Originally known to the First Nations of the Okanagan Valley as Khiluk, which was- and remains today revered as a sacred site producing therapeutic waters. During World War I the minerals of Spotted Lake were used in manufacturing ammunition. Later the area came under the control of the Ernest Smith Family, for a term of about 40 years. In 1979 Smith attempted to create interest in a spa at the lake. The First Nations responded with an effort to buy the lake; in October 2001 they finally struck a deal. First Nations arranged the purchase of 22 hectares of land for a total of $720,000, and contributed about 20% of the cost. The Indian Affairs Department paid the remainder.

National Geographic photographer Steve Winter has spent most of his adult life shooting wild cats. Photo: A 14-month-old cub, cooling off in a pond, is riveted by a deer that appeared near the shore. Tigers are powerful swimmers; they can easily cross rivers four to five miles wide and have been known to swim distances of up to 18 miles. (Photo by Steve Winter/National Geographic)

Pole dancers in Mexico have taken to the streets to celebrate their sport and show others the skills involved. The Pole Dance National Day celebration saw pole dancers gather in parks, outdoor gyms and on streets, using street lamps, sign posts and other objects to put on displays across Mexico City. Photo: A woman performs a pole dancing routine on a pedestrian bridge during the national day celebration of “Urban Pole” dance in Monterrey June 8, 2014. (Photo by Tomas Bravo/Reuters)

The “Paolo Di Paolo: Lost World” exhibition presents more than 250 largely unseen images from the photographer’s archive. Di Paolo chronicled life in his country as an economic boom followed the destruction of the second world war. Although those were the years of la dolce vita he was an anti-paparazzo – he shunned the salacious and respected his subjects. The exhibition is at MAXXI, the National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome until 30 June. Here: Viareggio in 1959. (Photo by Paolo Di Paolo/National Museum of 21st Century Arts)

A Nepalese vetinary and technical team release a rhino after it is relocated in Chitwan National Park some of 250 Kilometer South of Kathmandu on April 4, 2017. Conservationists on April 3 captured a rare one-horned rhinoceros in Nepal as part of an attempt to increase the number of the vulnerable animals, which are prized by wildlife poachers. Five rhinos – one male and four female – will be released into a national park in Nepal's far west over the coming week in the hope of establishing a new breeding group. (Photo by Prakash Mathema/AFP Photo)

Members of the media film as a ranger performs a post mortem on the carcass of a rhino after it was killed for its horn by poachers at the Kruger national park in Mpumalanga province August 27, 2014. Rhino poachers in South Africa now risk giving themselves away when they shoot thanks to a high-tech, gunfire-detection system being piloted in the country's flagship Kruger National Park. The stakes are high, for rhinos are being slain in escalating numbers for their prized horns, alarming both conservationists and the government since wildlife in South Africa is an important tourist draw. (Photo by Siphiwe Sibeko/Reuters)

Some of the most powerful narratives of the past decade have been produced by a forward-thinking generation of women photojournalists as different as the places and the subjects they have covered. National Geographic's “Women of Vision” exhibit features the work of 11 photographers and is on display at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta until January 3, 2016. Here: Nujood Ali stunned the world in 2008 by obtaining a divorce at age 10 in Yemen, striking a blow against forced marriage. (Photo by Stephanie Sinclair/National Geographic)

Bao Bao, the Giant Panda cub is seen by the media for the first time January 6, 2014 inside his glass enclosure at the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, DC, a few days before going on display to the general public. Bao Bao was born at the Smithsonian's National Zoo August 2, 2013. (Photo by Paul J. Richards/AFP Photo)