In a Gentle Way, He Shakes the World – by Munir Virani
The following article was written by Munir Virani, Executive Vice President and Director for Conservation Strategy and External Affairs at the Peregrine Fund. Munir is featured in the pilot episode of the new animated series, the Chronicles of the Curious, which is co-produced by the Wild Lens Collective. If you’re feeling inspired by Munir’s story, learn more about this exciting new series!
IN A GENTLE WAY, HE SHAKES THE WORLD
MUNIR VIRANI
A young Munir Virani holding an Augur Buzzard.
A young Munir Virani holding an Augur Buzzard.
It is said that a chance encounter with a stranger, leads one to a crossroad and the path chosen not only shapes one’s destiny but also that of hundreds if not thousands of individuals. I wake up most days thinking about the path that came my way – did I choose that path or did the path choose me? Nearly 30 years ago, in a grim, dusty and fly-infested biology lab at the Chiromo Campus of the University of Nairobi, my Evolutionary Biology Professor, Dr Ian Gordon and I were engrossed in an animated conversation about the state of Africa’s wildlife. A week or so ago, the campus had put out a flyer informing students to be careful whilst walking on the campus grounds as a lioness had been seen lurking in the dark. I had just graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology and was pondering my future when he suddenly said “I think you should go to the Museum and meet with Simon Thomsett.” I had other things on my mind as my team The Nairobi Gymkhana was preparing for a cricket tour to India. Little did I know that my one encounter with (the Great and Legendary) Simon was to change the direction of my career path, one that I could never have imagined even in my wildest dreams.
As I left Chromo Campus, it dawned on me that the historic National Museums building was on the way to my house, and so on impulse, I decided to drive there and hopefully meet with Simon. As I ascended the stairs towards the Department of Ornithology, I was greeted by a couple of young people carrying bird books with binoculars in hand. They very graciously directed me to where I would find Simon. I opened the door to the bird collection room and there on the floor on his knees was a handsome young blonde blue-eyed gentleman. He lifted his gaze at me and with a wry sarcastic frown he said “you must be lost. The cricket field is miles away” (referencing the cricket sweater I was wearing). Dumbfounded and lost for words, I inched my way towards him and introduced myself. “Oh,” he said “well done for finding me”. He was holding a specimen of a melanistic Augur Buzzard and began explaining to me about its secondary feathers. All I heard was a long droning babble on bird language which failed to register anything in my already confused head. He had obviously sensed that I had “zoned out” and said “why don’t you come to my ranch on Saturday and we can have a chinwag.”
And that sunny Saturday, my life was going to change…. forever. So, as you watch the Chronicles of the Curious and immerse yourself in the experience of when I was introduced to the world of raptors – held and released my first bird of prey, I encourage you to take just one minute of your day, go outside and look up in the sky and watch and appreciate these magnificent birds that soar above our heads. For these are the spirits of the skies.
Munir Virani (left) with Simon Thomsett (right)
be remiss if I didn’t say something about this exceptional human being who was born in Nairobi, Kenya. Simon grew up in the leafy suburbs of Karen on the edge of Nairobi National Park and lived a charmed yet eccentric life after getting that Lanner Falcon to look after at the age of six. He went to the Banda School where, instead of playing sports, he collected lizards, snakes and insects, completely immersing himself in nature. He developed a fervent passion for raptors and became an accomplished self-taught falconer. His father, a wildlife documentary filmmaker, and his mother, a meticulous artist, were influential in nurturing and cultivating his creativity. Simon spent days on end in the wilderness areas of Kenya hunting with falcons and spending time in the back of the family car whilst his father filmed Africa’s big cats. Simon’s love and knowledge of raptors stems from spending time in the field with his mentors – Grahame Dangerfield and the late Dr Leslie Brown, both legends in the field of raptors. As a teenager, Simon exuded charisma, and a passion for the outdoors and the birds he rescued whilst living in a metal hut under a tree in the harsh northern frontier of Kenya. His family was his eagles.
Simon’s life is a journey of adventure. He built a house on the Athi Plains outside Nairobi, which he shared with a habituated African wildcat and his birds. When he is not training and rehabilitating his eagles, he is in the air with them observing wildlife and habitats from their perspective in his motorized paraglider, or conducting trans-Africa raptor road counts in his ruggedized old Range Rover which blends in to its surrounds like another member of the African megafauna. And his bush-craft, including his way of opening cans with his Bowie knife, would impress even Crocodile Dundee. He has long had a time-share with a leopard for a cave on a remote mountaintop in northern Kenya and now lives in a beautiful setting on the shores of Lake Elementeita in Kenya. I recall opening his Pizza Oven to see an Egyptian Cobra curled up inside.
Simon has had a monumental influence in shaping the lives and careers of hundreds of individuals who have been mentored and inspired by him and gone on to make significant global contributions in the field of raptor and wildlife conservation. He has certainly influenced and shaped my career. In addition, he has inspired Laila Bahaa el-Din (Golden Cats in West Africa), Suzanne Schultz and Shane McPherson (Crowned Eagles in Ivory Coast and South Africa), Tulsi Subedi (Bearded Vultures in Nepal) and Lily Arison de Ronald (Raptors in Madagascar). When Simon speaks, people listen in awe, many times with dropping jaws! His energy is infectious. He has helped students selflessly – from the rainforests of Madagascar, to the high latitudes of the Himalayas, where he dangled on steep precipices to trap and tag Bearded Vultures. He was one of the first to capture images of the elusive Cassin’s Eagle and Ethiopian Golden Eagle. He takes joy in sharing his bush craft in catching these rare raptors for study, and he shares the same deep knowledge of the bush and wildlife when asked to help with wildlife documentaries. His experience was critical for some of The Peregrine Fund’s projects in places like the Cape Verde Islands to assess the phylogenetics of the rare Black Kites; and particularly in Ethiopia, where he scaled 1,000-foot cliffs in search of Bearded Vulture chicks for a reintroduction program in Kenya.
Simon’s conservation education impact on his community is colossal. He has inspired nearly 50,000 children from all parts of Kenya by introducing them to the world of raptors and the importance of conserving them and protecting their habitats. During the Disney-funded Maasai Mentors for Vulture Conservation Project, Simon spent a full day at his home with 16 young Maasai and their four Maasai mentors showing them Eagles and Vultures and instilling in them their importance in Kenya’s cultural heritage. Four of these mentees went on to spread Simon’s knowledge by talking to students in six primary schools on the border of the Maasai Mara National Park. He has imparted his boundless knowledge to over 500 local safari guides who have a deep respect for his skills.
Simon uses his great knowledge of birds of prey in his mentoring and he has taught his students how these indicator species can act as barometers of ecosystem health leading to the protection of not just the raptors but the entire habitats on which they and other wildlife depend.
Few stories sum up Simon’s domino-effect teaching than this one. During the days of Leslie Brown in the 1960s, Eagle hill in Kenya’s Embu County had at least 14 species of raptors (including six species of Eagles) nesting within eyeshot of one another. A few years ago, Simon took The Peregrine Fund founder, the late Professor Tom Cade on an eagle walk at the hill when, tired and hot, they sat under a fig tree and young bare-chested 13-year-old boy grazing his cattle emerged out of the bushes. Thinking that the boy wanted a snack, Simon reached out into his back-pack to give him a banana. Taking the snack, the boy looked at Simon and said, “I remember you, you talked to me about birds. I want to show you a nest of a Harrier Hawk”. Such was Simon’s impact.
His greatest love has been his two legendary Crowned Eagles – Rosy and Girl, which he has tended for nearly 40 years. Rosy is a very special eagle, which has benefited from pioneering veterinary surgery to save his eyesight through corneal graft surgery. He single-handedly bred this captive pair that has produced seven offspring released in Tsavo West National Park.
Simon Thomsett and the late George Adamson of “Born Free” fame shared the same influence – both convey empathy for wild animals at the individual animal level. This goes against current conservation fashion for conserving at the population scale. Most conservation programs nowadays are aimed at the species rather than individuals. But where George and Simon share common-ground is that their simple acts of caring for dependent wild creatures can change the hearts of thousands, even millions of people, and the influence of people who care about wildlife can actually reach much further than today’s clinical conservation policies. Simon recently founded the Kenya Birds of Prey Trust (KBPT), an organization devoted to the welfare of birds of prey in Kenya. The Peregrine Fund’s Kenya Project works closely with Simon and the KBPT in developing raptor conservation strategies in East Africa. I sincerely hope that this animated story of my first experience with this legendary man will cement his faith, and that of millions of others in the conservation world and further ignite their propensity to spread their wings and continue to change the future for nature and humanity
A Mahatma Gandhi quote sums up the enormous conservation contribution Simon has made to wildlife, his community and beyond – “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”
Watch the campaign video for the Chronicles of the Curious, featuring Munir Virani! Visit Project Page