My first trip to Kenya was about two years ago; unfortunately, I never ventured outside the borders of Nairobi. This time, I pledged to experience the nation’s countryside firsthand. Above is a sample of what I saw from Lake Nakuru and the drive to the Masai Mara. Continue reading
National Parks
Keyhole To The Jungle
Another vertical panorama, the Keyhole is a more artistic than depictive, unlike most of my photographs. I was struggling to get the shots I wanted to use in the picture (there were about 10) because of the lighting differences between the rocks on the bottom, the undergrowth in the lower third, the canopy, and the skyline. Getting an even light level in all the shots was complicated, requiring checking each shot and retaking them multiple times to ensure accuracy. After over 20 minutes I finally felt satisfied, and laboring twice that long in the digital darkroom resulted in the following image Continue reading
From Reliable Sources
Today major news organizations are reporting that, according to the IUCN, the Western Black Rhino is officially extinct. The BBC, CNN and others must have received a press release that is not yet available on the IUCN website (as of my writing and posting this), but if you search on the terms IUCN and rhino you will find a link to the following video that provides a good visual definition of melancholic beauty:
When I see news like this, I fight the natural inclination toward depression and channel the emotional energy as best I can, using the news as a reminder of how slowly we are working at the various tasks mentioned in a string of earlier posts. It is another example of the feeling I seem to have with increasing frequency: being late.
Really, Coca Cola?
Click on the image above to be taken to the story, which describes a great trash reduction plan in the Grand Canyon National Park that suddenly got scrapped under mysterious circumstances. The circumstantial evidence suggests that Coca Cola was influential, if not responsible, for that canceled plan. Every day this newspaper seems more worth the subscription price. Continue reading
Howling, Manuel Antonio
Have you ever heard a Howler Monkey make noise? If not, imagine the noise coming from an animal that is (sonically) a mix between a cow and a lion–mostly lethargic, but fierce when it wants–that is about to die and screams out all the pain and agony. To me that’s how it sounds. Continue reading
Supporting Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Horace Kephart is, or should be, in the pantheon of anyone working on entrepreneurial conservation initiatives in or near wilderness areas. Particularly if you have ever been lucky enough to camp in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Even more so if you have also walked through Cornell Plantations. The book that Kephart wrote, Camping and Woodcraft, has supported both of those amazing places financially. You could take a look at the contents of this book here or here for a free ride. But according to this article the royalties from the book were originally donated by Kephart’s descendants, several of whom attended Cornell, to the Plantations. The article (from which the photos here are rendered) also states that proceeds…
…from the new edition benefit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
We will have to investigate further how that works, since Amazon offers a new edition that does not look like the one mentioned in that article. If you have any information to share on this, please post a comment here. Meanwhile, anyone who would aptly describe their life as biophilia-driven might understand why this man spent his Continue reading
The Natural
Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir at Yosemite 1903
One hundred and fifty-two years after his birth, Theodore Roosevelt’s legacy as a conservationist lives on in the nearly 230 million acres of land he helped place under public protection. During his 2 terms as the 26th President of the United States of America he established 150 National Forests, 51 Federal Bird Reservations, 5 National Parks, 18 National Monuments, 4 National Game Preserves, and 21 Reclamation Projects, in many cases designated the first of their kinds. Continue reading
Park Punditry
Canyon de Chelly; photo by Timothy Egan
Michael’s post dealing with the intersection of man and nature is crossing paths with a bit of wise observation from one of the great observers and writers plying the American West these days.
Organikos 