“Shumba” by Lin Barrie, acrylic on stretched canvas, 92 x 92 cm
Musings on the languid, lithe and lovely beast that we call ‘Lion’ …
lioness and young male in Mana Pools, photograph Lin Barrie
Panthera leo, creature of fable and bible, myth and immediate powerful reality.
My immediate and powerful reality.
Here below is my sketch in honour of the great artist Rembrandt, who acutely and empathetically observed and sketched lions in captivity:
Recumbent Lion, Ode To Rembrandt, acrylic on canvas, by Lin Barrie
I live with lions, have tracked lions, been growled at by unseen lions, sketched and painted many lions. Their powerful presence is part of my psyche, part of the ‘wild’ in me that celebrates every moment of being a part of the great web of bio-diversity that surrounds us.
Here is a gorgeous male, one of two we spent hours with in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park….
Kgalagadi Lion – photograph by Lin Barrie
Lions..constant inspiration and fascinating in their social family ties…
They hunt warthogs below our Senuko bush house, Tsavene, in broad daylight and their reverberating roars punctuate our sleep on most nights.
They impact fiercely on my beloved African wild dog packs, killing adults and pups when they can. And yet I have to accept that this is the way of the wild, the beast with the velvet glove….
Their footprints mingle with ours on walks and safari drives in the Gonarezhou, after nights spent tucked snugly listening to them, safe in the Mahove Tented Camp run by Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge.
And if we are lucky, we spot them in dense cover, peering at us….
Lion in Gonarezhou , photograph by Clive Stockil
Sometimes at dinner on the high deck of Chilo Gorge Lodge, overlooking the Save River, the roars of lions and yodels of hyenas on the opposite river bank nearly drown out the guests awed conversation!
How lucky am I… living in the wilderness areas of Gonarezhou and Save Valley Conservancy in South Eastern Zimbabwe
Let your mind go- Do yourself a favor and read The Rise of The Vaesons – an African Fantasy/eco-tale by Zimbabwean author P.J.Odendaal, featuring Lions, Wild dogs, and a host of fantastic African creatures..
In celebration of World Lion Day on August 10th, Panthera are proud to share the story of the lion ‘Shy’ and his quest for a safe and lasting home in the vast landscape of Kafue National Park, Zambia. Panthera, Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Willdife and the Zambian Carnivore Program, together with partners, are transforming this park into a stronghold for lions like Shy along with leopards, cheetahs and wild dogs.
Panthera Lion Program Director Paul Funston recommends the new book “The Last Lions of Africa” by Anthony Ham. He says, “With the world’s attention on the upcoming #WorldLionDay August 10, this timely book examines the main challenges and threats to #lion populations through the lens of stories from different parts of the lion’s range. It was my privilege to help the author with some of the research and it is my honor to have this photograph of the magnificent Humba that I took in Hwange selected for the cover. The answers to the threats lion face are diverse and a key thought process deeply engaged in this excellent new narrative.”
The book includes in-depth and previously unpublished information from places like #HwangeNationalPark and includes updates on the descendants of the famous Cecil. For more information: https://bit.ly/2PmFr11
The Kgalagadi lions are legendary, photograph by Lin Barrie
I am the child that wakes scared in the night, seeing a robber’s shadow always in the same position, his hooked nose defined by the handle of my half open bedroom door.
I am the child that hovers in delicious, terrible fear on the edge of my bed in the dark, knowing that there be monsters below, waiting until I can wait no longer to make the leap outwards over the parquet floor blocks as far as I can, away from that stygian hole under my mattress. Upon landing I dash to the dimly lit passage and bathroom, not daring to look at the darkness behind!
And now I am out and about in that very darkness, nervous but on a secret mission with my father and dog. He does not say why but we amble to our favourite place, the Mukuvisi Woodlands, for a late, very late, afternoon walk. A full moon rises orange behind entwined Msasa tree trunks.
I know these trees.
