We Alone by David Western

Author:David Western
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780300251166
Publisher: Yale University Press

14

Our Novel Age

When I began my work in Amboseli in 1967, I spent weeks bashing through the bush in a beaten-up Land Rover tracking down the migrating herds. Now I pick them up from my plane within half an hour or trace their meandering paths by satellite collar beaming down their location every half hour to my home computer. Soon I will send up drones programmed to plot the herds regularly at a fraction of the cost.

Do I miss the day in, day out routine of monitoring animals and plants? Not really. Days slogging through the bush are backbreaking. Recording every observation with robotic discipline is tedious. Science is a discipline, and to be good at it I must measure and report the goings-on in Amboseli rigorously and consistently month after month for years on end. I owe much to the scientific method and consider it the gold standard of documenting nature, testing ideas, and building a knowledgeable society. My dues paid, the routine robs me of the freedom to indulge my curiosity. I prefer to follow my nose, act on a hunch, and watch animals leisurely for the thrill of it. I feel the pulse of Amboseli more sensitively by walking with animals and sensing the energy of the herds than logging their position and numbers from car and plane. I relish seeing Amboseli through the eyes of a cow or a wildebeest and using my natural senses, emotions, and experience as my guide. I learn more and am happiest exploring and savoring nature and humanity rather than dissecting and measuring them.

I saw no hope of saving wildlife in retreating to a quiet grove of acacias and turning my back on the mounting problems in Amboseli. Had I done so, I would have shrunk into ever-remoter spots and done nothing for the animals or people I cared for. I enjoy reading Henry David Thoreau’s lyrical writing about his two years in the Walden woods and his poignant message, “In wilderness is the preservation of the world,” but he offers no solutions for saving the nature he loved.

Kerenkol looked ahead and figured out how to advance his family and age mates as his world changed. I did the same when the future looked grim for Amboseli by battling my reclusive nature and stepping up to the challenges rather than opting out. Like Bill Conway in his efforts to turn the Bronx Zoo into a conservation center for educating the public, breeding endangered species, and saving the last of the wilds, I’ve had to rethink and revise my research and conservation priorities time and again to anticipate changes and find a place for wildlife.

To advance my cause, I’ve taken on roles I never imagined and others I never wanted. From hunter to animal lover to researcher, planner, national director of Kenya’s wildlife, and international conservationist, I’ve reached far beyond my comfort zone, inclination, and skills to work with ranchers, farmers, businesspeople, scientists, and politicians, among them people who eschew my views.

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