The Glory That Was Africa

There is an urgency about Africa. There is a sense that the last great playground for God’s endless imagination is being bought, sold, raped and chopped into manageable zoo-sized chunks. Simultaneously--ironically?--there is an ongoing celebration of the continent’s bounty: photo books of surpassing splendor, books that conceivably could serve as wake-up instead of wake.

Old Hand Beryl Markham remarked that “There are as many Africas as there are books about Africa.” Some of the best of this season’s crop:

--Best all-around introduction to Africa: The Zambesi: River of the Gods by Jan and Fiona Teede (Trafalgar Square: $45). The Teedes braved pythons, crocodiles, hippos, Victoria’s Falls’ “death rapids,” even bandits to record the 1,600-mile course of the last great unspoiled river and its many-splendored denizens. (Larry Norton’s drawings are as captivating as the photos.)

--Best writing: Valley of Life: Africa’s Great Rift, text and photos by Chris Johns (Thomasson-Grant: $39.95). The mighty cape buffalo, misunderstood and scorned by tourists, is “of monstrous size and surly demeanor”; the wildebeest is “anarchy in motion”; the Rift Valley, at once harsh and inviting, is the ancestral home of the strangest creature of all: man.

--Most colorful: Birds of Kenya: A Celebration by Dave Richards (Hamish Hamilton Ltd.: $35). From the Yellow-billed Oxpecker to the Blue-naped Mousebird, from the Sacred Ibis to the White-bellied Go-away Bird, these are Richards’ favorites, all of them in hues they haven’t named yet.

--Most intense: A Tent With a View: An Intimate African Experience by Robert Vavra (William Morrow: $65). Vavra, an “alchemist with the camera” who scorns “spectators” (as opposed to “travelers”), hunkered down for five psychedelic weeks with the natives of the hills above the Masai Mara. He emerged with portraits not only of the wildlife (including a particularly enterprising man-and horse-eating lion) but also of what is arguably the handsomest of the world’s people.

--Noblest effort: Elephants: The Deciding Decade, edited by Ronald Orenstein, photos by Brian Beck (Sierra Club: $35). With 100% of the book’s royalties going to the International Wildlife Coalition, it’s a shame that the photos are not on a par with those of the following book. Still, some burning questions are answered: Elephants are not afraid of mice; there might be an “elephants’ graveyard,” of sorts; elephants are left- or right-trunked; yes, they do love booze.

--Most engaging: The African Elephant: Twilight in Eden by Roger L. DiSilvestro (Wiley: $34.95). More lore--with felicitous photos by Page Chichester--focusing on the enviable sociability of the beast. Elephant society, a complex but close-knit matriarchy, has its own hierarchy, code of behavior and language (below the level of human hearing, an elephant’s voice carries for as much as six miles!). Elephants are loyal, compassionate, cooperative. They grieve for their fallen brethren. N.b.: There are fewer than half as many elephants as there were 10 years ago.