Chris, RIP

I wrote the first part to my old cowboy friend Wade’s relatives, so he would know : “Christine Leister, Omar Qureshi’s ’s first wife and very close to both Wade and me, died as peacefully as one can at dawn yesterday, in Cloudcroft I believe, of recurrent malignant melanoma, with her son, her parents, and …

Read more

Poorest of People Caught in Anti-Hunting Crossfire

In March 2011, a coalition of animal welfare groups opposed to the hunting of African lions petitioned the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for protection of this lion subspecies under the Endangered Species Act. FWS responded this week by proposing to list African lions as “threatened” – not the “endangered” status sought by the groups. …

Read more

Quote

“A great many rifles and shooting books have passed through my life since the day I purchased that first 7 X 57 40 years ago this month, and the lessons learned have been many. One was to hold onto rifles and books that continually prove not just practical but delightful, and get rid of those …

Read more

White Man in Africa, 1997

Dug this up when Annie D showed me a YouTube of a baby rhino– white? — in S Africa, in a similar predicament. Back in ’97, when it was permissible if naive to think Mugabe was not a monster (such writers as Peter Godwin had already laid out the truth), when Zimbabwe had one of …

Read more

Malarial Memories

Reid sent this optimistic press release on a promising new one- dose treatment for malaria, which brought back vivid memories of my brush with an almost- lethal case of Zimbabwe falciparum in the nineties. The writer remembers: “I have personally had malaria… and can say that it is a deeply painful and depleting experience that …

Read more

For Annie D

Are Geladas different from true baboons? UPDATE: She replies “Too different. That’s why I broke up with him.” (The Kapcha wouldn’t let her in). She also made a point about aposematic coloration, convergent evolution, geladas, and black widow spiders–! Later, maybe…

Teaser

The Hansons are back from their Egyptian expedition with the Explorers Club flag– and will (both Roseann and Jonathan I hope) be writing something here. Sample: “It was fantastic. Probably the most challenging driving I’ve had over such an extended journey. Many difficult climbs to cross dune chains, then 60mph blasts across huge rolling sand …

Read more