The Scoop on Jean's Trip to South Africa...

 

Remember when The Shelters of Stone was released and it was mentioned that Jean was going to South Africa? Well, in reality, it was more like East Africa, since her actual destination was Kenya on this trip. There WAS an earlier trip to South Africa a couple of years ago to see an eclipse and to study animals for book research, but not THIS trip! Anyway, here's the exclusive, real story for you, straight from her son, Kendall: This summer we had a great time in Africa on safari. Jean had been planning this trip for several years. She wanted to take all of her children and their families to see the animals of Africa. Every single descendent of Jean and Ray came on the trip, including their five children, 15 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Along with spouses, a step-grandchild, and one lucky friend to even out the number, there were 32 of us in total. Weeks before the trip, the US warned against travel to Kenya and closed down the embassy in Nairobi several times due to terrorist threats. British Airways (who we were travelling with) cancelled all flights into Nairobi. Despite this, we all managed to get to Kenya on time, and we spent two amazing weeks viewing animals, meeting native people, and living in tents. I have to say it was the determination of Jean which made the trip possible. It was absolutely awesome! I took the above photo, when a cheetah decided to use the roof of our car as a lookout-post for game in the Maasai Mara of Kenya. Jean is the right-most person in the picture. Next to her is Verity Williams, a safari guide for Ker & Downey Safaris. And yes, I was a bit frightened to be that close to a wild animal. The trip to Africa was not research for her books, although we did get a visit from Cynthia Moss at our camp in Amboseli. Jean based most of her descriptions of mammoth behavior on Cynthia's work. Check out this PBS web link to see the cool stuff Cynthia has done. The real purpose of the trip was for Jean to share the "megafauna" of Africa with her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. She's very concerned that these large animals might not have any habitat left in the not-too-distant future. A few thousand years ago, we had rhinos and mastadons roaming around Oregon, now these kinds of animals are limited to few small game reserves in Africa. Kendall was also very generous in sharing a couple of pretty intense Safari moments his son, Skylar, caught on video. At the end of the ALMOST elephant stampede you'll catch sight of someone with an impressive looking camera sitting behind Skylar - the videographer extraordinaire. I'm pretty sure that would be Kendall, with the camera. Each time I play the video I can't help but lean away from the computer screen as the trumpeting elephant runs at the safari trucks! Enjoy! Safari Video (3MB MPEG - 35 sec.) Warning! The video file is LARGE and the audio is LOUD, so be sure and turn your speakers down if you're downloading it from work or in a quiet library!!! Video tips: It may run better for most folks if you right-click and save the file to your harddrive before trying to play it. Real Player sometimes seems to not want to run the video portion, but likes the audio (I have that problem with almost all videos I play with it); QuickTime and Windows Media Player seem to have more consistent (good) results. Note: No animals were intentionally harried, harrassed or annoyed in the making of the video. ;-)

For more on Cynthia Moss, see these two sites:

Biography and Information on Cynthis Moss and her work and TIME.com HEROES FOR THE PLANET Feb 2000

Take a Virtual Safari with Ker & Downey and get a better idea of how exciting this adventure must have been for Jean and her family. What an awesome experience!

Photos © Kendall Auel / Video © Skylar Auel

ECfans Home | AuelBoard