In Africa, the living no longer bothered to bury the dead. Once the AIDS virus had undergone a mutation which enabled it to survive in the salivary glands of a mosquito for up to six hours, the death rate had soared exponentially. Hard on the heels of the virus followed other diseases like cholera and typhoid fever. Governments collapsed, and social order ceased to exist.
The distance a mosquito could fly in six hours became a paramount factor for survival. Deep in the African wilderness one could keep intruders at bay. For a while.
Sam Jenkins settled in Skukuza, which used to be the main tourist camp in the Kruger National Park. Skukuza was relatively easy to isolate, and it had the basic infrastructure like a water purification plant, sewerage treatment facility etc. It was the ideal location to set up a viable community with a good chance to survive and even thrive. Sam was well aware of the fact that, in order to survive in the long term, the community had to become self-sufficient.
This insight was initially not shared by the likes of Kurt Waldeck, who had set himself up as the undisputed ruler of the town of Nelspruit. Nelspruit used to be the capital city of the province, with a large fuel storage depot and rich pickings for Waldeck and his men. Waldeck and his men survived in relative luxury by scavenging on the remains of civilization. In time it dawned on him that the good life was not going to last for ever….
Leon Mare was born in South Africa, and lived close to the Kruger National Park for most of his life. He was involved in extensive wildlife research, and spent all of his free time in the African wilderness. Dr. Mare has an intimate knowledge of the wilder side of Africa, which is reflected in most of his work. He has written several TV drama series, and produced a TV documentary on the indiscriminate killing of marlin during billfish competitions on the east coast of Africa. This resulted in a major paradigm shift to tagging and releasing these fish instead.
He has published seven books on Amazon Kindle, the latest being book five in the Sam Jenkins Trilogy series.
In 2013 Leon and his wife Monica returned to South Africa after ten years in the UK. They settled in the tiny village of Yzerfontein on the Cape West Coast, where he spends his days writing, fishing and bundu bashing with his best friend Mother Nature.
Fighting AIDS (Sam Jenkins Trilogy) (Kindle Edition)
This is Leon Mare's the third book in the Sam Jenkins trilogy and is quite different from the previous two books. Although it is set in the Kruger Park, it is a dark tale of an Aids epidemic that has swept the country leaving isolated groups battling each other for their very survival in the area of the game reserve. As usual, an exciting read from Leon Mare.