Oko słonia

by Delia Owens, Mark Owens, Maciejka Mazan (Translator)

Inteligentne, majestatyczne i lojalne, żyją tyle, co my. Słonie to jedne z najwspanialszych cudów afrykańskiej dziczy. Lecz jeszcze w latach 70. i 80. XX wieku każdego roku w Zambii wyrzynano tysiące tych urzekających stworzeń. Zabijano je dla cennych kłów. Gdy biologowie Delia i Mark Owens, prowadząc w Afryce badania nad lwami, trafili w sam środek starć pomiędzy kłusownikami, opowiedzieli się po jedynej słysznej stronie - po stronie słoni.
Oko słonia opisuje wysiłki Owensów, by ocalić te niewinne zwierzęta przed zdziesiątkowaniem, ich podróże, podejmowane nie tylko po to, by zapewnić rdzennej ludności wsparcie ich wiosek, lecz także by nagłośnić w świecie kwestię ochrony słoni. Ta niezwykła opowieść, pełna śmiałych wyczynów niezadowolonych myśliwych, żmudnej pracy na afrykańskich równinach i barwnych opisów dzikich zwierząt, jest jednocześnie opowieścią przygodową, dziennikiem z podróży, wezwaniem do działania na rzecz ochrony przyrody i fascynującym badaniem zarówno ludzi, jak i zwierząt.

Genres: Nonfiction, Africa, Animals, Memoir, Nature, Travel, Zambia

400 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1992

About the author

Delia Owens is the co-author of three internationally bestselling nonfiction books about her life as a wildlife scientist in Africa—Cry of the Kalahari, The Eye of the Elephant, and Secrets of the Savanna. She has won the John Burroughs Award for Nature Writing and has been published in Nature, The African Journal of Ecology, and International Wildlife, among many others. She currently lives in Idaho, where she continues her support for the people and wildlife of Zambia. Where the Crawdads Sing is her first novel.

You can also connect with Delia on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/authordeliao...

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book as I was reading it although I knew it was dated having been published in 1992. It was educational, if heartbreaking, and really immersed me in North Lunagwa National Park in Zambia. The book begins as the Owenses are expelled from Botswana and the Kalahari, their original project in Africa. It is never really made clear to the reader or to Mark and Delia Owens why they were expelled but they assumed it was because they were exposing non-environmental practices that were directly responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of wild animals. After months and years of fighting to stay, they finally decided to move on and settled in Zambia in a national park where elephants (and other wild animals) were being poached and slaughtered by the thousands. The remainder of the book is devoted to how Mark and Delia worked to rid the park of poachers and educate the surrounding villages in conservation and prove to them that they can make more money and live better lives if the animals are allowed to live. Safari tourism will pay more and create more jobs than poaching and the eventual extinction of the animals. It was a constant uphill battle given that the very people charged with stamping out poachers, the game wardens, the rangers, the law enforcement officials, and the politicians, were all closing their eyes to the problem and, worse, profiting from poaching and the ivory trade.

Eventually Mark and Delia come to a parting of the ways with each other as Mark becomes more and more obsessed with terrorizing the poachers, a tactic that Delia finds she can no longer support. By this time they had worn themselves out and their health was in serious jeopardy. The book ends on a bit of a hopeful note when a new democratic regime is voted in and worldwide the ivory trade is shut down and policies begin to change in favor of conservation. We leave Mark and Delia mending their relationship and realizing that the Marulu-Puku is their home.

Before I could review the book, in researching whether Mark and Delia are still married (they are not), I read an article about the making of a documentary about their time in Zambia and the documentary apparently painted a much different picture than the book. Even as I was reading the book I was asking myself if these two could really be THIS extraordinarily good and if Mark could really be as obsessed and yet as restrained as he was. The documentary revealed a lot of not so good that was going on behind the book scenes. Who knows where the truth actually lies but the article did color my opinion of the book, especially in that those supporters that are named in the book no longer support the Owenses efforts and many tell an entirely different story of their time there than the book reveals. The Owenses no longer live in Zambia. It is unclear whether they decided to leave or if they fled in the midst of death threats and looming legal charges. They live separately on a huge ranch in Idaho where, in a complete departure from all she has previously known, Delia recently wrote and published the smash bestselling novel, Where the Crawdads Sing.

Their hearts were in the right place and much good seems to have come from their research and their educational programs but it seems like maybe their focus and eventual obsession may have sent them off the rails, as often happens. It is hard to find fault with them given the lack of support they had, worldwide, in such an admirable pursuit as the conservation of wildlife in Africa. They were environmentalists ahead of their time, futilely battling windmills in their effort to bring awareness to a world who just couldn't or didn't want to hear them.

[Alexis (Lexi) Dutko · Rating 5 out of 5]

"At this moment, in August 1986, we pledge to each other: no matter what it takes, or how long, we will stay in North Luangwa until the elephants come to drink at the river in peace."

