July 29th 2012

G-LAND ...   Surf dropped in size even a little more from the day before giving us some head high to just a touch more on the rare good sets.  Sometime after midday though, the size picked up a little but it was the consistency that i noticed the most.  Long pulses of sets coming through and with the offshore blowing nicely, it looked very enticing.  If i wasn't so set in the day being a lounge day, i would have surfed for sure!!!

So last night, late in the night but before most of the late night owls knocked out, a new arrival into camp situated herself into the ring of huts in Superior.  She was a young Menjangan (the larger, shaggy-furred deer species out here) and she was sick.  Today, come 2 o'clock and she had taken her last breath.  In the end, it'd be hard for me to not think she came into camp for safety.  Knowing that she herself was lacking the energy for any kind of escape a larger predator would force her into,  maybe even knowing she was sickly, coming into camp would remove the worry about the jungle taking her in a raw, elemental way that it could.  She was safe and not overly stressed by the look in her eyes and general demeanor.

The animals here absolutely acknowledge our presence.  Some of them thrive off of us, some of them hide because of us.  I sometimes imagine the exchanges tigers would have with each other regarding humans, that is if they're still out here.  But the black panthers still communicate with each other since they for sure still remain in this jungle and they probably don't have anything good to exchange about us.  And they're skins don't carry the black market value that tigers do.  But still, the deer speaks to me in a way that says she feels comfortable enough to enter into our realm for comfort and safety at the end of hers.

Another load of photos to make up for lagging so long...