While in Sicily I read Albina Hume's book "Miss Fortune." It is a memoir of her life which starts in a small village in Ukraine and ends with her meeting John Hume and moving to South Africa. 

Her story is incredibly powerful, and I think it's very brave and inspiring that she wrote a book to tell her story. I don't want to re-tell her story here because I won't do it justice, and you should all go read it yourself.

The book was written originally in English, which is Albina's 3rd language. That is impressive in itself, but it's beautifully written. It reads like a story, and is simple to follow. This makes it hard to put down, and you could easily read it over a weekend. 

The book tackles some really important issues that Albina has faced throughout her life. She has really had an incredible journey. The book largely follows her quest for love and marriage, and the trials she faces along the way. 

Despite a host of difficulties, there is a happy ending in South Africa with now-husband John Hume. I have met both of them before and they're both lovely people. John Hume is the world's largest rhino breeder, and the end of the book briefly discusses how he has a passion for breeding endangered animals in order to repopulate them. 

It is hard to write about this book without giving too much away. I really recommend reading it - it was a good holiday read. There are so many surprises in it and it's a remarkable memoir. I know this is a short post as I don't want to give much away, but I wanted to write this to bring some attention to the book as it really does deserve it. 

I just got back from spending a week in Sicily, and had an incredible time. I went as my cousin's +1, with another cousin and his partner, and their two friends and their partners. It was a great group and we had an incredible villa. We had a fair few days at the villa by the pool, relaxing enjoying the sun. The weather was hot, roughly 28-31°C. We stayed near Agrigento but had rented cars so I'm going to write about some of the stuff we did. 

1. Mt Etna. 

The past few days I have been touring around London with a friend I made volunteering in South Africa who lives in Norway. She came to visit and see the sights. I've lived near London my whole life and I absolutely adore it as a city, and so I showed Amalie around (with a bit of help from Google Maps). 

We spent 3 days in the city, and packed quite a lot in! On day 1 we went to the Churchill War Rooms, which is somewhere I had never been. I really recommend this; they provide an audioguide included with your ticket which takes you through room-by-room explaining what everything is and it's significance. It even plays recordings of real people. The war rooms are a set of underground rooms where Churchill and his war cabinet made decisions during World War Two. It was interesting and easy to follow, and definitely worth a visit. 

The war rooms are just round the corner from Westminster and Buckingham Palace and so after we were finished there we walked around, visiting Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and Westminster Abbey. London is a beautiful city and these are must-sees for any tourist!

On Day 2 we had booked a short boat trip on the River Thames. The boat was a "city cruise" I think and lasted about 45 minutes, going from the Eye past Tower Bridge and back again. The commentary was very informative (certainly knew more than I did which Amalie was probably thankful for!) It's also a great part of London and we saw so much from the boat: parliament, the globe, the shard, the 'walkie-talkie' building, the Tower of London, and passed under all the bridges along the way including Tower Bridge and the Millennium Bridge. 

After we got off the boat we went on the London Eye. The London Eye should be top of everyone's list when visiting the city. It's awesome. It only lasts 30minutes or so but the view is incredible. Although the weather wasn't great that day, it was clear and so we could see for miles. We had booked a ticket which included both, which I really recommend doing if you're planning a trip to the Eye as it wasn't much more expensive and is a great way to see more of the area. 

After walking across the Millennium Bridge to China Town for lunch, we went to the Tower of London. This is another cool place to visit, especially if you're interested in the history of the city, or want to see the Crown Jewels! Once home, I took Amalie to a good old English pub! 

On the third day in London we did some shopping on Oxford Street, and walked around Trafalgar Square. We took a selfie with one of the large lion statues, as we met volunteering with lions, it seemed appropriate! We had fish and chips for dinner - an english delicacy! 

I had a great few days in London, and got to visit places I hadn't been in years myself! I always say one of the best things about international volunteering is all the people you meet, and getting to see Amalie again was so exciting. I look forward to visiting her in Norway, and all my other friends all over the world. 

On Monday Night I went to the Royal Geographical Society in London for dinner and a lecture by Dr Ullas Karanth, about tiger conservation in Asia. I had a wonderful time, learnt a lot, and met some amazing people. 

Dr Karanth pioneered the use of GPS collars on tigers in Asia, and using camera traps as a means of identifying individuals. He knew that tracking tigers was never going to give a clear population estimate, without identifying individuals by their stripes. He has had an incredible life and conservation career. I found him really inspiring as a researcher who works in the field, and not a lab/or at desk, but really on the ground with the tigers. 

He spoke about how important predators are to ecosystems, and a healthy predator population indicates a healthy ecosystem. It's simple; for predators to survive and maintain a healthy population, everything else that sustains them must be doing well too. That is why areas with a high prey-density sustained a greater population of tigers, even if they were smaller in area compared to others. The home ranges of tigers are smaller in areas with lots of prey. That's why in India tigers have managed to do well. Protected areas are often small and fragmented, but the tigers have plenty of food. 

