Frontier Partisans

The Adventurers, Rangers and Scouts Who Fought the Battles of Empire

Working The Trapline — Singing Crawdads, Roasted Flamingo & Guacamole

, by

The upcoming release of the movie Where The Crawdads Sing has dredged up an intriguing tale from Africa, involving Delia Owens, who wrote the mega-bestselling book upon which the movie is based. Delia Owens and her (apparently ex) husband Mark Owens are still wanted for questioning in Zambia regarding the 1995 shooting of a poacher that was caught on camera by an American news crew covering the Owens’ wildlife work. The killing ran on air in the U.S., which was an interesting journalistic call by ABC’s Turning Point (which featured Diane Sawyer).

Here’s a decent summary of the caper from the LA Times:

It’s all resurfaced just before the movie’s release thanks to a recent article in the Atlantic by its editor, Jeffrey Goldberg, which updates and doubles down on a piece he wrote for the New Yorker in 2010. Back when Owens was known as the co-writer of a couple of works of nonfiction, Goldberg published an 18,000-word exposé on Owens and her now-ex-husband, Mark, revealing that the couple — along with Mark’s son Christopher — were suspected by Zambian authorities of being involved in the killing of an alleged poacher (a murder caught on camera) along with possible other criminal activities.

In his research, Goldberg found that Mark Owens had been in command of a “corps of game scouts” in the country that operated beyond government oversight. He’d managed to “militarize” the North Luangwa National Park by arming the scouts and “buying their loyalty with weapons, boots and money.” He’d also “led raids against suspected poaching camps” and left his son in charge of “training the scouts in hand-to-hand combat.”

Goldberg also obtained a letter in which Mark Owens bragged about the killing of poachers on his watch and added, “We are just getting warmed up.”

 

Mark Owens.

In 1996, ABC’s “Turning Point” featured the documentary “Deadly Game: The Mark and Delia Owens Story,” about the couple’s travels to Zambia on a mission to save the elephants. The documentary includes footage of the murder, which according to Goldberg depicts a man being executed while already wounded on the ground. (The footage is no longer available.) The Owenses left Zambia after the broadcast sparked a police investigation, decamping to northern Idaho, where they are now said to be amicably divorced.

Chris Everson, the ABC cameraman who filmed the shooting, told Goldberg it was Christopher Owens who fired the shots in the murder. Biemba Musole, the Zambian police detective leading the investigation, added that Mark Owens and his scouts had placed the body in a cargo net, attached it to his helicopter and dropped it in a nearby lagoon. The body was never recovered.

The investigation has been stalled, however, due to the lack of an extradition treaty between the U.S. and Zambia, along with ABC’s refusal to cooperate.

Some folks see “call-backs” to Delia Owens’ Zambia experience in Where the Crawdads Sing, and also call out the Owens’ perceived patronizing attitude (or disdain for) Africans and Black folk in general. Maybe. You could just read it as the possibility that the Owens’ romanticized “wild” Africa.  Haven’t read the book and won’t. May see the movie.

I have some issues with Goldberg, who is editor of The Atlantic now. He’s clearly done the work, and there’s surely fire where there’s smoke. However, much like Matthew Cole’s reporting on the SEAL Teams, there’s something about Goldberg’s reporting on the Owens’ story that smacks of obsession and vendetta.

Take a run down this sidetrail — I’d be interested to hear what people think.

As a side note: When I worked at Pachmayr, I had a couple of regular clients (sporting clays shooters) who were, if memory serves, law enforcement and ex-military, possibly special operations. They once spun a yarn about a safari in Africa (don’t remember which country) in which they and their PH ran across some poachers and “turned them into wetsuits.” Maybe bullshit, maybe not. As far as these guys were concerned, poachers were a legit target.

*

William Dampier is one of the most fascinating figures in Frontier Partisan history. This page is excellent on his work:

What do the words avocado, barbecue, breadfruit, cashew, catamaran, and chopsticks have in common? They, and hundreds of others, were introduced into the English language by the explorer/naturalist/buccaneer William Dampier. Though he has been largely forgotten, Dampier was the most important English maritime adventurer of the seventeenth century: he was the first person to circumnavigate the world three times, the first Englishman to reach and map parts of Australia and New Guinea, and the first English best-selling travel writer. Bookended by the careers of Sir Francis Drake in the 1500s and Captain James Cook in the 1700s, Dampier’s exploits fused the rakish plundering of the former with the scientific inquiry of the latter.

Here’s a nice summation by the estimable Gold & Gunpowder Youtube channel:

Roasted flamingo, anyone?