This book is amazingly co-authored by a strong and committed couple who live in the African wilderness and relentlessly fight for the elephants right to live peacefully in their home in the Zambian National Park that is North Luangwa. I have never had such a clear image of what the true, uncharted wilderness of Africa might really be like, this book paints a perfect and beautiful image of that, via first hand experiences.
You will continually gain respect for Delia, as you realize all the 21st century luxuries she goes without, never complaining. She is a strong, and truly wonderful woman!
Finally, this book demonstrates for me the desperate situation of the poaching which was taking place in Zambia, at the time I was born. I am a true and whole hearted elephant lover and supporter. Reading this book helped me to see the dedication that the Mark's gave to ensure the survival of these beautiful mammals.

[Kaytee Cobb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gosh, this was fantastic. I kept forgetting it was real. And you can see the seeds of Delia's writing here. It's detailed and interesting and wonderful. And, yup, I cried.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book. I tried. The information and the story of what these two conservationists have done is amazing, however the overly flowery descriptions and romanticized views of Africa almost drowned out the reason for the book. In North Lunagwa National Park in Zambia the elephants were poached almost out of existence. To make matters worse, the game rangers and politicians were corrupt and in on it! These were very important changes that these two wonderful people made to this country, giving them jobs and a means to support themselves without poaching. This could have been such a powerful book without all the ooey gooey descriptions. It felt like they were trying way too hard to make it read like a novel instead of letting it be a nonfiction account of what happened. The story was fascinating enough on its own. Well, they succeeded. It read like a novel...a really bad novel.

[Dries · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was, imo, the best non fiction conservation book I have ever read.
The perfect book : beautiful language and the perfect subject.

I just ordered another book from Delia and Mark Owens: cry of the kalahari.
I can't wait to read it!

reminder to myself: do read this book again sometime

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was Nonfiction on Elephant preservation in Africa. The story that the authors share takes place mostly in the 1980's. It was kind of fascinating watching their life unfold. They were dedicated to living with and protecting African wildlife. This book centered on lions, then elephants. It was so sad that there was so much poaching going on. Such tragedy, but poaching was a living for the locals.

Strong and old tradition are strong and often times heavy anchors that keeps people from moving into the future. That is the message that I got when the authors tried to get the locals to care about conservation when it came to elephants. There was a line that I said something like "hungry people don't care about conservation." I'm paraphrasing there, but it conveyed much. I enjoyed the message in this one, so 4 stars.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I mentioned in my review of "Cry of the Kalahari" my wife and I were assigned to a remote spot in the Zambian bush north of Kabwe along the Great North Road. Delia and her husband, Mark, were posted in the Luangwa Valley to the northeast of where we were. They arrived about 2 years after we were there. While we were on a mission of aid in the form of education and international politics, the Owens' were saving wildlife, a nobler and more substantial goal.

We were just a couple of hours or so north of Kabwe, better known in history as Broken Hill, famous for its copper mine and other minerals as well as Homo Rhodesiensis of about 350,000 years ago. We'd go there for their paltry vegetable market to supplement our own very paltry garden and to see what the only supermarket-like store, Patel's, had in the way of dry goods. There was also a much appreciated bookshop, where we speakers of English, the majority of the population around Kabwe and all of Zambia in fact, could trade our paperbacks. So much fun! We could also go to the Greek butcher's to get Botswanan beef and frozen hake--a tasty South African fish. (Imports from South Africa and Rhodesia at that time were not so plentiful due to political embargoes.) When we gassed up for our trip back to Nkumbi International School near Mkushi, we would go to the small cafe at the filling station, all run by Greeks again, and have delicious vegetable pies, which were like sambousas wrapped in filo. We'd have a couple of those along with a Simba beer and be on our way.

Delia and her husband were almost physically fighting with poachers up in the Luangwa Valley. The book goes into how brave both of them were, Mark learning to fly just to catch poachers. Mark and Delia came up with a brilliant idea of how to handle these armed poachers, but you'll have to read the book to see what they did. Just reading about them and their interactions with Zambians brought back sweet memories of our early married life in Africa.

They later started a foundation when they came home and I subscribed and donated to it for a while. When you read their books about their adventures in Africa, the Owens' kind of become your friends. With that in mind and caring for their success I once asked the secretary of the foundation if they were still married, because I had picked up in reading their books a kind of tension going on, maybe more an absence of cohesion. She responded with surprise that I would suspect such a thing. They got divorced a couple of years after my nosey prying. Now Delia has become a renowned novelist about crawdads of all things. (I think Delia, and Mark, are from Georgia.)

The value of reading these books is really understanding a little how one's life expands when living as an expatriate. It can also break apart. There are no ceilings unless you construct them there yourself.

