Mark & Delia Owens – Africa

Africa holds a dear place in my heart after living in West Africa for 1 year. My memories from Africa are some of the clearest, strongest and unforgettable. I am also a big fan of Laurens van der Post (Wikipedia) especially his work on the Kalahari and San people.

I recently found and read two books by Mark and Delia Owens: Cry of the Kalahari and The Eye of the Elephant. I found both books extraordinary. These people were courageous, persistent and completely committed to their endeavor. Their work on Kalahari lions and brown hyaenas I found second to none and so similar to another heroine of mine, Jane Goodall.

Having lived in West Africa in the early 1980s and traveled both on foot and ‘safari jeeps’ in the tiny what’s left of “wild animal Africa” in the west Sahel, both books pulled many of my memories to the forefront.

The Cry of the Kalahari, however, was by far my favorite. Their isolation and living in a desert tent for 7 years in sometimes 120 degree days was a heroic feat. I remember Sahel days of 120 degrees in the shade …

Their work in the Kalahari was ground breaking from a biological study perspective as well as influential in helping Botswana understand the sins / unintended consequences of cattle farming and fences. Just remarkable.

The second work, The Eye of the Elephant, took a very dark turn I thought. Poaching and absolute inhumane destruction of animals (elephants in particular) took the heart of the book. These influences seemed to also alter the authors’ moral compass, and several insinuations of crimes by the Owens have not been reconciled, e.g., torture and murder of poachers.

That last experience in Zambia altered them … they, like all of us, are flawed human beings and the violence and inhumanity of the poaching seemed to push them over the ledge. Not hard to understand.

Regardless, for fans of Jane Goodall, observational biological research and Africa wildlife would do well to put these books on their ‘to read’ list.

Featured image from Wikipedia