That was very finely written. Never heard coffee plants so beautifully described, and I will look at them differently now. I know Ke Sanh. I was there almost twenty years ago and heard saola stories - a perfect repeat of something told me in Quang Nam concerning the animal backing into rocky streams and putting its head under water to position its spindle horns outwards. 'Easy to kill with dogs', was the hunter's summation. That is when I realised the improbable story from QN was probably true. That is what saola used to do in the old days when the faced down packs of nipping dhole. Whatever happens, don't stop writing.
Thanks Jeremy, that really does mean a lot to me. Doing this substack has brought in just enough words of encouragement - from people whose opinions I respect - to keep me writing.
(this bit needs some serious proofreading, though! Just didn't have much time for that or editing on this trip).
Anyway I heard an even more improbable story on this trip which I eventually decided was probably also true because I heard it from several people. They said that, once a saola was in that position, it could be captured by pushing a banana trunk down onto its horns so that it could not longer slash them and its head was weighed down. Seems like people actually did this. Also the availability of banana trunks gives hints as to the kind of habitat they were actually catching them in.
That was very finely written. Never heard coffee plants so beautifully described, and I will look at them differently now. I know Ke Sanh. I was there almost twenty years ago and heard saola stories - a perfect repeat of something told me in Quang Nam concerning the animal backing into rocky streams and putting its head under water to position its spindle horns outwards. 'Easy to kill with dogs', was the hunter's summation. That is when I realised the improbable story from QN was probably true. That is what saola used to do in the old days when the faced down packs of nipping dhole. Whatever happens, don't stop writing.
Thanks Jeremy, that really does mean a lot to me. Doing this substack has brought in just enough words of encouragement - from people whose opinions I respect - to keep me writing.
(this bit needs some serious proofreading, though! Just didn't have much time for that or editing on this trip).
Anyway I heard an even more improbable story on this trip which I eventually decided was probably also true because I heard it from several people. They said that, once a saola was in that position, it could be captured by pushing a banana trunk down onto its horns so that it could not longer slash them and its head was weighed down. Seems like people actually did this. Also the availability of banana trunks gives hints as to the kind of habitat they were actually catching them in.