Personal reasons

With a scattering of hoots it begins. As a thick veil of mist shrouds the mountain's base, colobus monkeys greet the dawn.

Light pushes through the gray mist as the tree dwelling primates begin their chorus. It starts with individuals, shrieking occasionally. Then it builds as other join in. The sound switches from singular cries to a rumbling chorus of growls that echo through the forest.

Four months from today, I'll head to Tanzania and one of my biggest hopes is to awaken to that sound at least once.

It is likely that I won't, though, as my hearing doesn't function well enough unaided for that. Elephants trumpeting, a lion's roar, the chattering laughter of hyenas – these are sounds I can no longer hear naturally.

Without my hearing aid, the Serengeti is a beautiful but sadly silent experience.

During this trip I will struggle to hear as I do at home and as it does here communication often takes time and patience.

The point for me is that me hearing will never be better to make such a journey as it is today. When asked why am I going so soon – what presses me to go now – it is (on a personal level) the fact that I wish to hear as much of this experience as I can.

Encroaching deafness is what pushed me away from newspaper journalism, which was a career I loved. It will someday likely end my film making. However, it will never stop my writing.

For those who don't already know, I have a book coming out next spring via Homeostasis Press. Amid Valor, Hope and Fish Breath dives fairly deep into the difficulties of chronicling endangered species and dealing with the thief of my hearing: Meniere's Disease. After 12 years of living with the malady I've learned never to think in terms of “Someday I'm going to...”

Every day is a “someday.”

This trip will also result in a book. It will focus on themes such as climate change, endangered species, AIDS, orphans, empowered people and a smattering of anthropology.

I'll carry with me a few notebooks, a sketchbook and my camera. Mainly, though, I carry with me my heart and belief that we are all citizens of one world, and our species's survival will depend on one another. This is the main story I hope to tell.

Rafiki yako,

- Rick Wood