United States
£ GBP
A collection of the beautiful sketches that built the iconic Birds Of Africa series, with a text based on the author's journals.
Much of the material comes from several lengthy trips to Tanzania and Kenya, on some of which mist-netting enabled forest birds to be studied and drawn in the hand, and there are also accounts of visits to Uganda, Cameroon and Ethiopia. Many of the sketch-pages show birds as you see them in the field; they flit or stalk through the pages in a way that will bring vivid recollections for anyone who has experienced Africa`s wonderful wildlife. There is also a generous selection of landscape and habitat studies to heighten the sense of atmosphere and place. In the lively text, anecdotes, `incidents of the route`, descriptive passages with a little poetry and some history enhance the underlying ornithological research.
Foreword
Preface
First Impression - Uganda 1961
Lake Baringo
A Western Kenyan Forest
Around Naivasha and Nairobi
Naro Moru and Shaba
A Tanzanian Lowland Forest
Tanzanian Tea Gardens
Ethiopia
A West African Mountain
Postscript
Acknowledgements
&i;Safari Sketchbook is a rare and precious work: a beautiful collection of paintings of African birds, landscapes and wildlife, complemented by a thoughtful and intelligent text. Martin Woodcock beautifully evokes the elusive spirit of wild Africa, taking us on a very personal lifetime's journey through this extraordinary continent. Simply stunning.&o;
Stephen Moss
&i;Perhaps no-one has looked as long and intently at African birds. What inspires me most is the honesty of this sketchbook, where the artist's desire to celebrate the form of this great treasury of birds sparkles from every stroke of his pencil, pen or brush.&o;
Chris Packham
&i;Safari Sketchbook is a delight to the eye, and the text an entertainment to the reading ear. Everyone will envy Barbara and Martin in their African wanderings, but the book gives the reader the vicarious pleasure of travelling with them, without the dust, the sweat, the flies and the breakdowns. It is a book I wish we could have published years ago.&o;
Trevor Poyser
