Book picks similar to
Ngorongoro by Reinhard Kunkel
photography
non-fiction-read
nature
personal-favorite
The Boy from the Wild
Peter Meyer - 2017
Peter Meyer grew up on an African game reserve. His idyllic childhood was spent running wild in the bush with Zulu friends and other free spirits. His adventures in the wilderness honed his character, nurtured by an inspirational father who taught him to believe that everything is possible. Before he had turned eight he had survived Rhino attacks, close encounters with Buffalo and Wildebeest — and the terror of twice being bitten by snakes. His pets were a baby Elephant, Warthogs and an Ostrich that frequented his backyard. He lived in a world where beauty was tempered by daily struggles for survival. He discovered that the reality of the bush is often heart-breaking, such as when an Nyala doe that he had hand-reared was taken by predators. He learned through first-hand experience that the cycle of life on Africa’s feral outbacks can be as unforgiving as it is magnificent. These were the key lessons from the wilds of Africa that he took with him when his family left the continent; from school days in England where his tough upbringing resulted in being a top sportsman, to studying at an exclusive Swiss hotel school and becoming one of the youngest directors in the Hilton group, managing exotic resorts in Jamaica and the Middle East. He was on top of the world when everything came crashing down due to tragedy. Drawing on resilience learned in the African bush, he started to rebuild his life, becoming an actor and model, clawing his way up in one of the most critically demanding industries in the world. This is an inspiring true story of living the dream — a dream nurtured by the freedom and self-reliance of growing up wild in Africa.
Babylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo
Lawrence Anthony - 2007
Once Anthony entered Baghdad he discovered that full-scale combat and uncontrolled looting had killed nearly all the animals of the zoo.But not all of them. U.S. soldiers had taken the time to help care for the remaining animals, and the zoo's staff had returned to work in spite of the constant firefights. Together the Americans and Iraqis had managed to keep alive the animals that had survived the invasion.Babylon's Ark chronicles the zoo's transformation from bombed-out rubble to peaceful park. Along the way, Anthony recounts hair-raising efforts to save a pride of the dictator's lions, close a deplorable black-market zoo, and rescue Saddam's Arabian horses. His unique ground-level experience makes Babylon's Ark an uplifting story of both sides working together for the sake of innocent animals caught in the war's crossfire.
The Wild Side of Alaska
Donna Morang - 2013
However, this is only the beginning of her lifelong dream of hunting and fishing in the Last Frontier of Alaska.She will take you to the Brooks Range, north of the arctic circle, where she and her mate hunt for dall sheep, come face-to-face with a grizzly bear that wants to eat them, and an angry moose trying to trample her hunting partner.Return to the Brooks Range to live with Donna, her mate, and one-year-old daughter in a cabin deep in the wilderness while mining for the elusive gold. Live an authentic life in the Bush of Alaska (The Bush is a term Alaskans use to describe regions of the state not connected to civilization) where she bakes her own bread, has no electricity, no running water, and wolves try to eat her baby.Fish along side her in the famous Katmai and Resurrection Bay, or do some crazy dip-net fishing for salmon at Chitna, Alaska. Catch a few grayling, salmon, or northern pike,and float the Delta river where she almost lost her life.Fly in small airplanes over the Brooks Range to view forest fires waiting to trap them in the wilderness, or hold on tight as they cruise over the majestic Prince William Sound to land on Hinchinbrook Island, and hunt for Alaskan brown bear.Return to the new life-style in the wild and wooly north after the discovery of oil, and the not-so-civilized changes to the Last Great Frontier of Alaska. As author David VanDyke says, "The Wild Side of Alaska will pull you in and keep you laughing, crying and gasping at the amazing true story of one of the last real American frontier women. You won't want to miss this down-to-earth tale of woman versus wilderness.
A Field Guide to the Birds of Borneo, Sumatra, Java, and Bali: The Greater Sunda Islands
John MacKinnon - 1993
This book provides the first complete identification guides to the birds of this teeming tropical paradise. It gives descriptions of 820 regional species, illustrated in 88 specially commissioned color plates accompanied by notes detailing distinctive features and habitats. Entries cover nomenclature, plumage, markings, voice, global range, distribution and regional status, habits, and diet. The main text gives practical information on where to find many exotic species, citing major birdwatching locations. Introductory chapters discuss habitats, climate, land-use, and conservation concerns. Professional ornithologists and amateur bird watchers alike will find this the indispensable bird guide for eastern Malaysia and western Indonesia for many years to come. It is also an unrivalled source of information for casual travellers and ecotourists.
