MIKE UNWIN
THE L WORD, P145
“I’ve always had a thing about animals that hunt after dark. As a junior wildlife fanatic growing up in the UK, nothing got my pulse racing quite like the quavering hoot of a tawny owl on a dark November night. Years later, in Africa, the owls and their voices may have been di erent, but the thrill of their invisible nocturnal presence remained the same (see ‘Owls’, page 30). The African night also brought a symphony of other noises, of course, including the sawing grunt of the leopard, an animal I had been obsessed with since early childhood. Today, however, I unravel that obsession – and whatever it may tell me about myself, still no noise makes me feel more alive.”