A Short List of Things I No Longer Care About

There’s a fine line between mellowing with age and just no longer giving a shit. I’ve fortunately never been a worrier; I’ve always been easy like Sunday morning. But as I grow older, I find myself worrying less and less about more and more. It’s a challenge to give up worry while still caring enough to get out of bed every day.

10 Years, 28 Countries: 2013

Finally getting around to updating these photo blog posts. In 2013 I made two trips to Namibia, both related to a project involving developing small drones for anti-poaching operations to protect rhinos and elephants.

The Myth of Wild Africa

For nearly 100 years, the land that is today the Bubye Valley Conservancy (BVC) of Zimbabwe was not wilderness. The land was a cattle ranch. Wild animals were intentionally wiped out, for fear of disease transmission, and to eliminate predators that would kill cattle. For nearly a century, the land hosted a cattle monoculture, devoid of wildlife; and elephants, rhinos, leopards and lions were completely wiped out. For a century this land was the furthest thing in the world from wilderness. 

This ain’t no Disney movie

No one likes an armchair quarterback. The amateur know-it-all. The person who is convinced that he knows how to do something better than a person who has spent years attaining specialized education and training, someone who has toiled for years in his career to learn the ins and outs of his area of expertise.

I don’t pay a visit to my doctor and then say “listen, Doc, I was googling the symptoms and it seems to me that you’ve got this diagnosis completely wrong. And not only that, but I just feel it’s the wrong diagnosis.” 

10 Years, 28 Countries: 2012

2012 was a slightly quieter year for travel. I took one trip in June to Namibia and Botswana and later in the year I went to Santa Barbara, California to speak at the Elephant Manager’s Association Conference and meet with WWF donors at the Santa Barbara Zoo. Here’s what that looked like. 

10 Years, 28 Countries: 2011 Part 2

This is the second part of my 2011 travels, which documents a trip to Cameroon and Central African Republic. I will let the photos speak for themselves for the most part. Starting in Yaounde, Cameroon, we traveled by Land Cruiser east to the border area with Central African Republic and then crossed the river by boat into CAR. 

10 YEARS, 28 COUNTRIES: 2010. PART 3

I am finally getting around to finishing this photo series documenting my travel history over the past 11 years with WWF. I started it as a way to commemorate 10 years with the organization. Little did I know that I wouldn’t make it to my 11th anniversary. Life had other plans. But I’m excited to be starting a new job soon, and continuing to travel to great places for work.

Monkey Love

I could write a book about misheard song lyrics, and maybe someday I will. From Jimi Hendrix’s “excuse me, while I kiss this guy” to Dylan’s “knock knock knockin on Kevin’s door.” But one of the most persistent misheard lyrics in my mind has been the Rolling Stones song “Bitch.” Which says “must be love, it’s a bitch.” For many years, in fact until only recently, I heard “monkey love, it’s a bitch.” Granted, monkey love makes no sense, but I was greatly disappointed when I learned the true lyrics. Such a letdown.

I have no great love for the monkeys of the Grand Palm Hotel and Casino in Gaborone, Botswana, however. They are menacing little terrorists.

10 YEARS, 28 COUNTRIES: 2010. PART 2

NOTE: Click on the pictures for a larger high resolution version. 

2010 was a busy year for travel. I documented travel to Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique in Part 1. I also made two trips to Namibia in 2010. The first, in February, was to participate in a rhino capture operation in Etosha National Park. Those photos are documented here. The second, in July, was a trip with my father to celebrate his 60th birthday, which will be documented in Part 3. 

10 YEARS, 28 COUNTRIES: 2010. Part 1

Time for the next installment of the photographic tour of ten years with my job. In 2010 I traveled a lot, visiting Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique in one trip and then going to Namibia twice, in February and July. I’m going to break this into two segments because I have a lot of pics from those trips.