Blood Safari
Page 36
My standard answer is that inspiration doesn’t feature much. For me, perspiration is the name of the game – every story is like a house, and I have to build it brick by brick.
Blood Safan is an exception, however, to a certain extent.
As luck would have it, I visited the Moholoholo Animal Rehabilitation Centre below the Mariepskop mountain peak in Limpopo Province three times within twelve months while writing Devil’s Peak a few years ago. Two of these visits were during motorcycle trips, and not intended as writer’s research at all. But every time I listened to the presentations by Brian Jones and his personnel, I was inspired by their dedication, passion and sacrifice, especially the incredible work they do with vultures.
For this, and the fact that their struggle became the first brick of a new story house, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude. And may I urge the reader to both visit their website at www.moholoholo.co.za, and visit the Rehab Centre in person. Or even better, support them financially to help save our African vultures.
Which also means I can’t deny the fact that the fictional Mogale Centre in the book is based on the geography, spirit and structure of the very real Moholoholo. But that is where the similarity ends. All characters in Blood Safan are fictitious, and definitely not based on any living human being – including the good people of Moholoholo.
I am also indebted to the following people: Tom Dreyer, for permission to quote from his excellent novel Equatoria, Keith and Colleen Begg, the world-renowned wildlife researchers, for permission to quote from their honey badger article in Africa Geographie (February 2005), Sarah Bordiert, editor of Africa Geographic (definitely one of my favourite magazines), the archive staff of the daily newspaper Die Burger, Captain Elmarie Engelbrecht of the South African Police Services Psychological Investigation Unit in Pretoria, my agent Isobel Dixon and her colleagues at Blake Friedmann in London, my wife Anita, our children, Lida, Liam, Johan and Konstanz, and the ATKV for financial support of my research for the novel.
I would also like to acknowledge the following sources:
The Long Summer, Brian Fagan, Granta Books, 2004
Guns, Germs and Steel, Jared Diamond, Vintage, 2005
The Weather Makers, Tim Flannery, Penguin, 2005
Birds of Prey, Peter Steyn, David Philip, 1989
Roberts Birds of Southern Africa, 7th edn, Hockey, Dean and Ryan, Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, 2005
Slange en Slangbyte in Suider-Afrika, Johan Marais, Struik, 1999
Field Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles of Southern Africa, Bill Branch, Struik, 1998
Sappi Tree Spotting: Lowveld, Rina Grant and Val Thomas, Jacana
Stormwind en Droogtes, Freek Swart, Litera, 2002
Skukuza, David Tattersall, Tafelberg, 1972
The Game Rangers, Jan Roderigues, 1992
Mahlangeni, Kobie Krüger, Penguin, 2004
Mashesha, Tony Pooley, Southern, 1992
http://www.contrast.org/truth/html/samora_machel.html
http://moholoholo.co.za
www.koerantargiewe.media24.com
http://www.geocities/lepulana2002/index.html
www.braininjury.com
DEON MEYER lives near Cape Town in South Africa with his wife and four children. Meyer wrote his first book when he was 14 years old, and bribed and blackmailed his two brothers into reading it. He has since written five novels, all of which have been highly acclaimed and translated into several languages.
VINTAGE CANADA EDITION, 2010
Copyright © 2007 Deon Meyer
English language translation copyright © 2007 K. L. Seegers
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.
Published in Canada by Vintage Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto, in 2010. Originally published in hardcover in Canada by Random House Canada, a division of Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto, in 2009.
Distributed by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Vintage Canada with colophon is a registered trademark.
www.randomhouse.ca
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Meyer, Deon
Blood safari / Deon Meyer ; translated from the Afrikaans
by K. L. Seegers.
Translation of Onsigbaar.
eISBN: 978-0-307-37412-7
I. Title.
PT6592.23.E94O5813 2010 839.3′636 C2009-905329-2
v3.0
Table of Contents
Cover
Other Books by this Author
Title Page
Part One
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Part Two
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Part Three
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Copyright