I spent most of my childhood in Africa, from 1959 to 1970. First in West Africa, then, after a brief Dutch interlude, we went to Kenya, East Africa, in 1967. Kenya’s independence was quite recent: December 1963. The first president was Mzee (old man) Jomo Kenyatta, the leader of the Independence movement. For us kids,…
We left West Africa in ’64. We were lucky: all our friends who stayed in Guinea, Europeans and Africans, were jailed, tortured, some executed. See the Colonel’s gardens and its epilogue: https://equinoxio21.wordpress.com/2017/02/07/the-colonels-gardens-an-african-childhood/ We spent a 3 years’ intermission in Holland. Drastic weather change. On the downside, I had to wear shoes all the time. Can’t…
“What is your name, my son?” “My name is Philip, my Lord. Man calls me Tembo, the elephant.” “Where do you come from, my son Philip? You do not look like your cousins from here.” “I was born in Tsavo my Lord Buddha. In what Man calls Africa. My family was born here for thousands…
I was lucky enough to “meet” elephants at a very young age. And see many through my childhood and teens. Above: elephant orphanage, Conakry, Guinea, West Africa, c.1960. R. to l. Three baby elephants, orphaned after their mother was killed by a poacher, yours truly (with white socks if you please), my mother, and little…
I’ve always liked elephants, lucky enough to see elephants from a very young age. Either in Asia or in Africa. West and East. They’re the strongest animal on earth. And though dangerous, are a peaceful bunch. On the verge of extinction. Above: a “rubbing” of a bas-relief in Angkor that we bought on site this…
Daphne Sheldrick, DBE, just left us at the age of 83. She was the “mother of elephants” (Tembo mama in Swahili). She founded the “Orphanage” near Nairobi where orphaned elephants (due to poaching) are raised, cared for and many later returned to the bush. In 1967, (I know, fifty years ago and change. Don’t remind…
Colours , Mexico city. 2016 Grey. Bogotá, Colombia, 1940. “Cough syrup Escovar. Cough. Flu. Colds.” Musée de l’Homme, Paris. 1916. Contemporary African art. Breton knight ready for tournament. c. mid 1300’s. Bibliothèque Nationale. (c)ourtesy Honorine Tellier. Visit her great blog for horse lovers here: (Honorine je ne t’ai pas demandé la permission… Pas de souci?) https://artequestre.wordpress.com/author/pouruncentaure/…
Crested cranes. Tsavo National Park. (c)ourtesy Alex. The crested cranes are most elegant birds, common across East Africa. They figure on Uganda’s coat of arms. Dragos was absolutely right: I’d already posted this private chapel in Tlalpan, Mexico city. The above is after restoration. Below is before… I‘m not entirely sure, but I think…
Welcome aboard Equinoxio Time-Space Flight thirty-something. Our first stop: Amboseli National Park, Kenya, 1967. Some of our safaris coincided with the rainy season. It took us several hours to cross this particular stretch of a few hundred yards of bush. Our faithful Peugeot 404 would get stuck in the the mud. Push it. Move forward.…
San Francisco. July 2015. (Bear with me, San Francisco was a treasure mine of art. Still have many more to come. Pleased to announce that Frisco photos have been recovered.) Yaxchilan Maya site, at the Mexico-Guatemala border, on the Usumacinta river. My faithful 40-year old Ray-bans were lost in Paris 2 years ago. (Now replaced…
Equinoxio 