The Tree Where Man Was Born

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  CLASSICS

THE TREE WHERE MAN WAS BORN

PETER MATTHIESSEN
(1927–2014) is the only writer who has ever won the National Book Award in both fiction and nonfiction. His travels as a naturalist and explorer resulted in more than a dozen books on natural history and the environment, including
The Snow Leopard
, his first NBA winner. Matthiessen’s equally important career in fiction produced a collection of stories and ten novels, among them
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
(an NBA finalist) and the Everglades trilogy (
Killing Mister Watson
,
Lost Man’s River
, and
Bone by Bone
), which, rewritten and distilled, were published in one volume in 2008 under the title
Shadow Country
, winner of the NBA in fiction.
Shadow Country
was also the 2010 recipient of the William Dean Howells Medal, given by the American Academy of Arts and Letters for the most distinguished American novel published during the previous five years. Matthiessen was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His final novel,
In Paradise
, was published just after his death in 2014.

JANE GOODALL
is a pioneering primatologist who is best known for her ongoing study of the social and family life of the Kasakela chimpanzee community in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. Her books include
The Chimpanzees of Gombe
,
Through a Window
, and
Hope for the Animals and Their World
.

ALSO BY PETER MATTHIESSEN

NONFICTION

Wildlife in America

The Cloud Forest

Under the Mountain Wall

Sal Si Puedes

The Wind Birds

Blue Meridian

The Tree Where Man Was Born

Sand Rivers

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse

Indian Country

Nine-Headed Dragon River

Men’s Lives

African Silences

East of Lo Monthang

The Birds of Heaven

Tigers in the Snow

End of the Earth

FICTION

Race Rock

Partisans

Raditzer

At Play in the Fields of the Lord

Far Tortuga

On the River Styx and Other Stories

Killing Mister Watson

Lost Man’s River

Bone by Bone

Shadow Country

In Paradise

Acknowledgments

Introduction by
J
ANE
G
OODALL

Author’s Note

Maps

THE TREE WHERE MAN WAS BORN

Notes

Glossary

Selected Bibliography

Index

For encouraging the making of this book I am particularly grateful to Dr. John S. Owen, director of the Tanzania National Park, whose vision and dedication in a crucial time helped to save African wildlife for the future.

I thank Martha Gellhorn and Truman Capote for recommending me so generously to Dr. Owen, and also William Shawn of
The New Yorker
magazine for the unfailing support that has made my travels possible for years.

Frank Minot and his staff at the African Wildlife Leadership Foundation in Nairobi (a branch of the Conservation Foundation in Washington, dedicated to the vital task of turning young Africans toward conservation), and also his wife, Mary, were helpful in innumerable ways that made an important contribution, not least of which was the warmth and hospitality of their lovely house in Langata. Other good friends who took me in with unfailing hospitality were Iain Douglas-Hamilton (Manyara), Peter Enderlein (Yaida Chini), Nancy and Lewis Hurxthal (Embakasi), Patricia and John Owen (Arusha), Ruth and Hugh Russell (Arusha), and Desmond Vesey-FitzGerald (Momela). At Seronera, where I had my own quarters, the parks staff and the scientists of the Serengeti Research Institute were most hospitable, in particular Kay and George Schaller and Kay and Myles Turner. Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan kindly invited me to join his safari in the Ngorongoro Crater in 1970, and another safari there later that year was greatly assisted by the generosity of Mr. Solomon Ole Saibull, then conservator of the Crater, who made available his private tent.

In gratitude for kindnesses, information, and assistance, I mention the following in the knowledge that the names of others no less helpful will occur to me when it is too late; those I thank, too, with my apologies:

Finally, I am much indebted to the people who checked the manuscript for mistakes; they are, of course, in no way responsible for errors that may remain.

Most or all of the book was read by Dr. John S. Owen and Myles Turner, by ecologists Desmond Vesey-FitzGerald and David Western, and by Hugh Russell, who paid particular attention to the use and spelling of Swahili. In addition, particular chapters benefited greatly from the attentions of the following: