THE WILDLIFE PARKS OF AFRICA

by Nicholas with the World Wildlife Fund Luard ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 4, 1986

A guidebook to Africa's national parks. While there is utility in the section listing all of the parks, the greater benefit of this book resides in its first half, which presents a history of Africa, and of animals and the national park movement. Luard puts the whole situation in perspective by recounting the last several million years' history in a manner that makes plain the role of man in usurping the functions and balances of nature. One cringes when considering side-by-side the original intent of the hunter, with his subsistence kill, and the greedy obliteration of, say, a hundred lions in a day's hunt, just for the sheer, selfish, macho glory of it. The parks' movement came into being in the latter half of the 19th century, often at the instigation of reformed hunters, such as Paul Kruger of South Africa, who became repulsed at man's bloody carnage of the animal world. Following upon this, he presents a directory of 161 parks (south of the Sahara) sectioned off into West, East, and Southern Africa. Within each, countries are listed alphabetically and are introduced with a brief geographical and naturalistic description. The parks themselves are then cited, with information about which wildlife is to be observed there at what times of the year. A simple alpha system identifies levels of luxury or crudity for park facilities. Luard posits mankind as having somewhat of a primal instinct for Africa, stemming from the theory of the continents as having all broken off at one time from the one land mass, known to scientists as Pangaea. As such, he suggests that all nations, black and white, have an obligation to help restore these parks and those unlisted after centuries of abuse.

Pub Date: April 4, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Salem--dist. by Merrimack

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1986

Categories: NONFICTION