Elephants
Mark and Delia Owens went to Africa many years ago and stayed for two decades. Their inspiring wildlife book, Cry of the Kalahari, caused my emotions to swell about the diminishing habitats of Africa. They changed their research from Botswana to Zambia. In Zambia, they studied elephants and wrote another wonderful book, The Eye of the Elephant. This novel inspired me to write a book for kids, Elephant Tears.
Hopefully, through literature like this, more and more people will realize that elephants are still fighting for their lives in Africa. Thousands are killed each year for their ivory which ends up as trinkets or as decoration on knives, which I recently discovered at a gun show in Central Texas.
Because of this inspiration, a young lady in New Zealand found my book on elephants and wrote to me. She is now my biggest fan down under, maybe even in the world. Her name is Elke. Elke’s family owns a game farm in South Africa and each year they go there to manage what they can. The government of South Africa has restricted their activities in many ways but they try. The farm has three sides, one each with Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.
Heindrich and Louise, her parents, invite me to come each year so we can walk the sveldt and watch the elephants graze in the evening sun. I will go there, I know!
Richard Trout hanging on to the tusk of a 7,000 pound African elephant.
