Martyn Murray
The
Storm Leopard

Description


The Storm Leopard is an alchemic blend of travel and nature writing that explores the primary dilemma of the 21st century – the conflict of modern lifestyles with the natural environment.


Journeying from the Cape of Africa to the Serengeti Plains, the author searches for an answer to the Old Timer, a Kenyan who foretold the end of the wild. From his first contact with Bushman rock art, Murray is drawn into a spiritual journey as he grapples with the dilemma of balancing modern lifestyles with protecting the environment. His travelling companion, Stu, a fellow scientist and arch cynic, is nettled by this lack of rationality. Marooned together in their 4x4, the friction, humour and hardship of their journey carry the reader across the continent from one adventure to another, to the final revelation atop an isolated kopje in the heart of the Serengeti Plains. The book is filled with insights of African elephants and antelope, and with portraits of a natural world inhabited by Bushmen, game wardens, farmers and scientists. Running through it is an outspoken and highly ethical regard for humankind's relationship with nature.


'A lively, informative, and very well written meditation on all aspects of back country travel in Africa'
—Peter Matthiessen


'I spent the whole evening and late into the night reading the Storm Leopard… the issues raised must be considered by everyone concerned with conservation.'
—George Schaller


'One of the veldt visionaries.'
—Charles Clover


'Entertaining, thought provoking, and bold in its questioning of established wildlife conservation beliefs and practices'
—Andrew Laurie


'Captures the landscapes and animals, and the feelings they arouse,like Iris Murdoch at her best'
—Aubrey Manning