KATHLEEN KENNETH ~ AUTHOR / WRITER
​
Write. Wander. Wonder.
Kathleen Kenneth
Olifants River,
Limpopo Province,
South Africa
Making friends with Olivia
at C.A.R.E.
Limpopo Province
South Africa
My love of travel and the natural world catapulted me into the life I was meant to live. A former Seattle fashion columnist in my previous incarnation, I traded attending exclusive Chanel fashion shows and free spa treatments for living in the remote South African bush among hyena, warthogs, and lions. A bonus: I never had to worry about what I was wearing.
In recent years I’ve made my home on a wildlife reserve in a one-room cottage on the Olifants river. I’ve come eye-to-eye with a bull elephant, been pantsed by a baboon looking for peanuts in my pockets, and never showered alone—scorpions, centipedes, and moths enjoyed the outdoor bathroom with me.
When I’m not wandering the world working with chimpanzees, baboons, or searching for exotic insects, I live and write in my secluded caravan among towering cedars on the Kitsap Peninsula in Washington state.
​
My current book-in-progress, I Dreamed of Monkeys Taller than Houses: Finding Providence in the South African Bush is a nature memoir chronicling my mid-life reckoning and finding my destiny in the company of 700 baboons.
Bits & Bobs About Me
Favorite insect: Dung beetle.
Things that have been thrown at my head: A hard avocado pit by a muscular chimpanzee with excellent aim. Chimp poop.
What I love about writing: Alliterations and juicy words.
Proudest accomplishment: Lifting a 50-pound regime of bananas over my head.
Most unusual animal observation: Watching a baboon eat an Oreo like a kid, by twisting the two chocolate cookies apart then scraping off the cream filling with his front teeth.
Best decision-making tool: A deck of Tarot cards.
​
The closest I’ve come to crossing the Rainbow Bridge: When a black mamba zigzagged down a rocky path toward me in South Africa. Fortunately, I tripped and fell off the path into a sticker bush. The snake kept going.
One thing I want to do before I die: Travel down the Amazon River in a shabby houseboat like the one in the film, Anaconda.
My eventual epitaph: At least she took a swing.