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars It had so much potential. I just feel like there needs to be a whole book written about THE PEOPLE IN THE VILLAGES. This is a great book about animals which I do love yet there were simply so many times when I wish I could learn much more about the individuals surrounding the heart of this story. It was hard to read really because of this wanting to know more especially about the women. Parts are just glazed over like "and we set up a women's sewing shop" when to me there is a whole story, a true story, many womens stories right there that I could really sink my teeth into. Maybe that's just another book I need to find.

[Morgan Tallman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, it took me exactly 4 months to finish this book but chalk that up to life, not this book. This was a fabulous read of powerful people doing all they can to save powerful, hunted animals in a country set against them. It was a wild journey following Mark and Delia from a desert to a forest, all the time doing what they can to research and save elephants and lions. There’s more written by them with the same topic, so I hope to pick up another soon

[Sierra The Book Addict · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was written very well, and had a lot of very valuable information about the poaching problems of Africa in the 80’s - 90’s. Had a very valuable lesson but also gave a good story about one couples determination on saving wild Africa. I enjoyed reading it.

[vvenika.books · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5/5 ⭐

[Daphyne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounded up to a three. Honestly I’m tired of books like this. Why is African conservationism written almost exclusively by white Europeans and/or Americans with no understanding of African anthropology? It feels very much like the “we know better” of colonialism. I want to read something by a Black African conservationist. Anyone have any recommendations?

As an aside the chapters written by Delia were far more interesting to me as someone who loves good nature writing. I can see how her nature writing has developed and recently resulted in “Where the Crawdads Sing.”

[PoachingFacts · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Eye of the Elephant: An Epic Adventure in the African Wilderness is a direct sequel to the memoir Cry of the Kalahari by husband-and-wife wildlife research team Cordelia Dykes Owens (Delia) and Mark James Owens. It picks up right where the latter book left off, but continues the saga in Zambia where the Owenses go to continue studying and protecting African wildlife. The overall presentation and structure of the narrative is more suspenseful and designed to impress upon the reader the struggles faced by the authors and the struggles that portions of Africa continue to deal with in the face of poverty, apathy to change, systemic corruption at all levels, and coexisting with wildlife in a place that has been forsaken by globalism.

Although the book is very much a direct sequel, it is written in the present continuous tense, which takes some getting used to and is different from the present tense used in some works of fiction, memoirs, and the past tense used in the Owenses’ prequel Cry of the Kalahari. Some readers may find this book less compelling to read as a result, however the ordeals that the Owenses experience and work to overcome are no less real or challenging.

Like Cry of the Kalahari, a major focus of the memoir is the way in which the Owenses live in the wilderness and the challenges they have as foreigners and researchers in accomplishing their goals. Unlike the prequel, The Eye of the Elephant deals significantly less with animal interactions and behavior and instead focuses on the interactions and behavior of the people living in villages in and around North Luangwa Valley. Great lengths are taken to accurately portray the characters and beliefs of the diverse peoples of this area, despite sharing some of the same cultural traditions and backgrounds. The Owenses do a very good job of bringing their surroundings and accomplishments to life and over 20 color photos add further examples of the wildlife that they routinely encountered and some of the successes and failures that the Owenses had during their years in Zambia.

The Eye of the Elephant concludes with a postscript reflecting on the couple's efforts in both Botswana and Zambia. There are also two appendices, one reiterating the Owenses' suggestion on conserving Kalahari wildlife and the other detailing the 1989 international ivory trade ban and its immediate impacts on elephant poaching, populations, and ultimately their conservation in Africa. For more background information about the Owenses and their experiences in Africa, including synopses, quotations from the books, and interviews with people in that area, please see the April 5, 2010 New Yorker article titled "The Hunted: Did American conservationists in Africa go too far?"

Other Books by the Authors:

Mark and Delia Owens have co-written two other books that are highly recommended. Cry of the Kalahari is the prequel to their journey to Zambia and takes place in Botswana’s robust Kalahari Desert. It is a necessary read before picking up The Eye of the Elephant and may be more fascinating to casual readers. Secrets of the Savanna: Twenty-three Years in the African Wilderness Unraveling the Mysteries of Elephants and People contributes further details about the couples' experiences in Zambia with a focus on the human element of conservation.

Further Reading:

Those interested in some lighter reading relating to living in the wild and wildlife behavior would be wise to look up Kobie Krüger's The Wilderness Family , a warm and vibrant depiction of the reality of the South African Lowveld as experienced by her game warden husband and their family living inside the world famous Kruger National Park in South Africa. The Wilderness Family combines the same sense of freedom in the wild as well as anecdotes about coexisting with wildlife and animal behavior as Cry of the Kalahari and in an even more readable format.

