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Ethnobotanist
"A simple intuition, a single observation, can open vistas of unimagined potential. Once caught in the web of an idea, the researcher is happily doomed, for the outcome is always uncertain, and the resolution of the mystery may take years to unfold. Such was the case in my encounter with the magic toads of the Americas.” - Wade Davis
Bio
Inki Taane is a well-travelled soul who has lived with indigenous peoples and apprenticed with local healers throughout the world: India, Thailand, Polynesia (including New Zealand), the United States, Ecuador, Peru and Gabon. Each culture experienced has provided him with a unique, yet universal perspective of the natural world.
His fascination began before he was offered his first pint (of beer) at the serendipitous age of 21. Wanting to know what would happen to his body should he imbibe the once sacred beverage, his subsequent research led him to molecular structures, traditional uses, medicinal applications, etcetera. The allure of the power of plants, coupled with the fact that his best, childhood mate is from the first nation people, Dine (Navajo), and his subsequent research into native cultures led him to study ethnobotany. Eventually he studied Indigenous Development at the University of Otago in the deep south of New Zealand which provided a suitable framework by which his two passions could meet and exchange ideas.
He is currently busy preparing proposals for two projects within the Amazon Basin. The first is to travel the length of the "Amazon" River from source to mouth raising awareness on the quality of its waters through relating scientific analysis. These findings will be directly correlated with the stories of the people who rely upon this all-important resource to present and unbiased story as to the current condition of such a valuable lifeline. The second of which is to create a compendium of recordings and corresponding transcripts of his conversations with indigenous elders who have no apprentice to pass down knowledge which had previously been unbroken for countless generations.
His fascination began before he was offered his first pint (of beer) at the serendipitous age of 21. Wanting to know what would happen to his body should he imbibe the once sacred beverage, his subsequent research led him to molecular structures, traditional uses, medicinal applications, etcetera. The allure of the power of plants, coupled with the fact that his best, childhood mate is from the first nation people, Dine (Navajo), and his subsequent research into native cultures led him to study ethnobotany. Eventually he studied Indigenous Development at the University of Otago in the deep south of New Zealand which provided a suitable framework by which his two passions could meet and exchange ideas.
He is currently busy preparing proposals for two projects within the Amazon Basin. The first is to travel the length of the "Amazon" River from source to mouth raising awareness on the quality of its waters through relating scientific analysis. These findings will be directly correlated with the stories of the people who rely upon this all-important resource to present and unbiased story as to the current condition of such a valuable lifeline. The second of which is to create a compendium of recordings and corresponding transcripts of his conversations with indigenous elders who have no apprentice to pass down knowledge which had previously been unbroken for countless generations.