The well-known game ranger, conservationist and author's first and second books. Pooley was widely regarded as one of the foremost authorities on the Nile crocodile.
1.) DISCOVERIES OF A CROCODILE MAN
First edition, William Collins Sons, Johannesburg, 1982.
Publisher's hardcover binding with pictorial dust jacket.
213pp. Illustrated.
2.) MASHESHA - The Making of a Game Ranger
First edition, Southern Book Publishers, Halfway House, 1992.
Publisher's blue hardcover binding with illustrated dust jacket.
xv + 240pp. Illustrated by Elsa Pooley.
Inscribed by the author on title page.
Book and jacket in near fine condition.
'MASHESHA! he who hurries and takes, the name given to the author Tony Pooley for his relentless pursuit of poachers, worked for the Natal Parks Board in the Maputaland area for 25 years. Mashesha, The Making of a Game Ranger is an anecdotal and often humorous account of those years, when the Parks Board was in its infancy and organized conservation barely a dream.
Through tales of the author's apprenticeship to the Zulu game guards of Ndumu and Mkuzi the reader is taken on a journey into the wilderness. You are introduced to the rich flora and fauna of the area, the folklore of the region and the conflict of interests between poverty and conservation among the local inhabitants.
With careful attention to detail and a wry response to the endless questions from increasing numbers of visitors, a fascinating picture emerges of a game ranger adjusting to constantly changing conditions. Here are the early days of game capture, the high drama of heavy floods, the painstaking patience of recording elusive bird calls and the exhilaration of fishing naked on an apparently deserted beach.
No one who reads Mashesha will be able to resist the lure of Maputaland, a place which is, in Ian Player's words, "a world that has changed and yet is in many ways the same".
- Overall Condition: Very Good