Dr Karanth has had an incredible career, but was incredibly modest. He's published over 100 papers along with several books. He said that the work he has done in the field is much more important than the number of publications. Anyone can write a book, but not anyway can go out day and night collecting tiger scat, camera traps, following GPS collars for days and not see a single tiger. It's not an easy job, but his passion was obvious to anyone paying attention. I was very impressed, and honoured to hear him speak. 

He mentioned human/wildlife conflicts, including relocating rural communities away from protected areas. A member of the audience tried to claim the rural people didn't want this. Dr Karanth dealt with this very well. He has met and spoken to the people who moved, and knows how they felt which was happy to move, and it was what they wanted. He simply said that person should speak to the communities themselves. He also of course mentioned poaching, which happens with Tigers for their bones, much like with lions, for traditional medicines in the far east. However, tiger numbers are on the rise (touch wood) and the work of people like him is really benefitting the species. 

How much money you spend on tiger conservation is not the measure of success. The number of tigers is. 

This is me paraphrasing what he said as I do not remember the exact quote, but the message is the same. This is the part of the talk that stuck with me the most. Of course, money aids conservation in a way many things can't. Of course, all research projects and conservation endeavours need some money injected into them. But, throwing money at a problem doesn't make it go away. 

This is important to remember when you donate to NGOs involved in conservation. Make sure you know exactly where your money is going, and what it's for. 

Overall, I really enjoyed my evening at the RGS. I got to meet Dr Ullas Karanth after the talk at the dinner, along with several other people I was honoured to be sat alongside. It was a great evening, and I think might become a more regular thing for me. 

I am desperate to go to India and see tigers for myself. My parents went last year (still a bit bitter I wasn't invited) and had such a good time they're already discussing several other trips. 

Disclaimer: Pictures not mine:

Top: Source: WCS; who Dr Karanth has worked with in Tiger Conservation

Bottom: Source

I strongly recommend this book, and I'm going to tell you why. This is the first book review I've written on this blog, but this book is honestly fantastic and everyone should read it. I think Laurence Anthony should be a household name.

Elephants have always been my favourite animal. Ever since I was little I have loved, and been memorised by these gentle giants. Laurence Anthony's books were recommended to me by one of my best friends, and fellow animal lover, and so I got 3 of his books for christmas, and this is the first I have read. I was hooked right from the prologue. 
It's an autobiographical story of Lawrence Anthony's journey of saving a herd of elephants. Laurence Anthony owns and runs a game reserve in South Africa. He is given a heard of elephants, who are described as troublesome, and were going to be killed if he didn't take them. The book tells the story of how he saved their lives, by learning to communicate with them, and how a previously troubled herd find peace and a home at Thula Thula, Lawrence's reserve. 
What this book does so beautifully, is describe nature as it is. Lawrence is a well known conservationist, and he owns a game reserve in Africa. He knows the African bush better than most, and he describes it so well. As someone who has visited Africa a few times, I felt reading this he had captured the magic of Africa beautifully and I felt like I was back there again. I felt like I knew him and his staff by the end of the book, and had been to Thula Thula. And of course, I felt like I knew the elephants.

"To understand how they [the elephants] taught me so much, you have to understand that communication in the animal kingdom is as natural as a breeze. That in the beginning it was only self-imposed human limitations that impeded my understanding."
This quote is on the second page of the prologue, and after reading  it I instantly knew I was going to love this book. The book hadn't actually started, and I was hooked. Lawrence understands how humans can learn from animals, and that it's not always the other way round; and that's something I greatly respect. He has great respect for all living beings, and understands that the true value of nature has nothing at all to do with money.

Later on in the book he is describing a baby elephant, who has a particularly traumatic beginning. He writes "Wildlife can absorb adversity that would destroy a human without a blink." Again, recognising that there is so much wildlife can teach us, and there are things they can do that we, as a species, can only dream off. I love it when people speak like this, because I am a strong supporter of this. I know there are things other animals can do better than we can. So many people believe that animals are dumb, and numb, creatures; even creatures are majestic as elephants. This is simply not the case, and Lawrence shows the incredible characteristics of elephants in this book. Lawrence saved their lives, but they also saved his on various occasions, described in the book as they knew him, and cared for him. They learnt to recognise his voice, and smell. They learnt to trust him. A herd of wild Africa elephants, who hated humans based on their previous experiences with them, learnt to trust Lawrence Anthony. That is an incredible thing. African elephants are more aggressive than Asian elephants, and are also bigger. Wild elephants do not trust people, and people are often the enemy, with their guns and dogs. For a completely wild herd to forgive, and trust people based on the care and compassion of one man, is outstanding. 

Like all good books, there is a picture section. This is important I think for a book like this. If you have never visited Africa, or been in the African bush, these pictures can really help you visualise the landscape described. They also identify some individual elephants, and so you can see their faces, their size, and their trust in Lawrence. Some of the photos show how close he was able to get to them: proof of their trust in him. 

This book made me laugh and cry, it desperately made me want to go back to Africa. I don't want to give away any spoilers of the stories you will read in this book, which made writing a review a little tricky... but if I were you, I would just take my word for it, and buy the book!

Laurence Anthony wrote other books too. I have read them all and recommend them all wholeheartedly!