The Pull of the River: Tales of Escape and Adventure on Britain's Waterways
Matt Gaw - 2018
Gaw’s nature writing scintillates” – The Countryman“It’s just glorious … a marvellous book … it really put me in a good mood” – Georgey Spanswick, BBC Radio“Beautifully written and highly engaging … it cries out with a message from its pages – a message that life is an adventure and, if you have the physical capacity to do so, it’s best spent out of that armchair – outdoors, active and immersed in nature” – East Anglian Daily Times“Just started this and already have a hankering for a canoe and a long weekend on the river…" – EspressoCoco book blog“Seen from the water, Britain's familiar landscapes are made mesmerisingly new. The Pull of the River is a hugely satisfying work of exploration and reclamation, and one that will have you itching to cast off on your own riparian adventure” – Melissa Harrison, author of Rain: Four Walks in English Weather“Following in the long and distinguished tradition of The Wind in the Willows and Three Men in a Boat, Matt Gaw spends his time ‘messing about in boats’. In doing so, he entertains not only himself but us, in this delightful account of exploring the wonder of our waterways” -- Stephen Moss, author and naturalist“A Lark for the soul” – Paul Evans, author of Field Notes from the Edge“Gaw is an excellent writer … [his] spirited book will encourage others to seek out such waterways, and to appreciate the importance of conserving them” – Nancy Campbell, Times Literary Supplement“A joyful and beautifully written account … if it doesn’t make you want to pick up a paddle and head to your nearest river, you’re reading it wrong” – Waterways World magazine“A really enjoyable book, written with humour, a wry wit and a keen eye … his research of the rivers uncovers those nuggets of information of the historical and cultural terrain that overlays the rivers and that makes this a much richer read as they paddle along. I also found it refreshing as Gaw brings no personal baggage to his watery voyages; it is just him and his friend taking the time to immerse themselves in the natural world, sleeping out under the stars and rediscovering a place where time moves at a very different rate to modern life; a world that few people see now days” – Half Man, Half Book “Jolly yet reflective … I’m rooting for this to make next year’s Wainwright Prize Longlist” – BookishBeck“Rather wonderful … An engaging travelogue of taking the slow route across England’s inland waterways in a Canadian canoe belonging to an old friend” - Gather Outdoors blog for Adventurous Ink
My Father's Island: A Galapagos Quest (Pelican Press)
Johanna Angermeyer - 1990
Like her father, she came to love the Galapagos and to dream of having a life there. Her experience was filled with the perils and incomparable pleasures of living on the Galapagos.
This Is It: 2 hemispheres, 2 people, and 1 boat
Jackie Sarah Parry - 2016
With their incurable curiosity and desire for adventure, they sold all their belongings and flew to America in search of a boat. The pull of the ocean was too strong to ignore any longer. Four years prior, they circumnavigated the globe on their thirty-three foot boat, Mariah. Now they wanted a new challenge. From the perils at Pitcairn to the grand statues of Easter Island, Jackie and Noel set sail south to the remotest inhabited island in the world. Along the way, they lose a friend and come nail-bitingly close to losing their new boat, but they gained so much more: a voyage that left them breathless from fear and a journey of not only travel but of two truly nomadic gypsies. This is a story of storms of emotions and oceans, travel, love and relationships, and two people figuring out life and fulfilling their need to move and be challenged.
See You in September
Joanne Teague - 2013
Three kids. One trip of a lifetime. Meet Jo Teague, a woman fighting against the odds. See You in September is a hilarious and uplifting true life adventure across Europe. With visions of a second honeymoon snatched away by circumstance, the Teague family find themselves faced by riots and strikes, robbers on the beach, tantrums and taxi drivers, snakes and spiders, and other strange happenings. This book will resonate with every parent who’s ever travelled on holiday with their kids. Unlike most family trips this one is tinged with sadness. Just a few months before setting off Jo was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos – a rare and still incurable, life-threatening condition. The fun and adventure was tinged with a sense of fragility of happiness and, indeed of life itself. A great holiday read and a fantastic travel book full of the ups and downs of parenthood. Will appeal to fans of Karen Wheeler, Bill Bryson and Alec le Sueur. Now with an updated epilogue.
Living Dangerously
Ranulph Fiennes - 1988
Ranulph followed his father's path into the Royal Scots Greys. After that came the SAS, from which he was dismissed for blowing up an American film set at the idyllic Cotswold village of Castle Combs, then two vicious years as a volunteer fighting communist insurgents in Oman. Then began the series of expeditions for which Fiennes is best known and which caused The Guinness Book of Records to hail him in 1984 as 'the world's greatest living explorer.' Up the White Nile in a hovercraft, parachuting onto Europe's highest glacier, forcing his way up 4,000 miles of terrifying rivers in northern Canada and Alaska, overland to the North Pole and to the ends of the earth, across the world's axis-the Transglobe Expedition-which took ten years from conception to completion. He writes here too about his attempt to reach the North Pole without dogs or motorised equipment, beating the world record by 300 miles, his determination to find the lost city of Urbar in the Arabian desert and, finally, his extraordinary journey across the Antarctic Continent via the South Pole. Living Dangerously is a remarkable testament from a remarkable man.
