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April 7, 2021 80 mins

Today our very own co-host and Hidden Compass co-founder, Sivani Babu, is in the hot seat at Hidden Compass, The Podcast! Sivani is an award-winning nature photographer and journalist, and she talks with co-host Sabine K. Bergmann about everything from saying "yes" to last-minute opportunities to her desire to hug apex predators to the need for us humans to understand our place in the universe. But first, journey with us, as Sivani brings us to the beautiful and desolate ice floes of the Arctic, and explores the mysteries of the “Ice Bear.”

Storyteller: Sivani Babu is one of the co-founders and the creative director of Hidden Compass, but she’s also a lawyer turned award-winning nature photographer and journalist who focuses on exploration, conservation, and the power of awe. Sivani has chased storms across Tornado Alley, explored Antarctica by sailboat and on foot, and represented hundreds of indigent defendants in federal court. To see more of her evocative writing and stunning photos, go to her website, www.sivanibabu.com, and visit her Hidden Compass profile page at www.hiddencompass.net/journalist/sivani-babu.

You can read Sivani's storm-chasing story, "Like Dust in a Storm" here: https://sivanibabu.com/2021/03/05/like-dust-in-a-storm/; and her story about childhood visits to her grandparents' home in India, "The House on KVR Swamy Road," here: https://www.geoex.com/blog/house-on-kvr-swamy-road/.

Story: “Ice Bear” first appeared in the summer 2018 issue of Hidden Compass, The Magazine as a photo feature in our Human and Nature department. See the full story, with all its striking photographs, at www.hiddencompass.net/story/ice-bear.

Hidden Compass, The Magazine: If you like the stories you hear on this podcast, you’ll love our magazine, which brings you more stories, alongside stunning photography and bespoke artwork. And you get to be a part of it! See the faces and hear the voices of the people behind our stories, and help us forge an alliance to turn storytellers and explorers into heroes and champion a new age of discovery. Learn more at hiddencompass.net, and sign up for our newsletter at https://mailchi.mp/8539a03c8c0c/hclanding2020-explorers.

See you next week, when we’ll venture with journalist Annelise Jolley to Pattaya, Thailand, and get closer to figures long obscured by the “Trick of the Light.”

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