Masssacre Of The Elephants
Dennis Holman
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967
247 pages
ASIN: B00005WDZW
Overall Rating: 5 Stars 
Readability: 4 Stars
Content: 5 Stars
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In April, 1948, over 8,000 square miles of southeastern Kenyan
wilderness became Tsavo National Park. Massacre Of The Elephants
documents the battle waged between Tsavo's first game warden,
Frank Woodley, and indigenous tribal ivory poachers. Holman follows
Woodley's struggle, beginning with his discovery of the slaughter
in Tsavo. Woodley then begins a proactive enforcement strategy,
organizing reconnaissance patrols, arresting known poachers, confiscating
weapons, and raiding the Arab ivory merchants on the Mombassa
coast. It is a tale rife with espionage and intrigue, yet also
offers an intimate view into the traditional tribal hunting customs
of the Kamba and Liangulu tribes. Holman explores every detail
of the ivory trade and accurately portrays the seemingly insurmountable
task of stemming the sale of elephant products. But the significant
importance of the book is the real-world application of aggressive
conservation techniques. There are many parallels between Woodley's
conservation practices and those of modern environmentalists.
In the last 10 years, conservationists like Mark and Delia Owns
have received a great deal of acclaim for instituting policies
remarkably similar to those practiced by Woodley, nearly forty
years earlier. Woodley was a pioneer in the world of African environmentalism
and was one of the first to recognize that conservation was a
multifaceted issue that must be aggressively attacked on many
fronts. Massacre Of The Elephants is a fascinating, exciting story
that will be invaluable to anyone interested in a remarkably contemporary
historical perspective of African conservation issues.