*

Season 4 of Fauda has dropped in Israel, and is promised to soon hit international screens. I’ll be there for it. If you haven’t delved into this thriller set in the midst of an intractable frontier conflict, you should. It’s very good.

*

Speaking of thrillers, I’m halfway through The Terminal List. It is almost unrelentingly dark, which means it’s not for everyone. Dismiss the critics who dismiss it as “a right-wing fantasy.” Given that the Big Bad is the Pharma/Industrial/Military Complex, it’s a stretch to consider it “right wing.” But, then, I don’t see the world through a political lens — and I don’t even understand where the “left” is coming from anymore.

In Episode 4, James Reese gives a sicario the Jacob Greathouse treatment. Readers of Eckert’s The Frontiersmen will know exactly what I mean by that. Like I said, it’s not for everyone — particularly the squeamish.

Lady Marilyn can handle the gruesome with the roughest and toughest, but the Navajo Witch Ada Growing Thunder from Dark Winds scares the shit out of her. As in nightmares induced. Seriously.

Comments

  2. David Wrolson says

    Given the tremendous amount of elephant poaching in the Luangwa Valley in the 90’s, it is hard for my sympathies not to be with extra-judicial methods of stopping poaching.

    BTW-If anybody asked me where to go in Africa on a non-hunting photo trip-My inclination would be to advise the Luanga Valley parks-never having been there.

    Reply

  3. Matthew says

    About the killing of poachers, I’ve been rereading the comic series Jon Sable, Freelance and part of Sable’s fairly complex backstory is that when he was working as a game warden poachers killed his family. In turn he began hunting and killing all the poachers he could find. That’s of course fiction but it is hard to sympathize with poachers. I would recommend the comic to anyone here.

    I haven’t seen the Terminal List but elements of the right have been known to complain about the military/industrial complex. Tucker Carlson does all the time. I only know this since I’m occasionally in my parent basement while my dad is watching Fox. (Which is weird because my dad used to be part of the military/industrial complex.) Of course, I find that the right is more diverse in the opinions than the left. The left believes whatever is trendy on twitter as their viewpoint.

    Reply

  4. Ugly Hombre says

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rosOtYVJM4I

    This is a great movie based on truth about a anti-poaching squad in Tibet. Made in the era before Chairman Pooh put a stop to any story telling in the middle kingdom that did not include massive dollops 0f propaganda. Its one of my favorite films. The Tibetan people are fierce when they have to be Tony Poe said they were the best he ever worked with. what could have been?

    I have no problem with hard justice dealt out to poachers esp elephant poachers. Also have no problem hunting and the sale of legal taken ivory and think that the burning of it s stupid and that a better use of it would be to legally sell it and help the local African people with the money

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kekexili:_Mountain_Patrol

    https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XKFVxmdD0-c/TkQLwqzU3qI/AAAAAAAADlA/bzgNFiv_OS4/s1600/Kekexili.jpg

    Mountain Patrol is available on DVD for about the price of a cup of black java- recommended!

    Reply

      • Ugly Hombre says

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-36su0N_f78

        Very welcome- You will like it for sure- its a tough, hard hitting, bare bones film- a Tibetan western. Its on the tube linked it above.

        One of the best films to come out of China in the last 20 years imo. Chairman Poo put a stop to the good stuff quite sad. Tibetans are strong and brave the film gives a good look at the way tough way they live.

        Enjoy!

        Reply

        • lane batot says

          Yes indeed–I found it and ordered a copy! I bet you would like another Chinese effort–“Wolf Totem”–all about the Mongols(in “Inner Mongolia”, which is in and controlled by China) and these nomadic pastoralists’ complex relationship with wolves, and the loss of traditional life by Chinese modernization. Also a far more detailed book by the same name. I think you can see “Wolf Totem” on Youtube(there is a movie trailer, of course), but I got cheap DVD’s myself….. I am REALLY surprised such an anti-guvmint movie like “Wolf Totem” got filmed at all(some INCREDIB:LE shots with well-trained real Mongolian wolves!), and the book was a best-seller in China, too. So, CHANGE is happening there–slowly but surely…..

          Reply

          • Ugly Hombre says

            Change is not possible right now sadly imo, Chairman Pooh is a Maoist hardliner with his own cult of personality complete with “Chaiman Pooh Thought” etc. The CCP using cyber big brother facial rec. etc is cracking down in ways that are hard to imagine. The Chicom gulags are packed with Chinese Uyghurs, Tibetans, inner Mongolians, Taoist folk sect followers, and any one who just does not like Communist rule. The Chinese people have no means to resist- none.

            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq1Vgh_Ux34

            Serpentza in inner Mongolia his channel is the place to go for the truth about Red China imo.

