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 HANBY-
BYGOTT
BOOKS

ABOUT THE BOOKS

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Feathered Canyons
Finding Treasures in the Golden State

California in the 1960s. World events, the loss of a job, and the near death of a traveling companion propel Jeannette into an unknown future. Her personal odyssey leads her to the Big Sur Coast, where she finds jobs, celebrities, companions, friends, and lovers.
One remarkable man tempts her into the wild canyons of the Sierra Nevada and recruits her into a gold mining venture on the Feather River. While working with a small group in a remote wilderness camp, she learns to appreciate nature.
Travel back to a simpler time. Explore wild places. Meet unusual characters and discover unexpected treasures. Follow this adventurous young woman as she learns life’s lessons while seeking a path to happiness. 
#featheredcanyonsbook

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Spirited Oasis
Tales from a Tanzanian Village

​When two curious biologists seek a new home in a remote part of Tanzania called Mangola, they find adventures in abundance. They are greeted with dramatic scenery, red-dust whirlwinds, a lush oasis, bad roads, and a striking cast of colorful characters.

This fascinating memoir about an intrepid, homesteading couple tells the story of the people they met—foragers, herders, farmers, anthropologists, government officials, and tourists. With humor, pathos and vivid illustrations, they show how they survived and flourished by learning the ways of their fellow pioneer villagers. 
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Beyond The Oasis
Safaris Of Song And Stone

Open this book and step into the East African bush. Climb into a Land Rover with Jeannette and David, and head for adventure!
 
Take a lion-mauled warrior to hospital. Search for singing stones and hidden treasure. Explore the rock paintings of central Tanzania with Dr Mary Leakey and Hadza hunters. Go on safari to Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Battle with bureaucracy in sweaty Dar es Salaam. Capsize on Lake Eyasi. Witness the elaborate funeral rites of a chief, and the terrible fate of a thief.
 
In Spirited Oasis, the authors described how they settled in the remote Lake Eyasi region of Tanzania after years of wildlife research and teaching. This sequel is about dramatic events in their village and journeys of discovery beyond. Learn what it takes to live such a life, and what it takes to leave it.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

​Jeannette Hanby
​& David Bygott

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© Cheri Anderson
Jeannette Hanby has taken on jobs ranging from working with abused and abandoned children in Los Angeles County to placer gold mining in the Sierra Nevada mountains - the subject of Feathered Canyons. After completing her Ph.D. dissertation in Oregon on monkeys, she went to Cambridge in England for further study of primates—one of whom, David Bygott, became her husband.
 
David Bygott began observing wildlife and drawing as a child exploring the countryside of southern England. He was finishing his Ph.D. thesis on wild chimpanzee behavior when he met Jeannette, his partner in field research, conservation, and business for five decades. 
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The couple studied lion biology in Tanzania’s renowned Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area. They have worked as conservation educators, university lecturers, safari guides, writers, and artists. Together, Jeannette and David have produced numerous guidebooks, educational booklets, activity books, and museum displays in both English and Swahili. Their life in a Tanzanian village in the 1980s and 1990s is described in Spirited Oasis and Beyond the Oasis.

They now live in an intentional community in Tucson, Arizona, still learning about primate behavior, as well as continuing to travel and explore the world.
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BOOKSTORE

Spirited Oasis is AVAILABLE NOW
​

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EBOOK

Kindle
applebooks
googleplay
nook
kobo
Beyond The Oasis is AVAILABLE NOW

PRINT

Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Barnes & Noble
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EBOOK

Kindle
applebooks
googleplay
nook
kobo
Feathered Canyons is AVAILABLE NOW in print and Kindle

PRINT

AMAZON.COM
AMAZON.CO.UK
Barnes & Noble
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EBOOK

KINDLE
APPLEBOOKS
GOOGLEPLAY
NOOK
KOBO

REVIEWS

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Spirited Oasis- Reviews


From other authors: 

"I couldn't put it down, and each chapter whetted my appetite for the next. I look in the mirror, and I'm surprised not to be covered in dust; I look out the window and wonder where all the Hadza, Iraqw and Datoga might have gone - they surely were just there a few moments ago. I hope the promised sequel comes out soon - I'm going through withdrawal...."
- Craig Packer, author of Into Africa

"I believe this is the best book you will ever find about the lives of ordinary African people"
- Dale Peterson, author of Jane Goodall


Beyond the Oasis- Reviews

Original, insightful, educational and very engaging
"Spirited Oasis and Beyond the Oasis are such inviting and plain-spoken accounts of her years in northern Tanzania that I read every word. People in the village where Jeannette Hanby and David Bygott settled were poor and largely unschooled, and they were so wary of outsiders that it took years for the foreign couple to become part of the community. Hanby’s recollections of their slow integration are presented in bite-sized chapters. Each presents a gentle story of everyday life, sometimes with a shocking ending. Hanby is brilliant at conveying a realistic sense of what it means to engage with a different set of cultures and learn about them. She describes in beautifully simple language the individual histories of the people she comes to know, the joys and conflicts that she and Bygott experience, the mix of four ethnic groups, the impact of the national administration, the wildlife and the scenery, as well as the fact that all around were sites with evidence of deep human evolution. Scores of superb illustrations by Bygott bring the stories to life. This is a wonderful picture of a fascinating and rapidly changing world."
– Richard Wrangham, author of The Goodness Paradox, Catching Fire, and Demonic Males.

