The Winds of Mara

The Man Who Walked Through Time (1967) -- guide, hiker and amateur naturalist -- returns to Africa, specifically the Mara animal preserve in southern Kenya. There among magnificent ""unknowing"" animals, a complex topography, and a human population no less intricate in its crosscurrents and purposes, Fletcher searches for connections and scrutinizes his own ability to observe creatures and objects. ""Unless you're one of the people born with your eyes open, you have to learn down the years, scene by scene."" His own past surfaces here and there via peak illuminations -- a bleak universe of bus station asphalt or a sudden uncurtained scene in a night city. Day after day Fletcher roams back and forth through Mara and its environs -- a silent but enjoyable breakfast with a young Masai, pleasant to enervating run-ins with edgy Kenya officials, rangers and tourists.....