            Wolf totem looks great- thanks for the lead on that, will check it out.

            https://thediplomat.com/2020/09/chinas-crackdown-on-mongolian-culture/

            “In August, the government announced that when the school year began in September, classes in Mongolian would be sharply curtailed. Under the new regulations, literature, politics and history will all now be taught in Mandarin. It has been reported that similar programs are being carried out in the Tibet Autonomous Region and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, home to the Tibetan and Uyghur ethnic groups respectively.

            Many parents in Inner Mongolia responded to the announcement by saying that they would prefer to keep their children home than have them forced to accept Mandarin-language instruction. As schools opened in the first week of September, strikes by parents were widespread. In Naiman county, for example, where there were normally 1,000 Mongolian students, just 40 registered for this term and only 10 actually showed up on the first day of class. Across the region, more than 300,000 students have gone on strike.”

            “The Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) stipulates that ‘‘all ethnic groups in the People’s Republic of China are equal. The state protects the lawful rights and interests of the ethnic minorities.” In practice, however, the PRC authorities have spent the past 70 years slowly chipping away at the rights of ethnic minorities, in what appears to be a sweeping attempt at ethnic and national homogenization. Han Chinese men are even paid a generous bonus for marrying ethnic minority women, including Uyghurs and Mongolians. Drawing comparisons between the situations in Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang has become common among China watchers, as well as Inner Mongolian human rights groups abroad, who have termed the recent Chinese actions “cultural genocide.”

            I hope I am wrong- and change will happen but the odds are not good.

            Thanks again for the “Wolf”!

          • lane batot says

            I got and watched “Mountain Patrol”–a well done, but not very happy movie! Neither is “Wolf Totem” particularly, but that’s modern “progressive” guvmints for you…..My goodness but the Tibetan plateau is a bleak place! Breeds some tough fellas, for sure! Those kind of poachers deserve no sympathy, in my opinion. And yes, China’s guvmint is terribly repressive, but the seeds have been sown, and are just waiting for the right time to germinate! The fact that such a book(and movie) as “Wolf Totem” is so popular there, means there is hope(I think…..)

  5. Reese Crawford says

    Syncronosity in its gory best. Greathouse (or his nephew) and the grisly death he suffered came up in the beargrease podcast. Part two of the Wetzle podcast is up.

    Reply

  6. Chas S Clifton says

    I thought that Where the Crawdads Sing was a good psychological mystery, even though the central character was a little too good to be true. Goldberg’s piece gives away the ending though.

    Reply

  7. Gregory Walker says

    In 1981, while at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, I met Steve Byers.

    Steve, by profession, was a teacher. However, he’d been motivated to travel to Rhodesia during its war and had become a member of PATU – “Despite being officially a police force, the BSAP (British South Africa Police) gradually increased their involvement as a paramilitary force, conducting COIN operations in conjunction with the armed forces, and suffering the bulk of the security force casualties during the Bush War.” –

    https://www.facebook.com/FireforceVentures/posts/a-member-of-the-rhodesian-bsaps-patu-police-anti-terrorist-unit-showing-off-his-/581079528983725/

    PATU worked the poaching angle as well as their other duties and Steve absolutely despised poachers as a result. His reasons why were clearly understandable when he described their activities.

    Very interesting article, Jim. I believe I will read the book this summer.

    https://sandpointmagazine.com/story/crawdads-big-screen/

    Reply

  8. David Wrolson says

    Not sure if there needed to be another book about Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull-much less sure if I needed another one but the History Book Club knows how to get me.

    “The Earth Is All That Lasts: Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull and the Last Stand of the Great Sioux Nation” by Mark Lee Garner.

    Garner wrote “Rough Riders” and “Shot All To Hell” (on the Northfield Raid.)

    Reply

    • JimC says

      Got it from the library to look over, and it appears worthy. Nothing is likely ever to surpass Thomas Powers’ The Killing of Crazy Horse in my esteem, but it does look quite good.

      Reply

      • David Wrolson says

        I was impressed with the numerous mentions of Fort Buford in the index. Sitting Bull and the Hunkpapas hated that fort as much as Red Cloud hated the forts on the Bozeman Trail.

        The Hunkpapas and other northern Lakota fought their own war against the forts.

        I never checked deeper-I hope the mentions just aren’t about Buford as Sitting Bull’s surrender site.

