The Wilderness Family: At Home with Africa's Wildlife

by Kobie Krüger and Kobie Kruger

Book Overview

When Kobie Kr ger, her game-ranger husband and their three young daughters moved to one of the most isolated corners of the world - a remote ranger station in the Mahlangeni region of South Africa's... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385658125
• ISBN13: 9780385658126
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: Doubleday Canada
• Length: 381 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Great story

Really enjoyed getting lost in her story. Great book!

Great Read

Like so many other reviewers, I too loved this book. Refreshing to read a book about animals, how they behave amongst themselves and how they adapt to life with humans. I was amazed and inspired by the Kruger family - their hard work and dedication to exist as harmoniously as they did alongside their animal neighbors. A nice change of pace from so many commercialized novels - this book tells the true story of nature and how a human family can fit into it and still come out with a pleasant ending. Kobie narrates the early years of Leo their adopted lion in a delightful way - I felt I truly came to know him. Interspersed with the details on animal life, is the fine depicting of the settings where all these dramas take place. I came to like Kobie, her husband and her children. There was kindness, common sense and firmness of spirit in the telling of their experiences.

Facinating tale of Africa's wild life

In this facinating tale of Africa's wild life, Kobie Kruger, the wife of a game ranger, gives a vivid account of her experiences as a foster mother to a lion cub named Leo. Meet the lion cub who loves finger-sucking and fishing, the family dog who becomes best friend and interpreter to the lion cub, and the human family who raises the cub with much love and care. Kruger is an elogent and entertaining story-teller, and this is a delightful and touching story you will want to read over and over again.

A delightful, wonderful, poignant story

I enjoyed reading "The Wilderness Family" so much that I have read it twice! The story was so inspiring, so moving, and so interesting, that I could not get enough of it!It is evident that the author passionately loves animals, and can see things from the perspective of her animal charges. The love, trust and bonding that had occurred between a lion and his "foster mother" and human family is evident on every page of the book. Some parts of the book are hilarious, other parts speak of a strong person who is not afraid of adventures that some of us would define as HAIR RAISING. The story shows that humans can get attached to animals and animals will reciprocate and display the same love, caring, and affection towards their human benefactors. Leo the lion was treated with love and dignity but at the same time he was taught to accept authority and sometimes gentle discipline. He had learned to understand what the word NO meant.The author's delightful sense of humour adds to the enjoyment of this lovely piece of literature. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who loves animals, who has compassion for creatures of the wild, who understands that animals just like humans experience the same range of emotions of love, fear, grief, joy, loyalty. I just loved reading about the rapport and bond that had developed between the dog and the lion. Highly unusual for a wild animal to regard a dog as a role model and mentor.Other great animal-human bonding stories I have read are: "The Bears and I" by Robert Franklin Leslie, Ballantine Books Inc. New York and a more recent book: "Summers with the Bears" by Jack Becklund

Experience the wilderness in your livingroom

Reading this book was just like being onsite Krüger National Park with a family of a game warden. You could experience the emotional highs and lows with the mother of the family and also enjoy the overwhelming nature and wildlife of a remote ranger station. I just could not put the book down. The only thing missing were the experiences of the game warden himself. I'm sure he could have shared many more exiting stories.