Description
In the aftermath of a black African war two men – old friends, old enemies – shadow one another in a running conflict through one of the least-known, most inhospitable areas of the Rift Valley. Cornelius van Delden seeks to save, Major Kirby-Smith to destroy, the last remaining elephants as they trek north, impelled by instinct and desperation towards the great volcanic mass of Kulal.
The initial confrontation between these two men occurs in a bullet-scarred game lodge before a crowd of delegates to an international wildlife conference. Here, in this strange setting, the dramatic intervention of Cornelius van Delden sets the theme and triggers the action of a novel that cuts a swathe across Africa from the Serengeti to Lake Rudolf.
‘Most of us, we live our lives, not believing in anything very much. Men like van Delden, they walk through life with God at their side.’ This is the comment of a disillusioned American media man. For him, and for others caught up in this tense, embattled journey, van Delden’s struggle to save the elephants from slaughter is the means whereby they find themselves. THE BIG FOOTPRINTS is the story of an extraordinary migration, and Hammond Innes, writing from experience of his own African journeys, shows a world where the winds of change are already blowing at hurricane force.
Hardcover, 286 pages. In very good pre-loved condition with the exception of cream coloured pages and creases to dustcover.