The chronicle of writer Nicholas Luard’s two-thousand-mile expedition across the Kalahari Desert, searching for the elusive black leopard and for answers to why humankind should love and respect the wilderness.
About the Book
English writer, naturalist, and explorer Nicholas Luard already harboured a deep love for the African continent when he conceived the need to return to — and cross — the “last great wilderness”: the Great Kalahari Desert.
Accompanied by his artist wife Elizabeth, their guide and old hunter Syd, three friends, and camp hands, they set off in rugged vehicles from the Botswanan capital, Gaborone, on the southern edge of the desert. From there they travelled to its northern limits before sweeping south again to return to the capital over the course of the two-month trip.
The result is a thoroughly entertaining tale of the highs and lows of long-distance travel across a wild and inhospitable landscape in mixed company. There is discomfort and danger aplenty, accompanied throughout by Luard’s moving reflection on the impact of humankind upon the delicately balanced ecosystem of the desert and its people since Dr. Livingstone opened it up to the world at large.
This book is a true homage to the Kalahari — to the joy of adventure and the experience of exploration — tempered by Luard’s profound sadness at the loss of unique wildlife and habitat. As he believed, it was the beginning of the end for the place known as the “cradle of life.”
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