African Wildlife & Environment Issue 83

GOOD READS

Book reviews by Dr John Ledger GOOD READS

‘non-motorised’, involved fossil-fuelled motorised backup support, and a team of helpers who set up camps, fixed punctures and generally made the trip possible. The uncharitable notion of ‘virtue signalling’ briefly crosses the mind… The essays vividly paint the

The Human Dilemma McCallum, Ian and Ian Michler (2022). Living in Two Worlds: Addressing Humanity’s Greatest Challenge. Quickfox Publishing, Cape Town, South Africa. Soft cover, 15 x 23 cm, 328 pages, colour photos in a section, 1 map, 2 diagrams. ISBN 978-0-63970 -629-0. RRP: R352. Ian McCallum is a medical doctor, psychiatrist, wilderness guide, writer, poet and former Springbok rugby player. Ian Michler is a former stockbroker, field guide, writer and photographer. He is renowned

uncomfortable picture of the two worlds we live in. On the one hand is pristine nature, with its unspoilt beauty and biodiversity, as extolled by the wilderness gurus, the dreamers and the poets. On the other is the seemingly unstoppable destructive force of the burgeoning human population, despoiling the planet with its need and its greed, putting human survival and prosperity as the priority above all else. I found this book disappointing in several ways. A lot of humans are acutely aware of the threats our species pose to the natural

world, and great efforts are made to address these through national and international efforts. But the solutions to the ‘greatest challenge’ are overwhelmingly elusive, and difficult to implement. On page 96 the authors rate ‘climate change’ as the greatest threat to the planet (which it is probably not), yet they offer no alternatives to the growing consumption of fossil fuels by China and India as they seek to uplift their people from grinding poverty. By all accounts, they are doing this rather successfully. And wealthy countries with educated citizens tend to look after their biodiversity and wilderness areas quite well… As we know from our own recent experience in South Africa, people need energy to exist and are desperate to access reliable electricity; at the end of the day this ‘need’ will trump environmental issues – sadly but realistically. Note the current proliferation of ‘wind farms’ in South Africa, that kill many bats and birds.This obviously predictable outcome is simply swept under the carpet by the renewable energy developers,

for his involvement in making the film Blood Lions , that exposed the shocking practice of breeding lions to shoot in small enclosures. The two Ians met while working for Wilderness Safaris in Botswana’s Okavango Delta and they are co founders of a safari business called Invent Africa. Both authors have celebrity status in some quarters The first 63 pages and the colour photos describe their four-month, 5,000 km journey on foot, bicycle and kayak through six countries, from the Atlantic Ocean in Namibia to the Indian Ocean in Mozambique. The rest of the book comprises ten essays that deal with ‘humanity’s greatest challenge’. Their ‘great trek’ was originally planned to follow the ancient migratory routes of elephants. The description of this journey is rather brief, and will presumably be dealt with in more detail in a film that was being made by an accompanying team of professional filmmakers. The Ians’ expedition, while portrayed as being

4 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 83 (2023)