Engaging and insightful stories
I enjoyed both of the "oasis" books. Hanby and Bygott share stories of their interactions with local Tanzanians of various ethnic groups in a remote, wild, and fascinating part of the country. The stories ring true based on my experiences in Tanzania, and they are offered with grace and good will toward their neighbors. Bygott's illustrations are first class, the perfect complement to the stories. Safari visitors to Tanzania often tend to focus exclusively on the amazing animals they see, but the local people are equally fascinating, and these books can give the reader more insights into life beyond the safari.
 – Walt Anderson – author of Inland Island: The Sutter Buttes
 
Intriguing stories about life in a remote Tanzanian village.
Jeannette's description of thorns screeching against her Land Rover stimulated fond memories of my own time in the East African bush. Nonetheless, my main takeaway from this book is its portrayal of the changes, driven by population growth, tourism, and the general advance of 'civilization,' impacting the village of Mangola, the ancestral lands of the hunter-gatherer Hadzas, and the authors themselves.
– Dennis Herlocker, author of Buffaloes by my Bedroom
 
A Fine Dive Into Tanzania's Multiple Cultures
I couldn't bear to finish this book - the second in what I hope is a long series.
David's unique drawings and Jeannette's close observations of rural Tanzania life in the Nineties are a rich introduction to the multiple tribes of the Mangola/Lake Eyasi area - from the remnants of Hadza hunter-gatherers, Datoga warrior-herders, Japanese anthropologists, to Mzungu (white) farmers, biologists and visitors.
Throw in a safari with archeologist Mary Leakey to remote rock painting sites and wildlife love stories and you can visit a part of Africa through its remote to its intense settlement phases. The chapters can be read separately and then repeatedly, to appreciate their detail and depth.
 – Amazon Shopper
 
Like being there
It’s rare to find a book that immerses you so completely in its world, but Hanby and Bygott have succeeded in doing just that. I felt I was right there in this unique Lake Eyasu region of the Rift Valley, mixing with the colorful cast of characters from many ethnic groups. Adventures are peppered with sounds, smells, and Hanby’s self reflections, but Bygott’s drawings and photos really bring the characters to life. An exciting glimpse into a life most of us can only imagine, and a perfect companion to their Spirited Oasis.
– Kindle Shopper

Feathered Canyons - Reviews

“A real-life time travel adventure to fall in love with in a thousand ways. Hanby’s picturesque narrative of her youthful, mid-60s California derring-do has more colorful characters than a bushel of crayons. Bygott’s succulent pen drawings illuminate every couple pages to stick the scenes to your brain like honey. Altogether, it’s a visual celebration of life, love, joy, grinding work, muddy roads, slick trails, naked gardening, all in service of the lust for gold. Oh, and there’s also a VW beetle named Hesperus.”
–E.T. Ellison, author of Book of the Year winner The Luck of Madonna 13.
 
Jeannette Hanby’s thoughtful, appealing, and often lyrical memoir of California’s 1960s hippie scene ranges from the glories of Big Sur to the soul-wrenching hard work of gold mining in the Sierra Nevada. David Bygott’s illustrations not only support the narrative but supply the book with their own beauty.
– Wynne Brown, author of The Forgotten Botanist: Sara Plummer Lemmon’s Life of Science and Art 

Read the book? Don't forget to leave a review on Amazon or through the Contact form below!
Thanks for your support.

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GALLERY

Scenes from Spirited Oasis
Drawings by David Bygott

Drawing of small Renault car on dirt road beside deep gully.
The road to Mangola (Spirited Oasis)
Drawing of huge acacia tree with farmhouse beyond
Mangola Plantation farmhouse with giant acacaia (Spirited Oasis)
Sam, Gillie and Len (Spirited Oasis)
Drawn portrait of African woman in headscarf.
Mama Rama (Spirited Oasis)
Drawing of baobab tree in bush country
On Baobab Hill (Spirited Oasis)
Drawing of Ali standing beside punt boat at edge of swamp.
Ali and our swamp boat (Spirited Oasis)

Scenes from Beyond The Oasis
Drawings by David Bygott

Young man of Datoga tribe
Portrait of Basso
Dung beetle on hand
Dung beetle
Man working in cluttered office
The Registrar of Business Names
Datoga gourds for water
Datoga girls in beaded dance costumes
Datoga girls in beaded dance costumes
Young men symbolically plant saplings on a chief's grave.
Young men symbolically plant saplings on a chief's grave.
Prehistoric rock paintings of people, giraffe and other animals
Prehistoric rock paintings of people, giraffe and other animals
Person holding a baby dikdik antelope
Baby dikdik
two women pull a waterlogged punt
Jeannette and Nani pull the capsized boat home

  • Scenes from Feathered Canyons
    Drawings by David Bygott, photos by Jeannette Hanby

Drawing of man walking on railing of Bixby Bridge.
Balancing on Bixby Bridge, Big Sur coast
Drawing of Bill Hargis with cigarette, wine and dominos
Bill Hargis
Drawing of sunbeams penetrating redwood forest
Sunlight through redwoods, Big Sur
Inside the Stone House, Big Sur
The author on hiking trail entering a steep forested canyon.
Hiking into Bald Rock Canyon, Feather River
Photo of six members of the gold-mining crew.
The gold-mining crew, Feather River 1966
Photo of river pool and the raft used for gold-dredging.
The dredge raft in the Big Pool, Feather River
Drawing of the author standing at an outdoor stone-built cooking platform.
Outdoor camp cooking stove, Feather River
Drawing of a ringtail, a small carnivore mammal.
Ringtail or cacomixtle, Feather River

CONTACT

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