Survivor’s Song: Life and Death in an African Wilderness

Owens, Delia; Owens, Mike

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0006380964 ISBN 13: 9780006380962

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1994

The sequel to "Cry of the Kalahari", this book takes up where the first began, with the Owenses returning to the Kalahari to continue their study of elephants. After deportation because of their open criticism of the government's soft stance on wildlife conservation, they find their way back to their research station to discover the remains of hundreds of poached elephants. Thus they begin a long struggle to raise consciousness about preservation among the officials, who live off black market ivory, and the villagers, who depend on elephant meat for food. Mark's obsession with catching the poachers leads to vicious confrontations and to intense strain in his relationship with Delia.

From the Back Cover:

When Mark and Delia Owens set up a research station in Zambia, they thought they'd found a new Eden – a deserted valley where hippos and crocodiles swam in the rivers, lions stalked the bush and elephants wandered into camp. Then they discovered the remains of hundreds of poached elephants.

As soon as the Owens learned that the people in the valley depended on poaching to survive, they abandoned their study project and began a long struggle to raise consciousness about preservation. But as they helped villagers to start sewing and woodworking shops, fish farms and grain mills, the big commercial poachers decided that the Owens should die, and their battle to save the elephants turned into a fight for their own lives...