OVER the past four months circumstances have dictated that I spend a lot of my day horizontal.
Now there is not a lot one can do while lying down, other than read, so, I have been reading.
I have redelved into a number of books on Africa, past and present, but to lighten the mood in between bouts of history I picked up a James Herriot book, you know, the country vet in Yorkshire, England, from the late 1930s onward.
Hopping between African history and Herriot, I reread all seven of the vet books and fell in love with them all over again.
Then I picked up Gerald Durrell and the same thing happened,
I was enchanted all over again (I’m still working on the dozen or so of his wonderful books that we have on his animal collecting adventures in various parts of the world, particularly Africa).
Anyway, it set me thinking about the tremendous influence people like Durrell and Herriot, particularly Durrell perhaps, had on general thinking about animals and wildlife over the past 75 years or so.
Durrell wrote literally dozens of books, as well as recording whole series of talks for radio and of course his unforgettable television documentaries (he was carrying a cine camera into the jungles of Africa and South America in the 1940s, when such wildlife photography was really in its infancy).
Then there is Sir David Attenborough, who is still at it (sadly, both Herriot and Durrell have gone), but there can be few of us who have not listened enraptured to Attenborough’s conspiratorial tones while exploring some remote location and its wildlife in just about every corner of the world.
There have been many other wonderful wildlife film documentary makers, including many South Africans, but surely Attenborough is the master of them all?
I wonder just how much these people, and others like them, have influenced modern thinking on animals, wildlife and environmental conservation – thank you chaps.
On the subject of wildlife and the endless wonderful tales told around camp fires as well as by writers and broadcasters , but also hunters (think William Cornwallis Harris, Adulphe Delegorgue and Peter Hathaway Capstick), I came across a wonderful quotation during my reading – ‘Until the lions are taught to write, history will always be written by the hunter’. It’s anonymous, but doesn’t it say a lot?
And now it’s time to say Merry Christmas. Whatever you are doing: a day at the beach, at home with friends and family, or just relaxing with your feet up, have a great day, and please remember what it is really all about.
If you are reading this in time and still have a pressie or two to buy, I wonder if you are likely to find a reprint of Gerald Durrell or James Herriot or perhaps a Sir David Attenborough DVD in your local book or DVD shop? Again, Merry Christmas and cheers!
