Category Archives: Animals There is nothing romantic about nature. But, nor can you call nature “cruel”. Cruelty implies intention. I watched The Lion King again recently – I had grandchildren visiting – and it was interesting to reflect on the difference between that romanised version of life in the savanna and my memories of my time in Etosha […]  “A fast horse and a soaring eagle are the wings of a nomad.” –Kazakh proverb The animals in Western Mongolia are as wild as the landscape: the horses are unruly and the hunting eagles are never fully tame. I suspect that the ethnic Kazakhs who live there prefer it that way. The Kazakhs are descendants of […]  “We’re goin’ on a lion hunt, “We’re going to catch a big one – “I’m not scared. “What a beautiful day!” OK – it’s true: the popular children’s chant is about a bear hunt, but I was in a jeep, bumping across dusty gravel tracks in Northern Namibia, and we were in search of lions. The […]  She’s not the first, and she’s not the only one, but she is still a rarity these days: a female Kazakh eagle hunter. Hunting with golden eagles is a long-standing custom among the Turkic peoples (particularly the Kazakh and Kyrgyz) across the Eurasian steppe. During the 1930s, large numbers of Kazakhs fled from communist-controlled Kazakhstan through the Altai Mountains to Bayan-Ölgii Province in […]  There is an irony in being able to see animals better in the wild than you can at a zoo. My husband and I had grandchildren visiting over the Christmas break, so we took the opportunity to spend a day at Sydney’s beautiful Taronga Zoo. Now, I love this particular zoo (see: A Tale of […] |
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