\n<\/p>\n
Intriguingly, Fuller started adult life amid modern hustle, working as a political journalist, then an emergency room technician at a Boston hospital. \u201cIn my youth, I relished living and working in city centres,\u201d he says. But his decision to spend time living in Africa is what changed him. \u201cMy three years in East Africa were transformative. I came to realise I needed to live as connected with nature and animals as I practically could,\u201d explains Fuller. \u201cYellowstone in winter was a good choice.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0Now, he works every winter from a remote 110-year-old wood-frame cottage in the Wyoming section of the vast nature reserve. \u201cSome buffalo bulls I have known for years. My body language assures them I am just passing by,\u201d says Fuller. \u201cI speak with other animals, too. Pine martens, coyotes, foxes, wolves, bears, deer, moose.\u201d Without camouflage clothes and a stealth approach, he says he\u2019s \u2018engendered trust\u2019 with a simple greeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost other humans move too fast, and are noisy,\u201d adds Fuller. \u201cThey\u2019re ignorant of body language which communicates alarm or threat.\u201d And that’s important when he lives somewhere in which he can point to ten places outside his cottage window where people have been killed by bears.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, he captures Yellowstone\u2019s enduring majesty in a photography portfolio<\/a>, while also writing columns for the local Mountain Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n Reading is important, too. \u201cMine is the largest, most eclectic private library in Northwest Wyoming \u2013 not much of a claim,\u201d he jokes. There\u2019s also \u201ccross-country skiing, conversation when available, sporadic efforts at \u2018self-actualisation\u2019 and Tat Tvam Asi [a Sanskrit phrase to describe a form of Hindu self-reflection] \u2013 interspersed with beer drinking and procrastination.\u201d<\/p>\n Dee Caffari, Solo long-distance sailor<\/strong><\/p>\n Isolated in the middle of an ocean, a person can seem more like an astronaut on the International Space Station than their fellow humans on land. And although more than 500 people have floated above the world as astronauts, barely a hundred<\/a> have sailed non-stop, solo and unassisted around it.<\/p>\n British yachtswoman Dee Caffari \u2013 a veteran of six world circumnavigations on the ocean \u2013 was the first woman to sail single-handed non-stop around the globe in both directions. Her 178-day solo voyage in 2006 was also the first by a woman sailing \u2018the wrong way\u2019 \u2013 westward, against the prevailing winds and currents.<\/p>\n Her decision to set off alone was inspired by another famous British \u2018round-the-world sailor, Sir Chay Blyth. \u201cHe suggested I become the first female to complete what was considered the impossible voyage. It was only a matter of time before a woman would do it, and why shouldn\u2019t that woman be me?\u201d says Caffari. \u201cThat conversation ignited a spark \u2013 I decided life is about opportunities \u2013 and this was too good an opportunity to let pass. There are not too many \u2018firsts\u2019 left to achieve in this world.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n