Letters from the Wild
Martyn Murray
Martyn Murray has spent a lifetime travelling in search of nature truths.
For over half a century he’s searched in some of the remotest parts on the planet and found that it was only by standing still and paying attention, that truths revealed themselves.
Many of the places he visited are gone.
Here are some excerpts from his writings…
Trees of Knowledge
“If man was not so ignorant, rainforests would be the wonder of the world.”
Botanist John Corner
The transformative experience of discovering the rich biodiversity and intricate ecosystem of rainforests, which changed the author’s initial perception from seeing them as dark and uninviting to recognising them as vibrant, complex, and filled with extraordinary life.
Martyn in the Sumatran Rainforest late 70’s
The Storm Leopard
It was the summer of 1970 and it seems a long way off now, almost a different me. I’d ended up in Kenya on a 10-week trip, by accident almost.
Sitting beside me, the old-timer started to talk of Kenya as it had been in the 1920s, with remote mountains, untouched forests and endless plains teeming with game. Much of it was now gone having been turned under the plough, overrun with livestock, or converted to forestry plantations, even where the land had supposedly been protected from development.
‘People are plain greedy,’ the old-timer concluded, ‘and nothing is going to change that.’
‘Not everyone,’ I protested. ‘Some people do care about wildlife. They can make a difference.’
The old guy gazed at me a moment in silence. “You mark my words: they will all disappear one day. Every single wild place.“
I realised why I had come. I needed to face up to that old-timer’s challenge… the end of the wild.
Was he right? …I intended to find out.
Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species: Bite Sized
Excerpt from Martyn’s exploration of Darwin’s seminal work, published in Wild Nature 2014
Darwin’s style of thinking, is the very antithesis of the compartmentalised mind which the contemporary world encourages. As a result he is one of the most creative scientists ever, and surely the most creative of biologists.
For me, one of the most heroic elements of the Origin of Species is Darwin’s struggle with the concept of heredity in the complete absence of knowledge about genes and chromosomes.
The Origin penetrates with its insights, satisfies with its analogies, and charms with its metaphors.
Buy yourself a copy, find a comfy chair, and enjoy the most amazing Victorian nature ride ever.