Sherry Knowlton: Inspired by the Okavango Delta

HALLIE EPHRON: I've traveled all over the world, but never to Africa. So there's a particular pleasure in reading Sherry Knowlton's newest Alexa Williams series suspense novel, DEAD ON THE DELTA, with its rich setting on African safari in Botswana.

We're so happy to welcome Sherry to Jungle Red to talk about the place and the amazing creatures that inspired her writing.

SHERRY KNOWLTON: Henry David Thoreau wrote, “In wildness is the preservation of the world.” There

are few places on earth wilder than Botswana’s remote Okavango Delta, one of my favorite travel destinations. Dead on the Delta, the latest in the Alexa Williams suspense series, is my love letter to the Okavango and its amazing wildlife.

My husband and I have visited many spots around the world, but we return to Africa again and again. Each time, we enjoy the safari experience: lurching over savannah in open Land Cruisers, staying in tented camps, and watching lions, leopards, and elephants carry on their lives just yards from our vehicle or tent.

I aimed to capture the wonder of the African bush in Dead on the Delta, sending my protagonist, Alexa, on a sabbatical to Botswana with her lion-researcher boyfriend. It’s not an Alexa Williams novel unless my heroine stumbles into deep trouble. In this book, she tangles with elephant poachers and Botswana politics. She also spends a lot of time in the field observing lions and other big cats.

When on safari in both East and Southern Africa, I’ve been thrilled to see so many lions, leopards, elephants and other wild animals. I even encountered mountain gorillas in Uganda. But it’s the big cats that most fascinate me. These creatures spend hours just lazing around like overgrown house cats but are so powerful when they rouse and spring into action on the hunt.

One day on Tanzania’s Serengeti Plain, I watched a pride of lions, a family of elephants and a herd of gazelles play out a scene that resembled a National Geographic special. Three female lions stalked and took down a gazelle. As the rest of the herd fled, the hungry lionesses carried their prize toward a gully to dine. Just then, a male lion swooped out of nowhere, bowled over a female and snatched the gazelle from her jaws. Triumphant, he scampered away with the gazelle and settled in for a meal. Then, two male elephants nearby became angry, perhaps triggered by the smell of blood. They charged the male lion, who dropped the gazelle and ran away. When the elephants lost interest and moved on, the lionesses returned to reclaim the gazelle and settled down for a feast.

Most of my other big cat encounters have been much less dramatic. But, while in a safari vehicle, I’ve been close enough to reach out and touch a lion. (Note: actually trying this is not advised!!). And I once had a leopard descend a tree right next to me while seated in an open Land Cruiser. The slightest of hops would have landed the fearsome cat in my lap. Lucky for me, she moved on unfazed. Guides always say that the wild animals, even the predators, are habituated from birth to the sight of safari vehicles in the national parks. That, as long as people stay inside the vehicles, the animals regard the entire package – people and vehicle – as one entity. However, if you step outside your vehicle or your tent, especially at night, all bets are off.

Remembering that guidance made me very nervous one evening in Botswana. Our group had just spent a half hour observing a large pride of lions. When the guide headed back to camp, we drove for just a few minutes when the tire went flat. All of us had to pile out of the Land Cruiser while the tire was changed.

As dusk fell, the guide cautioned us not to wander and to keep a sharp eye out for the pride, should it move in our direction. After twenty tense minutes of peering into lengthening shadows, on edge for the shape of a lion to emerge, we drove away unscathed. But that short time at ground level in lion territory gave me a much greater appreciation for the fact that we were the intruders there; visitors in a world where predators dominate.

Having nature teach you a little humility isn’t a bad thing. Developing a better appreciation for the interconnectedness of man and the natural world would be a great concept for all of us to embrace.

Lion numbers, like elephant numbers, are dwindling. Poaching, human encroachment on habitat, climate change: all are factors in shrinking numbers for the species. With the lion population in Africa decreasing by 90% in the last century, only about 23,000 lions are left in the wild. This is where Thoreau’s prescient warning -- that the preservation of wild spaces and the animals inhabiting them is critical to the continuing health of the planet – comes in.

While Dead on the Delta is a suspense novel, I’m hoping that my readers absorb its underlying message about the importance of wild places like the Okavango Delta remaining pristine. And if that enhanced awareness can extend to every little patch of green space in readers’ own neighborhoods, we’re well on our way to preservation of the world.

Short of facing lions in the wild, what are your thoughts for ways to stress the importance of wild spaces as the human population expands?

About DEAD on the DELTA

When Alexa Williams agrees to spend four months doing lion research with boyfriend Reese, she looks forward to witnessing the elemental life and death struggle of the African wild. But she never imagines she’ll become one of the hunted on the famed Okavango Delta. In the latest Alexa Williams suspense novel, the kick-ass lawyer tangles with elephant poachers and conservation politics on the African continent.

Sherry Knowlton is the author of the Alexa Williams series of suspense novels including Dead of Spring and Dead of Winter. Passionate about books at an early age, she was that kid who would sneak a flashlight to bed at night so she could read beneath the covers. All the local librarians knew her by name. When not writing the next Alexa Williams thriller, Knowlton works with her health care consulting business or travels around the world. She and her husband live in the mountains of South Central Pennsylvania.