by Lindsay on May 15th, 2012
Verdict: carrot
Conservation areas cover about 7.5% of South Africa’s total land area. This field guide, organised by province, provides an overview of 43 of the country’s most popular parks, reserves and wilderness areas. It is definitely going to tour with me in future!
The history, location, geology, vegetation, fauna and flora of each park get comprehensive coverage. Interesting wildlife facts are highlighted in informational panels, as are the various facilities and activities offered by each park. Detailed maps, as well as vegetation maps and notes on climate, ensure that the visitor is well prepared.
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by Lindsay on May 10th, 2012
On her Radio 702 book show, Jenny Crwys-Williams recently featured two biographical books about people who devoted their lives to the conservation of Africa’s animals: The Last Rhinos by Lawrence Anthony and An African Love Story by Diane Sheldrick.
The Last Rhinos relates the “tragic, brutal and beautiful” story of Anthony’s trip into war-torn Congo in a bid to save the last group of Northern white rhinos from extinction, while Sheldrick describes how she rescued orphaned baby elephants in An African Love Story.
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by Lindsay on May 7th, 2012
Verdict: carrot
The time had arrived to upgrade my cellphone and one of the new programs I was able to download was Sky Maps.
I now had a screen full of stars and planets with names that meant nothing to me. Now, together with this book and a small telescope bought at an auction, I am ready to reach for the stars.
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by Carolyn on May 2nd, 2012
Verdict: carrot
In South Africa, we are spoilt for choice when it comes to bird identification guides and bird watchers get quite attached to their guide.
The Sasol Birds Of Southern Africa has always had a strong following and this is the fully revised a fourth edition.
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- Sasol Birds of Southern Africa IV by Ian Sinclair, Phil Hockey, Peter Ryan, Warwick Tarboton, illustrated by Norman Arlott
EAN: 9781770079250
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by Carolyn on Apr 30th, 2012
In a recent column for The Guardian, Ian “Birdbooker” Paulsen compiled a list of noteworthy books on nature, natural history, ecology, animal behaviour, science and history. Among the international titles are a number of books published locally by Struik Nature and Protea Boekhuis.
Chris and Tilde Stuart’s Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Africa and Field Guide to Mammals of Southern Africa, Smithers’ Mammals of Southern Africa: A Field Guide compiled by Peter Apps, Birds of Southern Africa: Complete Photographic Field Guide by Ian Sinclair and Peter Ryan and Insects of Southern Africa by Clarke Scholtz and Erik Holm all made the list:
Scholtz, Clarke H. and Erik Holm. Insects of Southern Africa. 2008. Protea Book House. Hardbound: 502 pages. Price: $115.00 U.S. [Amazon UK; Amazon US].
SUMMARY: Southern Africa has a particularly rich and varied insect fauna, consisting of 26 orders, 579 families and about 80,000 species (currently recorded). This wealth of information on the systematics and biology of southern African insect groups has not been comprehensively treated before and is here condensed by 48 contributors, each of whom is an authority on a particular group.
A work of this nature requires a balance between scientific accuracy and utility so that the information will be easily accessible and comprehensible to professional and amateur entomologists alike. In this work, the scientist will find enough general information to lead him or her to more detailed works while the amateur entomologist will find sufficient explanation in the text, color plates, and a glossary.
IAN’S RECOMMENDATION: For those with a technical interest in the insects of the region.
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by Luso on Apr 5th, 2012
Verdict: carrot
Relentlessly poached throughout the Seventies, Eighties and early Nineties, the elephants of Kenya’s Tsavo East National Park are innately suspicious of humans. So when, in 1994, a cow elephant looked up from the muddy pool in which she’d been drinking, raised her ears and walked up to Daphne Sheldrick, she assumed the creature must be her old friend Eleanor. Orphaned at two, Eleanor had been raised by Sheldrick before returning to the wild. Now in her forties, Eleanor would still leave the herd and run to greet her adoptive human “mother” when she saw her.
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by Sophy on Apr 3rd, 2012
By Andrea Nagel for The Times:
An African Love Story: Love, Life and Elephants by Daphne Sheldrick
The love story part of Sheldrick’s An African Love Story offers nothing new. She marries her high school sweetheart, has a child and then falls madly in love with an older man.
What is exceptional is that the story takes place as Sheldrick hand rears orphaned animals in Kenya. It is interspersed with a sentimental account of her life with David Sheldrick, legendary warden of Tsavo East National Park.
Her life is devoted to rearing orphaned elephants, rhinos, antelope, buffalo, warthogs, stray birds and a civet cat.
The relationships she develops with the animals provide a remarkable insight into the psychology of wild animals.
The novel tallies her losses, not least that of her beloved husband, but also the animals she grows to cherish, which either die or return to the wild.
But, as she frequently points out, when one window closes another door opens.
The book also deals with the devastation of poaching.
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by wombatsamwilson on Mar 30th, 2012
Verdict: carrot
The original version of this thorough guide to local garden plants was put together by the late Professor Kristo Pienaar in 1984, and has been a gardener’s favourite for almost all of that period.
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by Carolyn on Mar 23rd, 2012
Uitspraak: wortels!
Jacques Marais is top-fiks, ’n goeie fotograaf en altyd bruisend op pad na sy volgende avontuur.
’n Mens sal moeilik iemand meer geskik vind om ’n boek te skryf soos Die Avontuur Gids van Suid-Afrika (Lapa-uitgewers, 2012, sagteband, 380 bladsye, R275), wat pas verskyn het.
…
Gert Erasmus van George was lank ’n veldwagter in die Krugerwildtuin. Daar het hy ’n besonderse belangstelling in bome ontwikkel.
Ná sy aftrede het hy gaan sit en skryf. Sy boek Witgat het hy self gepubliseer. Dié boomboek is ’n waardevolle bron wat net iemand met baie ervaring kon opdis.
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by Sophy on Mar 23rd, 2012
Verdict: carrot
This is how a book should look
I love books, and particularly books about African wildlife – so I’ve got quite a collection. I think I know wildlife books. But every now and then one comes along that stands out and really gets me excited.
And few have excited for a while as much as Gamebirds of Southern Africa by Rob Little and Tim Crowe, with illustration by Simon Barlow (second edition, published by Struik Nature).
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