One of the best trips I've ever taken was when I went to Tanzania. We spent six days climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro and three more days seeing amazing animals on safari. I loved all of it. A large part of my personality would find it deeply satisfying to spend my life being some kind of wildlife biologist--observing wildlife in any number of places--but especially Africa. My life is very far from that dream, but I very much enjoy living vicariously through others. I often do this by reading books. (I also stumbled on a Youtube channel with daily safaris that I loved but don't have much time for anymore.)
Elephant Memories: Thirteen Years in the Life of an Elephant Family (1988) by Cynthia Moss is a relatively old book but it's right up my alley. I think it popped up on Amazon one day and sucked me right in. Moss began studying elephants in Amboseli National Park in Kenya in 1972.* The book covers thirteen years of births, deaths, family drama, feast, and famine. I learned a fair bit about elephants and how they live, and I thought it was really interesting. When I finished, I googled Cynthia Moss, and found that she's still in Africa and still involved in elephant research and conservation (as far as I could tell), which I was very happy to hear.
The book is structured both chronologically and thematically. Elephants can live over sixty years, so even thirteen years is just a glimpse into their lives. We learn about the elephants and how they grow over the years, but with each chapter also focusing on an element of elephant life. These include: drought, migration, mating, social relationships, babies, flexibility, and population dynamics.
The elephants in Amboseli National Park are generally pretty lucky. Poaching is not as extreme as in other locations, they have a fair bit of land where they are able to move about, and they have not been subject to very intense management (at least as of 1988). However, they still have their struggles. Drought can cause great struggle, often halting reproduction for years. In addition, even though the Masai, as pastoralists, are generally tolerant of elephants, they still sometimes spear elephants. In addition, as the Masai adopt farming and agriculture, the elephants and Masai's lives become more confrontational.
Moss named the elephants with each family all having names that start with the same letter. I sometimes found it difficult to keep track of all these names. However, after following their lives for so long, I became very attached to them. I really enjoyed this book, and even though it was written a long time ago, I would recommend it to anyone with similar interests.
* Amboseli National Park is very close to Tanzania, just North of Mount Kilimanjaro. Moss even occasionally discussed the elephants in Lake Manyara, a place I've visited!
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