Capturing the Moment

While staying at Amboseli National Park, I set up a visit to the nearby village of the Maasai people. I have always had wonderful interactions with the different tribes here in East Africa. Going into their home and seeing the traditional way of life of tribes like the Maasai can have lasting effects on how you prioritize things in your own life. It can be a powerful reminder of what is important. So I was happy that everyone in the group was up for the adventure. Rod jumped even higher a minute later As we parked near the village we could see the spokesman waiting for us. His name was Joel, and he gathered us in front of the entrance for a quick welcome dance and prayer from a few of the Maasai. The village was surrounded by a homemade wall of acacia thorn branches. The cows and goats could not escape and hopefully the big cats would be deterred enough not to get in. Inside the ring of thorns wall were enough mud hut dwellings for all 160 people that lived there. Then the inner of the...

There have been very few times when I have been out in nature where an animal is big enough not to be scared of me and curious enough to stick around to check me out. This time it happened to me with a very rare endemic Hawaiian Monk Seal. Population estimates put the total number of Hawaiian Monk Seals below 2,000 individuals...in the world. However when compared to the other 2 species of known monk seals this paltry number sounds a little more hopeful. There are about 600 Mediterranean Monk Seals and 0 Caribbean Monk Seals. The last sighting of a Caribbean Monk Seal was in 1952 and was officially declared extinct in 2008 after a 5 year exhaustive search came up empty.    Conservation efforts have been put into effect for both of the remaining species of Monk Seals. Out here in Hawaii NOAA heads up the effort with a Monk Seal specialist on each island as well as a network of volunteers. Sharks are the biggest natural predator of these seals although some fishermen target ...