If you took the city of Tokyo and turned it upside down and shook it you would be amazed at the animals that fall out: badgers, wolves, boa constrictors, crocodiles, ostriches, baboons, capybaras, wild boars, leopards, manatees, ruminants, in untold numbers. There is no doubt in my mind that that feral giraffes and feral hippos have been living in Tokyo for generations without seeing a soul.
― Yann Martel, Life of Pi
Katrine Claassens
Montreal
About the Writer:
Katrine Claassens
Katrine Claassens' paintings reflect her interest in climate change, urban ecology, and internet memes. She also works as a science, policy and climate change communicator for universities, think tanks, and governments in South Africa and Canada.
This is so lovely. Made me nostaglic for the gardens of my childhood.
This is beautiful!
Thank you everyone, it is good to see other garden lovers
Thank you everyone, it’s good to see other garden lovers.
Stories of the wild, beautifully told. Thank you.
Patrick’s right Katrine, this is gorgeous and life-affirming and a real pleasure to read. And, inevitably, bitter-sweet. Thank you.
This is a deeply beautiful work, Katrine. Somehow, reading it helps me feel at ease, as though somewhere in this chaos, there is a path to being partners again with other animals in this nature. Thank you 🙂
Hi Katrine. I love your tale. I have such similar memories. Based in Cape Town now, but how I miss my lush garden in Jhb. We often have parrots visiting, I hear they escaped from the zoo.