Nicholas Clapp: A Renaissance Man Who Left His Mark on ABF
Written by: Diana Lindsay
Nicholas Clapp, former ABF board member who died at the age of 89 on July 30, had a deep engagement with desert landscapes and storytelling. As a filmmaker, author, and amateur archaeologist, Nick explored and documented the cultural and natural history of desert regions around the world, including Anza-Borrego Desert State Park (ABDSP). He died at his home in Borrego Springs.
In Arabia, He led an expedition that discovered and unearthed the lost city of Ubar, celebrated in both the Bible and the Arabian Nights. In 1996, he directed a documentary, The Lost City of Arabia for the PBS series “Nova,” and in 1998, wrote the book The Road to Ubar: Finding the Atlantis of the Sands that became a Los Angeles Times best seller. Nick said that the initial reconnaissance of the area “required crossing forbidden terrain that was populated by poisonous snakes, giant spiders and armed herdsmen,” which led to The Los Angeles Times calling him “a real-life Indiana Jones.” The book sold 46,000 copies and appeared in six international editions.
Like Indiana Jones, Nick did not stop with this archaeological adventure. It was followed by another hair-raising adventure in search for the truth behind the legend of the Queen of Sheba that led him to Ethiopia, Yemen, Israel, and even a village in France. His discoveries were published in 2001 as Sheba: Through the Desert in Search of the Legendary Queen. It was listed as The Los Angeles Times “#1 Best Seller” when it was published. It sold 32,000 copies and had seven international editions. His fascination with the Queen of Sheba drew him to the story of the Queen of Sheba Mine in the Death Valley area where he discovered a mysterious killing resulting in another book entitled Who Killed Chester Pray? A Death Valley Mystery published in 2007.
ABF first became aware of Nick when he joined the organization in 1993. In 1996 Nick worked with ABF Manager Linda Nordstand to help bring attention to the Sentenac Canyon and Cienega acquisition project when he wrote the script for the 10-minute documentary film entitled Quest for Sentenac that introduced the natural and cultural resources of the area to the public. The film was shown at the Visitor Center. He worked with Linda that year to give the ABF newsletter a facelift with a new attractive banner. He also helped Linda get articles for the newsletter. Linda recalls that he never sought recognition for his work.
In 1998 Nick did a presentation for ABF on the lost city of Ubar at the Park Visitor Center entitled “The Incense Road.” In that summer’s edition of Desert Update, a short biography of Nick was published recapping events in his life to that point in time.
Nick had studied American Literature at Brown University and film at the University of Southern California. “He then followed a life of adventure and discovery as a successful documentary filmmaker for Disney, the National Geographic Society, Columbia Pictures, The Public Broadcasting System (PBS), and David L. Wolper Productions. His documentaries have won over seventy major awards, including several Emmys and Academy Award nominations.” He was both the producer and production manager for two of his Oscar-nominated documentaries: Journey to the Outer Limits (1973) and The Incredible Machine (1975). He edited some of the early episodes of the popular ABC series The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau.
Nick served 15 years on the ABF board, from January 2000 to December 2015, He was Secretary of the Board from 2009-2012. He was responsible for the creation of three major documentary films about ABDSP, one of which continues to play daily at the Visitor Center: A Year in the Desert: Anza-Borrego (2010). In addition to the earlier documentary on Sentenac mention above, he also coordinated and helped to produce a 14-minute video entitled A Desert Wilderness: Anza-Borrego (2001) that helped to create public awareness of ABF’s mission of obtaining inholdings. It took one-and-a-half years to produce the film. A condensed four-minute version of the film was completed in 2002 that was used for viewing on ABF’s display inside the Visitor Center. The year that the film was released, it was named “Earth Watch Film of the Year.”
