On the trail of the African elephant, Jeremy Gavron has woven a tale that is at once an adventurous journey, a philosophical investigation and an evocative portrait of Africa. This book reveals a creature that can feel pain and happiness, and that communicates in subtle ways with its own kind. But it also shows how the fight for the survival of the elephant, protected by some men, hunted down by others, has become a powerful metaphor for the battle of old Africa to survive in the modern world of automatic weapons and computers. It is this fragile environment, delicately balanced between progress and catastrophe, that Gavron captures.