National Geographic photographer Frans Lanting presents annual Santa Cruz show Saturday, Nov. 22.

Frans Lanting - Chimps at the Edge

Renowned nature and wildlife photographer Frans Lanting takes us to a remote corner of West Africa to cover an unusual group of chimpanzees that is making people rethink the nature of chimps and the boundaries between apes and early humans.

On assignment for National Geographic, Frans and his wife, videographer Christine Eckstrom, woke before dawn each day to meet the Fongoli chimps of Senegal as they arose at first light. Traveling up to 15 miles each day in searing heat and carrying 40-pound backpacks, Frans and Christine captured groundbreaking images and never-before-filmed scenes of the chimps making spears to hunt small primates--a behavior that made headlines around the world when anthropologist Dr. Jill Pruetz first reported it last year.

"This was a grueling assignment - one of the hardest things physically that I've done in a long, long time," said Lanting.

INFORMATION
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Rio Theater in Santa Cruz
Show times: 3 p.m. and 7 p.m.
General Admission: $20; Friends of Long Marine Lab members: $15.
Advance tickets at the Seymour Center (831) 459-3800, Frans Lanting Studio (831) 429-1331, and Logos Books & Records downtown Santa Cruz.

Visit www.seymourcenter.ucsc.edu or www.lanting.com.

Washington, D.C. - An eventful week for me in the nation's capital

Editor John Rasmus, right, pictured with Adventurers of the Year Gregg Treinish and Deia Scholosberg.

Thursday, November 20: - I attended the 3rd annual National Geographic Adventure Magazine Adventurers of the Year event Thursday evening at their Washington, D.C. headquarters.

For three and a half hours, an enthusiastic crowd of several hundred was treated to video clips, stories and rousing testimonials about international adventures. The highlight of the presentation was the introduction of the 14 Adventurers of the Year, young men and women who had been selected by a National Geographic panel (and are featured in the December issue of the magazine, "Best of Adventure '09, with *Pemba Sherpa on the cover).

After a tribute to Sir Edmund Hillary (1919-2008) and a Hall of Fame award to Rick Ridgeway,
Boyd Matson, called "the face of National Geographic," introduced each of the winners with a video clip and some brief question and answers on stage.

Three honorees were unable to attend: Kelly Slater, awarded for his athleticism, was on book tour, George Stenimetz (photography) and Emma Stokes (discovery) were traveling abroad.

I have more to say about the inspiration of the evening - but I have to board my American Airlines flight from Dallas to San Francisco. My 7 a.m. flight leg from D.C. to here went smoothly!