Into Africa

by Craig Packer

A field biologist since 1972, Craig Packer began his work studying primates at Gombe and then the lions of the Serengeti and the Ngorongoro Crater with his wife and colleague Anne Pusey. Here, he introduces us to the real world of fieldwork - initiating assistants to lion research in the Serengeti, supervising a doctoral student, collaborating with Jane Goodall on primate research. As in the works of George Schaller and Cynthia Moss, Packer transports us to life in the field. Through his vivid narration, we feel the dust and the bumps of the Arusha Road, smell the rosemary in the air at lunchtime on a Serengeti verandah, and hear the lyrics of the Grateful Dead playing off bootlegged tapes. Beyond the sights, the smells, and the glorious beauty of the Serengeti plains, Into Africa also explores the social lives of the animals and the threats to their survival.