Wildlife Related Books - Non-fiction

[Flutterby]

Game Ranger in Your Backpack

- Emmett, Megan & Pattrick, Sean
- ISBN 9781920217068



This guide is packed with practical, interpretative information on the most commonly encountered animals and plants of the Lowveld - information that is usually only available if you have a game ranger or field guide by your side in the bush! It teaches people how to observe, identify and interpret what they see in the bush in a meaningful way, without having to wade through the reams of technical information found in most other field guides. The reader-friendly mind-map layout of the book, with pictures linked to brief but informative text boxes, makes pertinent information accessible at a glance. Other features include colour-coded chapters for ease of reference, while blocked information and icons in the mammals and trees sections provide technical details in a concise form. Hundreds of stunning interpretative images, highlighted keywords and a flowchart structure to each spread direct the eye to the different topics on each featured species, allowing the reader to pick out whatever is of interest to him or her. Game Ranger in your Backpack is an essential companion for amateur naturalists of all descriptions including first-time international visitors to South Africa's bushveld, annual local holidaymakers or aspiring 'game rangers'.

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The White Lions of Timbavati

- Chris McBride
- ISBN 9780448226774



This book details the births of 4 cubs at the Timbavati game reserve: Tombi, Temba, Vela, and Phuma. Told in this book are their struggles to survive in the wilderness of Africa, their attempts to fit in, and their everyday lives. The author beautifully captures each point of their lives in detailed descriptions and breathtaking photographs.

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The Magnificent Seven and the other Great Tuskers of the Kruger National Park

- Bosman, Paul & Hall-Martin, Anthony
- ISBN 9780798133135



A beautifully illustrated guide to Kruger's greatest tuskers. Written by the park's Senior Scientist at the time, the text is accompanied by Paul Bosman's world famous paintings and many of his preliminary sketches. Each elephant is introduced and described along with anecdotes of the author and artist's attempts to track them. Short interludes describe related topics such as the annual aerial census of Kruger's elephants or the plants and terrain that these tuskers prefer.

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I dreamed of Africa

- Kuki Gallmann
- ISBN 9780140287448



At the age of 25, Kuki Gallmann moved to Kenya with her future husband, where they established a vast ranch. But Africa's beauty does't come without a price, and when tragedy struck, Kuki found herself pregnant and alone with her young son and 90,000 acres of Africa to oversee.

[Mel]

Hyena Nights & Kalahari Days

- Gus & Margie Mills
- ISBN 978-1770098114



In this fascinating account of scientific study among forbidding wilderness, a husband-and-wife team describe their trek to the Kalahari to study the little-known brown hyena. The details of the scientific inquiry are provided while the daily challenges of living with children 420 kilometers from the nearest town are described. Despite the hardships, the couple becomes so enchanted by these intelligent animals that they stay for 12 years, documenting many hyena clans and observing behavior only a handful of people have ever seen.

[Mel]

Cry of the Kalahari

- Mark and Delia Owens
- ISBN 978-0395647806



Carrying little more than a change of clothes and a pair of binoculars, two young Americans, Mark and Delia Owens, caught a plane to Africa, bought a third-hand Land Rover, and drove deep into the Kalahari Desert. There they lived for seven years, in an unexplored area with no roads, no people, and no source of water for thousands of square miles. In this vast wilderness they met animals that had never seen humans before. They would wake in the morning to find lions sleeping beside them; leopards, giraffes, and brown hyenas were regular visitors to the camp. But the Kalahari isn't Eden, and Mark and Delia Owens were continually confronted with danger from drought, fire, violent storms, and even from the animals they loved.

[Mel]

The eye of the elephant

- Mark and Delia Owens
- ISBN 978-0618872503



After being expelled from Botswana for writing their controversial best seller, Cry of the Kalahari, Delia and Mark Owens set off on a journey across Africa, searching for a new Eden. They found it in the North Luangwa Valley of Zambia, an area the size of Delaware with no roads, no buildings, and no people. Hippos and crocodiles swam in the rivers, lions stalked the bush, and elephants wandered into camp to eat the fruit of the marula trees. But the peace and quiet were soon shattered by gunfire; poachers were killing a thousand elephants a year. When they learned that the people in the villages around the valley depended on poaching to survive, Delia and Mark became a one-woman, one-man economic development team, helping villagers start sewing and woodworking shops, fish farms and grain mills, all the while trying to convince them that in the long run wildlife could be worth more alive than dead. But some of the big commercial poachers decided that the Owenses should die, and Delia and Mark's battle to save the elephants turned into a fight for their own lives.

[Mel]

Secrets of the Savanna

- Mark and Delia Owens
- ISBN 978-0395680902



The dramatic and successful story of how, against unimaginable odds, Delia and Mark Owens saved an elephant population by helping villagers find alternative work to poaching. Crossing stick bridges over swollen rivers and traversing ravine-cut terrain, Mark and Delia found their way into the most startlingly beautiful and wild places on earth, the North Luangwa Valley of Zambia. They soon found that gangs of commercial poachers were shooting the elephants in devastating numbers and virtually enslaving the local people. Mark and Delia stopped the cycle of violence only to put themselves in severe danger. But the story is more than a real-life adventure. Living with wild creatures all around them (lions sleeping at their toes, an orphaned elephant dancing a jig in their camp), Mark and Delia observed surprising similarities between the behavior of humans and other animals and learned the true secrets of their survival.

[Mel]

Botswana Time

- Will Randall
- ISBN 978-0349117782



Will Randall travels with a purpose, as well as an outrageous sense of fortune. In INDIAN SUMMER he found himself, by chance, having the extraordinary experience of helping slum schoolchildren put on a play to help save their school. In Botswana he was taken up by a headmaster to teach a class of six year olds at The River of Life school. They are football crazy and one of Will's jobs is to take them to play neighbouring (sometimes as much as 100 miles away) schools. Camping en-route or staying in farms and rural villages, often travelling by foot or dug-out punts, thousands of antelope, elephant, buffalo and zebra follow their progress. The sound of lions, leopards and hyenas become the soundtrack of their dreams. Against all the odds they find themselves preparing for the Grand Final of the season - the titanic clash with arch rivals, Victoria Falls Primary school. Both an endearing personal story and a travel book about a little-known but highly successful country, BOTSWANA TIME will win new fans for both Will Randall and the extraordinary country of Botswana.

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100 Heartbeats - The Race to Save Earth's Most Endangered Species

- Jeff Corwin
- ISBN 9781605298474



Corwin states that the only species capable of saving endangered animals is the one that got them into trouble in the first place—humans. The “100 heartbeats” of the title refers to just how scarce these animals are: each species with 100 or fewer living individuals. Animal Planet star Jeff Corwin looks at the critically endangered and examines what is being done to save them. From the forests slipping away beneath the stealthy paws of the Florida panther, to the giant panda’s plight to climb ever higher in the mountains of China in search of sustenance, to the brutal poaching tactics that have devastated Africa’s rhinoceros and elephant populations, Corwin takes readers on a global tour to witness firsthand the critical state of our natural world. Along the way, he shares inspiring stories of battles being waged and won in defense of the earth’s most threatened creatures by the conservationists on the front lines. These stories of hope and progress underscore an important message: Our own survival, as well as that of the world’s wildlife, is in our hands. The race to save the planet’s most endangered wildlife is under way. Every heartbeat matters.