Rewilding Africa, a reivew by Myrna Robins

Rewilding Africa by Grant Fowlds and Graham Spence

When a book truly grips you, reviewing becomes more difficult, as your original purpose is replaced with reading deeply for information and enjoyment.

Author Fowlds is a passionate conservationist, committed to all endangered animals – he is also a talented writer, with either a prodigious memory, or wonderful diaries and records of his life, or both. He acknowledges the input from ghost writer Graham Spence who, he says, conveyed his stories into print – the two collaborated earlier on the production of Saving the Last Rhinos. The services of his friend and agent Gary Wright are also recognised. Between them they have produced an item of Africana that should inspire aspiring conservationists while creating awareness of the precarious plight of our African wildlife and hopefully also result in much-needed financial support from those with deep pockets.

One of he Big 5- the BlackRhino

Many of the chapters are complete stories in themselves, which make for satisfying reading. They include the violent death of his friend Beyers Coetzee by the elephants he was trying to protect, the untimely death of American conservationist Chris Holcraft and that of supportive lawyer Peter Rutsch, fallen comrades to whom the book is dedicated.

The death of a notorious poacher by crackshot game ranger Sibonelo Zulu makes a satisfying chapter. The arrival of COVID-19 proved particularly disastrous for rural populations everywhere . As tourism dried up, locals became hungry, leading Fowlds and two friends to start a very successful rural feeding schemes, providing 1,2 million nutritious meals – and also saved the lives of innumerable smaller animals from being hunted for food.

Angola was the scene of another story: – thanks to the border war most of its wildlife was shot out as the civil war dragged on for 27 year., klling 800 000. We learn about a former South African troepie, conscripted soldier Johan Booysen who, with three others rode motorbikes into Angola in 2015 to revisit the battlefields that haunted him. They met an Angolan general and soon found that former foes had a rapport. In 2018 a convoy of 26 vehicles carrying mostly former soldiers crossed back in to Angola on a mission of reconciliation and development projects, including tourism . As Angola is home to fine wildlife habitat Booysen was joined by Grant Fowlds and they were taken on a tour of Angolan parks with promises of 1,5 millon hectares of land if South Africans could bring back elephants , security, game rangers and more. A challenge indeed.

Mr Binané, Lowlands Slverback Gorilla

A trip to the DRC to see Bonané, a giant silverback gorilla with an impressive harem was enjoyed but Grant had to get help fast when Covid19 saw the donors of the park disappear – he had to find food for the rangers, their families and the locals – with his contacts he could do this on a global scale.

More chapters, more interesting people more sadness, more frustration, but ending on a positive note as Grant saw the two Tembe tuskers relocated to his family’s property in the Eastern Cape.

Myrna Robins