Bonnie J. Fladung

Our group will be visiting the Tsodilo Hills, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, this September on our cultural & wildlife safari through Botswana. This is a sacred place to the San Bushmen and one of the best sites for viewing ancient Bushmen rock art with over 4500 rock paintings.

 

Certain paintings like this penguin suggest contact between the Bushmen and other people. Some of the paintings are estimated to be more than 20,000 years old.

 

The Bushmen believe the hills are a resting place for the spirits of the deceased and that their gods live in the grottos from where they rule the world. The most sacred place is near the top of the Male Hill where legend has it that the first spirit prayed after creating the world.

Wildlife illustrations from our award-winning book "When Eagles Roar" will be on display at Dartmouth College through September 26 at the OSHER gallery located at 7 Lebanon Street, Suite 107
Hanover, NH.

 

About the Illustrator

Margo Gabrielle Damian (Fladung) attended Montserrat College of Art and the School Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Margo illustrated "When Eagles Roar: The Amazing Journey of an African Wildlife Adventurer" and "The Elephant's Euphonium: A Little Tusker's Adventures in Africa," a children's picture book about the large tuskers. The artwork was created in pen and ink. The images were scanned, then printed by inkjet on paper made from elephant dung.

 

When Eagles Roar: The Amazing Journey of an African Wildlife Adventurer

"One of the Best Wildlife Books of All Time" - BookAuthority
"One of the Best Books About or Featuring Birds" - BookScrolling
Best Winter Trips, What to Read Before You Go - National Geographic
"One of the Best Nature Books of 2014" - The Guardian
"Book of the Year" - Birder's Library

 

More information about the exhibit at the OSHER gallery website

Join Bonnie Fladung for this cultural and wildlife safari to Botswana. Bonnie is the co-author of "When Eagles Roar: The Amazing Journey of an African Wildlife Adventurer," which has received many accolades, including Book Authority's "One of the Best Wildlife Books of All Time" and National Geographic's recommendation as the book to read before going on safari in Africa. While researching her books, Bonnie had the opportunity to go behind the scenes to see how game parks operate in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana. She also traveled to Morocco where she studied the art of storytelling with the last of the master storytellers, and became fascinated with the craft of oral storytelling and ancient cultures.

 

On this trip to Botswana, Bonnie hopes to share her love of storytelling. For those who are interested, there will be time every day between game drives to work with her on projects, whether it's keeping a trip journal or diary, sketching the wildlife and scenery, or creating a photo essay of your pictures. About the safari

A great review of "The Elephant's Euphonium"

By Lois C. Henderson of Bookpleasures.com

 

"Written in verse, this children's book is a refreshing foray into the world of the elephant, as centered on the young elephant, Khula, son of the famous Tusker, Isilo, who put Tembe Elephant Park, situated on the Mozambican / South African border, on the map. Written in rhyme and composed with a clear awareness of the age range at which it is directed (6- to 8-year-olds, primarily), the story tells of how Khula's musical talents lead him to interact with the grey-crowned crane and the bateleur eagle. When he grows older, and foraging for food becomes more of a priority, his mother knows that he is about to leave his family grouping to join the herds of bachelor elephants roaming the Park. However, before he goes, she takes him to see the remains of his father, King Isilo. Khula, thus, comes to realize the precious nature of his tusker inheritance, and vows to pass it on to his offspring in turn." Read full review

I'm happy to announce that my book, "When Eagles Roar: The Amazing Journey of an African Wildlife Adventurer" made it to BookAuthority's Best Wildlife Books of All Time.
BookAuthority collects and ranks the best books in the world, and it is a great honor to get this kind of recognition. Thank you for all your support!  Read More 

Another accolade! "When Eagles Roar" is recommended by Bookscrolling.com as "One of the best books about or featuring birds!" We are #12 in the list of 58+ books!

How exciting! "When Eagles Roar" is one of the top recommendations by the "Afternoon Birder" - a blog that recommends everyone read one book about birds every month this year!

https://theafternoonbirder.com/books-about-birding/

The "Afternoon Birder" is a Birding, Travel and Wildlife Blog.

My illustrator is working hard on the watercolors for "The Elephant's Euphonium." Coming soon!!

An update from my co-author James Currie:

"The death of Satao 2 earlier this year reminds us how urgently we need to do something. When I started this documentary there were approximately 40 big tuskers left. Just three years later, its believed that there are now only 22 remaining on our beautiful planet. Our filming trip last September to Kenya reminds us how much these guys need our help."  Read More 

A massive collapse at the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii's Volcano National Park on New Year's Eve resulted in 26 acres falling into the ocean. I took this dramatic photo of the lava lake surface at Halemaʻumaʻu Overlook at the Jaggar Museum in mid December.