After a week of all things Greek, with a special emphasis on Olives, Oil and Trees this week has been quieter and more contemplative, a month when lives were lost, others born. This rose caught the morning sun as I read a message from my friend Gail Sadd. I had reached out to her after watching “Ocean” David Attenborough’s moving film. I had asked her if her son, a well known wildlife photographer, had been involved in the making of it.

Her response this morning left me reading it over and over. I am still processing it. They were in Uzbekistan exploring the Spice Road. Ed father to Emma, Clare and Ben and possibly one of the kindest, gentlest persons on this planet, died there suddenly and prematurely. I know all who knew him will miss him dearly.

We had enjoyed travelling to Rwanda together in 2023 to spend time with the gorillas but it wasn’t just this trip that united us. We met as two young families in Kenya. Gail and Ed had a safari company and lived not far from us in Nairobi. Blissful afternoons were spent with the kids playing with Siafu the dog, while we sipped tea or occasionally something stronger. We explored the Masai Mara together with the Crawfords, another family, and we spent unforgettable evenings around a campfire. Then we went our separate ways – to distant parts of the Uk until we met again on our Camel Safari in the Matthews Ranges in December of 2000.

I wrote this then and I dedicate it to Ed, his love of the outdoors and his unfailing kind and gentle take on life.

Squelching mud,
Perfect Grub
Matthews Mountains
Loads of luggas but no fountains,
Wild flowers,
Helen, How many more hours?
Beaten at rounders, fair and square
By the Samburu
We thought they wouldnt dare
Loved the outdoor loos,
Walking in twos,
Seeing the birds,
And the earth’s chocolate curls.
Samburu 27/12/2000

.