How can it be that the forests of the world have such a hold over us? As we incur further and further into the dark unexplored places of the world, does anything still hide within, watching us as our world drifts toward theirs?
With the slow inevitability of continental drift, we are slowly surging toward the unexplored remaining wildernesses of the world. Vast tracts of land still exist, almost untouched by humanity, but they are disappearing. This meeting of worlds is sometimes violent, sometimes deadly. The rise of new pathogens (no names) is an early warning for us to stay away.
Obviously we aren't heeding this.
Despite the fact I am Australian I have to admit a certain fascination lately with tales of mysterious disappearances in National parks in North America. This vast landmass contains huge swathes of untouched forest and wilderness, which have become a major draw for visitors and seekers of adventure alike. Every year scores of people vanish without trace in these parks. Many are found alive and well in short order, many are found deceased with the cause readily discernible, but there is always a stubborn small percentage of these cases in which the lost persons just disappear without a trace, despite rigorous efforts by authorities to find them.
Do the forests of the world hide remnant vestiges of ancient savagery? Could at least some of the thousands of missings persons cases each year be attributed to something that really doesn't want it's privacy disturbed?
Probably not, but who can really say?
Turning the page,
Ben.