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Cry of the Kalahari Mark James Owens, Cordelia Dykes Owens This is the story of the Owens' travel and life in the Kalahari Desert. Here they met and studied unique animals and were confronted with danger from drought, fire, storms, and the animals they loved. This best-selling book is for both travelers and animal lovers. |
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Twenty Chickens for a Saddle: The Story of an African Childhood Robyn Scott An exquisitely rendered portrait of an African childhood from an astonishing new talent
When Robyn Scott 's parents decide to uproot their young family from New Zealand and move to a converted cowshed in rural Botswana, life for six-year-old Robyn changed forever. In this wild and new landscape excitement can be found around every corner, and with each misadventure she and her family learn more about the quirks, charms, and challenges of living in one of Africa's most remarkable and beautiful countries as it stands on the brink of an epidemic. When AIDS rears its head, the Scotts witness the early appearances of a disease that will devastate this peaceful and prosperous country. Told with clear-eyed unsentimental affection, Twenty Chickens for a Saddle is about a family's enthusiasm for each other and the world around them, with the essence of Africa infusing every page.
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Twenty Chickens for a Saddle: The Story of an African Childhood Robyn Scott A glorious new voice on Africa, Robyn Scott's adventures growing up in Botswana in a loving but eccentric family will be one of the season's most talked-about memoirs
Robyn Scott's story of moving at the age of seven to Botswana with her adventure-seeking parents is described by Alexander McCall Smith as "beautifully written" and "acutely observed." It is that and more. Twenty Chickens for a Saddle is an exquisitely rendered portrait of Africa, and of childhood, written by an astonishing new talent.
The Scotts are truly one of the most unusual families you are likely to meet. Robyn's father is a flying doctor who always wanted to be a vet. Her mother believes in holistic medicine and homeschooling. Both are deeply eccentric, and under their affectionate but relaxed guidance, life for the children is a daily adventure of the kind usually confined to storybooks.
Storybooks-or being read to from them-comprise, it turns out, most of their homeschooled education. That, and searching the surrounding bush for animals (poisonous and otherwise) to let loose in their schoolroom. As a result of the absolute freedom of spirit, thought, and movement that they are given, all three children grow into fascinating, if rather eccentric, characters in their own right.
When the family moves to a game farm bordering South Africa, the children become more aware of the darker undercurrents of life in Africa. Here the apartheid mind-set lives on in many of their white South African neighbors. And when at fourteen Robyn begins conventional school in neighboring Zimbabwe, she sees more of the racism initially only glimpsed in Botswana. AIDS also rears its head. Long witnessed by Robyn's father at his village clinics, the existence of the disease is acknowledged by the government too late-only as death, on an unprecedented scale, begins to devastate this peaceful and prosperous African country.
Robyn Scott is an extraordinarily gifted writer and storyteller. Like the witch doctors who compete with her father for patients, she weaves a spell from the start. Her funny, moving memoir, told with clear-eyed unsentimental affection, is about an idyllic childhood and a family's enthusiasm for each other and the world around them, with the essence of Africa-both beautiful and challenging- infusing every page. |
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The Last Lions Dereck Joubert A symbol of mythic potency, the African lion has ruled the human imagination for millennia. But in Botswana's Okavango Delta, the world's most awe-inspiring hunters are challenged not only by their waterlogged territory, but also by their formidable prey—the buffalo—who wield their massive horns with deadly accuracy. Pulsing with ancient rhythms of wild Africa, this harsh and eternal struggle is compelling, powerful, and poignant. Award-winning filmmakers and National Geographic Explorers-in-Residence Beverly and Dereck Joubert, give us an unforgettable glimpse of this iconic drama in the official companion book to their feature film, The Last Lions, and warn that due to declining numbers of lions in the wild, it may soon end forever.
In fascinating text and breathtaking images, the Jouberts reveal both the beauty and danger of the Okavango Delta and its inhabitants. We follow a lone lioness, Ma di Tau—Mother of Lions—and three newborns as they flee a ferocious rival pride. Braving the Delta, despite their instinctive hatred of water, the lioness and her cubs head for an island lost in a labyrinth of streams. She and two cubs escape successfully; a lurking crocodile snatches the third.
Soon, their refuge is invaded by a vast buffalo herd—aggressive, unafraid, a constant threat, yet the lions' only prey. But even as Ma di Tau hones her tactics and stalking skills, she is trapped between throngs of buffalo and a rival lion pride. So she does what all of her kind must—adapt or die.
The Last Lions is a story of family and hope in a world of wild beauty and relentless predation that is a superbly photographed, sharply detailed intimate portrait of one dauntless mother struggling to protect her young and preserve her bloodline. It is a vivid, universal vision of the fate of lions everywhere, isolated on tiny islands amid a sea of humanity. Can we rescue them, or have we already, heedlessly, met the last lions?
