In 2007, a TIGHAR expedition visited Nikumaroro searching for unambiguously identifiable aircraft artifacts and DNA. The group included engineers, technical experts, and others. Artifacts discovered by TIGHAR on Nikumaroro have included: improvised tools; an aluminum panel (possibly from an Electra); an oddly cut piece of clear Plexiglas the same thickness and curvature of an Electra window; a size-9 Cat’s Paw heel dating from the 1930s, which resembles Earhart’s footwear in world flight photos; a zipper pull that might have come from her flight suit; and a shard of a cosmetics jar that matches an Earhart-era freckle cream—but so far, nobody has found proof she used that brand.
During a 2010 expedition, the research group said it had found bones that appeared to be part of a human finger. TIGHAR believes that the evidence they have found is consistent with a castaway presence on the island. Among the most interesting are the remains of small fires with bird and fish bones; giant clams that had been opened like New England oysters; empty shells laid out as if to collect rainwater; pieces of a pocket knife; pieces of rouge and the broken mirror from a woman’s compact; and prewar American bottles with melted bottoms that had once stood in a fire as if to boil drinking water. The mysterious tiny finger bone was discovered near turtle remains on the island’s remote southeast end, in an area called the Seven Site, where campsite and fire features were also found.
Earhart’s surviving stepson, George Putnam Jr., has expressed support for TIGHAR’s research.
Another thing that excited me as I wrote Lady Lindy was the opportunity to write about mountain gorillas. In 2011, my sixteen-year-old son, Sam, and I visited Uganda in Africa. During the week, we taught in lower and middle schools (he taught acting and I taught writing). On the weekends, we traveled to all of the beautiful national parks around the country and saw lions, zebras, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, wildebeests, and more birds than I can document here. On our last weekend, we went to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, where the world’s remaining mountain gorillas live. Bwindi borders the Congo, and the gorillas move freely between the countries.
Mountain gorillas are endangered. Less than 790 remain in the wild, and there are none in captivity. Many factors have contributed to their endangered status, including habitat loss, poaching, and snares meant for small game. Recently, mountain gorillas have also become the victims of neighboring human warfare.
Bwindi Impenetrable Forest has earned its name! Like the jungle where Maisie and Felix land, it has thick foliage, vines, and no paths or trails. Guides with machetes hack through the vegetation to provide paths for visitors. Other guides have rifles in case of attacks by wild animals or poachers. Sam and I visited there during the rainy season, which added to the difficult conditions.
Although we had been prepared to hike as much as seven hours into the jungle to spot the gorillas, we got lucky and saw four gorillas within about twenty minutes. They ate bark and leaves, very much like the ones that Maisie and Felix first encounter. In fact, the behavior I described in the book is what we observed. About an hour later, our guide got a walkie-talkie report that there was a silverback gorilla another ten minutes deeper in the jungle. We hiked there, and, sure enough, we found the silverback!
We had been instructed not to make eye contact with a gorilla and to keep at least ten feet away from them. But the silverback was immediately curious about us, and marched right over. Our guide reminded us to look at the ground, not the gorilla, and to stand very close together. I could smell him as he approached and walked right up to us, standing about a foot away and walking up and down the line we had formed.