Life in the Ethiopian bush — Crowdfunding on wemakeit

Observation of primates in the wild like Jane Goodall

Over 50 years ago, the dream of living in the wild came true for my family: we moved to a remote camp in Ethiopia’s Awash National Park for a year, where my father studied the behaviour of the desert baboons. My book lets you immerse yourself in our world back then. It tells not only of my father’s baboon project, but also of the pranks of the hippo with whom we shared our camp; my mother’s «bush school»; our encounters with the nomadic tribes of the area; my parents’ struggles with the imperial bureaucracy; and our experiences with illness and death in the savannah and on the streets of Addis Ababa. It lets you share our travels by Land Rover or mule, and our holiday in Eritrea, which was part of Ethiopia at that time. The book is written in German. I hope to publish an English version as a next step!

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«Dare we really attempt such an adventure?»

Nowadays safety is usually the top concern in any family undertaking. Children need to be protected from all dangers, risks and challenges as much as possible. In 1968, my parents gave priority to adventure, as did Jane Goodall - and for me, despite all the difficulties, our year in Ethiopia remains one of the best of my life. My brothers and I had hardly any toys, but an almost unlimited freedom to act out our imagination in games of our own invention. We learned to help ourselves; we learned appropriate behaviour towards animals in the wild; we learned respect and affection for people from a completely different culture. With my book, I would like to encourage all those who are faced with the question: Dare we really attempt such an adventure? In addition, I would like to share my fascination for a country that most people associate primarily with famine and civil war.

Why not just publish online?

OK, let’s face it: in our digitized world, there is hardly any more money to be made from books. Nevertheless, even nowadays there are many who at times love to hold a book in their hands instead of staring at a screen: to feel the paper, to turn the pages, to admire the color photos… Might you be one of them? Elfundzehn Publishing believes my story is worth telling. They are willing to turn my manuscript into one of those books that just invites you to open it. We are in contact with Jane Goodall’s team and are optimistic that she will add a commentary to the book. We have already received a grant from the city of Zurich and a generous private donation. In order to cover the costs of production, we still need CHF 8,000. We aim to obtain this amount in three stages.