INTO THE EYES OF LIONS

Book excerpt: The adventures described in this book represent the realisation of a dream that in the author’s boyhood seemed unthinkable. His first safari, in Kenya in 1962 was certainly low-budget (£12 for 2 days!). Later, when working as a teacher in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, he often spent weeks in some of the world’s most celebrated national parks and reserves, camping in tiny tents in the middle of the African bush. The sometimes hazardous adventures, and the good-humoured camaraderie of those with whom the author travelled, make this book an entertaining as well as interesting read. Incidents with lions, elephants, rhinos, buffaloes and other big game abound, but safaris are not just about wild animals. The author also describes the landscape of Africa as well as many of the other adventures that occurred to him during this time. The general tone of the book is far from gung-ho male chauvinism. Like the bush itself it is predominantly one of tranquillity, of being “at one with the moment”, enhanced by the author’s obvious love for life on safari and for wild-life, wild places and their conservation, enlightened by a self-deprecating sense of humour and sensitive, deeply felt and lyrically expressed reflections.