Readers who enjoy reading about wildlife behavior and conservationists in Africa may also be interested in Gareth Patterson's continuing work in Africa. Patterson has written several books including To Walk with Lions , Last of the Free , and My Lion's Heart: A Life for the Lions of Africa , which detail lion instincts, behavior, and the challenges involved in raising lions and what considerations must be made before lions can be considered for release back into the wild.

[Sandra Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a hard battle. Glad for the warriors.

[stardust]

Want to read this. Scared it’s going to shred my heart. It probably will. But I really want to read it. How could I not, after reading “Where the crawdads sing”? I will inhale everything Delia Owens touches.

[Kelly Kittel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this caveat from the beginning of this enlightening book: “The names of the innocent in this book have been changed to protect them from the guilty; the names of the guilty have been changed to protect us. The rest of this story is true.”

And I loved that they quote one of my favorite poets, the former poet laureate of Oregon, William Stafford, happy to find him so far from his usual muse, “The most present of all the watchers where we camped were the animals that stood beyond the firelight, being dark, but there, and making no sound. They were the most remembered eyes that night.”

I’m reading all of the Owens’ books in order in preparation for an upcoming trip to that part of the world so it’s hard not to compare the three volumes. In general, I preferred the Cry of the Kalahari, which is a bit hypocritical of me as what I enjoyed in that tale was the focus on wildlife, but I did wonder about their encounters with local people. Conversely, my criticism of this book was that I wanted to learn more about the wildlife and less about the people. Alas.

There is this lovely language written by Delia about the elephant named Survivor that comes to their camp to eat the marula fruits and speaks to the book’s title, “He shows neither surprise nor concern, and I stare into the gray forever of an elephant's eye.” Followed by this sobering bit, “Such an incident may take place in other areas of Africa, but not in the northern Luangwa Valley of Zambia. In the last fifteen years, one hundred thousand elephants have been slaughtered by poachers in this valley. Here elephants usually run at the first sight or scent of man. I want to remember always the deep furrows of folded skin above Survivor's lashes, his moist and glistening eye, which now reflects the sunrise. Surely this will never happen to me again; the memory must last a lifetime. And I must never forget the way I feel, for at this moment I can see everything so clearly.”

… we estimate that poachers have already killed more than twelve thousand of the park's seventeen thousand elephants, about three of every four, and a thousand more are dying each year. Since 1973 between seventy-five thousand and one hundred thousand elephants have been poached in the Luangwa Valley as a whole; that's roughly one for every word in this book Perhaps twenty thousand to thirty thousand elephants are left in Luangwa, and no more than five thousand in the North Park. At this rate they will all have perished in four to five years.”

So, yes, of course we had to read about the people and I did love meeting them for the most part. “Several women, wrapped in brightly colored chitengis, pause from "stamping their mealies," their long poles poised above the hollow tree stumps they use as stamping blocks, or mortars, for crushing the maize kernels.”

The Owens’ eviction from Botswana (as chronicled in The Cry of the Kalahari) because of their criticism of the cattle industry and construction of fences was nicely summarized as such, “Like the wildebeest, we could no longer move freely into the desert; we were another casualty of the fences.”
My son currently lives in Namibia and we are heading there to visit soon, so it was good to read this snapshot in time from the authors’ search for a place to continue their research back in the 1980’s: “Standing over a map of Africa, we eliminated one country after another. The continent seemed to come apart in pieces: Angola and Mozambique were torn with civil wars; Namibia was under attack from SWAPO (the South West Africa People's Organization), and human overpopulation had just about finished off the wildlife in western Africa. Sudan was out: the Frankfurt Zoological Society, our sponsors, had recently lost a camp to the Sudanese Liberation Army, which had kidnapped the staff members and held them for ransom. As Mark's hand swept across the map, wild Africa seemed to shrink before our eyes.”

And since the Caprivi Strip is also on our itinerary, we can give thanks that this conversation took place decades ago: "And Sioma Park, down in the southwest? What is the situation there?" I asked. "Well, again it's the security problem. Sioma is right on the Caprivi Strip, which is South African territory. Freedom fighters from Angola cross the strip into Botswana on their way to South Africa. The South African army is trying to stop them. It would be unsafe for you to work there."

So, I learned these bits of what seems like trivia from where I currently sit, but might be of more importance were one, say, camping in Zambia, “Lion roars can carry more than five miles in the desert; the fact that we could hear them didn't mean they were close.”

“Elephants can move through the bush as quietly as kittens, but when they feed, they make a noisy racket as they strip leaves from a branch or topple small trees.”

"WHOOOO—HUH—HUH—HUH! MPOOOSH!" The sound, like a humpback whale playing a bassoon, echoes from our left. "Hippos!"

Confirming what my son has mentioned regarding the perils of farming alongside the hippo-filled river where he lives, they write, “They left the valley willingly, the chief tells us, because the Mwaleshi hippos ate their crops and made farming impossible.”