By daylight…
We run and climb and play hide and seek with our dogs through these trees.
By daylight…
We spot birds nests, orchids and frogs on our ramblings through these trees.
By daylight.….
But now it is dark.…..
Msasa Moon, by Lin Barrie, acrylic on stretched canvas, 3 x 3 feet
We come into the open, in what my father calls ‘the amphitheater’, to sit on pale beige sand still warm from the rays of the late sun, surrounded by dusk and an audience of whispering Msasa trees. We are peering upwards. I look at my dad and I am whispering as well, “Why?”..
Then, WOW!
An impossible moth shape drifts in front of the moon and over my head as the dog and I crouch low on the sand next to my father.
Bigger than any moth feasible, a fantastical beast floats its shadow over me, trailing two impossibly long white pennants that flutter against the African night sky. Only the presence of my father and my dog leaning against me enable me to look up in wonder and not fear.
It is not a huge alien moth but an exquisite fantastical bird that we have come to witness as it dances aloft like an oriental kite flown by a masterful string puller. Soon it is joined by another, their long pennants fluttering as they dip and swoop in aerial display. My father knows these birds. “Pennant-winged nightjars”, he says.
Pennant Winged Nightjars, by Lin Barrie, acrylic on stretched canvas, 3 x 3 feet
We crouch in wonder for many minutes, and I can feel my father grinning. What a gift he has given me. What a gift the dark has given me, and I wander home to my suburban supper in a daze; to an ordinary life under lights, macaroni cheese, and my second favourite T.V. series, Batman.
Am I to embrace the dark after all? My fascination with Batman the night avenger might indicate so…and now I am entranced with the promise of creatures of the night so elegant and so compelling that they exceed my wildest eight year old imaginations and fill me with awe.
When I awake in bed later that night, as I know I have to, the shadows of my bedroom seem more filled with promise than with fear. I pull my curtains open and the sinking moon smiles back at me.
Out there, somewhere in the dark, the pennant wings dance and fly.
“Pennants I, II and III” triptych by Lin Barrie
Lin Barrie:
A surreal avian memory, a bird which was a moth which was an oriental flying kite, which was a fantastical part of the African night sky, has remained one of the clearest, most resonating images of my young life. A hunter of insects by night, with seasonal display pennants that turn it into a fairytale creature of the moon…
Pennant winged nightjars, acrylic on stretched canvas, 3 x 3 feet detail from the larger painting
I think it has helped to form my fascination with synergies, linkages between elements of landscape, people and animals, such as the flow of water which becomes fish, the texture of baobab skin which so closely resembles that of elephants’ limbs, the shapes of monumental rock outcrops which take human or animal forms, plants which echo human parts, animal totems and people….
Whether we are humans living in sprawling cities or traditional villages, or dung beetles rolling our food stores; whether we are monumental baobab trees thousands of years old or whales birthing our young in cold currents; each of us has a vital role to play as strands of the greater web of life. Diversity and linkages between people, plants, animals and their environment are insurance for the future of our earth.
Biology became a passion for me during my school years. Plans to enter the world of medicine or science were superseded only by the decision to pursue the lonely path of an artistic career.
From my memories and my constant field sketches I create artworks on canvas with a treasured old palette knife inherited from my father with which I create expressive strokes.
I relish every visit to the magical miombo/msasa Mukuvisi woodlands in Harare, my childhood haunt.
