Heart of a Game Ranger

Book excerpt: MARIO CESARE, after decades as warden of Olifants River Game Reserve, has his feet firmly planted in this magnificent slice of Big Five country to the west of the Kruger Park. Cesare recounts some of the hair-raising, heartbreaking and heartwarming moments: a buffalo calf reunited with its pining mother, injured lions given second chances and rhinos lost, one by one, to poaching. Heart of a Game Ranger is a story of extremes, where spectacular days that end in exhausted satisfaction and achievement are balanced by those that leave behind only despair and frustration. Seen through his eyes and spoken from the heart, Cesare tells a deeply personal story – not only of a life lived wild, but of the joy of Africa's incredible natural world.