Thinking Up a Hurricane
Martinique Stilwell - 2012
An electrician by trade, Frank’s experience of sailing amounted to not very much – an unpleasant spell on a Scottish fishing trawler as a young man and a brief holiday on someone else’s yacht off the coast of Mozambique a couple of years before. Never one to be daunted by a challenge or to be resisted in any way, he took his nine year old twins, Robert and Nicky, out of school, persuaded his wife Maureen that they would all learn how to sail and cope with life on the open seas as they went, and prepared to follow his dream of circumnavigating the world. Facing real danger from the elements and at first having to live more by their wits than their skills, the Stilwell family set off boldly, determined to become part of a community of sailors and adventurers who spend more time on the ocean than they do on dry land. Thinking Up a Hurricane is the unique coming of age memoir of Martinique Stilwell’s recounting of her true life gypsy childhood. It is poignant and funny and heartbreaking all at the same time. With the wisdom and innocence of a child’s point of view, it is a powerful yet tender story of physical and emotional adversity, of family dysfunction and the ties that bind, and of the shackles and exhilarating freedom of growing up different.
Planet Earth II
Stephen Moss - 2016
From the most desolate desert to the depths of the jungle, from blistering heat and freezing cold to perpetual darkness and deadly UV, discover how a whole host of creatures have adapted to life in the most extreme conditions. And how they compete with one another to become the largest, the fastest, the most poisonous, or most devious - all in a bid to survive.Planet Earth II includes the first in-depth look at the urban environment, and the surprising range of behaviours occurring right under our noses, as well as some previously untouched island worlds. Filmed with remarkable 5k and infra-red technology, these are the challenges, the confrontations, and the triumphs of some of the most extraordinary creatures in the natural world, told from their perspective.This is our planet, as you have never seen it before.
Stepping Wild: Hiking the Appalachian Trail with Mingo
Phill Grounds - 2015
How hard could it be? Having more experience than most, who attempt the over two thousand mile hike, Phill decided to go for it. Little did he know, trouble was waiting for him. He did not hike to “find himself,” nor out of inspiration nor desperation. The five month journey tested his strength, endurance, courage and caused more pain than expected. How hard could it be? The answer to that is here in “STEPPING WILD.” What could go wrong, did! The experience was exhilarating and terrifying. A hike, over two thousand miles, is filled with highs and lows, humor and grief, and obstacles that could break any man. The Appalachian Trail, a true American treasure, attracts thousands of hikers each year, like moths to a flame. Phill was drawn to that challenge. His troubles began before he ever saw the trail. With determination and grit, he made his way northbound from Georgia to Maine. New skill sets were acquired as Phill, trail name “Mingo”, faced dangerous situations and errors brought on by his own overconfidence. This was Mingo’s hike, one that should have never been possible. It was a hike that should not be forgotten.
Best RV Tips from RVTipOfTheDay.com
Steven Fletcher - 2013
No matter if you use your RV just a few weekends and holidays a year or make it your full time home, you will find tips that will make your RV travels easier, safer and more enjoyable. You'll find tips that will save you time and money. You will find tips on getting your mail while traveling, internet access, boondocking, and work camping. You'll learn how to save money on camping fees just by choosing where to stay and staying longer. You will get tips on how you can customize your RV to make your home.Chapter TitlesRV Care & Maintenance TipsRV Boondocking – Dry-Camping – Overnighting TipsRV Camping TipsRV Park Reservation & Check-In ChecklistsRV Travel & Destination TipsRV Driving TipsRV Lifestyle TipsWork Camping TipsRV Accessories TipsRV Battery TipsRV Holding Tanks & Toilet TipsRV Fresh Water System TipsRV Electrical System TipsRV Refrigerator TipsMiscellaneous RV TipsTips for RVing With Dogs This book includes over 400 tips. You pay pennies for tips that can save you hundreds of dollars.About the Editors: As most folks do, we started out tent camping. In the late 1970s we ventured across the country from northern California to western Pennsylvania and back through Washington and Oregon in Steven’s boxy old 1965 Chevy van. Those were the days, my friends. That trip had a lasting effect and over time we realized we were destined to be full time RVers. In 1995 we sold our house and a Recreational Vehicle became our home. An RV has been our home every since.
British Trees: A photographic guide to every common species (Collins Complete Guide)
Paul Sterry - 2007
Each species is covered in detail with information on how to identify, whether from a leaf, twig, bark or whole tree, plus extra information on where the tree grows (including a map), how high they grow, what uses the tree is used for and its unique history.Every species is also comprehensively illustrated with photographs of every useful feature – bark, leaf, seed, flower, twig and whole tree.Sample identification section:Silver Birch Betula pendula (Betulaceae) height to 26mA slender, fast-growing deciduous tree with a narrow, tapering crown when young and growing vigorously. Older trees acquire a weeping habit, especially if growing in an open, uncrowded situation.