Pennants I, by Lin Barrie, acrylic on stretched canvas, 42 x 59,5 cm (A2) Pennants II, by Lin Barrie, acrylic on stretched canvas, 42 x 59,5 cm (A2) Pennants III, by Lin Barrie, acrylic on stretched canvas, 42 x 59,5 cm (A2)
“Fallen Tree”, acrylic on loose canvas, 85 x 200 cm is my painting of the incredible mopani winter woodland in the lowveld of Zimbabwe at this time of year, russet red leaves, filtered light at dawn and dusk and always, as I drive slowly through the landscape of the Save Valley Conservancy, the promise of wild dog dens…
Near the den of the Mbungu Pack, in deep woodland, monitored by the African Wildlife Conservation Fund, (AWCF), I know that at any moment I could spot the dogs…
Deep red leaves and golden lion’s mane grass frame my search…
There they are!… the wild dogs lie and doze, waiting for the cool of evening to begin a hunt
Dogs in Mopani 1, acrylic on loose canvas, 70 x 105 cm
…camouflaged like the patterns of persian carpets in the rust red mopani leaves…
Where do coats begin and leaves end?… a glorious medley of colour….truly a painters delight, and I love the alternative common name for these gorgeous tricolor hunters, Painted Wolves…. or Painted Dogs…
Mopani camouflage, acrylic on canvas, 88 x 88 cm
My painting “Pep Rally” (acrylic/oil bar on canvas, 130 x 100 cm) is typical of the interaction between young wild dogs just before they go hunting.
Exuberant and social, they bolster each others confidence, rearing up and playing..
Pep Rally I, acrylic on loose canvas, 90 x 88 cm
galloping and twisting sinuously in the growing pale light of the rising moon…
Painted Wolf Pep Rally, acrylic on loose canvas, 53 x 97 cm…
The hunters soon disappear into the mopani dusk with white tails flashing, as a full moon rises……
full moon rising
they vanish into the surrounding woodland, hunting food for the alpha female who waits patiently at the den with her pups ..
Mother and Pups, acrylic on canvas board, 61 x 76 cm
Originally posted on Global Health Diaries: As each nation mobilizes its communities to combat COVID-19, a virus that knows no borders, the global community unites in solidarity. Our new series, titled “In the World With COVID-19,” features reflective perspectives on…
In all my travels and wandering there is one constant, one inspiration… The all encompassing sky above me…….
I’ve looked at clouds
From both sides now…...
From Up and Down…..
And still somehow
It’s clouds illusions I recall.….
I really don’t know clouds,
At all.
Sunrise, sunset, starry skies and full rising moons, the landscapes of the Save River below Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge, Gonarezhou National Park and the horizons around my Tsavene Bush house in the Save Valley Conservancy are prime inspiration.
But the world is my oyster, clouds are my starting point and my point of departure, because without clouds, big skies, moody moons and sunsets just could not be the same!
From my homeland Zimbabwe, but also from the aqua and cerise skies of Thailand, the roseate skies of Florida, the warm and spicy skies of the Mediterranean and from the looming skies of wet season Kalahari, I draw amazement and inspiration.
So, this little A3 size abstract is from my “Serendipity” series…
Serendipity Series by Lin Barrie
As is this…
Serendipity Series by Lin Barrie
This is my wallpaper, Night Sky….(see the Clouds of Magellan)?! created in collaboration with Robin Sprong Wallpaper.
I have linked some of my large abstract paintings with similar sky photographs that I have taken on the banks of the Save River, below Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge, on the edge of Gonarezhou, and at my bush house in the Save Valley Conservancy– browse on!
Big Sky with clouds of mysterious hue, on the sands of the Save River….
Kgalagadi Pan , acrylic on stretched canvas, 3 x 2 feet
Pan, by Lin BarrieImpressionist delight
and my painting, Sunset Impression, acrylic on loose canvas, 102 x 78 cm
After the Storm, acrylic on stretched canvas, 2 x 3 feet
After the Storm, acrylic on stretched canvas, 2 x 3 feetbig sky big clouds…
Big Sky, acrylic on loose canvas, 101 x 178 cm
Bushveld Dawn, acrylic on loose canvas, 88 x 90 cm
Bushveld Dawn, acrylic on loose canvas, 88 x 90 cm
Copper Dawn, acrylic on loose canvas, 90 x 88 cm
New Dawn diptych 2, and 1, acrylic on canvas, 2 x 2 feet – how I imagine waking up on the Algarve….Portugal!
