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.