Manzovo
Place of the elephants
Gary Albyn with Craig Bone
ISBN: 9781920143220
Hardcover with dust jacket; 210 x 297mm; approx 200pp; 110 colour and b/w original drawings and paintings.
£42.50 delivered
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A beautiful , astonishing 107-verse poem
Nestled like a rare jewel in the inhospitable but alluring Zambezi Valley, Mana Pools provides the early setting for the episodic story of Manzovo—place of the elephants.
Thandi, now at the height of her prime, is the astute and respected matriarchal head of a herd of elephants. She gives birth to Lesedi—the last of her five calves—and thus begins their sweeping journey through the bushveld and across the open vistas of southern Africa.
While the herd has to deal with their brushes with predators, farmers, poachers and culling gangs alike, their odyssey across southern Africa also embraces some of the cultures, natural wonders and landmarks that give character to this region. So too are described encounters with some of the floral and faunal species unique to this part of the continent.
The story portrays their epic travels through these parts at a time in our past when elephants were able to range, with relative ease, across the timeless plains of Africa. Both subtle and compelling, the story weaves in the arcane rhythm that pounds like a tribal drum deep in Africa’s chest.
Gary Albyn was born in the old Rhodesia in 1960 and grew up in Umtali on the eastern border with Mozambique. An avid outdoorsman, he quickly developed a keen appreciation for the beauty and allure of the African bush—a passion that endures to this day. Upon leaving school he managed to satisfy one of his other passions—aviation—by gaining admission onto one of the Air Force’s exacting trainee pilot programmes. With the advent of Zimbabwe, and bigger prospects beckoning, he adopted South Africa as his new home in the early 1980s. Soon after graduating in civil engineering he moved into the corporate sphere and so began a successful career in the industrial sector. With a personal philosophy that values life balance—and an adventurous spirit in constant need of assuagement—Gary shares his time between family, career, staying fit, private flying, travelling, responsible 4x4 off-roading, research, sketching and writing.
The International Library of Poets® has honoured some of Gary’s previous poems, one of which was recently featured in a published anthology, Forever Spoken.
He lives in Johannesburg with his wife Paula and two children, Adam and Paige.
Craig Bone was born in Salisbury, Rhodesia in 1955, where he grew up. He joined the Rhodesian Light Infantry in 1977. He was critically wounded in Frelimo mortar attack while on operations in Mozambique and it was only because of some desperate flying from the casualty-evacuation helicopter pilot that saved his life. While recuperating he started painting, initially military-themed works, and in a short time he was to be recognized as an artist of some repute. With his passion for wildlife, and the Zambezi Valley, he was to become an internationally acclaimed artist with his paintings being sold worldwide. A painting of his was recently auctioned on behalf of the Vietnam Veterans’ Association and fetched $106,000—it now hangs in the Pentagon. He lives in Florida, USA but still manages to spend several months of the year in the Zambezi Valley. www.craigbone.com