Nick served on the Marketing Committee and was chairman of the committee in 2003. In addition to enhancements to the ABF newsletter, Nick helped to redesign the membership brochure and the outdoor kiosk display at the Visitor Center. He designed a new polo shirt with the ABF logo and a hiking stick. He also wrote feature articles for the newsletter including one on the Anza Expedition (2003), the Blake expedition (2006), on naturalists (2012), and one in which he collaborated with his wife Bonnie Loizos on hiking in the Borrego Badlands (2008). Bonnie and Nick were married on October 11, 2008, in the ABDSP amphitheater in Borrego Palm Canyon. Park Superintendent Mark Jorgensen served as the officiant. They would have celebrated their 18th wedding anniversary this year.
In addition to actively supporting the Sentenac land acquisition, Nick stood behind the Desert Cahuilla project (2006) and attended the 10th anniversary of Camp Borrego (2014). He and Bonnie also orchestrated ABF’s 40th anniversary event at the Borrego Springs Resort in December 2007 that also celebrated the Park’s 75th anniversary and the 10th anniversary of Borrego Springs Resort. Nick wrote the script for the evening’s festivities that included a visit by Father Font and Capt. Juan Bautista de Anza. Bonnie designed the menu based on foods that were served in 1775.
Nick’s passion for filmmaking, historical research and archaeology inspired him to also serve as a Trustee of both the International Documentary Association and the American Center of Oriental Research, in Amman, Jordan.
Nick also roamed the desert of the American West, in the footsteps of his grandfather Daniel, a miner who was killed in an underground accident when he was 36 years old. Nick’s introduction to mining came, when at the age of twelve, he tagged along on a shift working at that very mine’s 800 foot level. His great uncle George, a proprietor of a minstrel show, annually toured California and Nevada desert camps. Despite being born in Providence, Rhode Island on May 1, 1936, it was the American West and adventure that were part of his very makeup beginning from an early age.
While working for National Geographic, Nick filmed two specials on the region that were aired on CBS: The Great Mojave Desert and The Haunted West. And, while researching the book Who Killed Chester Pray?, Nick was taken by the quality and number of photographs of the mining West. He began copying, collecting, and restoring them, with the result of Gold & Silver in the Mojave: Images of a Last Frontier (2013), published by Sunbelt Publications. This book won the Benjamin Franklin award for history and design and the Pub West award for best photography.
Nick was fascinated by lore of Indian shamans and their role in the creation of rock art, with the result Old Magic: Lives of the Desert Shamans (2015). Nick said that the publication of this book “fulfilled a lifelong interest in anthropology. I’d lived with the Zapotec of southern Mexico (which earned a Brown University scholarship), participated in the excavation of the Great Temple of Petra in Jordan, and was leader of a team that discovered the lost city of Ubar in the Sultanate of Oman.”
Nick’s third book published by Sunbelt Publications was Virginia City: To Dance with the Devil (2016). Nick shared that “finding images of what was once ‘the richest place on earth’ proved a challenge in that all the city’s photo galleries were burned to the ground in a disastrous 1875 fire. As with previous books, my search was a treasure hunt – seeking mementos of visitors, tacking down government survey records, discovering photos stored in an old jail cell.”
Bodie: Good Times & Bad (2017) and The Outlaw’s Violin (2019) followed the publication of Virginia City. Both books feature stunning photography and local history and culture. As a writer, Nick has always been a master storyteller. When Nick died, he had a manuscript ready for publication on exploring Anza-Borrego’s Badlands.
He and his wife Bonnie met on a Park tour while riding in a jeep. Their love for adventure and travel continued as they walked the Camino de Santiago, from France to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, in sections over a couple of years. Nick carefully documented the entire trip and did a presentation in Borrego extolling the virtues of traveling this medieval route to the place where the apostle Saint James the Greater is believed to be buried. The route offers rich cultural experiences as it traverses diverse landscapes through historic cities, villages, vineyards, and monasteries.
Nick will always be remembered for his adventurous and gentle spirit, his passion for the desert, his contributions through storytelling, and his desert advocacy. His archaeological curiosity helped revive interest in desert civilizations and their relevance to modern environmental stewardship. Rather than lobbying or activism in the traditional sense, Nick’s advocacy came through instilling awe and curiosity. By making deserts feel magical and historically significant, he inspired others to care about their preservation. He was a master of making people care. He just didn’t document the desert—he gave it a voice.