It was both enlightening and sobering to learn that the poaching of adult males and females has permanently impacted the elephant social and family structure as such, “the great herds of yesteryear, they are not the same. An elephant's ivory grows during all its life; so does its wisdom. Most of the musth males and matriarchs are dead, and along with them much of the knowledge, experience, and memories of elephant society. This younger generation carries on in the tradition of the past as best it can, but the social system seems in large part to have died away with the numbers.”

“But most of the musth males in North Luangwa have long ago been shot by poachers. Survivor has not seen one in several years; perhaps all of them are dead. Without a musth male to protect and mate her, the female has no choice but to succumb to these inexperienced bullies. During the next four days she is mated by five different males. She spends most of her time trying to escape them and rarely has a chance to feed. It is not certain that she will conceive under these conditions, and even if she does, it will not necessarily be by the best and strongest male.”

Naturally, the book is not without it’s good news, accordingly, “I have come to see if Africa is still here. It is. Hundreds of hippos—the river lords—laze, yawn, and sleep just beyond my beach. Puku, warthogs, and impalas graze on the far shore. On one walk I see zebras, kudu, waterbucks, buffalo, and eland. One morning a large male lion walks into my camp, and the next day a leopard saunters along the same path. I can hear baboons somewhere behind me, scampering and foraging their way through the forest. And a Goliath heron glides by on slow, silver wings.”

As the story and their work begins to succeed, we are heartened to learn all of these following things. “When we began our project in 1986, the elephants of North Luangwa National Park were being poached at the rate of one thousand each year. By the end of 1991 that number had been reduced to twelve.” A. Men.

“From 1963 to 1989 poachers shot 86 percent of the elephants in Africa for their ivory, skin, tails, and feet. In one decade the population plummeted from 1,300,000 to 600,000—less than half its former size. Seventy thousand elephants were shot every year to meet the world's demand for ivory. Ninety percent of the ivory entering the international market was from poached elephants. In other words, there was a 90 percent chance that an ivory bracelet in any jewelry or department store in the world was from a poached elephant. Illegal tusks were "laundered" by using false documents. The elephant populations in twenty-one African nations declined significantly in the decade preceding the CITES ban. Zambia lost more than 80 percent of its elephants. In the Luangwa Valley alone, 100,000 elephants were shot in the period between 1973 and 1985. In North Luangwa National Park from 1975 to 1986, elephants were shot at the rate of 1000 per year. Tanzania lost 80 percent, Uganda 73 percent. In East Africa as a whole, 80 to 86 percent of the elephants were shot by poachers. In the fifteen years prior to the ban, Kenya lost 5000 elephants a year—1095 a year in Tsavo Park alone.”

“In spite of this unprecedented success, eight nations who stood to gain financially from the ivory trade filed reservations to the ban in 1989: China, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa, Malawi, Zambia—which had changed its position—and Great Britain on behalf of Hong Kong (for six months). Furthermore, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Malawi, Mozambique, and the previous government of Zambia moved to down-list the elephant from "endangered" status to "threatened" and to continue their ivory trade. With the exception of South Africa, these nations formed their own ivory cartel, the Southern African Center for Ivory Marketing treaty (SACIM).”
“These nations are involved in the illegal ivory trade. South Africa, one of the most outspoken of the nations resisting the ban, is one of the largest clearinghouses for illicit ivory on the African continent. Raw ivory entering and leaving South Africa for other countries in its customs union (Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia, Lesotho) does not require import or export permits. In addition, worked ivory can be imported to or exported from South Africa without permits. So the door is wide open for illegal ivory to be imported into the country, then exported anywhere in the world without documents.”

“In Angola, members of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) killed 100,000 elephants to finance their war with the government. These tusks were exported to South Africa, where they entered the free market.7 A photographer from Time magazine witnessed a huge machine shop run by UNITA in Angola, where dozens of lathes were being used to carve tusks into replicas of machine guns (personal communications). Two men arrested in South Africa in possession of 975 poached elephant tusks were not prosecuted.”

And because I’ve been reading this very thing about Chobe lately, I found these two sections to be of interest, “Claims that there are too many elephants in some areas are inaccurate or irrelevant. Zimbabwe and Botswana declare that they have too many elephants and need to cull them to prevent habitat destruction. Too often when elephants appear to occur in high numbers, it is actually because they have been crowded into small areas by outside poaching pressures, or by loss of habitat from human development. If the poaching were eliminated or if elephants were allowed to inhabit a greater portion of their former ranges, they would no longer be overcrowded. With human populations growing more than 3 percent annually, people will take over more and more elephant habitat for development and conflicts will occur. But the CITES treaty does not prohibit the culling of elephants in areas where their densities are too high. Culling should be considered a last resort, but when necessary it can be done according to the CITES regulations. Culling does not cause poaching; selling the ivory and other parts from culled elephants does. Too often in the past, governments have repeatedly and prematurely resorted to culling operations to control elephant densities. It would be far more appropriate for the central, southern, and east African nations to form an international policing agency similar to Interpol to deal with the illicit traffic in animal parts and to coordinate antipoaching law-enforcement operations.”

“Elephant poaching occurs in Chobe Game Reserve in Botswana and Nigel Hunter, the deputy director of Wildlife and National Parks there, has stated that "he suspects that illegally-taken ivory from Botswana moves through South Africa."

All in all, this is an excellent book to read if you want to know how close we came to losing one of the world’s most undeniably magnificent beasts. Certainly, we all owe a debt of gratitude to the Owens for their efforts towards preventing that very thing. I, for one, am very thankful. Zikomo.

[Joël · Rating 5 out of 5]

How far would you go to save animals from dying and being forced to extinction? While some do not seem to care and kill for profit, others dedicate their lives for their survival – all while risking their own health and survival.

After being expelled from Botswana in 1985, The Eye of the Elephant documents Delia and Mark Owens‘ time in the Luangwa Valley in Zambia. Their previous book, Cry of the Kalahari, describes the seven years they have spent in the Kalahari desert in Botswana and their initial experiences studying lions and hyenas. I really liked the first book because of its adventurousness and its fantastic storytelling.

The Eye the Elephant is a much rougher book compared to their first one. It describes the Owenses effort in trying to save the elephants in the North Luangwa National Park in Zambia from extinction. While Delia and Mark Owen had to deal mainly with the extreme desert conditions in the Kalahari, in Zambia they faced deadly poachers, incapable game scouts and corrupt government officials. The book has a dark sentiment at times and you can really feel for the Owenses disappointment, frustration and anger towards the situation.

„At this moment, in August of 1986, we pledge to each other: no matter what it takes, or how long, we will stay in the North Luangwa until the elephants come to drink at the river in peace.“

„I have come to see if what we are fighting for still exists; have we become so immersed in the battle that we do not realize it is already lost?“

Despite their odds in succeeding, they never gave up and did everything they could to stop the poachers. I did read ‚The Hunted‘ article in The New Yorker from 2010 after finishing the book. The article paints a different picture when it comes to how they dealt with poachers, and it seems that there were more sticks than carrots involved. Whatever really did happen in this remote place in Africa some 30 years ago, it is undeniable that the Owenses played a key role in saving the elephants from extinction. I was happy to read that today, two-thirds of all Zambian elephants live in the Luangwa Valley and poaching has decreased significantly.

I very much enjoyed the book and feel a deep respect towards the Owenses for their never-ending efforts. I believe in their good intentions and feel for their frustration at times. Perhaps, thanks to their efforts, Survivor is still grazing through the Luangwa Valley, munching the sweet marula fruits.

[zauroczona_literatura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cytując "Jeśli spotkacie kłusowników, nie czekajcie, aż strzelą pierwsi"👀

Muszę przyznać, że nie spodziewałam się, że historia ta, aż tak mnie zaciekawi. Przepiękne opisy fauny i flory Zambii, ale również sceny kłusownictwa, których ofiarami stawały się gatunki zagrożone, najczęściej słonie.
Wiecie, że obecnie na całym świecie żyje 400 tysięcy słoni, gdzie jeszcze w 2000 roku żyło ich około 1,5 mln? Rocznie ginie ich 20 tys, dziennie 55.
Są to szokujące liczby, o których większość osób milczy. Jestem świadoma tego, że "najlepszym" sposobem na przeżycie rdzennej ludności jest kłusownictwo, jednak można temu zaprzestać, poprzez niektóre działania, które zaproponowali autorzy. Sama NIE ZGADZAM się z większością ich metod.
Nie jest to wspomniane w książce, bo została ona wydana sporo wcześniej, ale Owens'owie zamieszani są obecnie w m@rderstwo dwóch kłusowników.
Odsyłam was do filmu: fille tournesol "DELIA OWENS - dlaczego nikt o tym nie mówi", bo według mnie najlepiej to przedstawiła.
Przeczytałam tą książkę, przez ciekawość, czy może wspomnieli w tej historii o tej "sytuacji".
Jak można się domyśleć, narracja jest tutaj jedna - winni wszystkiego są kłusownicy. Nie zrozumcie mnie źle, nie wspieram ich, jednak jestem przekonana, że każdy zasługuje na życie.
Z jednej strony należy oddzielać autora od dzieła, jednak w tym przypadku mam do tego mieszane uczucia, dlatego postanawiam zostawić ją bez oceny.
Nie mogę odebrać tej książce, że się nie wciągnęłam czy nie spędziłam przy niej ciekawie czasu.
Sam styl pisania, przez obie strony był również intrygujący i z dużym zaangażowaniem słuchałam ją w audiobooku.

