The blue dragon by Steve Richards

Resembling a giant snake, The Odeleite river – The blue dragon by Steve Richards

The blue dragon by Steve Richards is in fact, the river, which flows mostly in Portugal. So, the Odeleite river (in Portugeese Ribeira de Odeleite) is a tributary of the River Guadiana. Meanwhile, the beautiful river originates in the mountains of the Serra de Caldeirao, and flows through the municipalities Sao Bras de Alportel, Tavira, Alcoutim, and Castro Marim Faro district. Photographer Steve Richards took this picture during his flight from Cardiff, Wales, UK to Faro, Portugal. According to Steve Richards, the bright blue color of the water is due to the reflection of the sky and the cast shadows on the terrain are of the clouds. The river is known as “The Blue Dragon River” because of its dark blue color and a curvy shape, just like a monster animal – dragon.

Odeleite River in Portugal, in Portuguese - Ribeira de Odeleite

The Odeleite River in Portuga (Portuguese – Ribeira de Odeleite)

Since posting this photo, Steve Richards is amazed and highly flattered that it has become so popular. “I’ve seen it on many ‘blog’ sites with people commenting left, right and center on it and a recurring theme seems to be that some people believe it to be either a computer generated image or a piece of digital art from some computer game. I even read somewhere that it was an artificially colored satellite image!”