Joy Adamson – Thursday 20 January 1910 – Thursday 3 January 1980

Born Free, Living Free, and Forever Free by Joy Adamson were the first books I read in which Africa was the setting and lions were the topic. The story of Elsa sparked an interest in seeing the animals and lands of that continent, which evolved into a desire to someday go on a photographic safari. That adventure still needs to be done. Although the whole relationship with Elsa intrigues me, I’m unable to experience that type of connection even on a small scale as I am allergic to cats. Would any of you cat lovers and owners ever want to have a really Big cat?

Publisher’s Foreword to Forever Free

“In Born Free and Living Free, Joy Adamson told the extraordinary story of her association with Elsa, whom she and her husband George had raised from a tiny cub to a full-grown lioness and then released to life in the wild. ‘By a passionate patience and an understanding love,’ as Sir Julian Huxley points out, a relationship was established that survived the release. When Elsa had mated with a wild lion and her three cubs, Jespah, Gopa, and Little Elsa, were born, she brought them to the Adamsons’ camp. And when she died prematurely, leaving her cubs unprotected, the Adamsons assumed guardianship over three lions raised in the wild. How they acquitted themselves of their unprecedented, heroic task is recorded in Forever Free.”

Dedication in Forever Free

“To all who help in the conservation of wild life.”

Excerpt from Chapter One – “The Deportation Order” of Forever Free

“It was on Christmas Eve 1960 that we received a letter from the African District Council ordering us to remove Elsa and her cubs from the reserve. The reason given by the council was that since Elsa was used to our company she might become a danger to other people.

We were amazed: the local authorities themselves had helped us to choose the area for her release, and up to now had regarded her as a great asset to the reserve. It had been her home for two and a half years, and during that time she had never hurt anyone. We were as anxious as they were to avoid the possibility of an accident, and had even offered to pay a good rent for Elsa’s territory, so that visitors could be kept out of it without financial loss to the game reserve.

Now, with the arrival of the deportation order, all we could do was to try to make the removal as little harmful to the lions as possible and find a satisfactory new home for them.

We wrote to friends in Tanganyika, Uganda, the Rhodesias, and South Africa, inquiring what the chances were of finding a good territory for the family in their countries, but, before finally deciding to remove Elsa and her family from Kenya, George wished to carry out a reconnaissance along the eastern shores of Lake Rudolf in the north of Kenya.

I was distressed by this plan. The country there is very grim, and I feared that game around the lake might be so scarce that Elsa and the cubs would become dependent upon us for their food supply. Besides this, the area is so remote, that in case of an emergency we should be very lucky if we were able to get any help. On the other hand, this very remoteness was an asset, for the fact that this country is inhospitable and almost cut off from the rest of Africa would at least ensure that the lions would be unlikely to become a pawn in political intrigues.

So, while we waited for replies to our letters, we made provisional plans for their removal to Lake Rudolf. We estimated that the journey would take two or three days and nights: we knew that the tracks would be very rough and that we should need to tow the cars through sandy river beds, stretches of desert, and over rocky escarpments.”


Tomorrow’s writer – Margery Allingham


Source: Adamson, Joy. Forever Free. Bantam Books, October 1967. Excerpt: pages 1-2

Images:

Left: Front cover of my personal copy of Forever Free
Center: Joy Adamson with Elsa from website fatheroflions.org