The Delta

by Tony Park

  There is a United Democratic Party, which supports greater autonomy for the Caprivi region. There was (and for all I know still is) a Caprivi Liberation Army whose armed members attacked the police station at Katima Mulilo in 1999. The brief but armed insurrection was put down by Namibian security forces and a number of people were arrested. The region has been at peace since.

  There are several thousand Lozi people living in Botswana in self-imposed exile. A conversation with a Lozi man outside the Spar supermarket in Maun (where my fictional Sonja meets the equally fictional Gideon Sitali) provided a good deal of inspiration for the part of my story involving the CLA.

  All this aside, it was never my intention to promote or further the cause of those people of the Caprivi region who wish to create an autonomous homeland. Namibia is a stunning country and one of the safest and friendliest African nations I have ever visited. I certainly hope that war never returns to this place.

  There is a Xakanaxa Camp, and it was my very great pleasure to stay there while researching this book, courtesy of Wayne Hamilton from the Africa Safari Co in Sydney, and Steve Ellis, of Personal Africa in South Africa. Several other locations in The Delta are real, including Drotsky’s and Ngepi camps on the Okavango River in Botswana and Namibia respectively. Thanks also to Mack Air for flying Nicola and me into and out of the Moremi Game Reserve. There are so many beautiful locations in this part of Africa that it’s impossible for me to cram them all into one book, but I hope I’ve done the real places I’ve mentioned justice.

  Several generous people paid good money to worthy causes to have their names (or the names of their friends and relatives) used as characters in this book. I’d like to publicly express my thanks to everyone who bid for names at fundraising auctions in support of Painted Dog Conservation Inc, an Australian-based charity which supports research and conservation of the endangered African Painted Dog; The SAVE Foundation (NSW), which is involved in relocation of black rhino from South Africa to the Okavango Delta and other rhino conservation projects; and The Grey Man, an Australian organisation which rescues child prostitutes from a life of hell in south-east Asian countries. I hope Sydney Chipchase, Stirling Smith, Cheryl-Ann Smith (nee Daffen), John Lemon and John Little all enjoy their fictional alter egos.

  Thanks, too, to the following friends who helped me with my research: former army engineer John Roberts, for his advice on constructing and blowing things up; Neil Johns for his tips on riding and caring for horses in the African bush; and Are Berentsen, of Fort Collins, Colorado, who studied coyotes in the wild for real. For factual information on the Okavango Delta I referred on a number of occasions to an excellent book: Okavango: Jewel of the Kalahari (Struik, 2003), by Karen Ross.

  Several people read the manuscript of the The Delta and provided invaluable feedback. Namibian journalist Desiewaar N Heita checked my references to his country’s political, cultural and environmental situation, and South African ‘Lion Whisperer’ and film maker Kevin Richardson, whose biography Part of the Pride I co-wrote, vetted my scenes involving the filming of wildlife documentaries. As always, my wife, Nicola, mum, Kathy, and mother-in-law, Sheila, did a fantastic job as my unpaid editors.

  Seven books on and I’m more grateful than ever to my friends at Pan Macmillan Australia for continuing to let me live the life I’ve always dreamed of. Thank you, Publishing Director Cate Paterson (first, as always), Publisher James Fraser (not least of all for showing me around Mombasa), Senior Editor Emma Rafferty, Copy Editor Julia Stiles, and my Publicist, Louise Cornegé. I love you all.

  Thanks, too, to my new agent, Isobel Dixon, of Blake Friedmann Literary Agency in London, for taking me on and promoting me outside of Australia.

  And last, but most definitely not least, thank you.