New Dawn diptych 2, and 1, acrylic on canvas, 2 x 2 feet
Plum Horizon, flying high, up or down, clouds from both sides!?!
Plum Horizon, acrylic on loose canvas, 88 x 180 cm
Skyscape, acrylic on stretched canvas, 2 x 3 feet
Skyscape, acrylic on stretched canvas, 2 x 3 feet
inspiration is never ending….
Strange new dawn, acrylic on loose canvas, 85 x 180 cm
Strange new dawn, acrylic on loose canvas, 85 x 180 cm
Covering your wall with something powerful, something soft, something you, is always fun, and if they are abstract (landscape, wind, water and sky related), they are truly timeless, I think….whether you are traveling to Boutique hotels, Spas, Bush camps or City lodges, wallpaper rocks!
Pantone Colour of the Year for 2020 is Classic Blue, a dreamy, deep space to fall into….it is echoed in my wallpaper Night Sky….
And here is my wallpaper “Shoal”, used in various wonderful interiors in New York and Cape Town….
An apartment in Cape Town:
A 27 foot high feature wall in Rye, New York, installed by Sarza Store…
Shoal Wallpaper by Lin Barrie
My Ocean and water inspired paintings, “The Swell” and “The Curl” are powerful, dramatic, against Classic Blue walls, and are also available as wallpapers, big scale, as big as you want!!
“The Swell”, by Lin Barrie, acrylic on loose canvas, 90 x 86 cm “The Curl”, by Lin Barrie, acrylic on loose canvas, 90 x 86 cm
What a dreamy colour- Classic Blue is the Pantone Colour of the year for 2020…night skies, meditation and dreams abound! and it is a colour I love painting with, as you can see from the following moodboards, pairings of my artworks and roomscapes….and what fun to take the same Pantone Classic Blue room and place my various paintings within that, as such different feelings emerge!
Anthuriums diptych, acrylic on stretched canvas, 61 X 61 cm eachMopani Winter Woodland, acrylic on loose canvas, 80 x 180 cm,Aloe I, and Aloe II, acrylic on blue handmade paper, 60 x 44 cm
A River Runs, (diptych), I and II, acrylic on loose canvas, 80 x 100 cm and 80 x 80 cm Strelitzia regina diptych, acrylic on loose canvas, each piece is 89 x 44 cm
This is truly Baobab heaven, the lowveld of Zimbabwe….
Now, at the beginning of the rainy season, multitudes of creamy white baobab flowers hang: white, frilly and pendulous from bulbous green leafed stems,
Like so many slightly frumpy aged ballerinas,
My beloved Wire Baobab Christmas Tree is made by local Zimbabwean craftsmen, and I use it every year in my African bush house, standing in front of our huge fireplace…
We use extra special Gogo Olive knitted animals as decorations….
they add real delight to the tree….
surrounded by family, our jack russell dogs and Christmas stockings hanging ready, a carved Painted wolf by a local artist on the lintel
Chilo Gorge safari Lodge has an even bigger wire baobab christmas tree!
so this Christmas blog is totally focussed on Baobabs, Baobabs Baobabs!
Christmas greetings from me, in the Zimbabwean Bush!
Marhumbini Mission, by Clive Stockil, Lin Barrie and Mr. Lyson Masango, with Chilo guides John, Tor and Jasper…..
Insights to the history of the Marhumbini Mission and those that occupied this remote location, close to the Mozambique border in the south east of Zimbabwe.
Gonarezhou National Park is “Place of the Elephants” now, but it has a fascinating and important history of human habitation…..
