Horn of Darkness: Rhinos on the Edge

By Carol Cunningham and Joel Berger

Book Overview

The black rhino is nature's tank, feared by all animals. Even lions will break off a hunt to detour around one. And yet the black rhino is on the edge of extinction, its numbers dwindling from 100,000 at the turn of the century, to less than 2,500 today. The reason is that in places like Yemen, China, Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand, the rhino's horn is more valuable than gold, so valuable that people will risk their lives to harvest it. To deter rhino poachers, African governments have spent millions--on helicopters, paramilitary operations, fences and guard dogs, even relocation to protected areas. Finally, Namibia decided to de-horn its rhino population, in a last ditch effort to stop the slaughter. In 1991, Carol Cunningham and Joel Berger, and their eighteen-month-old daughter Sonja, went to Namibia to weigh the effects of de-horning on rhinos. In Horn of Darkness, they tell the story of three years in the Namib Desert, studying Africa's last sizable population of free-roaming black rhinos. This is the closest most readers will come to experiencing life in the remaining wilds of Africa. Cunningham and Berger, writing alternate chapters, capture what it is like to leave the comforts of civilization, to camp for months at a time in a land filled with deadly predators, to study an animal that is reclusive, unpredictable, and highly dangerous. The authors describe staking out water holes in the dead of the night, creeping to within twenty-seven meters of rhinos to photograph them, all the while keeping a lookout for hyenas, elephants, and lions. Weaving together the historical accounts of other naturalists, a vividly detailed look at life in the wild, and a behind-the-scenes glimpse of scientific work and the dark side of the conservation movement, Horn of Darkness is destined to be a classic work on the natural world.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195138805
• ISBN13: 9780195138801
• Release Date: March 2000
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A Book With Eye Opening Reality

Horn of Darkness tells the story of a family of three commencing on a quest to de-horn 10 rhinos. Discovering complications and adapting to the surroundings is just one of the many challenges Joel, Carol and young Sonja have to face. For me (being an 11 year old doing a reserch project) it was perfect for references and surprisingly it had a wonferfully enjoyable story. I thought it covered what I needed to know and at the same time I experienced first hand the wonders of the rhino as well as the realities of poaching problems. Not all adults will enjoy this book as much as I but if you give it a chance and open your mind you will enjoy what it has to offer. I suggest this book for ages 11 (curious 11 year olds)-and up.

A good read for everyone!

Carol Cunningham and Joel Berger, a husband and wife research team, describe their research on black rhinos in Namibia. It is very readable, telling their personal story, documenting their research, explaining African perspectives, and discussing the politics involved with their project. This book reads like a novel while dispensing eye-opening information.