The original limited edition Pirelli Calandar 2009. Not on general sale, the Pirelli calendar is given as an annual gift to the tire company's most important clients and VIPs.

The 2009 edition of the Pirelli Calendar, cult object for more than forty years among connoisseurs of photography, beauty and cultural evolution, was unveiled in a world premiere held at The Station in Berlin, the historic train depot that connected the capital with Dresden, Vienna and Prague in the late 19th century.

The setting for the 36th "Cal" is the landscape of Botswana, where last May famed photographer Peter Beard spent ten days immortalizing seven internationally renowned models. Beard, who lived in Kenya for thirty years, is one of the world's greatest interpreters of the mystery and charm of Africa. The Pirelli Calendar goes to one of the few places in Africa that remain wild and unspoiled, free of the ravages of war and with the highest concentration of wildlife

Peter Beard has chosen an authentic and ancestral land that is born of the interpenetration of two different worlds: the aquatic oasis of the Okavango River delta and the arid expanse of the Kalahari Desert.

The seven models are: Daria Werbowy of Canada, Emanuela de Paula and Isabeli Fontana (who debuted in Demarchelier's 2005 Calendar) from Brazil, Lara Stone and Rianne Ten Haken from Holland, Malgosia Bela of Poland and Italy's own Mariacarla Boscono (who first appeared in the 2003 edition by Bruce Weber and again in Nick Knight's 2004 Calendar).