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“Winning the Martin and Osa Johnson Animal Photography Contest and a Second Safari to Chanute” or “Famous in Chanute…”

IMG_3214COLUMBUS–Years ago I read explorer and photographer Martin Johnson’s book “Cannibal Land” and his wife, explorer and photographer Osa Johnson’s memoir “I Married Adventure”. A number of years ago, while living in Sweden, I Googled the pair and discovered the existence of The Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum in Osa’s hometown of Chanute, Kansas. I kept the destination in my head but at the time the Atlantic Ocean was blocking a visit. A few years later I returned to the US, met my wife to be, and while having one of our frequent, “Where do we want to travel to in this life” conversations I mentioned Chanute and the museum. Chanute, being rather closer than St. Helena or Fatu Hiva or even Mobile, Alabama, we went. Fast forward a few years and Kristina and I found we reminisced more often about our trip to Kansas than our incredible honeymoon trekking in northern Peru. We had a baby on the way and wanted to take a trip before it arrived. We decided to make a second safari to Chanute even though it was the dead of winter. I had also recently won the museum’s animal photography contest with an image of my three-and-a-half-year-old niece in a pith helmet  and a sea turtle taken at the Columbus Zoo (It wasn’t Africa but Jungle Jack Hannah will certainly tell you it is the next best thing). The trip itself is a story unto itself that, one hopes, I will write soon. But here are a couple documents to bolster my claims…

Safari Visit Newspaper

Safari Photo Winner

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