Simon Barnes Author and Journalist

Grownup lions don’t run for fun And six gorgeous lionesses were galloping across the lion-coloured sand in the far side of the Luangwa River. I watched. So did a young male lion on a sandbank nearby. Both of us enthralled. Poor fella. He had picked up some kind of wound or infection: the life of… [Read More]

You’d think that the more time you spend looking at wildlife, and especially, the more time you spend watching wildlife in the same place, the sooner you’d reach capacity. Seen everything, done everything, watched the place dry. But of course, it’s the complete opposite: the more you observe the ordinary, the more capable you become… [Read More]

Luambe is the lost park: the Luangwa Valley’s secret garden. It lies between South Luangwa National Park and North Luangwa National Park in Zambia: a small patch of land I remembered as a place rich and meaningful even by the standards of the Valley. I had seen elands and lions when I was there last:… [Read More]

How strange it always is, that first waking in the Luangwa Valley, those few minutes between sleeping and doing as the first grey light hits the sky. I was in bed but the life outside would not wait: and as always it was like being home and not recognising a soul, like being back in… [Read More]

Here’s the final addition to Wild June: Eddie Wild 30 June 2017

We’re running out of June. So Eddie and I decided to take a stroll onto the marsh, last time in Wild June and first time I had done so since the op on my knee last week. A bit of an adventure then. We took drinks, smoothie for Eddie and a beer for me, and… [Read More]

Here’s Eddie’s 13th Blog: Eddie wild 13

This week I had an operation on my knee. Cartilage. Rum business. Walking was getting difficult — now it’s fixed I can hardly walk at all. I’m supposed to give it time. Well, what else have I got? I could hardly go looking for wildlife in pursuit of my Wild June ambitions, but I at… [Read More]

Here’s Eddie’s midsummer blog: Eddie Wild12

Here’s Eddie’s 11th blog.Eddie Wild11

The best place for enjoying Wild June on these flaming days is from a hammock with a hat over your eyes. I have put considerable research into the question before reaching this conclusion. When you close your eyes the sounds leap into the foreground and hog the stage. The first thing you notice is a… [Read More]

Here’s Eddie’s 10th blog: Eddie Wild10

I’ve spend the last few days of Wild June in Morocco, chasing a few wild birds, so apologies for the break in transmission. I was travelling with my old mate Rod Tether of the travel organisation Natural High, and he told me this story. He worked for 12 years in North Luangwa National Park in… [Read More]

Here’s Eddie’s 9th Blog: Eddie Wild9

Here’s Eddie’s 8th Blog: 30 days8

As Joni rightly said, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. But here’s another truth: you don’t know what’s gone until it’s been gone a long time… We notice stuff when it arrives, of course we do: that’s deep in our natures to do so. We cheer when the swifts appear in our… [Read More]

I had to go to London, so I planned to write about the way June and the wild world affect even a hectic city full of people too busy to look up or down or about. But I was pretty hectic myself and the two tufties seen from the 209 bus and the lesser black-backed… [Read More]

The margins of the fields are tall and rich; the Raveningham Estate does such things properly. I rode past these tangled banks at a brisk canter: a couple of miles of wildness that flaunted and concealed at the same time. The vegetation concealed pheasants and hares and deer, all of which like to pop out… [Read More]

I’m worried about swallows. There don’t seem to be enough of them this year. Perhaps I’ve been unlucky. Or perhaps they have. I look at the sky and I fret. Not many swifts either. Of course, they might just be dodging the dodgy weather with a side-trip to the Bay of Biscay… If you like… [Read More]

Wild June moves into Day 5 and I’m spoiled for choice again. Shall I write about the swallows above the meadow? Or the hare in the garden? We saw each other at the same time and we both froze, holding a 15 yard stand-off for a full minute. Or perhaps I’ll turn to the butterflies… [Read More]