Sometimes you sense them before you see them but they've always seen you first...

I clamber up a rock face, wedged between the sandstone and a Eucalypt, not quite like the old days but still enough to raise a smile. About thirty metres above the mangroves now, some flattish ground before a slope to the next escarpment. Swamp wallaby scat, animals live here. Time to bush bash. Not long before a massive brush turkey mound appears. No turkey but I bet a goanna is close by. It's spring, they know eggs are on the way.

There he is! About a metre and half long. Of course he had already seen me. They always do. Deadly still. Him I mean. I try but I'm a clumsy human. We eyeball for a while. He lets me take the image. I respectfully move away, this is his realm, he's got hunting to do.

I look for more scat. I know there's a tiny creek ahead. I've got remote cameras in my pack. Targeting quolls. I wont see them in the daytime but my equipment might spy this powerful nocturnal predator.

I'm having fun. I'm always a few kilos down, a little run down after trekking distances in Nepal. Feeling stronger now, I love pulling myself up the Australian rock, through the bush. No leopards to worry about either. Always wary of snakes though. They have some deadly ones here. Back in New Zealand we don't have to worry about critters. No, it's the rivers that can get you there. They rise so fast...

Every country has its challenges.

Back in the moment. Enjoying this spring sun. I look up. An eagle! Ha! Surveying its domain above the ridge. Wow! A peregrine falcon dives down at the eagle! "Get away from my f...... nest!" ... Another eagle appears, then another again, then another falcon! Five supreme sky hunters putting on an airshow ... how good is this?!

We know these birds. We know where their nests are. We know their hunting grounds. We spend hours monitoring these creatures. We are protective of them, protective of their habitat.

It's my backyard too. We all live here together. These eagles here in Australia, those leopards and those tigers in Nepal, another backyard. Work together, think together.

Protect your habitat. Protect your backyard...

Camera traps, vital tools where technology meets nature...

YOU CAN'T PROPERLY DESCRIBE WHAT'S UNDER A ROCK UNLESS YOU LOOK UNDERNEATH IT - a metaphor of course, put it another way, you can't really describe the odour of rose a unless you've smelt it yourself.
Camera traps. We live in a world of opinions. If they're backed up by facts, research, data, experience. looking under rocks and smelling of roses, well, they're great. But give me data, data, data. Love the stuff.

The camera trap is now a vital tool for those who know how to use them. Often called trail cameras (we call them remote cameras or RCs), they are where technology meets nature. Set them up properly and high quality data can be obtained.

At the moment I'm testing three models which send information straight to my inbox as soon as a still image or video is obtained. I'm trying to adapt them to meet upcoming winter Himalayan conditions. The Australian bush is my testing ground. Teeming with wildlife, wonderful. As a wildlife monitoring tool they are fantastic. It takes a fair bit of work to set them up the right way in the right regions but it's worth the effort.

They are also environmental crime fighting tools. Capture the image of a poacher or other environment destroyer and it can lead to an arrest. A successful identification, often possible in village or local community situations can lead to a lot more data. Put a poacher under surveillance. See who he meets. One image can lead to a network of dealers and buyers.

The successful deployment of a camera trap can lead to a long thread of information in wildlife crime and human/wildlife conflict, relationships. Yes, time, training and money have to be invested but it works.

It's just after 5.30am, the birds are singing, light is replacing dark. I've got a three hour walk in the bush to check an RC. Wonder what I'll find...

Future eater - if only we had a collective memory...

This child was sitting precariously on a stone wall that lined the trail on a walk to Chomrong one day.  We locked eyes for about a minute.  Both inquisitive.  I've seen this look in animals.  "What are you doing?" ... If we as a species were blessed with a DNA that allowed us to remember everything that has happened in human past, a kind of generation to generation memory transfer, I'm sure we wouldn't make the mistakes we are making.  Instead we have to learn everything from scratch.  This child is taught by us.

Buddhism attracts me because of the "living connection to all things" philosophy.  It ties in with modern science.  If we can evolve to develop some sort of collective memory, reduce our learning curve, to be like many other species which have to learn really fast just to survive then maybe we will relate better to that around us.

The irony is this kid is already connected and we're doing our best to "un-nature" our children when they have one hell of a job ahead of them protecting an environment we have plundered...

Disconnecting to reconnect...

I lost my smartphone a couple of weeks ago.  Somewhere between Pokhara and Kathmandu.  Several flights and a few cities gave me every chance to replace it.  I haven't yet.

Those close to me know I'm not always easy to contact anyway.  Remote locations often one reason but a willingness to push hard on the off button is often the case.  I started using Facebook about eighteen months ago but took it off my phone fairly quickly.

It's fun sending a tweet when I see a tiger.  It's not really necessary though.

When I'm interviewing someone, like Raj here in the Annapurna range of Nepal, I make every effort to remember key points and write them in my notebook after the talk has finished.  Most of the time these conversations revolve around human/wildlife conflict issues so I'm totally engrossed anyway.  I've had a lot of training, great mentors and years of experience in these situations so I don't really have excuses for not getting it right.  Sometimes if I feel a key point needs writing down immediately I'll do it but I'll do it quickly.  I don't use a voice recorder (unless the guy's a criminal but that's another story) as I want the conversation to be as natural and easy as possible.

