Cry for the Lions

This is Gareth Patterson’s first book, originally published in 1988 when he was twenty-four years old. It is the story of the lions of Mashatu and of the very real problems existing for the preservation of the species throughout Africa. Incredibly, it is a true story, one that reaches the heart, divulges some of the mysteries of the wilds and takes the reader into a new world of experience, deep in the African bush, with the lion prides.

Alongside the story of the lions, one shares the grief of bereaved elephants, feels the wind blowing over the grasslands, through the riverine and the Mopane. One feels the heartbeat and the atmosphere of the wild places of Africa. Gareth shows how the weather and the seasons have a ripple effect on the grasses, the bushes, the trees, the rodents, the birds, the antelope, the cats and other predators, and finally the scavengers. All this is beautifully depicted through the eyes of a naturalist and an artist.

Cry for the Lions leaves one with a sense of awe for the beauty and complexity of Africa’s wild places and the enlightened realisation that, because of the developing circumstances throughout the African continent, man must now be the final guardian of the lion.


Praise for Cry for the Lions:

'Cry for the Lions is an emotive story...a heartrending statement on the declining population of these majestic cats because of the shortage of space and the encroachment of man.' The Star, Johannesburg.


Find out more about Gareth Patterson at his website: www.garethpatterson.com