Product Description

On March 1, 1999, American safari guide Mark Ross was camping with four clients in Uganda searching for endangered mountain gorillas. By day's end, two of these clients and six other tourists were dead at the hands of Rwandan rebels. As a man who loves East Africa, Ross felt betrayed by this horror, which made headlines around the world. He writes, 'The continent has always been the love of my life. Now there is trouble between us.' Dangerous Beauty is the story of that love and trouble. Ross writes here about his close-up encounters with danger and natural beauty in Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Uganda. He describes his walks in the bush and the way he teaches his clients to read unearthly silences and stillnesses in the wind that signify trouble. He writes about deadly charges by elephants and the electric excitement of witnessing the mass migrations of wildebeest and zebras. He writes, too, in detail about the terrible events of 1999. Imbued with Ross's passion for East Africa, this is an unforgettable account of a life of remarkable adventures, and a memorable vision of a beautiful, deadly, and fragile world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #541692 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-05
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .63 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Ross writes in the crusty, venerable tradition of explorers, game guides and great white hunters that includes Hemingway and Peter Capstick. Such firsthand reporting on "the Dark Continent" has been made anachronistic by eco-politics and excellent documentaries. Nonetheless, this American farm boy revels in the realization of his African-adventure dream: an eco-tour business operating mostly in Kenya and Uganda. Ross leads clients around preserves into camera range of hunting lions and charging buffalo (he targets the African hunter's "Big Five," including leopards, rhinos and elephants). These campfire tales of dramatic approaches on game are told as moment-by-moment stalk scripts that often defy Ross's own narrative powers. His in-the-dust reporting style isn't as elegant as his tracking skills. The punchy Wild Kingdom-style sermons at the end of many chapters detract from Ross's quite capable narration of the dangers of travel in Africa. Moreover, the continent's transcendent beauty isn't particularly well served: these unillustrated accounts often cry out for photographs. In 1999, tragedy interrupted Ross's affair with East Africa: his safari party was kidnapped in Uganda's mountain gorilla preserve. Two of his eight clients were murdered by Rwandan rebels who escaped into Congo. Ross was left with a sharp sense of responsibility that he cannot reconcile with his "Endless Safari" scenario. Sadly, his absorption in spectacular wildlife and noble tribesmen distracted him from the actual Africa boiling around him. Ross's romanticization may well ignite some farm kid's dreams, but Adelino Serras Pires and Fiona Claire Capstick's The Winds of Havoc features better writing in the same vein. First serial rights bought by Talk magazine. (Aug.)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ross was born and raised in the U.S. but longed for and dreamed of Africa. After college he moved to Kenya and became a full-time safari guide, leading tourists to the best views of the resident wildlife and teaching them about the ecology of East Africa. This idyllic life changed dramatically in March 1999, when Rwandan rebels kidnapped him and four safari clients, along with other tourists, in Uganda. By the end of the day, two of his clients and six others had been murdered and the rest traumatized and brutalized. The horror of this experience totally changed Ross. The events of March 1999 form the beginning and the end of his narrative, bracketing a moving account of a life spent doing what one loves most. Ross tells of how he came to Africa, what life is like on an extended safari, and of the numerous animals he and his clients observed. The immediacy of this memoir will linger long after it is read. Nancy Bent
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Kirkus Reviews
A harrowing and somewhat surreal account of life on the distant fringes of civilization.