African Odyssey: a photographer's journey
As continents go, Africa isn’t the most biodiverse, but it is probably responsible for the average British person’s mental picture of awesome and abundant wildlife. My only visit to Africa – a 4x4 trip around Zambia, Botswana and South Africa last winter – left me enthralled and eager for more, and leafing through this glossy coffee-table book brought back some great memories.
As you’d expect for something aimed squarely at the mass market, it is the ‘big stuff’ that features most prominently here. Elephants, rhinos, large ungulates, big cats and other predators account for the vast majority of the photos, and many huge and wildlife-rich habitat types and areas are overlooked – the bulk of the book deals with the savannah parks of the east and south, and West Africa doesn’t get a mention at all.
That’s fair enough – with only 211 pages to play with anything more complete would be quite impossible. However, the dust jacket states, puzzlingly and erroneously: “Think of an animal you would like to see, from a hippo to a dung beetle to a wild dog and you will almost certainly find it in African Odyssey.” Definitely not so – unless you really can only think of hippos, dung beetles and wild dogs when pondering the immensity of the African fauna! Nevertheless, there are a handful of lesser known and interesting species from many taxa depicted among the classic safari big game, including a great portrait of Southern Yellow-billed Hornbill and a nice sequence of a hunting Shoebill. And besides, who could tire of stunning images of Leopards, Spotted Hyenas, Buffalos and the like?
Not as thin on text as some similar books, the accounts for each of the 13 chapters are written in diary form, often including details of the circumstances in which the photos were taken. This brings the book to life, adding much to the experience of viewing the photos themselves and really helping instil a sense of place and, often, excitement. The writing style is pleasant; engaging, witty and well-crafted, while mercifully free of the overblown sentimentality that can swamp works like this. Perhaps this owes something to the fact that the author is an African resident.
The book is well designed, with some pleasing, non-gimmicky graphic touches, though the highlighting of random paragraphs in a different font and colour is odd. I also spotted a few minor things that the proofreader didn’t. But all in all, this is a lovely book.
Tech spec
- African Odyssey by Robin Taylor (Fountain Press, Oxfordshire, 2006).
- 211 pages, illustrated throughout with colour photographs.
- ISBN 978 0863433696. Hbk, £29.95.
