Zambia bound...

"Above all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to such a pass that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love."

-Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Brothers Karamazov

"We shall make our most useful contribution to a world in dire need of concern for the neighbor and the stranger if we begin by trying to make ourselves as individuals able to love."

-Rollo May, 1953

Today I leave for Zambia. I wish I had something fancy to write about what to expect, but it's early in the a.m. in Chicago, and I haven't had a drip of coffee yet... If anything, I hope to arrive in Lusaka free of expectations. Take it all as it comes, and absorb all I can while navigating through an entirely new ocean of social and sensory stimuli. I'm sure it'll be quite the ride..

I'll be working for an environmental NGO that has demonstrated competency in achieving conservation goals in Zambia. It has raised awareness of biodiversity and habitat loss, and the corresponding population nosedives of cute, charismatic African wildlife such as lions and cheetahs. With these cute creatures as their poster children, The Zambia Carnivore Programme has been able to work toward habitat protection. Habitat not only for lions, African Wild Dogs, and leopards, but for all of the other organisms living in those corresponding grasslands and valleys. A biodiversity and habitat protection plan via snapshots of large predators. Seems like an effective strategy. Obviously the organization is much more complex and employs many more strategies to achieve its goals. But the aforementioned is an influential method of raising awareness...

More importantly, however, is the effort put forth to illuminate both the short and long term benefits of conservation for surrounding communities. A lot of people mistake conservation with the whims of rich white folks who would like to have pretty playgrounds to vacation in. Not so. Conservation and people are directly connected, and it's no secret that communities surrounded by an unhealthy environment are in trouble.

As much as it is about wild creatures, conservation is about people. The ZCP understands this, and I have a feeling there is a lot to be learned from them in terms of developing goals with foundations in conservation that can ultimately lead to sustainable development. If you're interested in web surfing, you can check them out at www.zambiacarnivores.org

I also slapped a couple more photos from interior Alaska on this post. All of them were taken in Wrangell-St. Elias National Preserve sometime in early October.

Anyhow, while chuckling like a couple of idiots at the enormously beautiful landscape in front of us, Scott and I happened upon a local guy out on a dirt road that informed us of a public use cabin just a few miles up a nearby trail. We thanked the man and headed in that direction. That night was cold enough (I think it dropped into the mid teens) for us to be sufficiently pleased with a cozy cabin warmed by an old stove.

We thought we might see quite a few wild creatures in this little drainage. We'd heard a few grizzled bears, a collection of black wolves, and even a wolverine had frequented the area. No carnivores were to be found on our saunter, but we did lay our eyes upon a moose, a few live caribou, and one very dead caribou.

The views from a neighboring ridgeline were big and uninterrupted. Including this choice sunset lingering over glacier-capped big ones.

A perfect view for an early morning. Enjoyed with a fresh cup of coffee and an old skull..