In
the year 1991 Ann Goth travelled to a volcanic island in Tonga, a tropical
place with no running water or electricity. Her purpose was to study an
endangered species: the Malau birds. She was only twenty-one years old when she
made the decision to settle there for two years with her boyfriend, Ivo, to do their
research and protect the species.
As a conservation enthusiast and a biology
student, Ann may have been inspired by other women. Jane Goodall had traveled to Tanzania to study
chimpanzees in the wild thirty-one years earlier; Dian Fossey had flown to
Rwanda in 1967 to understand the intricate lives of the mountain gorillas;
Birute Galdikas reached one of the wildest places in Indonesian Borneo in 1971,
along with her then-husband, Rod Brindamour.
How did
Ann and Ivo manage to get the support they needed to reach such a remote island
in the South Pacific? How did they even survive on that island? How did they adapt
to the culture of the local people to be able to accomplish their goals? What
did they do to tackle the distrust they would face there?
Patience, curiosity and a love for adventure
were the pillars of their determination.
I was impressed by how sensitive and careful
they were in their interactions with the local people. They painstakingly
studied their beliefs, conventions and customs to be able to communicate with
them and gain their trust and support. They needed their cooperation to protect
the Malau birds and to learn about them.
Volcanic
Adventures in Tonga narrates the journey that led her to become an
international authority on megapodes. The Malau birds bury their eggs in the
warm soil close to a volcano. People in Tonga used to unearth the eggs to eat
them. This action contributed to their endangered status back then. Now the birds face new threats…
Ann and Ivo had to adapt to the precarious living conditions and the food the region offered. They lived in a simple hut that had been made by weaving fronds of the coconut palm. This is a vivid account of their experiences, discoveries, disappointments and rewards.
Dr. Goth does not even
hide the grueling challenges of dealing with one of her supervisors, who had
different objectives and threatened to revoke the visa that allowed Ann and Ivo
to stay on the island.
The kingdom of Tonga consists of 171 named islands, but only 36 of them are inhabited. Volcanic Adventures in Tonga reminds us of the deep interconnection and interdependence that exist between the people and their environment. Human beings' coexistence with other species is part of that relationship.
I thank Dr. Goth for sharing her
book with me for My Writing Life: awareness, reflection, inspiration. Her book won the Literary Titan Book Award.
Dr. Ann Goth decided to write about her experiences in Tonga thirty years after her stay there, and
this is her memoir. The letters she wrote to her mother during that time helped to
shape her story, and kudos to her mother for having typed the letters that keep
the details of her scientific work and adventures.
I asked Dr. Goth to answer a few questions
about her book for My Writing Life. I appreciate her time, knowledge and
enthusiasm.
Julia: Why did you choose the Malau bird to do your research?
Ann: For
two reasons. First, because the Malau is endangered and I wanted to help save
an endangered bird. Second, because, among the birds, this one is highly unique
and special. It is one of the very few birds in the world which does not sit on
their eggs to incubate them and instead uses external heat sources for
incubation. The Malau uses the volcano for this purpose. And what is even more
amazing: the chicks have no contact with their parents and live all by
themselves. They are the most precocial chicks in the world.
Julia: Are you still in touch with people from Tonga? Did you
share your book with them?
Ann: For
many years, I have been writing letters back and forth with our family on Tin
Can Island and the fishermen we worked with. This has ceased after about 10
years. I have also sent some goods to our adopted family after the
terrible volcanic eruption in 2022, and I did, of course, send several
copies of my book to both this family and the school on the island. I have not
heard back from them yet, but mail in Tonga is slow and this may take quite
some months. I am also sharing the news about my book with the Tongan community
on various Facebook pages.
Julia: In your book you mention that people in Tonga are no
longer into the habit of digging out eggs, thankfully. Is this a result of
greater awareness of the effects of this deleterious action?
Ann: I do
not know the exact reasons but suspect there may be two motives behind this.
One is the fact that digging out the eggs is very hard and sweaty work,
especially in the humid tropical climate on this island. Younger people may be
less inclined to do so. The other fact is that, hopefully, the awareness programs
about the plight of the Malau have contributed to a heightened awareness
about the negative effect of collecting too many eggs.
Julia: In what ways is climate change affecting the livelihoods
and health of the people in Tonga today? (Feel free to explain how they are
dealing with the challenges).
Ann: I have
devoted a whole last chapter in my book to this topic, which provides more
detail than I can give here. In summary, climate change in the South Pacific
does not only mean that islands become flooded and people lose their place to
live. It also means that their drinking water gets inundated with salt water
and becomes unsafe to consume, that the soil becomes salty and useless for
growing crops, and that their lives are at risk from increased disease,
cyclones, heatwaves, and droughts. The more frequent cyclones damage the coral
reefs where people fish for food and they destroy important crops such as
coconuts, bananas and breadfruit. I finish my chapter with a positive note from
Will Turner, senior scientist at Conservation International:
"We can still make a difference, but we must act now!".