Elephants at Machiniwa (Mashanu) Pan
Here are some insights to the history of the Marhumbini Mission and the Changana (Xangana) people and other settlers that occupied this remote location, close to the Mozambique border in the south east of Zimbabwe. A visit to the site, now within the Gonarezhou National Park, was undertaken by Clive Stockil and Chilo Gorge Safari Guides, accompanied by Lyson Masango who was the founder teacher after the opening of the Marhumbini Mission School:
Clive and Mr Masango cross the Runde River towards Machanu Pan
The magnificent baobab sentinel that stands below Spraggen’s Hill, is apparently near the old mission school site…
what a tree, sentinel and witness to how many stories and human/wildlife dramas…
…it dwarfs Tor and Jasper, Chilo guides who are accompanying us…
Clive, Mr Masango and John in the distance, searching for evidence of the old mission, or the school building…
The “sentinel” baobab being stripped by elephants….
A pot shard is found, evidence of previous village life, we are on the right track….!
excitement over a potshard….
Success! Hunting further afield, we find bricks and foundations from the church at Marhumbini mission….. Photos taken 15th September 2019
Even the floor slab of the church building still shows itself…and some of the water worn pebbles used in the cement foundations, evidence of a pre-historic, vast body of water which would have covered these now arid areas…
Lyson Masango –something about this distinguished gentleman...
Mr Masango
Born on the 15th December 1947 in the Mahenye area. Attended the Mahenye primary school where he complete Sub A Sub B and Standard 1, 2 & 3. He then completed his junior education at Lundi Mission where he successfully completed Standards 4, 5 & 6. He was then sponsored by Henry Koopman and his wife Florence Fleming to attend the teacher training college at Matopos. After graduating as a teacher He returned to take up the teaching post at Mahenye Primary School in May 1965 where he taught for one year. After completing the construction of the Marhumbini primary school Henry Koopman invited Masango to become the first teacher at the school where he taught for two years, returning to Mahenye at the end of 1967.
The school was situated approximately 100 metres east of the Church, and was constructed of unburned clay bricks with mud for mortar, under grass thatch roof. Only one classroom was constructed, which accommodated between 50 and 60 pupils. Masango was the only teacher and he taught three classes – Sub A, Sub B and Standard 1. He was a government employee and received 20 pounds sterling per month.
Mr. Masango was elected by the Mahenye community in 1982 to chair the Mahenye Wildlife Committee, the forerunner to CAMPFIRE. In 1988 after the establishment of the CAMPFIRE Association he was appointed the first chairman of the Mahenye ward.
He retired in 2010 and resides in the Mahenye village.
The Story of the Elephant and Mr Masango:
Elephants, baobabs and people have a long history in the lowveld of Zimbabwe, often traumatic, always challenging………real stories of high drama abound…
‘In February 2015 Mr. Masango was extremely fortunate to survive an encounter with an elephant. Whilst guarding his maize field in the early hours before dawn, around four o’clock in the morning, he approached a large elephant bull that had started feeding on the mature maize. Armed with a small torch (flashlight) and an old pot upon which he beat, he attempted to scare the bull away. Suddenly the bull charged and knocked him over, trampling him into the ground, but thankfully missing his body with its lethal tusks, which dug into the earth either side of him. It proceeded to scrape a hole in the ground into which the unconscious man was flung. After the elephant had covered his body with soil, it left him for dead. He lay there for several hours in the darkness, in an unconscious state, but finally revived enough to crawl back to a tree, where he was located by villagers who were hunting for him by dawn and heard his shouts for help. He suffered three broken ribs, and massive internal bruising. Later in the day rangers and a professional hunter followed up and found the bull in thick bush not far away. It was decided to put the elephant down as it was seen as a threat to the village. It was only then they discovered the sad reason for its aggressive behaviour. The bull had survived poachers bullets, 9 AK47 bullets being found in the forehead of the elephant.’
More fascinating history:
Dickson Sithole was a local Hlengwe /Xangan resident who was groomed by the Assembly of God to become the pastor of the Church at Marhumbini Mission. He resided at the base of the Spraggen hill.
