My dad gave me this after I read and loved Douglas A. Chadwick's The Fate of the Elephant. I couldn't help but compare this book to that one, which is actually one of my favorite books. I like Matthiessen's writing--he has some really beautiful and vivid descriptions of Africa's plants, landscapes, and especially of its fauna. I just didn't find the "plot" very compelling. The point was to describe the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania, to let people know what it was like, that it was a last stronghold of big game in Africa, that parts of it were still untouched by white man (colonizers, I should say, but I'm using his language), Old Africa. I get that, and it is an important record. But parts of the account were boring to me and didn't really say anything important. I like that Matthiessen blends description with biography (mostly of Brian Nicholson, longtime warden of the Selous), history, and sociopolitical commentary (the book was written not long after the end of colonial rule in Kenya and Tanzania that led to major conflicts within and between the two neighboring countries). I just wish there was more interest, like in Chadwick's book, which recounts his travels in researching elephants and the ivory trade. I guess this book is too broad and too short to really cover everything that it sets out to cover. And I'm sorry, but Hugo van Lawick's photos are mostly disappointing. I still recommend this book to people interested in reading about Africa, Old and New, and to people who love reading about wildlife. It is an interesting, albeit too brief, account, and it certainly is informative.
