whogivesamonkeys | an urban primate with a conscience

Author: Asha Tanna

Zefa

A male chimp in the Budongo Forest Reserve, Uganda photo ©Asha Tanna 2012

Earthquake

April 4, 2024

It was 0758 when the earthquake hit on Wednesday. I was in the kitchen of my hostel in Taipei, Taiwan making coffee. The floor beneath my bare feet started to shake hard, the noise was like a stampede. At first I thought “wow that’s a crazy vibration from the train station,” but the trembling turned […]

Posted in: Asia

The Eagle Huntresses of western Mongolia

September 21, 2023

It’s been almost three months since I returned from Mongolia. In that time I have been working on what feels like a mini investigation. I tracked down interviewees from five different countries, ploughed through PhD papers and tried to make sense of a tradition that is steeped in thousands-of-years of history. The story about Kazakh […]

Posted in: A new beginning.....

Siamese Cuisine

August 31, 2023

I met Hanuman Aspler at a dinner in the city three years ago. We were sat next to each other by accident. I was put on the chef’s table because I was alone and he arrived solo. It was at a fancy restaurant with a guest chef doing the dinner. The food was not memorable […]

Posted in: A new beginning.....

Organ Damage

August 25, 2023

Today I watched my mum crumple up into a ball of tears, as I shared my hospital results with her via a video call. Yet again another hefty emotional blow, when I am far away and unable to put a comforting arm around her. After 3 years of blood transfusions every 8 weeks I have […]

Posted in: A new beginning.....

After an epic hiatus, my name in print

July 19, 2023

It’s been five years since I had any work published as a journalist. I miss my career so much. Today I am wearing the biggest smile after seeing my story published online on Al Jazeera. Mongolia reminded me of who I once used to be, and the life I used to have. This is a […]

Posted in: A new beginning.....

Tsagaan Suvarga – limestone cliffs

July 11, 2023

We didn’t plan to arrive at sunset, but it took hours and hours to drive here off road, and in the rain. We managed to catch a rainbow and a wedding shoot! Now they are gonna have some spectacular photos. Tsagaan Suvarga – white stupa – is found in “Middle Gobi”, in Mongolia and are […]

Posted in: A new beginning.....

Bayanzag – the land of dinosaurs.

July 9, 2023

Bayanzag in Gobi made me feel like I had entered an Indiana Jones movie. Another spectacular area that left me flabbergasted. The landscape is red rock, strong desert winds and a dust that hangs thick in the air. The horizon stretches forever and the cliffs blaze red in the sunlight. The canyons of Bayanzag also […]

Posted in: A new beginning.....

A glacier in the desert – what the hell?!

July 9, 2023

Would you believe there is a glacier in the Mongolian Gobi? And I walked across it in crocs!! This incredible, narrow gorge that runs through Yolyn Am, known as Yol Valley, fills with glacier ice during the winter and remains into the summer months. It’s found in Gobi Gurvan Saikhan National Park. The drive takes […]

Posted in: A new beginning.....

3000m in the Altai Mountains

July 7, 2023

I had no idea how my body would react hiking at altitude (3000m) in Mongolia now that I have blood cancer. I have scaled many summits but not since I destabilised. It was a gamble, but one I wanted to test. People who live above 2700m have higher levels of haemoglobin because the kidney is […]

Posted in: A new beginning.....

White Sand Dunes

July 7, 2023

The day we drove to Khongoryn Els Sand Dunes in Gobi we got a flat tyre. Volcanic rock, harsh terrain, nothing for miles and miles and miles. The outside temperature was 39 degrees Celsius (102.2F). The car had taken a battering and we had no air con. Were we even driving in the right direction? […]

Posted in: A new beginning.....

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