In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Africa’s Big Five and other Wildlife Filmmakers 5 MyEarlyYears My earliest memories are dominated by animals, not people. Early photos show me with a cow, a horse, a dog, a cat; always at my happiest if accompanied by fur or feathers. Even in extreme youth, it seemed ‘I loved nature more’, despite being fairly gregarious. I recall my early days as being mostly in the open air with an animal friend of one kind or another, with grass, trees and flowers, and the sound of birds. If bad weather forced me to be indoors, then I was either surrounded by animals (stuffed toys or real) or engrossed in a book. Little girls are supposed to play with dolls but for me it was a teddy bear, a lion, a zebra, a hippo, a giraffe, armfuls of them. There was just one doll, I remember, and I think she was my mother’s most treasured possession, handed down. She had an exquisite porcelain bisque face, real hair and eyes that closed. Lovely as she was, ‘Our Monica’ never really touched the same chord as the collection of animals that vied for position in my bed each night. Perhaps she was an attempt to instill in me a maternal instinct. If so, she failed miserably. She should have ended up on the Antiques Road Show, but sadly my 1999 flood destroyed her. Early August 1955. I am just twelve years old and both my arms are in plaster following a fall from a half wild Arab stallion on the Brackenhurst golf course. At this time of year, my parents enjoy what is called local leave, and so we travel by train to the coast. As usual, we stay at the Sinbad, one of only three hotels on the beach at Malindi, a little town some way north of Mombasa. With the plaster casts, swimming in the sea was not an option, so I soon set out to explore the area. On the other side of the road, I saw what looked like a safari camp, complete with tents and bush-going vehicles. Intrigued, I wandered across to investigate. There I found a rather gruff, tall man with spectacles and a woman with a cloud of 6 Africa’s Big Five and other Wildlife Filmmakers unrulyblondehairandastrangeaccent. Theywere, of course, Armand and Michaela Denis. Also in the camp was a younger man who I found out was from Australia. His name was Des Bartlett, and he was tinkering with a camera. I soon found out that my new friends had several animals in the camp, so I thought I was in heaven. Two in particular stand out –meerkats, which of course I had never seen, as they are not endemic to Kenya. They were affectionate, appealing, and had boundless energy. They needed to be exercised, and very soon I was allowed to take them to the beach. So for a blissful two weeks, I led Donald and Hogan to the water’s edge each day and we walked for miles, chasing crabs. We must have attracted a certain amount of attention, a child with both arms in plaster and two endearing creatures playing in the surf, but I took my duties seriously and always returned them to their camp at the appointed time. How was I to know that life would go a full circle? ...

Share