Story of two people's crusade to study and turn the tide of poaching in Zambia in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Part adventure story-part wildlife story, it has a solid ending and is impressive that these two could have a serious impact on the recovery of elephants in Zambia. It is very average prose and the story is "campy" and a bit like the Born Free books/movies, but the work these folks did speaks for itself. There is a sequel that I will hasten to read as this book was not the type of book that a person tends to remember or want to re-read. It is a nice story of committment to a cause with a good ending but is not a well told story. It is repetitive in places when describing how the elephants are poached, the dealing with Zambian officials and the interactions with the locals. The married couple also have problems with each other.
Frankly, I got very bored reading this book.

I rate it 5 out of 10 and that is solely for the end result. It could have been written in half the words and told the same story.


Second book -

Secrets of the Savanna by Mark and Delia Owens

Sequel to THe Eye of the Elephant, a better, more well rounded book. The story is much better told. It seems practice makes perfect. The story is of the successes and failures of changing a poaching society in Zambia to one of an economy built on creating products and services. The Owen's did a super job of teaching and showing the locals that poaching ulitmately destroys their lives. They taught the locals how to start small business enterprises and live off that rather than poach elephants and other wildlife. They handed the project off to the locals when they were forced out of the country in 1996. They succeeded as the locals then "owned" the project. It is a good story, not all flowery and a nice conclusion to the previous book.

I rate this a 6 out of 10 and give it a soft recommendation.