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Many books have been written about hunting in Africa; most were by hunters who shared their photographed trophies as well as their stories - all naturally influenced by their pre-disposed bias towards hunting.
Then, out of the blue an unknown lady by the name of Sue Tidwell very literally found herself confronted by life in the Africa wilderness with her husband on a hunting safari in Tanzania. Not really at ease with hunting the cute and wonderful animals popularised and humanised by Walt Disney, she experienced the compulsion to write down her honest, unbiased and growing daily understanding of living Africa. "Cries of The Savanna" should be owned and read by every hunter and non-hunter worldwide. Even those who by nature are opposed to hunting shall find it difficult to put this book down. In its deepest sense it is way, way more than about hunting only. Tidwell can not hide the fact that she also figuratively found herself during that safari in wild Tanzania. Good. She now knows that we are Africans not because we live in Africa - but because Africa lives in us.
Unabashedly she tells it how it is. She shares how she was scared at times; she also shares those times when she was in awe - while all the time she stayed pensively grounded in Africa's reality. The reader is allowed to believe that Sue had no prior resolute plan to write a book about the trip but then she simply surrendered to some driving compulsion to do so. Clearly she is an amazingly perceptive person who has that rare capacity to be honest with herself at all times. This shows in the opening chapter of "Cries of The Savanna" as she shares her fears when hearing her first lion grunting - not even roaring - at night from somewhere outside their tent. How many of us in Africa can not relate to that? How many times have I felt the sheer amplitude and volume of the sound waves of real, repetitive roars reverberating in my chest- and involuntarily contemplated my sanity for having only that thin membrane of nylon between myself and the king of the beasts.
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'With that awareness, I puzzled over the bestial grunt. The umphhh sounded nothing like the king of beast’s ferocious roars from MGM movie introductions. Still, there was little doubt that the foreboding sound belonged to anything other than a real, live, honest-to-goodness African lion. Simba. A simple but potent Swahili word. The dread I felt told me that it could be nothing else. We were, after all, in the heart of lion country."
'Eventually Rick’s hushed revelation “Honey, we aren’t in Kansas anymore” was the straw that broke the camel’s back. “No kidding!” I quietly hissed as I slid out of my cot and climbed into his. Cramped. Uncomfortable. Overflowing. It mattered not.'
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'....... He [husband Rick] wanted to experience the real Africa, not the watered-down sugar coated version.
'Understandably, as a non-hunter, I did want the watered-down sugar coated version. My concept of Africa included morning excursions through the national park systems teeming with wildlife. Wildlife who, by the way, paid little heed to the oodles of tourists streaming by clamoring for views amid a torrent of ooh’s and ahh’s. Sweltering afternoons would be spent lounging in a sparkling blue pool. Evenings would include dinner with like-minded safari-goers gasping in wonder at extraordinary photos of the day. Nights would be spent cozied up in a safe air-conditioned lodge. Sleeping would be a peaceful proposition on a cushy mattress nestled under a ceiling fan’s gentle breeze. It was a wonderful dream.
'Instead of all that, I found myself in a cluster of grass huts hundreds of miles away from such luxuries. You know the saying Happy Wife, Happy Life. Well, that works both ways. Marriage is about compromise. Although Rick’s version of the dream was insanely different than mine, it still allowed me to experience Africa.'
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'Even with uncertainty gnawing at me, my feelings of apprehension and exhaustion foundered as other emotions trickled to the surface. Fascination. Excitement. Awe. Astonishment. Curiosity. And thankfulness. Lying wide-eyed -- covered in goosebumps listening to the chortles, bellows, growls, squeaks, whistles, cooing, cawing, whoooops, and ummpph’s of the Africa’s Symphony -- I realized that I had never felt so terror stricken and yet, at the same time, so alive and exhilarated by the promise of the days to come.'
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Here is Sue's Facebook link: https://web.facebook.com/search/top?q=sue%20tidwell%20coyle
and her Facebook author's link: https://web.facebook.com/SueTidwell.writer
Click here for a link to her website, follow the striking presentations and become the owner of arguably the best book on hunting you will ever read.
Andries
website owner