        Reply

  9. lane batot says

    Gosh, I LOVED “Where The Crawdads Sing”–I was actually surprised how good it was! And I absolutely fell in love with the main character–it kept me guessing till the end(a sign of a good writer!), even if the cat-will-be-outta-the-bag with the movie and all this other publicity! Nothing racist in it at all–quite the opposite, in fact. It takes place in 1950’s coastal North Carolina, so it simply states the way things were–the black characters in the book were some of the most likable characters in the story. I’ve kept up with reading the Owen’s conservation adventures through the years–their Kalahari sojourn, which was most certainly NOT romanticized/pretend stuff, in one of the last truly wild places in Africa, and also their struggles politically with 3rd world guvmint bureaucracy–I don’t think they are anything but very experienced conservationists–in the field, and dealing with politics. The whole poacher “mystery” seems to be taken out of context, from what I’ve heard–I don’t think the Owens are racists at all, but they don’t like poachers whatever color they may be, or lying, treacherous politicians! I’ve read LOTS of accounts of wildlife rangers in gunfights with poachers, it’s not exactly a rare thing! The poachers will NO DOUBT kill the rangers given any chance, in many cases! Rangers given carte blanche to shoot-to-kill-on-sight is common in many areas. Still, it is like anything–every situation is different. And there are all manner of “poachers”. I, for one, would have a hard time persecuting a local tribesman for snaring antelope now and then to feed his starving family. I have ZERO SYMPATHY for the poacher gangs out for the big money–ivory and rhino horn, etc.–no different than Drug Cartels. They’ll drive species to extinction and kill anyone that gets in their way with no qualms. The poacher gangs put hits out on certain rangers–sometimes for their own survival, rangers may take the initiative to take those poachers out FIRST! I’d not condemn any of them for that. Wildlife rangering IS a War Zone nowadays(and has been for some time!) Interesting, too, how tribalism plays a part in all this–Zulu Rangers battling other tribal enemies poaching on what the Zulu always considered THEIR lands!

    Reply

    • lane batot says

      …And I’m hesitating to see the movie “Where The Crawdads Sing”, mainly because I loved the book so much, I’m afraid I’ll be too nit-picky with the movie! I’m sure I will eventually, though……

      Reply

    • JimC says

      The media pile-on on the Owens’, including branding them with the scarlet letter of racism, has all the hallmarks of a digital lynch mob.

      Reply

      • lane batot says

        They obviously have read NONE of their books(“Cry Of The Kalahari” 1984; “Eye Of The Elephant” 1992: and “Secrets Of The Savannah” 2006)–in fact, they wouldn’t even need to READ them, just thumb through the photos and see the Owens working hand-in-hand with local people educating the kids, and including them in the conservation efforts, which is what you MUST do to preserve the land and wildlife, to give it value to the people that must live alongside it! I think their offering poachers money-paying jobs as rangers(former poachers often make the BEST rangers!), and arming them and gaining their loyalty was one of the BEST, most sensible tactics ever, and the Owens are not the only people in conservation that have done that! I remember not too long ago where lions had killed and eaten a poacher, and most Westerners that heard about it were praising the lions–so how is this much different? I JUST finished reading an interesting account of the lions in Kruger National Park, who have been killing and eating THOUSANDS of refugees from Mozambique for DECADES, and hardly a thing is heard about it–because, well, you know, the killers are LIONS(“Maneaters In Eden”), and lions bring in tourist dollars more than any other critter–and the theme of the book was, when does an animal’s life take precedence over a human one? Very eye-opening read…But back to the Owens. One reason they are likely exiled is because they made corruption and other guvmint criminal behavior PUBLIC–they certainly won’t be the first(or last!) to be exiled from countries with trumped up charges, to get them out of the way…..And even IF this particular poacher killing is true–African rangers kill poachers(and get killed by them) almost every day!

        Reply

        • lane batot says

          Talk about “sink-wren-awe-city”! Someone JUST sent me a link on a Youtube “series”(each “episode” is ONLY 6 or 7 minutes, though–just finished watching all 5 of them during lunchtime at work!) titled “Making Contact; A K9 Conservation Story”, all about the use of dogs in tracking poachers–the dog teams responsible for 90% or so of actual arrests! A good, quick overview of the serious nature of the war against poachers in South Africa, specifically….. Rangers get killed, and yeah, poachers get shot, too! That’s just how it is if you want to protect the last of these wild places! Singling Mark and Delia Owens out as if they did something unusually terrible is ludicrous!

          Reply

          • lane batot says

            ….And I couldn’t resist–had a rainy day off, went to the early(cheap) show, and saw the film version of “Where The Crawdads Sing”–all ready to be nit picky after loving the book so–a chip on my shoulder from the outset! BUT! Damn, it was good! REALLY honored the book well, maintaining the mystery right to the end–I was wondering just how they were going to end it like the book did, but they did a marvelous job! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! Even if it was filmed in Louisiana instead of coastal North Carolina…….

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *