-hour drive to reach from the bustling capital city Sofia to a completely different scenery dominated by mountain ranges, gems of nature and archaeological sites. He shared with our team that the process can be really fun. "This sense of scale that everything is so reachable, it's so crossable - I really enjoy that."
We asked Martin what the best destination in Bulgaria is according to him. He had many places in mind. At first he mentioned the clash between the old, columnist-style buildings and the new developments in the centre of Sofia. "It is really interesting, it is not like any other city I have been to."
When it comes to the seafront, he recommends straying away from the popular seaside cities and looking out for the isolated beaches, where no tourist goes. The mountain ranges such as Rila captivate him in terms of nature. In cultural aspect Martin talks about locations form The Madara Horseman to UNESCO’s Heritage Site Perperikon. Yet, he emphasises on traditional places such as Plovdiv. In his words such cities are "very representative of the country" and its atmosphere. There is a location that stands out as his favourite destination. "My go-to place is always Veliko Tarnovo".
Martin not only takes the footage himself, but he does all the editing as well. He wanted the project to feel more like he would travel and explore the traditional and cultural scene of different locations. While there is undeniably certain negativity around the way Bulgaria has been governed, local people are truly proud with their country’s history, territory and natural beauty.
‘‘I think that 3 Minute Bulgaria will hopefully encourage people to put their work out there – whether it’s travel content, or videos they create; photos, music, whatever it is. That’s something I really hope is an outcome of this.’’
Martin Grahovski, founder of 3 Minute Bulgaria for NOMADSofORIGIN Magazine
Martin finds his biggest inspiration for his project in the people he meets. To him the human contact remains vital. One of the aims of 3 Minute Bulgaria was to portray what excites the locals. Often Martin would even include some of them in his videos. This was the case with the boatman, who gave him a ride to the largest Bulgarian island in the Black Sea. The 3 Minute Bulgaria episode dedicated to St. Ivan Island portrays the outcome of one of the most extreme experiences Martin had during the making of his project.
‘‘The boat driver wasn’t very happy with the situation, let’s put it that way. But that was very interesting.’’
Martin Grahovski, founder of 3 Minute Bulgaria for NOMADSofORIGIN Magazine
As Martin’s audience grew bigger, he was faced with more difficulties and more ideas of places he wanted to include in the series. The process of each video making was long and demanding. Martin would get up at 6am to travel and take footage until six or seven in the evening. He would edit until midnight and repeat the process the following day. One of the biggest difficulties was structuring the videos in a way that would keep the attention of viewers. Yet, Martin has undoubtedly done a great job. 3 Minute Bulgaria successfully educates and inspires people to see beyond the popular locations and discover the far less explored aspects of Bulgaria. Featuring music exclusively from artists, who are aware that they are part of the project, the series delivers beyond the promised ‘endless beauty’.
In times when we like to stick to familiar or popular travel destinations, 3 Minute Bulgaria provides insights on exceptional locations across the European country, which not even locals may tell you about. Take in this breath of fresh air and allow yourself 3 minutes to explore the diversity of one of the oldest countries on the continent. Scattered across Bulgaria are towns, historical sites and natural wonders, which remain foreign to visitors but beyond worth exploring.
Read more exclusive information on 3 Minutes Bulgaria alongside Martin’s travel experiences and adventurous stories in the extended interview. Follow the young video maker's adventures around Bulgaria online through his social media platforms and read our extended interview exclusively in the LAND issue.
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NOMADSofORIGIN is an independent annual publication with a focus on sustainable travelling and global cultural values. Each issue features interviews, engaging articles and photo guides, which take our nomadic readers through different destinations and introduce them to local people's perspectives.
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