Product Description

This is Kobie Kruger's intimate account of raising a family in the isolated wilderness of South Africa's vast Kruger National Park. It reflects her deep love for the wilderness and her respect for all its creatures, great and small.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #474034 in Books
• Published on: 2001-02-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 289 pages

From the Back Cover
When Kobie Kruger, her game-ranger husband and their three young daughters moved to one of the most isolated corners of the world - a remote ranger station in the Mahlangeni region of South Africa's vast Kruger National Park - she might have worried that she would become engulfed in loneliness and boredom.

But running a household and raising a family in a place where leopards, elephants, snakes, lions and the like are your only neighbours, where the only way of communicating with the outside world is a CB radio and where a trip to town involves first crossing a river full of hippos and crocodiles, was far from dull. And being a surrogate mother to a steady stream of orphaned wild animals meant that she rarely had a moment to herself.

When Kobie and her family, at peace in the lonely landscape of the north, were transferred to the relatively populated south after eleven years at Mahlangeri, Kobie wondered whether she would ever adapt. Eventually she acknowledged that their move had introduced her to other Edens, and had given her a store of precious memories. Foremost among these was raising Leo, an abandoned lion cub - a unique relationship with the king of beasts that brought her family equal measures of joy and sorrow. Kobie tackled each problem she encountered in her untamed environment with admirable resourcefulness. The Wilderness Family reflects her deep love of the wilderness and her respect for all its creatures, great and small.

Customer Reviews

A moving experience
Kobie Kruger writes from the heart, drawing the reader into her wonderful world in the African wilds. There are some hair-raising encounters in the bush, and numerous touching tales. The story of their orphan-lion, Leo, moved me so much I wept. Reading about the Kruger family and the wild animals that they loved and cared for was an unforgettable and moving experience.

A magical memoir of life in the S African bush
A wonderful read especially for anyone who is an animal lover, or has visted the bush. The unpredicability of wild animals is protrayed in a simpathic manner, bringing emotions of laugher & tears. Her writing is relaxed and easy.

Warm, exciting, dangerous - more intimate than a safari
I have always dreamed of visiting Africa, but it has not yet been possible. Kobie Kruger's wonderfully warm and intimate account of her life in the Kruger National Park indulged my wanderlust, my love of animals and gave me a more personal experience of the park than would be possible from a short holiday visit. Kobie's story is funny, dangerous, loving and very readable. I thoroughly recommend it to animal lovers, armchair travellers and anyone who loves Africa.