Wild South Africa (Wild Places of the World S.) - Hardcover

Mountain, Alan

9781853687914: Wild South Africa (Wild Places of the World S.)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 185368791X ISBN 13: 9781853687914

Publisher: New Holland Publishers Ltd, 1998

This work forms part of a series comprising natural history studies of countries which are biologically rich and have a diverse natural heritage. The series also looks at natural environments under pressure from the encroachment of industry and agriculture, and considers the conservation and ecological issues. This volume celebrates the beauty and diversity of South Africa's unspoilt and less developed areas, and highlights some of the more renowned wild places. Around 400 colour photographs illustrate all aspects of nature's cycles in each region. Insects, birds, mammals, flowers, indigenous peoples and landscapes are portrayed, and the text, written in an accessible style, explores the individuality of each region.

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Review:

Like most lusciously photographed coffee-table tomes, Wild South Africa is a visual treat. Thonga girls look up from sorting fish to smile for the camera. A Zulu herdboy shows off his "amazingly tuneful" homemade guitar. The candelabra-like Quiver Tree is bathed in the glow of the late afternoon sun. In the big game category, elephants, rhinos, antelopes, giraffes, cheetas, hippos and hyenas freely roam these pages. Waves lap pristine shores. Rivers wind through forested riparian wonderlands. And in the category of the truly bizzare, a turkey-sized bird with a bright red face and throat pouch appears to have the longest eyelashes this side of Paris.

However, unlike similar volumes, Wild South Africa also presents the downside of all this transplendant beauty. We learn, for instance, that in the first seven months of 1824 alone, in a single frontier town, 22,700 kilograms of ivory changed hands, and that the destruction of habitat has wiped out many plant and animal species, as well as vast tracts of hardwood forests. This is a magical place on the edge, which makes the close-ups of napping crocodiles and breathtaking vistas all the more heartpounding.

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