The Black Rhinos of Namibia: Searching for Survivors in the African Desert

by Rick Bass

Rick Bass first made a name for himself as a writer and seeker of rare, iconic animals, including the grizzlies and wolves of the American West. Now he's off on a new, far-flung adventure in the Namib of southwest Africa on the trail of another fascinating, vulnerable species. The black rhino is a 3,000-pound, squinty-eyed giant that sports three-foot-long dagger horns, lives off poisonous plants, and goes for days without water. Human intervention and cutting-edge conservation saved the rhinos - for now - from the brink of extinction, brought on by poaching and war. Against the backdrop of one of the most ancient and harshest terrains on earth, Bass, with his characteristic insight and grace, probes the complex relationship between humans and nature and meditates on our role as both destroyer and saviour. In the tradition of Peter Matthiessen's "The Tree Where Man Was Born", Bass captures a haunting slice of Africa, especially of the black rhinos that glow ghostly white in the gleaming sun.

• ISBN10: 0547055218
• ISBN13: 9780547055213
• Publish Date: 7 August 2012 (first published 1 January 2012)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 20 December 2014
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 288
• Language: English

Reviews

[Beth C.]

Reading this book, for me, was sort of like opening a bag of potato chips for a snack and finding that someone had replaced them all with dried apple chips instead. Both tasty in their own way, but certainly not what was expected.

My expectation for this book was that I would read about the Black Rhinos of Namibia. About the "human intervention" and the "cutting-edge conservation" that has, so far, saved the rhinos. I hoped to read more about the animals themselves - facts and information, how the human intervention is working, and what else can be done for these amazing animals. What I got was a very beautifully written book about Namibia, Africa, and Mike. When the back blurb says, "...meditates...", it isn't kidding.

Counting the epilogue, there are 269 pages in the book. The rhinos did not actually make a substantive appearance until page 151. That was the first of only three small bits that discuss actual sighted rhinos. They are mentioned elsewhere, but more within the scope of animals that belong to Namibia. Mostly, the book spent a lot of time ruminating on Namibia as a whole - all the animals, a bit about how people are trying to make conservation efforts work, and quite a lot about one of the conservationists (Mike). I can understand the desire, possibly even the need, to make Mike a central part of the book - but that should have been a different book. Actually, the whole book should have been a different book - or been titled/described more realistically.

Don't get me wrong - it was interesting, and is very elegantly written. It is certainly a book that I might have enjoyed reading at any point - if I knew that is what I was getting. As it was, I felt like my snack had been switched in the middle of a craving and so I left the table still feeling somewhat frustrated and a bit hungry.