Na pewno, historia ta, zachęciła mnie, abym w przyszłości sięgnęła jeszcze po jakieś książki z gatunku literatury przyrodniczej. Jednak czy warto ją przeczytać, musicie zdecydować sami.
J.

Współpraca reklamowa z Wydawnictwem Świat Książki 🤍

[Al Sorensen · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a big fan of their first book, I was excited to return to the journeys of Mark and Delia Owen. Cry of the Kalahari was a major piece of conservation literature and rekindled my love of wildlife. Though the couple had their issues and struggles in the dessert, none of that quite compares to this book. While still getting a good chunk of daily life and animal observations as the first, Eye of the Elephant introduces a new issue into the equation. True conflict. I now understand why this is called an epic adventure, because from the moment that our conversationalists step foot in Africa they are set upon by all sides. From the government, from the environment, and most surprisingly, from each other.

I loved this book as much, if not at times more, than Cry of The Kalahari!

[Hal Brodsky · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book seemed fantastical to me. The Owens were constantly stepping on crocodiles, feet away from hungry lions, waking up in sleeping bags next to lions, and facing off with buffalo. Mark's plane was always running out of gas and the engine stall warning came on at least 20 times.

After finishing it, I read a New Yorker article. The magazine sent a reporter to Zambia 3 times. NONE of the episodes recounted in the book in which witnesses were present were true.

Oh, and Mark went nuts and started killing people (poachers). Which is alluded to in the book when Delia moves out on him. Which was the cool part if you're a Joseph Conrad fan; I mean if you think about it, Mark out- Heart-of-Darknessed both the original Kurtz and the Marlon Brando version!

2 stars because I was able to finish it. The chapters written by Delia were more readable than her husband's.

[Anna McSwain · Rating 4 out of 5]

The descriptive nature writing is amazing! It makes this book read like a novel drawing the reader in to care about the wildlife they are fighting for. Their lives are absolutely crazy and I enjoy living vicariously through their books!

[Sharon Diedrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed the wildlife commentary.

[Arianna Arden · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best nonfiction books I have ever read. It’s heartwarming, heartbreaking, adventurous, and eye opening. I recommend this book to anybody who enjoys nature and animals.

[Ewelina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powieść, dzięki której przeniosłam się do gorącej i nieznanej mi dotąd z tej strony Afryki i poczułam silną empatię do ginących z rąk kłusowników słoni. Przejmująca historia, którą warto poznać.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I sometimes forgot this was nonfiction. I'm inspired by their integrity.

[Notteviddia · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5/5 za porażający obraz walki z kłusownictwem i zabijaniem słoni na kość słoniową

[Rita · Rating 2 out of 5]

I learned a lot about poaching of wild animals in Africa and the corruption of officials involved. I didn't care much for the book other than that, however, because there were too many references to how many turns the plane took or the outfits of corrupt officials or how many times they bathed in a stream. If I hadn't been doing a reading challenge, I probably would not have finished it.

[Jenneffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredible story! The bravery and determination of the Owenses, to follow wildlife in an area where the animals had never before been studied, invoked passion in me. I lived in the Kalahari while I served as a United States Peace Corps volunteer, so reading about Southern Africa and this peace-keeping mission of improving conservation lands in Botswana felt very familiar. Surviving the extreme temperatures, struggle for enough water and available food, and chance encounters from generous strangers all rang a bell from my service days. Highly recommended, and make sure you read their second book from the Luangwa Valley, The Eye of the Elephant. Go siame!

[Robin Tierney · Rating 5 out of 5]

A true-life adventure, and I wish that the cruelty that humans inflict upon fellow animals would stop being true-life. The book reveals the tragedies and painful death suffered by astonishing numbers of elephants (also hippos) as poachers hunt them for trafficking their tusks and other body parts around the world. If only people would stop buying such 'products.'

The end -- epilogue, appendix -- reveals sad startling facts/statistics (current as of when the book was published) and gives hope in that awareness and attitudes are improving and that many things can be done, including helping people learn that wildlife (and land for that matter) are more valuable alive than dead (tourism, for example) and teaching ways to coexist, such as wiser agriculture practices that stop relying on fencing that destroys habitat and cuts wild animals such as antelope and elephants off from water supplies.

Anyway, this is Not a review. As usual, I document my hurried notes so that I can refresh my memory about a book.

The Eye of the Elephant: An Epic Adventure in the African Wilderness

Delia and Mark Owens


Their goal, starting several decades ago:
Teach ppl wildlife is more valuable dead or alive.

Savannah lions wildebeests zebras valley of life
Zambia

Theory of mind is the ability to attribute mental states such as beliefs, intents, desires, emotions and knowledge, among others, to oneself and to others. Theory of mind is necessary to understanding that others have beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives that are different from one’s own.

