There is a world somewhere between reality and fiction. Although ignored by many, it is very real and so are those living in it. This forum is about the natural world. Here, wild animals will be heard and respected. The forum offers a glimpse into an unknown world as well as a room with a view on the present and the future. Anyone able to speak on behalf of those living in the emerald forest and the deep blue sea is invited to join.
Tracking Gobi Grizzlies.
Wherever I wandered alone on foot, I found myself under the spell of two sensations aroused and amplified by the desert. The first was one of absolute exposure - to the sun and eternal blue sky; to vast, uncluttered vistas of Earth's bare skin and bones impinging from all sides; to sharp stones underfoot, pushes and probes of the wind; to more stars than I had ever seen. Outside my tent or the ger, there was no place to hide from any of it - no overhanging branches, no organic tangles, no corner or cubby to nestle into except maybe somewhere against a rock face.
The second sensation was of the desert's profound stillness. Nothing moved out there save the occasional dust devil or wisp of a cloud. There was never a jet contrail marking the sky, for no commercial airlines flew routes over the empty spaces of Central Asia. The absence of motion was matched with an absence of sound. If you make a point of listening to the Gobi wind, you can nearly always hear it whisper something. But it surges and susurrations become the kind of white noise you cease to pay attention to. And when the wind that has been blowing you around suddenly idles, the depth of the silence will practically knock you to your knees.
Bears of the Himalayan Mountains
