A memoir is a safari back through time. Whether you write it or not, some part of
your life deserves a memoir. Which years, which events were most meaningful for
you?
It was easy for me to answer that question. I’d always
wanted to write about my life-changing adventures in the 1960s in California. But
when would I find the time?
I spent years getting my Ph.D., then went to Cambridge University in UK, where I met and married David. We then went to Africa, spending four years studying lions in the Serengeti ecosystem. More years followed doing scientific papers, research seminars and lecture tours, then back to Tanzania to do education projects. After two more decades living in a colorful, wild, fascinating rural village, we finally came to roost here in Arizona.
That’s a long road to a memoir. Once we had settled, I retrieved
boxes of letters from my sister’s barn in California, gathered more letters and
memories from friends, found notes and sketches I’d made back in the 60s. During
the next 20 years I put all that together and got David to create the
illustrations. Finally it’s written, published, available!
Now you can read about my life journey through the 1960s. That was the time that formed me and pointed me along the path towards all the other fun stuff. I’ve written my memoir with the aim that it will resonate with you, inspire you, cause you to remember your own life, maybe do your own memoir. If you’re young, get out of your comfort zone and try something different! That is what I want, so start now, read Feathered Canyons, think about life’s lessons – mine are summarized in a section at the end of the book.
Start writing about – or living – that special, memorable part of your life!
Small-spotted genet, Genetta genetta and Ringtail, Bassaricus astutus
I am fascinated by the way environments shape animals that have different lineages. Two animals that fit this look-alike-but-different description are Ringtails in the Americas and Genets in Africa.
Here are pictures of these two look-alikes. Both the ringtail and the genet are deft, busy nocturnal creatures with pointy noses and big eyes. Their ringed tails are as long as their bodies. They are both about the size of a small cat. There are some differences: Ringtails have white around their eyes, brown fur, while the genet has spots all over its body.
The ringtail and the genet behave similarly.
By night they run up and down trees hunting for small prey: fruit, insects, lizards,
birds and rodents. By day they hide in holes or brush. Both slinky creatures
are hyper alert, adept at keeping out of the way of their main predators that
include snakes, owls, and big cats.
Their way of life demands the ability to
see well in the dark, to climb, balance, snatch and be willing to eat most
anything. These qualities mean a compact body, short legs, big eyes, a sensitive
nose and ears, plus a long balancing tail. Ringtails and genets are mostly
solitary animals, mate briefly and the young stay with mom for a short time
until they can hunt for themselves.
Ringtails and genets look alike and act alike but their most recent common ancestor was 60 million years ago, when the “cat-like” carnivores (Feliformia) separated from the “dog-like” Caniformia. From the latter stock evolved the Procyonids in the Americas. The Procyonids today include ringtails, racoons, coatis and kinkajous. About 10 million years ago, ringtails and raccoons diverged from one another. That means they separated longer ago than humans did from chimpanzees. The ringtail is Arizona’s state mammal and lives in many parts of the desert, places we can glimpse and appreciate them.
The genets are part of a group called the Viverrids that evolved from Feliformia stock in the Old World. They include genets, civets, and linsangs – all mysterious scented creatures that are among the most poorly known carnivores. The similarities between ringtails and genets are due to adaptation to similar environments. This is called convergent evolution and is fairly common in nature. Examples include hummingbirds in the Americas and the similar but different lineage of sunbirds in Africa. Also sharks, a fish, contrasted with a dolphin, a mammal, but both streamlined swimmers. Even plants converge in appearance when they have to cope with similar habitats. Consider the spiny desert cacti of the Americas and the spiny euphorbias of Africa. Very different genetic backgrounds but both groups needing to conserve water and protect themselves from animals in hot climates.
Ringtail exploring my mining cabin, Feather River CA, 1966
Ringtails introduced themselves to me when I was a young placer gold miner in the mountains of California. When they visited our camp, hardened miner types melted in their presence. We loved to lure them in, feed and play with them, but left them wild and free. I got hooked on these creatures, called Bassaricus astutus.
Later when I went to Africa, I was struck by the similar genet, Genetta genetta, who also came into buildings to be fed, yet remaining wild and free too. Ringtails and genets are my “totem” animals. I identify with them. I too am a visitor to the modern busy world. I feed and play here but long to escape back to the wild.