Tigere and Mazarire were employed by Shabani Mine as drivers. Shabani Mine had set up a labour recruiting base at Marhumbini, and a road was constructed between the Marhumbini recruiting base and the Beit Bridge/Masvingo road, through what is now the Gonarezhou National Park. Tigere and Mazarire would provide a weekly shuttle service between the recruiting base and the mine.
Spraggen Hill is a small hill overlooking the Marhumbini Mission site, above the “sentinel” baobab…
GPS –Coordinates – 21’20,04 S – 032’22,01 E
The original house on top of the hill was built by Mark Spraggen sometime in the mid-1920’s and which he occupied until the mid-1940. After being vacant for some time a lease was granted to Reverend Koopman with the intention of building a mission station. Mr. Masango says that Reverend and Mrs Koopman used this house on their visits to Marhumbini. The Koopmans were based in Fort Victoria (now Masvingo)
Contrary to common understanding, Mr Masango confirmed that lowveld character Blake Thompson never occupied this house. After Mark Spraggen’s departure, the house was only used by members of the Assembly of God during the time the Marhumbini mission was in operation. The mission was finally closed in 1968.
So, the question now arose, where in this arid area of historical elephant hunting and mine labour recruitment, did the legendary and much-loved Blake Thompson reside?!….
We were soon to discover, upon climbing another nearby hill which was starkly clothed in elephant-pruned mopani stumps…….
Clive named it the Blake (Mudiwa) Thompson Hill, GPS – Coordinates – 21’19,38 – S – 032’22,92 – E
Mr. Masango was eager to get to the top in search of evidence, gracefully assisted in the heat of the day by Pro-guide John, with Tor flanking…..
Success…. at last the summit was gained and foundations were found!
Clive discovers this flag post foundation- a joyful jog to his memory from his childhood visits to the house with his grandfather…!
This recruiting base was established in the early 1950’s by the Shabani Mine. Blake Thompson was employed by the mine to administer the base, which included carrying out medical examinations on all recruits. Mudiwa, as he was commonly known, (meaning ‘loved one’ in the Karanga language), was well-liked by the local residents of the Marhumbimi, Chisa and Mahenye communities.
Clive well remembers meeting Blake when just a child, visiting the house accompanied by his grandfather. Clive was over-awed by the pomp with which Blake, dressed in starched KD’s and a white vest, summoned a bugle player and raised the Union Jack upon their arrival !
Blake Thomson returned to Shabani Mine headquarters in 1956 due to ill health.
It would appear that Blake was partial to eggs, as he would encourage local residents to bring him eggs, for which he would pay a ticky each (threepence). Children attending the mission school would pass by with an egg or two, and the money received would be spent at the mission shop to buy sugar and salt, which would get taken home after school.
After a well-spent morning discovering these snippets of history, we drive back through the enigmatic mopani of the great Gonarezhou. Elephant bones and water worn pebbles near the Mission site remind us of the cycles of life and death, drought and flood…
elephant pelvis and skyline near Marhumbhini Mission
After we re-cross the Rundle River, on our way to the Save River, a young elephant suddenly blocks our road, scenting us with trunk held high and determined not to give way. Part of a much larger herd scattered over the road, this particular elephant on this particular day has undeniable attitude. Mr. Masango shivers, his memories kicking in …….
Elephant with attitude…
Understanding body language and attitude is half the success to avoiding conflict with our Gonarezhou elephants…and Clive makes a wise and polite decision for everybody. He detours to another road, leaving the elephants to their space…and calming Mr. Masango’s mind.
a young bull, acrylic on canvas, 2 x 2 feet, by Lin Barrie
As we cross the great Save river, back towards Chilo Gorge Lodge and our fish lunch, young Mahenye girls are walking backwards through the cool water, trawling with their hands to catch their fish lunch – gobies on the sandy river bed!
I am reminded of the divide between communities and wildlife; villagers and National Park; this being the contact zone where elephants drink and ladies do their washing, where crocodiles lurk and herdboys water their cattle…
