Cry of the Kalahari

 

Cry of the Kalahari by Mark Owens
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At one time, my dream was to be a field biologist and so naturalist books are extremely interesting and captivating for me. The fact that Mark and Delia just up and went to Africa and studied wildlife in the Kalahari without a plan or financing seems remarkable to me. Their adventures are both amazing and inspiring. They focus primarily on the lions and hyenas they study, and though they try to be scientifically objective they can't help but become friends with these animals, assigning human emotions to their actions, and teasing out personalities and motivations for them. I personally don't think this is a bad thing, even scientifically. Even if we are simply finding our own reflection in animal behavior, it can help us understand ourselves better. Giving animals human characteristics also makes us more sympathetic to them, which was arguably part of the reason this book was written--to help give the lay reader information and motivation to care for the wildlife in Africa that is being threatened by human expansion and businesses. If there is one thing I wished for was more about Delia and Mark's relationship out in the wilderness--there are glimpses but a few more details would have been infinitely interesting.
Thanks to Cindy who informed me that this is the same Delia Owens that wrote Where the Crawdads Sing

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Eventually each prominent feature had a name, for orientation and for easy reference.

Their brief visit had reminded us of our isolation, and now we felt a loneliness that had not been there before.

rather the feeling that I might not be alone when I was supposed to be

Sharing food while verbally reviewing their technique reinforced the essential cooperation between hunters.