INTIMATE PORTRAITS OF HINDU HOLY MEN

COVERING themselves in ash and face paint, these are the holy men who live their lives away from everyday society. Known as sadhus, they shun all home comforts for a life spent inside caves, forests and temples and can be found across India and Nepal. German banker and photographer Mario Gerth decided to find and photograph the sadhu people. The 38-year-old of Erfurt, Germany, says: “I have been obsessed with the sadhus for many years and set off in 2013 to look for them.

Other great stories
ADORABLE OWLS CUDDLE UP FOR THE CAMERA

HUDDLED together on a branch, a pair of adorable Javan scops owls soak up the sun .

TROUBLESOME PYLON MEETS EXPLOSIVE END

THIS is the EXPLOSIVE moment when a 50 metre high pylon came crashing down to earth in a rural field .

WOMAN NEARLY DIED AFTER PNEUMONIA TURNED INTO SEPSIS – HER LUNGS COLLAPSED AND HER LIPS TURNED BLUE

A woman has revealed how she almost died after she developed sepsis from a cold .

STAR-TI-LING: 40,000 STARLINGS MIMIC HITCHCOCK'S THE BIRDS

STAR-TI-LING: 40,000 STARLINGS MIMIC HITCHCOCK'S THE BIRDS- This could be the fearsome scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds as a flock of 40,000 starlings bask in the heat of a wonderful British sunset .

WOMAN DISCOVERS PREGNANCY…AS HER BABY BEGINS CROWNING

A support worker was stunned to discover she was eight months pregnant after she was rushed to hospital with 'stomach cramps' .

HOP ON! FASHIONABLE FROG TRIES A SNAIL HAT ON FOR SIZE

FLAUNTING its new accessory, a fashionable green dumpy tree frog poses for the camera while wearing a SNAIL as a hat .

THE ENCHANTING FOREST OF FIREFLIES

WITH the phosphorescent blobs and mesmerising patterns, these spectacular images may look like the hall marks of an enchanted forest but it is in fact the scene of thousands of dancing FIREFLIES .

WELL–HEELED: WORLD’S MOST EXPENSIVE SHOES WORTH £276,000

Here’s a pair of shoes that really are fit for a princess, and with a price tag of more than £276,000, they are the most expensive shoes in the world .

PORCUPINES COME CLOSE TO VICTORY AGAINST PRIDE OF HUNGRY LIONS

Jostling their quills into the noses of some unlucky cubs, this is the moment two feisty porcupines ALMOST defeat a pride of seven lions .

CHEETAH HUNT

Hot on the heels of a little rabbit, this cheetah is on a mission to catch his prey .

UNUSUAL ANIMAL FRIENDSHIP

SAT ON top of a Brazilian turtle’s head, this little ladybird looks content as he studies his environment from a new height .

THE POP-UP HOTEL RETURNS TO GLASTONBURY

GLAMPING is taken to a whole new level in the form of the luxurious Pop-Up Hotel .