The author with a genet at Ndutu Safari Lodge, Tanzania, 1987
A friend who ran a lodge in the southern Serengeti where genets were abundant gave me the nickname Genetta. It fits me better than Bassaricus. My Genetta name reminds me of both these graceful convergent creatures of the two different continents that have shaped me.
Colorful, floating, flying, festive and fun. I love balloons. The little ones you blow up evoke happy images of celebrations and the hot air ones that lift you high to soar over landscapes can pull you physically into a higher realm. Today I saw a hot air balloon making its way across the Tucson valley, framed by our iconic saguaros. It reminded me of the thrill of seeing the land from on high.
Recently both of us had a chance to climb into the big baskets and fly over Serengeti. Jeannette got a ride over the kopjes and plains where animals collect around the Seronera river. David got to float over the southern plains covered with vast herds. It was a rare treat to view one of our favorite landscapes aloft. The bubbly champagne breakfast can lift your spirits even higher!
Balloon over wildebeest, Serengeti Plain
Wildebeest and balloon shadow, Serengeti Plain
Wildebeest herd on Serengeti Plain as seen from balloon
Looking a gorilla or chimp in the eyes is – for most humans – a profound experience. Ape eyes are so enigmatic and it’s obvious that we have much in common in the way of facial expressions and behavior.
Do you like being stared at? Probably not. In most primates a direct stare is a threat, while looking down or away is submissive. Being able to read the eye movements of others is very important in social communication. This is easier to do if the color of the iris contrasts with that of the sclera – in our case, the sclera is the “white of the eye”. In other members of the hominid family (apes and us) the sclera is usually darker, but occasional mutants show a white sclera too. Why might it be an advantage to have a white sclera? Why do some people dye their sclera black?
Here is a fun quiz for all of you who think you know how to tell about a person or animal from the eyes. See if you can guess the owners of the eyes at left. (Answers below)
Dense crowd of Lesser Flamingos in Big Momella Lake, Arusha NP
Everyone loves flamingos, those bundles of pink plumes on stilts. People on our safaris always want to find and photograph them. Here in Tanzania, at Arusha National Park near Mt. Meru, there are soda lakes where flamingos cluster. Flamingos are beautiful, yes, and are also highly evolved to exploit their unique habitats – lakes full of algae and small crustaceans. They feed with beaks upside down, straining this food from greenish looking water. The chlorophyll of the algae contains carotenoids, pink or orange compounds which are deposited in flamingos’ plumage. Lesser flamingos, who feed directly on algae, are pinker than greater flamingos who eat brine shrimps. The quality of their shallow watery ‘pastures’ constantly changes, so they flap from lake to lake in the rift valley seeking the best food. We used to live on a flyway between Lake Eyasi and Lake Manyara, and often at night we’d see and hear their honking V’s passing over. These strange birds do amazing group parades, chorusing while marching, and they build crusty crater-like mud nests in the middle of desolate caustic lakes.
Flamingos fringe one of the Momella Lakes
Here I want to share a fact about these fascinating birds. Researchers in 20 nations spent four years on a project to sequence the entire genomes of 48 species of birds. One of the results is that flamingos are closer relatives to pigeons and grebes than to look-alikes such as egrets and storks. Another surprise was that the chicken seems to be way back there in the genome line, closer to the original bird stock than anything except ostriches. Studies on bird evolution continue to evolve!
The Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos is a wonderful film produced in 2008 by Disney. If you missed the TV presentation maybe your library has it. This link tells you more about the film.
A Lesser Flamingo’s bill is all dark red, and its plumage is rich pink.
A Greater Flamingo’s bill is pink with a black tip, and its plumage is paler.
Mt Meru (L) and Kilimanjaro (R) viewed from Moivaro near Arusha
I’m looking at two huge dormant volcanoes that grew out of the stretched and splitting rift valley floor. This is the view from above the house where I’m staying with friends just outside Arusha – known as the safari capital of Tanzania. Mt. Meru rises steeply above the city and Mt Kilmanjaro dominates the land 50 miles to the east.
