The Man with the Black Dog. A true modern-day Jock of the Bushveld, by Mario Cesare
More recently Mario has written The Man with the Black Dog, a touching and inspiring story, and truely a true modern-day Jock of the Bushveld story, of a man and his faithful canine companion.
Since primitive man first brought wolf cubs back to his cave, dogs have been one of life's greatest gifts to mankind. This book is largely about the privilege of having shared a part of my life with a very special one of these gifts. I don't wish to hint at being an expert on dogs, far from it; however, of my love for our canine friends in general, and more particularly this one, there can be no question, and for this, there is no measurable qualification necessary. From my earliest memory, dogs stand out as having played the most important role in bringing me closer to nature. Even while I could not have been more than a clumsy cub to them, the dogs I knew as a child always treated me as a kindred member of their pack, even taking me on forays into the surrounding veld when they went exploring, which pricked my interest and stimulated an awareness of the environment. This was the beginning of an insatiable appetite for adventure and the outdoors. Next to the classic dog tales of yore - Old Yeller, White Fang, Lassie and Jock of the Bushveld, to name but a few - Shilo's tale is a comparatively modern account of the life of a game ranger and his dog in the African bush. In fact, the odyssey of Shilo had already become part of my life years before the movie of Jock of the Bushveld was made. The revival of this iconic tale on the big screen prompted numerous game rangers and wannabe game rangers to go out and acquire 'Jock' look-alikes. While their Staffies may have resembled Jock in looks, alas, for most that's where the romantic notion and similarity ended. This book is more than a nostalgic collection of vignettes on the life and adventures of a game ranger's dog. It is a tribute to the greatest dog I've known, an unfolding journey through life, from my and Shilo's earliest days together, which has inevitably included many exciting interactions with the rich diversity of wildlife we encountered, from elephants in Botswana's Tuli Reserve, to leopards in the Lowveld, and from teal in the wetlands of the Drakensberg, to trout in the frigid streams of the snow-covered highlands near Lesotho. Naturally, along the way, I have included stories of pluck and peril involving other dogs and the valuable lessons learned, while inescapably, attentive readers will find jostling for their attention many more observations and relevant anecdotes arising from a career that now spans decades in wildlife conservation. This memoir would be incomplete without the people, the dogs and incidents that helped shape my early thinking before Shilo became an integral part of this multifarious way of life. (...)
This is an excerpt from the book: The Man with the Black Dog. A true modern-day Jock of the Bushveld, by Mario Cesare.
Title: The Man with the Black Dog
Subtitle: A true modern-day Jock of the Bushveld
Author: Mario Cesare
Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers
Johannesburg & Cape Town, South Africa 2011
ISBN 9781868424627 / ISBN 978-1-86842-462-7
Softcover, 15x23 cm, 306 pages, several colour photos
Cesare, Mario im Namibiana-Buchangebot
The Man with the Black Dog. A true modern-day Jock of the Bushveld
The Man with the Black Dog is permeated by the same love and empathy that made Jock of the Bushveld such a classic.
Man-eaters, mambas and marula madness: A game ranger's life in the Lowveld
Mario Cesare, in man-eaters, mambas and marula madness, decribes his life as a game ranger in the Lowveld region.
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