For decades the Jouberts have lived among great cats in the wild, observing, documenting, and often discovering unsuspected facets of lion behavior. A key message is that the inexorably rising tide of human population will soon drown what remains of that world unless we act now. The book draws attention to the numbers (500,000 in the 1950s to only 25,000 lions today) and highlights projects that have been enacted to help preserve wilderness for lion habitat. |
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The Colour Bar: The Triumph of Seretse Kama and His Nation Susan Williams Sir Seretse Khama, the first President of Botswana and heir apparent to the kingship of the Bangwato people, brought independence and great prosperity to his nation after colonial rule. But for six long years from 1950, Seretse had been forced into exile in England, banned from his own country. His crime? To fall in love and marry a young, white English girl, Ruth Williams. Delving into newly released records, Susan Williams tells Seretse and Ruth's story - a shocking account of how the British Government conspired with apartheid South Africa to prevent the mixed-race royal couple returning home. But it is also an inspiring, triumphant tale of hope, courage and true love as with tenacity and great dignity Seretse and Ruth and the Bangwato people ovecome prejudice in their fight for justice. |
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Saturday Is for Funerals Unity Dow, Max Essex In the year 2000 the World Health Organization estimated that 85 percent of fifteen-year-olds in Botswana would eventually die of AIDS. In Saturday Is for Funerals we learn why that won't happen. Unity Dow and Max Essex tell the true story of lives ravaged by AIDS—of orphans, bereaved parents, and widows; of families who devote most Saturdays to the burial of relatives and friends. We witness the actions of community leaders, medical professionals, research scientists, and educators of all types to see how an unprecedented epidemic of death and destruction is being stopped in its tracks. This book describes how a country responded in a time of crisis. In the true-life stories of loss and quiet heroism, activism and scientific initiatives, we learn of new techniques that dramatically reduce rates of transmission from mother to child, new therapies that can save lives of many infected with AIDS, and intricate knowledge about the spread of HIV, as well as issues of confidentiality, distributive justice, and human rights. The experiences of Botswana offer practical lessons along with the critical element of hope. (20100702) |
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Africa's Top Wildlife Countries: Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia & Zimbabwe Mark W. Nolting Navigating Africa can be daunting, particularly when planning a safari – an experience that varies greatly according to location. This guide demystifies the process, by detailing the safari stats of 18 African countries with maps, color photographs, illustrations of wildlife, 11 useful charts, and an accommodation guide with a detailed rating system. |
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Adventuring in Southern Africa: The Great Safaris and Wildlife Parks of Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Malawi, Lesotho, and Swaziland Allen Bechky Southern Africa - long famous for the oldest and best-managed game parks on the continent - is becoming increasingly popular as an adventure travel destination. In the 1990s the number of visitors to the region nearly doubled, to more than 6.5 million tourists per year, as adventure travelers abandoned traditional safari sites in Kenya and Tanzania for the world-class national parks of Botswana and Zimbabwe, Zambia and Namibia. Favorable political changes have inspired an increase in tourism to South Africa, and the pristine wilderness areas in the smaller nations of Malawi, Lesotho, and Swaziland have become favorites with budget travelers in search of adventure well off the beaten track.
"Adventuring in Southern Africa "is a comprehensive guide to the geography, culture, natural history, and adventure opportunities in these eight countries, including:
The legendary areas of Victoria Falls, the Okavango Delta, the Zambezi River, Etosha, and Kruger National Park
The classic safari as well as unconventional car, hiking, rafting, and canoe trips
The nuts and bolts of how to plan a trip, including what to pack, how to adjust to local customs, what documents to take, and safari etiquette
A full range of travel styles, from luxury tours to independent budget travel
How to stay healthy while traveling in Africa
With appendices listing safari tour operators and conservation groups, as well as a helpful safari bibliography, Adventuring in Southern Africa is an essential tool for anyone planning a trip to this spectacular and still unspoiled part of the world. |
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Environment, Power, and Injustice: A South African History (Studies in Environment and History) Nancy J. Jacobs This book presents the socio-environmental history of black people around Kuruman, on the edge of the Kalahari in South Africa. Considering successive periods--Tswana agropastoral chiefdoms before colonial contact, the Cape frontier, British colonial rule, Apartheid, and the homeland of Bophuthatswana in the 1980s--Environment, Power and Injustice shows how the human relationship with the environment corresponded to differences of class, gender, and race. While exploring biological, geological, and climatological forces in history, this book argues that the challenges of existence in a semidesert arose more from human injustice than from deficiencies in the natural environment. In fact, powerful people drew strength from and exercised their power over others through the environment. At the same time, the natural world provided marginal peoples with some relief from human injustice. Nancy J. Jacobs is Assistant Professor in the Department of Africana Studies and the Department of History at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA. She is a recipient of the Alice Hamilton article prize from the American Society for Environmental History. |
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Culture and Customs of Botswana (Culture and Customs of Africa) James Denbow, Phenyo C. Thebe Botswana's large deposits of diamonds have made it one of the richest African countries on a per capita basis. However, more than wealth, what has made Botswana a model country in southern Africa is its long tradition of democratic rule, respect for ethnic and racial differences, freedom of the press, and governmental programs to support its citizens. Even though Botswana has had its share of problems—including ecological disasters such as drought— the spirit of its people and their willingness, despite cultural differences, to work together to overcome such setbacks make this country exceptional. General readers will find a wealth of up-to-date information on such topics as the legacy of Christian missionaries, especially the famous David Livingstone, society post-Independence, the unique blend of Christianity and ancestral spiritual practices, the AIDS crisis, initiation rites, community rule by chiefs, polygamy, cattle raising, food and beer, betrothal customs, education, unique games, the integral music and dance, and much more. The authors provide a thorough, one-stop resource for learning about a significant country that has stayed peaceful despite the strife of neighboring South Africa and Angola, for example. Narrative chapters by these insiders cover the land, people, languages, education, economy, history, religion and worldview, literature and media, art and architecture, cuisine and traditional dress, gender roles, marriage, and family, social customs and lifestyle, and music and dance. Photos, a chronology, and a glossary complement the narrative. |