Mark Owens > Quotes

“Only when we pause to wonder do we go beyond the limits of our little lives. —Rod McKuen”
― Mark Owens, Cry of the Kalahari

“The entire Blue Pride, nine in all, surrounded us, nearly all of them asleep. We were quite literally in bed with a pride of wild Kalahari lions.”
― Mark Owens, Cry of the Kalahari

“At last it was raining. Water was streaming through gaps in the window frames and trickling into our laps. “Smell it! Smell it! God, how wonderful! How beautiful!” we shouted over and over.”
― Mark Owens, Cry of the Kalahari

“The valley was bright with sunshine when we opened our eyes the next morning. But it was not the same malevolent sun that had scorched the Kalahari for months. Soft, mellow rays caressed the backs of several hundred springbok, nibbling grass bases succulent with glittering droplets. The storm was only a smudge on the distant horizon. From camp we could see Captain and Mate and a pair of bat-eared foxes drinking from puddles on the spongy desert floor.”
― Mark Owens, Cry of the Kalahari

“The people of the village were hungry. We avoided the eyes of the begging children, embarrassed that we had nothing we could give them, yet knowing we were wealthy by comparison.”
― Mark Owens, Cry of the Kalahari

“Aaoouu—a soft groan startled me. I slowly lifted my head and peered over my feet. My breath caught. It was a very big lioness—more than 300 pounds—but from ground level she looked even larger. She was moving toward us from about five yards away, her head swinging from side to side and the black tuft on her tail twitching deliberately. I clenched a tuft of grass, held on tight, and froze. The lioness came closer, her broad paws lifting and falling in perfect rhythm, jewels of moisture clinging to her coarse whiskers, her deep-amber eyes looking straight at me. I wanted to wake up Delia, but I was afraid to move.”
― Mark Owens, Cry of the Kalahari

“A visiting scientist tell of Africa’s disappearing wilderness: More than two-thirds of its wildlife had already been eliminated, pushed out of its habitats by large ranches and urban sprawl. In the southern regions, thousands of predators were being trapped, shot, snared, and poisoned to protect domestic stock. In some African nations, conservation policies and practices were virtually nonexistent.”
― Mark Owens, Cry of the Kalahari

“That second night we camped next to a small tree not more than six feet high, the only one for miles around. We had been irresistibly drawn to it and had actually driven quite a way off course to get to it. Though we slept inside the truck, the tree gave us a vague sense of security. Our early primate ancestors would probably have been similarly pleased to find even this mere seedling on a nearly treeless plain, after they left the safety of the forests to venture onto the vast savannas millions of years ago.”
― Mark Owens, Cry of the Kalahari

“Because it often receives somewhat more than ten inches of rainfall, the Central Kalahari is not a true desert. It has none of the naked, shifting sand dunes that typify the Sahara and other great deserts of the world. In some years the rains may exceed twenty—once even forty— inches, awakening a magic green paradise.”
― Mark Owens, Cry of the Kalahari

“Especially after our Makgadikgadi experiences, we were very aware that the two absolute essentials for survival in the Kalahari were water and the truck.”
― Mark Owens, Cry of the Kalahari

“As we stood watching the ominous cloud, a strong wind, gusting to thirty miles per hour, struck us full in the face, tugging at our clothes and bringing tears to our eyes. Only miles of dry grass stood between us and the fire.”
― Mark Owens, Cry of the Kalahari

“Most game reserves in Botswana are large tracts of totally undeveloped wilderness. There are no paved roads, fast-food stands, water fountains, campgrounds, restrooms, or any of the other “improvements” found in parks and reserves in more developed countries.”
― Mark Owens, Cry of the Kalahari

“When you lose the knack of hugging each other or twisting trunks together, how do you get it back again? Can society ever find peace once the family has fallen apart?”
― Mark Owens, Secrets of the Savanna: Twenty-three Years in the African Wilderness Unraveling the Mysteries of Elephants and People

“Elephants grow throughout their lives, so their age can be determined by measuring the length of their hind footprints.”
― Mark Owens, Secrets of the Savanna: Twenty-three Years in the African Wilderness Unraveling the Mysteries of Elephants and People

“Because of the heat and the lack of water and materials for shelter, much of the Central Kalahari has remained unexplored and unsettled. From our camp there was no village around the corner or down the road. There was no road. We had to haul our water a hundred miles through the bushveld, and without a cabin, electricity, a radio, a television, a hospital, a grocery store, or any sign of other humans and their artifacts for months at a time, we were totally cut off from the outside world.”
― Mark Owens, Cry of the Kalahari

“After the fire passed us it marched on across the dune tops into the Kalahari, lighting the night sky like a spectacular sunset. Behind it, the cool pink glow of burned-out trees and logs remained, until the fire’s crimson was lost in the blush of dawn.”
― Mark Owens, Cry of the Kalahari

“sweeping waters of the Mwaleshi. We headed downstream, following the Lubonga toward its confluence with the Mwaleshi. Standing”
― Mark Owens, Secrets of the Savanna: Twenty-three Years in the African Wilderness Unraveling the Mysteries of Elephants and People