“CBS Evening News” anchor Scott Pelley has an Instagram account full of thoughtful commentary and beautiful photos. 

Pelley says photography is what originally got him into journalism. 

“When I was a boy I wanted to shoot for National Geographic. In an early newspaper job, at the age of 16, the Executive Editor steered me away from the darkroom and toward a typewriter. (How’s that for dating myself?)” Pelley said.

In a post of the photo seen here, Pelley wrote: “Of all the African cats the leopard is the most elusive. I was lucky to catch this one resting in a tree in Botswana. African leopards prefer ‘life in the limbs.’ They will even hoist a 70 pound Bushbuck aloft for safe keeping. Perhaps because they are so hard to spot, there’s no shortage. Leopards are listed as a vulnerable species but not endangered.”

Israeli-Palestinian conflict

“I have always hauled my cameras around the world on every assignment. For years, tens of thousands of images have been sitting on hard drives,” Pelley said.

“This Palestinian mother wanted to tell me about her daughter who was killed in an Israeli air strike on their home in Gaza. I’ve met Israeli mothers who’ve lost children, too. If peace can be won in Ireland, a two state solution to 70 years of grief should be possible. I often wonder why people of good will, on both sides, allow the heartbreak to endure,” Pelley wrote in his post.

South Sudan

“With Instagram I’m having a lot of fun sharing. Anyone at NatGeo watching?” Pelley said.

“This is one of the militiamen who helped me slip into Darfur to document the genocide in that region of Sudan. Since then, the United States has been instrumental in creating the new nation of South Sudan. But splitting the East African nation has not brought peace. Now the South Sudanese are fighting each other for control. Millions face hunger. The US is rushing in humanitarian aid,” he wrote.

Somalia

“I photographed this child in a clinic for starving children whose families are fleeing Somalia in East Africa. These families are being driven out by militants who have hijacked their country. The clinic, in a refugee camp, was operated by the New York based International Rescue Committee which was founded in World War ll to smuggle Jews out of Nazi occupied Europe. You can’t imagine how grateful these Somalis were to experience the life saving kindness of the American people. The principal victims of radical Islamic terrorism are peaceful Muslims who only ask for the opportunity to see their children survive. They look to America with hope,” Pelley wrote.

Helmand Province, Afghanistan

“These village elders are listening to a US Marine Corps captain explain the need for cooperation against the Taliban in Afghanistan. To them, we were one in a long line of occupying forces. They were skeptical about Democracy and equality. I shot this image in Helmand Province where the Taliban were the strongest. In the end, our 21st Century culture never translated to people living in a 15th Century world. One marine told me, ‘it’s like fighting in the Bible,’” Pelley wrote.

Combat Outpost Burrow

“This is Combat Outpost Burrow in Southern Afghanistan. I’ve been covering the fight in Afghanistan since 2001. On this trip we were with the Second Battalion of the Eighth Marines. Company ‘G’ known as Golf Company was taking the highest casualties of any unit in Helmand province at the time. The outpost where I and my 60 Minutes team stayed was named after 23 year old Lance Corporal Dennis Burrow of Naples, FL. He, and two other Golf Company Marines, LCPL Janier Olvera and LCPL Patrick Schimmel were killed by an improvised land mine. I keep this photograph in my office to remember the sacrifice of the years since 9/11 and to remember the troops still in harm’s way. Burrow rests today in Arlington National Cemetery,” Pelley wrote.

Mozambique

“I went sailing with these guys on Mossuril Bay off the coast of Mozambique in East Africa. Their boat is called a Dhow. Dhows are among the earliest sailing designs, originating in the Indian Ocean as early as 600 B.C. The Dhows off Mozambique have a single mast with one large lateen sail, essentially unchanged after 2,500 years,” Pelley wrote.

For more photographs from Scott’s travels reporting around the world, follow him on Instagram, @scottpelley.