Everything about Born Wild‘s cover and title are specifically tuned to draw a direct line from Joy Adamson’s famous series of books about Elsa the lioness beginning with Born Free in 1960. In Born Wild, however, Tony Fitzjohn details his own life in animal conservation in Kenya and Tanzania, beginning as the lion rehabilitation assistant to George Adamson, the cover showing Tony cuddling a lion, possibly one of his favorites, Christian or Freddie.

Fitzjohn begins the book with his bumpy early life, causing trouble across England and South Africa before landing his job as Adamson’s assistant at Kora in the Kenyan bush. He recounts his time there as something of a golden era, daily walks with the lions, leopards, and George, relative peace and solitude on the savanna. As the political situation in Kenya becomes more volatile, Fitzjohn finds himself unwelcomed by the Kenyan government. He moves to Tanzania to restore a nature reserve, Mkomazi, with various setbacks, triumphs, the births of several children, and the purchase of black rhinos along the way.

The scenery and the subject matter are interesting, however the writing is a little disjointed and hard to follow sometimes. Fitzjohn presupposes a strong familiarity with Eastern African geography, history, politics, and various game wardens. He drops in the names of all of his friends and girlfriends which very quickly leads to confusion as names swirl passed. While he has led an incredible life, Fitzjohn is not necessarily a good storyteller, jumping around in the chronology of his adventures, and seems to forget that not all his readers are as well-acquainted with his life as he is.

To be fair, this is a man who is detailing his life spent out in the African bush raising and reintroducing wildlife to its native land, so perhaps he deserves a little slack. His editor, however, has let some typos and poor editing slide. The best parts of the book are the sections with the animals, though they inevitably include sad parts. Fitzjohn is passionate and dedicated to wildlife to the point that his view is very black-and-white, people with him and people against him. The five sections of pictures are gorgeous, full of lions, leopards, rhinos, and the legendary George Adamson.  The book really showcases Fitzjohn’s love of Africa and wildlife, which gets the reader revved up, and anyone familiar with either will find his recollections of his life engaging.

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