Review of The Elusive Elephant : Mama's African Adventure
Posted: 24 Jul 2024, 12:26
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Elusive Elephant : Mama's African Adventure" by Jean Roberts Hodges.]
This memoir is about an African safari Jean and her husband, Will, went on in Tanzania. The Tanzanian government had allowed Will to obtain a hunting permit to help them with their conservation efforts at the Selous Game Reserve in the African bush. However, this permit only allowed him to use a bow and arrows, regardless of the animal's size. Although the government experiment focused on elephants, Will was allowed to hunt any other species found in the Selous Game Reserve until his limit was reached. How does the hunting and killing of animals help conserve them? Are the animals in zoo cages better off than those in the African bush? How was Will’s hunting different from that of poachers? Read The Elusive Elephant: Mama's African Adventure by L. Jean Roberts Hodges to learn about her incredible journey in the African bush.
As with any book about Africa, my favorite part was the animals. However, Jean taught me much more about Africa with her detailed descriptions of the flowers, trees, birds, and other demographics. I learned about the different traits that many of the animals have. For example, did you know elephants purr? Or the fact that zebras yap and whine like dogs? I enjoyed reading about the different African tribes. For example, the Maasai tribe believes cows are sacred and linked to the land. I don't want to give away spoilers, so you must read the book to understand this belief. Due to the author's consideration for readers by providing translations, I learned a few Swahili words. Along with the tense and dangerous aspects of their hunting, Jean did a fantastic job interspersing humor in this story. I had to laugh when I found out that natives nicknamed monkeys "politicians" and when I read the recipe for "Elephant Stew."
The quality of the map of Africa and the pictures is the only negative aspect I encountered while reading this book. No amount of zooming made them legible enough to see or read the captions. This quality defect was disappointing because Jean had written multiple times that Francois was attractive, but I could not see him in his picture. It would have been better for each image to be bigger and on a separate page. Since this may be fine with formats other than Kindle, it did not impact my rating.
I found no reason not to give this professionally edited book less than 5 out of 5 stars. I learned many things about the people and animals in Africa, conservation efforts, and why the Tanzanian government places so many restrictions on hunters. I enjoyed this book so much that I have added traveling to Africa to my bucket list of things to do before I die.
This book is for readers who enjoy adventure, animal conservation stories, and memoirs set in Africa. The religious content, including Christian and Muslim religions, may offend atheists.
******
The Elusive Elephant : Mama's African Adventure
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
This memoir is about an African safari Jean and her husband, Will, went on in Tanzania. The Tanzanian government had allowed Will to obtain a hunting permit to help them with their conservation efforts at the Selous Game Reserve in the African bush. However, this permit only allowed him to use a bow and arrows, regardless of the animal's size. Although the government experiment focused on elephants, Will was allowed to hunt any other species found in the Selous Game Reserve until his limit was reached. How does the hunting and killing of animals help conserve them? Are the animals in zoo cages better off than those in the African bush? How was Will’s hunting different from that of poachers? Read The Elusive Elephant: Mama's African Adventure by L. Jean Roberts Hodges to learn about her incredible journey in the African bush.
As with any book about Africa, my favorite part was the animals. However, Jean taught me much more about Africa with her detailed descriptions of the flowers, trees, birds, and other demographics. I learned about the different traits that many of the animals have. For example, did you know elephants purr? Or the fact that zebras yap and whine like dogs? I enjoyed reading about the different African tribes. For example, the Maasai tribe believes cows are sacred and linked to the land. I don't want to give away spoilers, so you must read the book to understand this belief. Due to the author's consideration for readers by providing translations, I learned a few Swahili words. Along with the tense and dangerous aspects of their hunting, Jean did a fantastic job interspersing humor in this story. I had to laugh when I found out that natives nicknamed monkeys "politicians" and when I read the recipe for "Elephant Stew."
The quality of the map of Africa and the pictures is the only negative aspect I encountered while reading this book. No amount of zooming made them legible enough to see or read the captions. This quality defect was disappointing because Jean had written multiple times that Francois was attractive, but I could not see him in his picture. It would have been better for each image to be bigger and on a separate page. Since this may be fine with formats other than Kindle, it did not impact my rating.
I found no reason not to give this professionally edited book less than 5 out of 5 stars. I learned many things about the people and animals in Africa, conservation efforts, and why the Tanzanian government places so many restrictions on hunters. I enjoyed this book so much that I have added traveling to Africa to my bucket list of things to do before I die.
This book is for readers who enjoy adventure, animal conservation stories, and memoirs set in Africa. The religious content, including Christian and Muslim religions, may offend atheists.
******
The Elusive Elephant : Mama's African Adventure
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon