>> Deep in the Okavango Delta of Botswana, photographer Peter Beard directed Mariacarla Boscono and Malgosia Bela to "show me fun" as they mucked through an algae-covered swamp in May.  "Does it feel nice?" he asked Malgosia, who was submerged up to her waist in the goo. "It's nice," she replied, bringing her green hands up to her face.

The finished product — the 2009 Pirelli calendar — debuted yesterday, and you can see the whole thing here (NSFW), but it didn't come without the model cast (Rianne Ten Haken, Isabeli Fontana, Kemp Muhl, Daria Werbowy, Lara Stone, and Emanuela de Paula in addition to Mariacarla and Malgosia) going out on a limb — literally: one shot features a number of them posing nude way up in a bare tree.  And they weren't always so comfortable — a big bug was placed on Isabeli's face, and though Peter directs, "Eyes open!  Eyes open!" she visibly flinches, "I can't."

Gallery is NSFW.
*image: source

>> Last month, seven models made the trek to a luxury elephant camp in the Okavango Delta of Botswana to shoot the 2009 Pirelli calendar.

Mariacarla Boscono, Malgosia Bela, Daria Werbowy, Lara Stone, Emanuela De Paula, and Isabeli Fontana mucked around in the mud, waded in the marsh, and climbed trees, sporting little but a square of leather here, a string of beads there, while Peter Beard documented the whole thing.

The calendar won't come out until later this year, but until then, a look at the behind-the-scenes shots and retro photographs that will be interspersed between (NSFW).
*images: source