Catching up with Col John Blashford-Snell, the army explorer and Nepal aficionado “With this amazing sunny weather, the garden would have been much better if the deer hadn’t eaten everything.” Judith smiled, unconcerned in a bright orange top, as I looked out at the scorched grass and flowerless beds, the…
It’s not easy being a hippy. Even if embracing the flowing clothes, dangling necklaces, open sandals, and flowers in the hair is not too hard, there is all that sitting around, smoking dope, and staring into space. Plagued by a nagging protestant work ethic, excess energy, and an irrational fear…
Maybe it was the only way to save tigers, but Billy Arjan Singh had a fearsome reputation for being crusty, cantankerous, and unwilling to compromise when it came to the protection of the wild places he loved and championed. Possibly India’s fiercest conservation activist, intimidating, impatient with ignorance and contemptuous…
Little Sangjay was fascinated by the birds: brightly coloured tragopans, garish impeyan monals and strutting Chinese golden pheasants. His small fingers gripped the wire netting of their cage whilst the sunshine lit their feathers. The speckled grey guinea fowl fussed in the rough grass of Col Jimmy Roberts’ Pokhara garden, and…
As the 65th year of the first ascent approaches, the mystery of a specially blended Chivas Regal is solved I know he’s an imposter.” The short wiry man with weasel eyes hissed loudly in the row behind me, his voice husky with vehemence. “That can’t possibly be the real Duke…