Larry Laverty

                                                                           October, 2022 I began my exploration of Nepal's elephants in and around Bardia National Park. My way was facilitated by Dr. Rabin Kadariya, the lead conservation officer for the National Trust for Nature Conservation, Bardia Conservation Program. I'm pictured here with their elephant, Shanti Kali, and the mahout Hari Bahadur Chaudhry. Just after this picture was taken, elephant and mahout were dispatched into the park to join in the effort to render first aid to a troubled tiger. Reports of wild elephants in the area were very scarce so I adjusted my days to spending time with the area's captive elephants.

                                                                          August, 2022 Pictured are members of a Conservation Response Unit I met on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.  As the island's human population grew during the last century, conflicts grew between the people and the island's elephants. In response, the government arranged for over 500 elephants to be captured, then placed in one of several inhumane camps, to be kept out of sight and out of the way. During my time on the island, I visited several of these camps, witnessing the sad state of life for surviving elephants, kept at the beck and call of human beings.

  As a youngster, I learned of Borneo's primitive nature. In my mind, the island was not only a far away place, but a place too far for modern-day human beings to populate. During my visit there, I learned otherwise. Yes, it does have pockets of land where nothing has changed in centuries. But for a majority of the land of Sabah, the once pristine island has been taken over by humans and their money-making schemes. I wasn't prepared for just how extensive the planting of the oil palm has become. This domination by humans meant that I had to go deeper into the landscape to find the remaining elephants who call the island home. Pictured, my friend Akhmal Aron and I are making our way out of a remote hideaway where a family of elephants had been spending several days. The going was tough going in and coming out. Humid heat over 90 degrees, thick jungle vegetation, flowing water, slippery river rocks, and leeches. But as I prepare for my next book on elephants, I know that some of ...

                                                Volcano Cotopaxi While I'd traveled to Europe, to Asia, to Africa, I'd never been south of the border, south of El Paso.  In November of 2021, I finally made my way south for the purpose of climbing a mountain, a volcano known as Cotopaxi, reaching 19,347 feet above sea level.  I've always been fascinated by volcanoes, by their volatile nature and their tie to the power and magic of earth's center. Cotopaxi is a volcano as currently active as any. In fact, over the past 250 years, the mountain has erupted more than 50 times, the latest coming in 2015-2016.  And, an added bonus for folks who make their way to see the mountain, is the privilege of visiting the country of Ecuador and the experience of standing on earth's equator. Of the mountains I've reached the top of so far, Cotopaxi is one of my favorites....

                           Mt. Kilimanjaro   It's the highest mountain in all of Africa at over 19,000 feet. For months, the months I'd spent surveying the elephants of Africa for my first book, I'd laid eyes on this huge mountain, all the while never thinking I'd ever climb it. The book complete, it finally dawned on me, climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. So for 8 days, I climbed and traversed the mountain on the quiet Northern Circuit Route.  On August 16th, 2021, I stood on the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro and looked out over the expansive plateau that makes up its topside. Visible from the viewpoint were several of its ice features, the glaciers and icefields. At one time, the entire top of the mountain was covered in a sheet of ice. But over the past one hundred years or more, the ice has melted and melted away quickly. Scientists estimate that at the present rate, all of the ice features on Mt. Kilimanjaro will have dis...

  Where Buffalo Roam , A Film for America's                                      Threatened Buffalo All my life, I've been captivated by the buffalo of Yellowstone National Park. More than 20 years ago though, I finally discovered the longtime, horrific treatment of the buffalo by the U.S. Government and the state of Montana. Over the winter of 2020-2021, I produced this documentary film with my longtime friend, filmmaker Isaac Pingree, to raise public awareness of America's buffalo and the unforgivable way human beings have treated them. Actor Peter Coyote lent his voice to the narration of the text I wrote and we were off and running. The film was released February 10th, 2021 and had its official world premiere at the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival in New York City on October 15th, 2021.