Often whoever I'm talking to will have suffered a serious loss of some sort so there will be emotion.  It's important to retain the rapport in these situations.  The depth of the connection has a direct correlation to the value of the information I'll get.  Sometimes the connection can take a while but good prior research, a strong understanding of the environment we're in and above all empathy regarding the issues mean a strong interview, a positive result.

There's no point walking for hours up mountains or through jungles for anything less than a positive result.

Technology has given us great tools but it has also altered the way we connect.  Yeah, I will have to replace that smartphone at some stage but right now I'm valuing being without it.  I'm enjoying not having the distraction.  If I'm in the bush I want to be totally absorbed, aware of what's going on around me, in a natural way.  Yes, I'll have camera gear and yes most nights I will be back at my laptop.

To be really in the moment however, to really connect to nature, or to someone like Raj, a smartphone is simply not necessary.

I wouldn't swap those connections for the world.

Walking the walk, the passion for conservation...

True conservationists/environmentalists are a pretty focused passionate lot.  In fact they rarely talk about much else.  Certainly topics such as cars or phones don't come up except when talking about tools of the trade so stories about old jeeps can happen.  Subjects like sport may provide light relief but talk about relationships will only result in shuffling of feet.  Hey, I jest :)

True conservationists WALK THE WALK, both literally and metaphorically.  They rarely take holidays and 

the day never really ends because the mind is constantly working on the issues.  

One day the knees may say enough is enough and the journeys mean different strategies.  The conservation photographer will find different ways to get to his subject but he/she WILL get there.  The conservation researcher may have to park his/her bottom in front of a laptop as they receive information from the physical walkers but they will still put in, for hours on end.  For those working at ground level, paid or unpaid, the day can be wonderfully varied or extremely monotonous.  However, the dedicated will not stop regardless of the task.

Shortly I'm going to profiling three people within the WildTiger framework.  These are people with passion.

These are people I trust.

Trust is such a key element.  My radar has had years to develop and I can spot hidden agendas much more quickly now.  The term "friend" seems to be a pretty loose one now these days and money can often be behind the motivation for new "friendships".  I even get a lot of guys wanting to get into conservation because it's "cool" and will hopefully improve their love lives!  Reality check needed there, wannabees need not apply.

So I look for the truly dedicated.  I look for people without ego and who truly want to improve their backyard.  It can take time and I look for persistence and stamina in wanting to be involved.  These things don't happen overnight.  While I think most people consider me to be a friendly beast there's been occasions of late where after considered thinking I've had to do the right thing by WildTiger and let people go, change the status of working relationships.  This isn't easy but it has to be done.

I mention this because support for WildTiger is growing in many ways.  I want people to know that the people I involve are the right people and mistakes are corrected quickly. 

I've got a really busy time coming up but I'll enlarge on this soon.  I'm sure you'll enjoy the profiles as they get published. Once again a huge thank you for the support.

Reflections: A shitty day turned good...

I woke up grumpy. The article about the Tarkine (I posted it two back) had really affected me, the environmentalist movement here in Australia is not taken seriously by the majority. In the main everything is about money. Money, money, money.

 I headed into Ku ring gai National Park with my good friend and colleague Marty Coss for some filming from a canoe, eagles the focus but eyes open for everything. And there was a lot. It was a stunning day on the water. The reflections beautiful, the wildlife abundant. My mood improved rapidly. I finished the day with a 10km walk through the bush, the twilight was fantastic.

 I get to my laptop and there is a lovely email from Nepal, the Bardia anti poaching legend Ramesh Thapa had written thanking my organization WildTiger for its role in the big increase in tiger numbers over the last 3 years. Ramesh and I are hatching a new role for WildTiger's Hemant Acharya, we'll be announcing it soon. It really is a matter of just keeping at it isn't it...Kia Kaha, Stay Strong and I wish everyone a good weekend...

Please note: My post and link re the Tarkine was at my facebook page www.facebook.com/jackkinross

Web of life...

WEB OF LIFE: Sometimes when you are walking along they just appear, out of the mist...

I find prayer flags comforting, a nice connection between humans and mountains. I'm not Buddhist, I'm not anything really, I just believe in the web of life, simple as that. Religious doctrine doesn't float my boat the way science does but that wonderful feeling of connection to nature is what I strive for every day. Some days it just comes naturally, some days require more work, good stuff doesn't come easily. I am interested in theology in so much because of the way religion does dictate the lives of millions. If I was boss of the world there would be a manuscript, it would have a headline of "A healthy planet can only exist when there is flourishing wildlife." I really don't know much but I do know that and I'm hell bent on communicating it in whatever way, whatever language I need to use.

Aristotle said about language "...(it) isn't just for registering pleasure and pain. It's about declaring what is just and unjust, and distinguishing right from wrong" ... I don't know what he thought of prayer flags but I'm sure he was all for healthy human/wildlife connection.