Fast Cats of Red Sands: The Lives of Kalahari Cheetahs and Their Researchers

by Gus Mills, Margie Mills

374 pages, Paperback

Published September 30, 2023

Reviews

[Katrin]

Very accessible, insightful and enjoyable account of the authors' time spent researching cheetahs in the Kalahari. The book is educational in nature and grounded in the in-depth research the authors have done but not so scientific that it would not be easy to read by non-scientists. I picked the book up in a shop in Kruger National Park on a bit of a whim and it by far exceeded my expectations. There are a number of points I personally did not agree with (e.g. there is a repeated critique of young researchers using technology to get quicker results which rather simplistically assumes that this is due to a short attention span or a desire for 'instant gratification' without considering the immense pressure to publish quickly and frequently that is put on early career researchers) but overall it was a delight to read. The authors present their accounts in two separate interwoven threads with the husband's account - who is the more established researcher - dominating the narrative and the wife's contributing an often more empathetic view of the events. I thought this worked very well to put the experience of observing the cut throat life of predators into perspective without losing the objective tone that such an account needs to maintain to retain impact.