Saving the Zululand Wilderness:
An Early Struggle for Nature Conservation
by Donal P McCracken

We are all familiar with the accounts of the first modern times game rangers in Zululand. The legendary Ian Player, Nick Steele and Tony Pooley, the latter two now 'late' as the Zulus will say, recorded their trails and tribulations and acts of derring do in popular books.
Few readers would have had the stomach to wade through the quaint English and gory accounts of wanton destruction, by Adulphe Delegorgue, in his two volumes Travels in Southern Africa. He is labeled a 'naturalist' and killed on an unbelievable scale for his 'collection'.
The last hippos in the Umlalazi lagoon probably bit the dust through his zeal for killing.
Ironically, Delegorgue’s pigeon is named for him, fortunately now known as the eastern bronze naped pigeon, and a very sought after bird in Ongoye forest.
John Dunn’s various journals and biographies record scenes of slaughter and avarice. Mthunzini elephants owe their demise to these hunters and traders. Now we have to be satisfied with the Boswell Wilkie circus, once or twice a year.
Donal P. McCracken, dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Development and Social Sciences, and Professor of History at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, has written an account with the title: Saving the Zululand Wilderness: An Early Struggle for Nature Conservation.
It covers both the forests and coastal plains and follows the waxing and waning of the environment and its denizens through more than hundred years.
Apart from the hunters and traders, there were deadly diseases such as the Rinderpest and nagana.
The lively narrative, interspersed with fascinating titbits, with exquisite illustrations, meticulously researched charts of numbers, species, profits and distribution, and the very earliest maps, makes this book unique.
For instance, the reprint of the notes and birding list of R.B. and J.D.S Woodward's trip to Zululand between 14 July 1894 to early September 1895. The birding list alone will have twitchers salivating.
It is accompanied by a stunning illustration of our region’s most sought after 'lifer' the Woodward’s barbet, now known as the Green barbet.
This illustration comes from the frontispiece of the book, Natal Birds, published in 1899.
Another unusual illustration featured on the cover, as well as inside the book, depicts 'Tragelaphus angasii gray, the new antelope from St Lucia Bay' taken from Angas's, Kafirs Illustrated, printed in 1849.
We know it as the beautiful nyala and it was discovered for science by George French Angas in 1847. No doubt, it was not an ' 'angazi' for the local Zulu population!
The first botanical map of Zululand with numbered and named specimens, interests Kew and an expedition will be launched to see how many survive today.
The table of plants and foods used by the African population of Ubombo, compiled and identified by John Medley Wood between 1896-97 makes for fascinating reading.
McCracken does not neglect the historical and cultural aspects, but I for one, would have liked more about the planting of Raphia australis and the subsequent migration of Mthunzini’s iconic bird, the Palmnut vulture, to our shores (neither species was endemic before).
This wonderful book deserves a place on every Zululand bookshelf and library. It is published by Jacana Media and distributed by Adams Booksellers in Durban. It retails for approximately R350.
Reviewed by Suzi Raymond.