Epilogue - such important points and things we can do something about.
Safari hunting
Farms on Kalahari wilderness, fences, hundreds of dead antelopes, eklund other animals block migrations and access to water. Due to disruption of ecology, the aquifers dried up and could not be recharged.
High finance version of slash and burn agriculture financed by WHO.
Ranchers didn’t repay loans, wanted to sell off more land from the protectorate. Botswana farming profitable only in the short term and 60% subsidized sales to European Commission EC, surplus of beef sold to Russia at 10% of the cost to produce it.
They were ordered to leave the Kalahari...after they had observed and reported seeing cattle and goats grazing on reserve land.
Did eventually vote to keep the reserve intact.
Central Kalahari Game Reserve is an extensive national park in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana. Established in 1961 it covers an area of 52,800 square
Ivory 80% in stores from poached elephants. 70,000 of elephants killed yearly. Ban needed to be enforced.
North Lunagwa National Park
East Af 80 to 86% of elephants shot by poachers.
CITIES attempted to control, scheme failed,
Zambia lost huge percentage of its wildlife.

Goodreads summary:

After being expelled from Botswana for writing their controversial bestseller Cry of the Kalahari, Mark and Delia Owens set off on a journey across Africa, searching for a new Eden. They found it in Zambia, but elephant poachers soon had them fighting for their lives when they tried to stop the slaughter. 16 pages of photos, half in color.

Amazon’s summary:

When Mark and Delia Owens first went to Africa in 1974, they bought a third hand Land Rover, drove deep into the Kalahari Desert, and lived there for seven years. They are the authors of Cry of the Kalahari, an international bestseller and winner of the John Burroughs Medal, The Eye of the Elephant, and Secrets of the Savanna. After more than 30 years in Africa, they returned to the United States to carry on their conservation work.

Intelligent, majestic, and loyal, with lifespans matching our own, elephants are among the greatest of the wonders gracing the African wilds. Yet, in the 1970s and 1980s, about a thousand of these captivating creatures were slaughtered in Zambia each year, killed for their valuable ivory tusks. When biologists Mark and Delia Owens, residing in Africa to study lions, found themselves in the middle of a poaching fray, they took the only side they morally could: that of the elephants.

The Eye of the Elephant recounts the Owens’ struggle to save these innocent animals from decimation, a journey not only to supply the natives with ways of supporting their villages, but also to cultivate support around the globe for the protection of elephants. Filled with daring exploits among disgruntled hunters, arduous labor on the African plains, and vivid depictions of various wildlife, this remarkable tale is at once an adventure story, a travelogue, a preservationist call to action, and a fascinating examination of both human and animal nature.

Kirkus Review:

From the couple who publicized the plight of the wildebeest in the Kalahari (Cry of the Kalahari, 1984)—a further search for a wilderness paradise in Africa, pitting the energetic duo against elephant poachers in northern Zambia.

When forced by Botswana authorities to leave the Kalahari, the Owenses, still intent on finding an unspoiled Eden—i.e., territory with no other people in sight—settle upon a remote corner of Zambia, the North Luangwa National Park, for their next research project. Here, they hope to continue their study of lions, but they soon realize that the park's elephants are being decimated by poachers.

War is declared and, once the couple have established their camp in the valley—a task complicated by the local river's tendency to flood—they get to work. Mark, obsessed with saving the elephants and nabbing the poachers, flies endless nocturnal combat- style missions over the park, lobbing cherry bombs at poachers, and organizes on-the-ground sorties.

The poachers retaliate, and it seems as if the local park rangers and villagers are in cahoots with the villains. By now, the authors are beginning to realize that Africans may also be in need of help, and that the locals are poaching out of economic necessity; so with donated funds, they encourage small businesses in the villages; visit schools to educate the young about their rich animal heritage; and pay bounty for captured poachers.

The elephants slowly begin to return; the villagers seem to be developing new sources of income despite Zambia's bankrupt economy and the prevalence of AIDS; and Mark and Delia stay on to save the park. Another seemingly clear-cut victory for the tireless defenders of wildlife….

“Exciting. . . part adventure story, part wildlife tale”—The Boston Globe

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having lived in Africa for a couple of years in the late 70s and having seen elephants, lions, wildebeasts by the thousands, roaming freely, when I came across this book, I was curious. I'm glad I found it.

The writing is descriptive and inclusive. The conditions, customs and corruption were accurately portrayed. The friendly, infectious enthusiasm of the always smiling people was pervasive. The description of the interpersonal relationships between the authors, their employees, the villagers and even the officials was compelling and usually entertaining. The Owens' love of their work and the animals is obvious and heart-warming.

I suspect that anyone who would consider picking up this book, is already on the side of animal preservation. Unfortunately, there are many times in the book when I felt that the authors were trying to persuade me to their viewpoint, which wasn't necessary. I have 40 year old memories of African plains covered by massive herds of animals. At the end of the book with the statistics of how many animals have been killed, I was left wondering if those images really are just memories now.