These two mighty mountains impress me with their majesty and moods. We get to see them frequently because the international airport was built halfway between them in order to avoid their massive effect on wind and weather. We got to know these two while writing guidebooks about them for Tanzania National Parks years ago. In addition to their uplifting views and challenging climbs they shared secrets too, their shy wildlife like bushbucks and plume-tailed colobus monkeys, their forests, canyons, ponds, streams and falls of butterflies as well as water.
I’m especially fond of Mt. Meru, a blown out cone (similar to Mt. St. Helens) almost 15,000 ft high and very steep.
Here, Mt Meru looms in the distance with “parasitic cones” in the foreground. You can just make out the torn side at the right of the mountain in the picture.
Mt. Kilimanjaro is more bulky and going bald in the warming climate, its ice cap melting. Kili is Africa’s highest and the world’s highest free-standing mountain at 19,340 feet above sea level. Kili is actually composed of three cones – broad-shouldered Shira, the eroded peak of Mawenzi and indented top of Kibo with its crater and ice-fields.
I’m not a lover of hikes in high cold places. However, the plant and animal life on these rift valley mountains is abundant and extremely attractive. Here are some pictures to give you glimpses of life on the mountains.
A red balsam flower, Impatiens kilimanjari, endemic to the forests of Kilimanjaro
A Black-and-white Colobus monkey rests in a tree in Arusha National Park
I’m in a Giant Senecio grove on Shira Plateau, Kilimanjaro. These relatives of groundsel and ragwort can live over 200 years.
Can’t afford a safari to Africa? Easy solution, go to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. We just spent a whole day there, at a fraction of the cost of a day on safari in Africa. And what a lot we saw: wildlife galore, maybe not in its natural habitat but in great variety and totally visible and easy to photograph. We were especially charmed by the mother cheetah and her four cubs, two of the last living northern white rhinos, gazelles, giraffes, oryx, warthogs, elephants and other typical animals of the African plains. Moreover, we saw animals that you would not see on most safaris, rare forest dwellers such as lowland gorillas and okapi, and so many kinds of birds and forest creatures from the world’s tropics – all healthy and housed in spacious enclosures in ‘natural’ social groupings.
Gorilla at San Diego Zoo
Safari clients often say to us, “Don’t you hate to see animals in captivity? I could never go to a zoo after this.” We say, We LOVE zoos, especially now when zoos are so involved in conservation and captive breeding. While at the Safari Park we also visited the research institute, and were impressed by all the work going on; saving the egg-cells of old rhinos, freezing tissue samples of rare animals, breeding 165 endangered species, and supporting field research in over 35 countries.
The park was packed with families, riding the trains and the safari trucks or just strolling the grounds; a wonderful learning experience for kids. David’s childhood visits to a local zoo were the most exciting and memorable events in his young life. Zoos help fuel young minds for learning and caring more about animals.
Check out this amazing zoo and its older relative, the downtown San Diego Zoo, a bit commercialized, but both state-of-the-art facilities whose well-treated captives are ambassadors for the natural world.
“Any fool can be uncomfortable in the bush,” explained Howard, as he prepared delicious margarita drinks. “Personally, I always travel with the necessities.” We presumed that meant not only his margarita mixing skills but his little coffee press among other things. Howard was indeed a world traveler – an American raised in Australia, a wildlife biologist in Tanzania, where we met him.
“Are you really moving to Tucson Arizona?” he asked us. “Yes, we’ve bought into an intentional community there.” “Well then” said Howard, “you must meet my parents and visit Ruby, our ghost town.” And thus with taste and ease he created a bridge between our Tanzanian past and our American future.
Not long after we landed in Arizona we met Howard’s parents and visited Ruby. Love at first sight; we were hooked.
Ruby is an abandoned mining area being reclaimed by wildlife. We can camp by a shriveled or full lake near the sand dunes of the former tailing piles. These days the ghosts of Ruby are silent at night. From our campfire we hear only the owls and poorwills and the songs of coyotes. The stars have the sky to themselves and it’s the silence, the beauty and the wildlife that has made Ruby ghost town so important to our own survival. Here we come to free our shuttered senses from the assaults of urban ugliness, traffic, phones and the internet. At Ruby we soak in the subtler pleasures of nature and experience, that joy that only fools comfortable in the bush can claim.
