Play

On this website, the word ’play’ has a somewhat broader meaning, including e.g. dancing, games, angling, carnivals, archery, etc.

Tibetan Buddhist monks, playing outside their monastery near the giant Buddhist stupa Bodhnath, Kathmandu, Nepal. – Read about Bodhnath, and about Tibetan Buddhism, elsewhere on this website, see Religion: Buddhism. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Their families being too poor to buy expensive toys, Nepalese children often play with materials at hand. In this picture, a little Gurung girl and her brother are building a castle of stones and cardboard wrappings, Kali Gandaki Valley, C Nepal. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

During a carnival in the town of Los Christianos, Tenerife, Canary Islands, these children have been dressed up for a parade, e.g. a little boy as a clown, and a girl as a giant butterfly. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

During the Hindu festival of Bada Dasain – also called Dassera or Durga Puja – many Nepalese villagers erect four long bamboo poles, tying them together above. Long ropes are then tied to the top, hanging down to form a gigantic swing. – Read more about Hindu festivals elsewhere on this website, see Travel episodes: India 1991 – Attending Hindu festivals in Rajasthan. About Hinduism in general, see Religion: Hinduism. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), playing in a waterhole, Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand, India. – Read about elephants on this website, see Animals – Rise and fall of the mighty elephants. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Boy of the Unga tribe, hunting birds with a slingshot, Bangweulu Swamps, Zambia. – Read more about the Unga people on this website, see Countries and places: Bangweulu – where water meets the sky. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

These two pictures show playing young long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis). In the upper picture, two young are hanging in a branch, letting go to drop into a waterhole at Angkor Thom, Cambodia, while the one in the lower picture is pushing half a coconut shell across flagstones near the Wenara Wana Temple (popularly called ‘Monkey Forest’), Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. – Read more about this species, as well as many other monkeys, elsewhere on this website, see Animals: Monkeys and apes. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Soccer is a very popular game among Unga tribal boys, living on Ncheta Island, Bangweulu Swamps, Zambia. – Read more about the Unga people on this website, see Countries and places: Bangweulu – where water meets the sky. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Tanzanian boys with balls, made from the sap of a forest vine. They smear a finger in the sap, and when it has dried a little, they blow it up. Then, over the next few hours, they apply several layers of sap, finally producing a small ball. The boy to the right shows a finished ball. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Malaysian top spinning, called Gasing. A rope is tied around the top, which weighs c. 5 kilos, and with the help of this rope, the top is thrown onto a flat piece of ground. While the top is spinning, another man shovels up the top with a bat and proceeds to place it on a narrow piece of metal, which again has to be placed on a piece of wood. The top must not be touched with your hands. The team, whose top is spinning for the longest time, has won. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Orphaned orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus), Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, Sabah, Borneo. Read about these orangutans on this website, see Travel episodes: Borneo 1985 – Visiting orangutans. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

During the Hindu festival Holi (‘Festival of Colours’), children spray a cyclist with coloured water, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India. – Read more about the Holi festival on this website, see Travel episodes: India 1991 – Attending Hindu festivals in Rajasthan. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

These Batak tribal children have fun, riding on water buffaloes, which they bring home after work in the paddy fields, Samosir Island, Lake Toba, Sumatra, Indonesia. More pictures of Batak people are found on this website, see Gallery: People – Tribals of the Sunda Islands. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

During the Newar festival Bisket Jatra, a chariot with an image of Hindu god Kalo Bhairab (a local form of Shiva), is hauled through the streets of Bhaktapur, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. In this picture, children are playing in the ropes tied to the chariot. – Read more about Shiva and other Hindu gods elsewhere on this website, see Religion: Hinduism. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

These Ladakhi girls are playing an ancient game. They throw several pebbles into the air, grabbing as many pebbles as possible from the ground, before catching the falling ones. – Markha Valley, Ladakh, India. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) is found in most of sub-Saharan Africa, with the exception of deserts, rainforests, and alpine areas on mountain tops. This species once ranged all over Europe and northern Asia, from Spain and France east to eastern Siberia. It is still not clear why it went extinct in Siberia, but its disappearance from Europe is linked to the decline in grasslands – its favoured habitat – about 12,500 years ago. The spotted hyena has a very complex social behaviour, with respect to group-size, hierarchical structure, and frequency of social interaction among both kin and unrelated group-mates. However, their social system is openly competitive rather than cooperative, with access to kills, mating opportunities, and the time of dispersal for males, all depending on the ability to dominate other clan-members. (Source: Holekamp, Sakai & Lundrigan, 2007. ‘Social intelligence in the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta)’. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London B, 362, 523-538.) – This picture shows a very young, black pup, playing with an older, pale pup outside their den, Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Silat, a stylized Malaysian martial art, somewhat resembling dancing. The point is to fool the opponent and then suddenly throw him to the ground. – Kota Bharu, Malaysia. (Photos copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Batak tribal children, playing with bamboo stems, Samosir Island, Lake Toba, Sumatra, Indonesia. More pictures of Batak people are found on this website, see Gallery: People – Tribals of the Sunda Islands. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Sinhalese boys, playing with ‘air guns’, made from thin sticks, which fit into a tube. When you press the stick into the tube, you are able to shoot pebbles quite a distance. – Sri Lanka. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius), playing in the Banagi River, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Read about hippos on this website, see Animals: Hippo – the river horse that lives on both sides. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Yi tribal girl from the Yunnan Province, China, playing with bits of banana leaves, which her parents have been using to wrap around goods, to be sold at a market. More pictures of Yi people, and other Chinese tribal people, are found on this website, see Gallery: People – Tribals of China. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Usually, dogs and cats are sworn enemies, but if they grow up together, like this cat and wire-haired dachshund, they can be the best of friends. – Read about domestic cats and dogs on this website, see Animals – Animals as servants of Man: Cat; and Dog. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Old and weathered wooden sculpture, depicting children, playing with a deer, Taichung, Taiwan. More pictures of wood carvings from Taiwan and other places are found elsewhere on this website, see Culture: Wood carvings. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Mural in Povls Church, Bornholm, Denmark, depicting serious sins, such as playing music, dancing, and playing games – at least according to certain puritanical Christian sects. – Read more about Christianity on this website, see Religion: Christianity. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The jet-black choughs are master navigators in the air. Often you see them in large flocks, swooping and diving, while calling incessantly – obviously showing sheer pleasure of flying. – This picture shows Alpine, or yellow-billed, choughs (Pyrrhocorax graculus), soaring above Ghunsa Valley, eastern Nepal. This species is presented in depth elsewhere on this website, see: In praise of the colour yellow. For its near relative, the red-billed chough (P. pyrrhocorax), see: In praise of the colour red. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Kittens in a hay loft, playing on a discarded sofa. – See more pictures of kittens – and read about domestic cats – on this website, see Animals – Animals as servants of Man: Cat. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

During a meeting in a women’s group on Ncheta Island, Bangweulu Swamps, northern Zambia, this child of the Unga tribe is playing with a stick. Read more about the Unga people on this website, see Countries and places: Bangweulu – where water meets the sky. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Wearing his mother’s slippers, this little boy is trying to move a plank, the size of which is obviously beyond his abilities, Bagarchap, Marsyangdi Valley, central Nepal. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

(Uploaded October 2016)

(Revised continuously)

Kaj Halberg - writer & photographer

Travels ‐ Landscapes ‐ Wildlife ‐ People

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