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

I was so surprised that I'd never heard of this Book plus one more written by Delia and her husband Mark Owens concerning the terrible problem of the poaching of animals in Africa. It's a marvel of description of the land, animals and efforts made to set up camps, airstrips with total dedication to Africa and preservation of the animals. I cannot abandon this story and therefore read most all the night time. The writing is excellent and down to earth. Of course I've read that great book Delia wrote, "Where the Crawdads Sing" and just love the "down to earth" writing...The Bunny

We have recently visited Zambia for a second time in nine years. It seems to be thriving with tourism and ample animals. The book describes a country beset with seemingly insoluble problems that generates feelings of frustration and anger. We know they succeeded over time, but the literary journey doesn't hold out hope for that success (which we know came about). But to be fair, at the time it was written, they could probably not imagine the new normal. Worth the read but not everyone's cup of tea.

Before Delia Owens became the bestselling novelist ("Where the Crawdads sing"), she spent over two decades in the African wilderness (Botswana and Zambia), where she and her then husband Mark Owens studied lions, hyenas and elephants; they both are biologists and animal behaviorists. The couple wrote these "diaries" together, but it is her parts that are clearly more personal (she talks about food and their often funny encounters with hyena cubs and feisty hornbills). Despite the "cute" parts, their life in these super remote areas in the Kalahari desert and in the Norther Luangwa National Park was hard and often very dangerous: Especially their struggles to save elephants and big cats from poachers led to scary, if not horrifying situations. You can read this book like a novel, it is written beautifully and full of fascinating observations and descriptions of parts of the world we never got to see (almost nobody did!). But make no mistake, this is not a travel guide: This book also describes the reckless hunting of an endangered species; it deals with dirty politics, poverty, corruption, and the desperation and anger of two animal activists who witness their beloved objects killed in front of their eyes. I would recommend to read it together with "Cry of the Kalahari", the beginning of Delia and Mark's life in Africa. And you will enjoy these "reports" even more when you know "Crawdads", because you recognize how similar animal and human behavior are, and you kind of enter Kya's mind.

This was a book read for the book club in which I am a member. Poaching wildlife, especially elephants for ivory and rhinos for their horns, had devastated populations in east Africa. Poachers sold the meat to local villagers and the ivory to exporters --Japanese and Europeans. The poaching of animals reminds me of the sculpture poachers in West Africa who have stripped tribal cultures there of the religious objects that gave these groups their unique identities and served as foci of their religious rituals and political organization. The African sculpture poachers were feeding a demand that originated in Europe and perfected in the United States, where wealthy collectors supported an industry of for-sale ethnic arts "galleries" like the former Harry Franklin Gallery in Beverly Hills .CA. An academic industry also arose, when university departments of Art History sent "experts" to Africa arts to to study and identify styles and geographic locations for the ethnic art pieces arriving for sale in the U.S. without provenance. Exhibitions of African art, in prestigious museums, served to increase the value of these ethnic sculptures, and even donations of such art objects to museums served the pockets of wealth collects as tax deductions. This form of poaching, unlike the poaching of animals for their skins, their meat and their ivory, has created an industry worth millions of dollars, especially for the western collectors who get in early. The indigenous traders bringing the objects to market made out ok, too, but the groups whose religious artifacts were taken, benefitting not at all from the export of their cultural identifies.

I really enjoyed getting to know Mark and Delia as they worked so very hard to overcome insurmountable obstacles. I became frustrated as they did but am thankful they were so dedicated and didn’t give up. So much injustice in this world! Two great humanitarians regardless of negative opinions. A wonderful book!

Very moving, sad, uplifting, beautiful, vivid, and true. Makes one want to go and save all animals from the ignorance of man. Thank God for people like the Owens. They bring new meaning to saving the planet. We owe them a debt of gratitude…..

Once I started reading this book, I did not want to put it down. It taught me a lot about Africa, and their work there.

Excellent book, I highly suggest reading Cry of the Kalahari first, this is the second book and Savannah Sunset is the third, all 3 stand on their own but you will understand Mark and Delia's comments and why they have arrived here better. This just like the first book is very well written and a page turner, the first night I started it, I stayed up until midnight on a night when I am usually out by 9pm. It is a constant combo of stories which make laugh, touch your heart, make your hair stand on end or bring tears to your eyes. You can feel the heat, smell the rains, and picture the animals standing right in front of you.

I started this book with great enthusiasm. I got about one third of the way through and then laid it aside for a month. When the time was right I picked it up again and finished it in a couple of days. I cannot say I enjoyed the book. It is not an easy read. Much of it makes very depressing reading and there is no triumphant conclusion to the depressing tale of the mass slaughter of the wildlife of North Luangua in Zambia. However it is a 'must read' because of the terrible story it tells of venal game guards and officials conspiring with poachers to almost eradicate the elephant herds of North Luangua by sustained poaching year after year after year, despite the pinprick irritation of the efforts of the Owenses to thwart them.Mark & Delia Owens put their health, their marriage, and their lives on the line. In the end their efforts are rewarded though only when there are so few elephants left to kill, the global CITES agreement has undermined the ivory trading market, and the Zambia political regime is changed. When these things come together the alternative economic programmes and educational programmes initiated by the Owenses have the opportunity to fill the poaching void.The account of these events told in the book ends in the early 1990's. Poachers are apprehended, poaching has almost stopped, though I wonder.... What is going on now? Has the Luangua elephant population recovered or has the area regressed again to poaching? A postscript would be good in a new edition of this book.

fine

I thought they were very naive.going into this endeavor, endangering their lives, and the animals they wanted to protect. It seemed that they should have been more educated the ways of corruption and bribery. Also they seemed to be lacking a.sense of awareness of the dangers the animals were capable..or(when Delia.stands on a sandbar oblivious to the croc dangers few.feet away from her).Marks junk plane quite unsuitable for.safe.navigation, being a.hairs breath from crashing at any given moment jeopardizing the goal of conservation and Delta's survival alone. It.took them a.long time to get "street savvy". How many resources were waste until they got educated. It is ironic that the beef cattle they wanted to be raised and butchered for consumption , actually caused the extinction of the antelope and eroded the lush grass and water supply. .Life is a circle , one little change or. big change sets off a.chain reaction that trickles down to.the smallest living creature that other larger creatures depend.

This book was ok, but not as good as Owens' debut novel "Where the Crawdads Sing", which was much better written. It was a little too boring to read in the beginning (with some editing errors), but it's getting better in the latter half. I like the writings about the elephants, wildlife and natural habitats though.

This will be a bit of a tough book for some because of the slaughter of wildlife for no good reason. You may or may not want to read it all at once. There isn't too much of an ending...