The delayed reset
February 24, 2022
Narrow Escapes
March 25, 2022
Into the wild
Chris and Mathilde Stuart are renowned for their work in wildlife research. Having spent the past 40 years travelling the globe, they’ve captured their findings in a host of beautiful and bestselling nature guides. In their own words, the couple shares with us some of the highlights from their journey.
This article was originally published in the Penguin Post, a magazine about books for book lovers, from Penguin Random House South Africa.
I undertook curatorship of Albany Museum’s mammal collection. It was in Grahamstown where Tilde and I met by chance in 1983. She had just returned from completing her medical studies in Innsbruck, Austria and, as soon as we met, the die was cast. We married, moved to the small town of Elim in Limpopo, where Tilde took up work at the hospital there, and the lifetime dream began: independent research, biodiversity consultancy and book writing. We published our first book, Field Guide to the Mammals of Southern Africa, with Struik in 1988.
From modest beginnings, we’ve been fortunate that our work has taken us to the four corners of the earth. Our first of many ventures into Africa began with Zambia’s Kasanka National Park. A biodiversity survey that we did resulted in the first size estimate of the greatest mammal migration in Africa – and probably the world. Around 10 million straw-coloured fruit bats (Eidolon helvum) arrive there every year and settle for two months in the park’s Fibwe Forest; an aura of sight, smell and sound.
Arabia was added to the mix in 1995 with an invitation from the Arabian Leopard Trust to determine once and for all whether leopards survived in the mountains of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). They did, but in such low numbers that sadly, they wouldn’t survive long-term. It was there that
we discovered Blanford’s fox (Vulpes cana) for the first time in the UAE, and confirmed the continued survival of the Arabian tahr (Arabitragus jayakari), a wild goat that had once been considered extinct. The latter led to the proclamation of a national park. We also made new discoveries in neighbouring Oman and in Yemen, but although we were strongly tempted to do wildlife surveys in Yemen, this was during the Yemeni Civil War, and we judged it too dangerous. It was the first time we’d backed away from survey work.
We called Australia home for nearly two years between 2004 and 2006, while Tilde did several locums. It was a great opportunity to continue our nature photography and survey work on the Red Continent, known for its natural life, and before we left, we took an unforgettable 35 000 km road trip.
