About this book
A bestseller when first published in 1982, The Marsh Lions portrays a vivid picture of life and death on the African savannah through the story of a pride of lions in Kenya's world-famous Masai Mara game reserve. The story is essentially a true one. All the central characters are real, and most of the incidents described actually happened.
For five years, Brian Jackman and Jonathan Scott followed the Marsh pride and their progeny, painstakingly recording the daily drama of life and death on the African plains. In time they came to regard them as old and familiar friends and real individuals - the big resident males, Scar, Brando and Mkubwa and three lionesses known as the Marsh sisters. Their lives, together with the leopards and cheetahs that shared their wild paradise, offer a unique insight into the unforgiving world of these magnificent carnivores.
The Marsh Lions were the most successful group to be filmed for Big Cat Diary, the BBC's hugely successful TV series. With Jonathan Scott as co-presenter, The Big Cat Diary camera teams allowed millions of viewers to observe the ongoing saga of the Marsh pride at a time when lions are fast disappearing all over Africa. The Marsh Lions is a powerful reminder of what the world stands to lose if the big cats were to vanish forever and highlights the need to cherish the Mara as one of the most beautiful of the earth's wild places. This edition of the book includes a new chapter bringing the story up to date with the pride as it is now, alongside photos of the new lions.
The book is illustrated with photographs and drawings by Jonathan and Angela Scott.
About the author
Reviews
Press reviews
'Brian Jackman writes with a lyrical immediacy of the lions, the wider wildlife and landscapes transformed by the changing seasons .... This descriptive tour de force is required reading for Africa hands both young and old.'BBC Wildlife
'Absolutely stunning...It reeks of Africa. It smells of Africa. The whole thing is just living Africa. It's a lovely book for the armchair naturalist.' Living World, BBC Radio Four
'I've been reading what is probably the great lion book....This is a book about the real wild lives of lions... Now it's been published again emerging in a fine new dress as a classic.'
Simon Barnes -The Times
'This brand new edition brings the tale right up to date'
The Traveller msafiri
" ..... The pages contain so much magic that you will lose yourself. Read it slowly, indulge yourself in the pictures, it is a palpable piece of work keeping all of your senses gainfully employed: smell the approaching storm after months of drought, hear the deep groan of the lion, taste the wild basil and feel the thundering hooves of the returning herds.
A picture is worth a thousand words; in Brian's case I beg to differ. Buy this book. Now."
Paul Goldstein
www.wildlifeextra.com
'This updated version reads like a novel, but traces the real-life movements of Masa Mari's lions, gazelles, hyenas, cheetahs and leopards.'
Food & Travel
'...this beautifully written history of the different generations of this pride over thirty years is both astounding and remarkable.'
Good Book Guide
Contents
1 January 1978: Dark Mane's Pride
2 February 1978: A New Alliance
3 February-May 1978: The Long Rains
4 February-July 1978: The Great Migration
5 July-September 1978: The Murram Pit Clan
6 October-December 1978: The Departure of the Herds
7 January-May 1979: The Miti Mbili Pride
8 June-August 1979: The Dogs of Aitong
9 September 1979: Summer Slaughter
10 October-November 1979: The Spotted Assassins
11 December 1979 January 1980: The Nomads
Epilogue: February 1980-September 1981
Family Tree of the Marsh and Miti Mbili Prides
Author's Note
Photographer's Note
Acknowledgements