Magnificent, Marvellous, Mighty Monday and Armand and Michaela Denis

I've long loved Armand and Michaela Denis's books detailing their adventures in Africa and around the world. This dynamic couple who were so popular in the fifties are, sadly, barely remembered today. And yet they played such a vital role in conservation and were so influential when it came to nature documentaries.
Their lives resonated with me in a lot of ways. The Kenyan expat community reminded me of my own early years in Papua New Guinea.
Their books make riveting reading as they describe their adventures with lions, the natives, crocodiles and so forth. One of my very favourites is Michaela's 'At Home with Michaela' as she details how she made a beautiful house for herself and what it was really like to be a woman on safari. She soon found out taking lipsticks and cosmetics into the native camps was a sure way to make new friends with the women there. It seems women can have universal interests!
Michaela was a stand-in for Deborah Kerr in the movie King Solomon's Mines and was a quintessential fifties glamour pot. She trained as a dressmaker in Paris and so her life really did take an unexpected turn when she fell in love with the Belgian film-maker Armand Denis. Of course I was always going to have a soft spot for a woman who never forget to apply her red lipstick in the middle of the jungle! She would sneak away many times to dance all night with the natives, and kept her cool whilst being bitten by baboons and charged by wild rhinos!
Both Armand and Michaela were believers in psychic matters and swore they saw a spaceship over the African plains. I also believe strongly in magic and psychic affairs after my time in Papua New Guinea. Michaela's books are filled with fascinating psychic stories of Africa.
The books have a poignant edge as the couple lament the rapid loss of wildlife in the Kenya they loved so much. They would be heartbroken to see the situation today, not only in Africa but worldwide.
Michaela writes beautifully of her longing for a child (sadly which never came to pass, as predicted by an African witch doctor) and of her enormous love for Armand, who she loved so much and regarded as her soulmate.
Although Michaela believed she couldn't live without Armand by her side, she had to as he died in 1971.Michaela stayed in Africa and became interested in spiritual healing techniques which she studied under African healers. She did marry again but her husband died several months after their marriage. Michaela died in Nairobi in 2003.
Although this very special couple often draw blank looks from people when I mention their name and their wonderful books are long out of print, you can still track them down through EBay and secondhand shops.
It was the Scribe who first introduced me to this dynamic, adventuring couple. On Friday I shall post about a wonderful gift the Scribe bought me related to them.
And so for Magnificent, Marvellous, Mighty Monday let us pay tribute to the spirit of conservation, adventure and lust for life that Armand and Michaela Denis possessed in spades. May their courage, compassion and sheer guts enter our own creativity and life. And never forget - even if the lion has your scent, don't forget that red lippie!
make every second of this life count. Never feel self- pity - what a vice, what a bore for others!"
Michaela Denis

image of armand and michaela source

image of michaela making herself up source

image of michaela cuddling a very big cat source: