Angolan Rendezvous: Man and Nature in the Shadow of War

Ostensibly, this book is in two voices: Tamar Golan, Israel’s first Ambassador to Angola, deals with the political/diplomatic aspects, while the stories on gorillas, the Black giant sable and Nature are by zoologist/ecologist, Tamar Ron. But in reality, the book has one voice, one of love for Angola, its long-suffering people, vast landscapes and wild animals, and their ongoing struggle for survival.

Africa is associated with war, disease, oil, diamonds, hunger, corruption, destruction, death—a lost and forlorn world. In Angola all these are manifest, yet the authors fell in love with the country, with the wonderful people, the children and the women, whose daily struggle for survival arouses both sympathy and admiration, with Angola’s enchanting natural beauty, mysterious cultures, rare biodiversity and fiery sunsets over an endless ocean.

For many years a bloody war of independence raged and, as soon at it ended, the country was thrown into a terrible civil war, during the height of the Cold War. Millions were killed, maimed, or lost their homes. The war is now over but the minefields still claim their gruesome harvest. Everything is interwoven: life and death, war and peace; children who know no childhood and adults who dream of a long-lost innocence; men and women, tough warriors who suddenly find softness and warmth in their souls; betrayal of and return to tradition; man and Nature, their fates irrevocably intertwined.

“Calma, calma!” is the answer for every problem—your visa has expired, you are wracked with malaria, there’s a power cut and you’re stuck in the elevator between the 15th and 16th floors ... yet things have a way of working themselves out in Angola. But there is something pleasant in the air, something calming, warm, comforting. Something that can only be described as calma, calma!

Tamar Golan was born in Haifa and is a former member of Kibbutz Lahav in southern Israel. She first visited Africa in 1961 with her husband Avihu, lecturing at the Agricultural College of Ethiopia in Harar for the Israeli Foreign Office Department for International Co-operation. Avihu was killed there. In 1964 she went to New York, where she completed a PhD in Law and Government at Columbia University, specializing in Africa. From 1967, she worked as a journalist for the BBC’s African Service, the Israeli daily, Ma’ariv and the Israeli Army radio station, reporting from Africa, the Arab states and Paris. In 1994, Tamar was appointed Israeli ambassador to Angola. After her term, she later returned to Angola as a United Nations expert, to assist in establishing a National Commission for Landmine Action, annexed to the Angolan presidency. She returned to Israel in 2002 and now lectures on African Affairs at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Tamar has written two books: Black White; White Black (MOD Publishers, 1986) and, with Amnon Dankner, Africa, Africa (Ma’ariv Publishers, 1988).

Tamar Ron was born and raised in Jerusalem. She has a BSc Biology and an MSc in Environmental Biology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She completed her PhD in Zoology at Natal University in 1991, having lived in Mkuzi Game Reserve in Zululand, South Africa, studying the behaviour of Chacma baboons for her thesis. Prior to this she trained in endangered wildlife management at the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust and conducted an ecological and behavioural study for Chimfunshi Wildlife Sanctuary, a chimpanzee rehabilitation centre in northern Zambia. From 1992–2000 she worked as the wildlife ecologist for the Nature Reserves Authority of Israel. In 1998, at the behest of the Angolan Ministry of Environment, she represented the Israeli Foreign Office Department for International Co-operation in Angola. Through NORAD, the Norwegian agency, she was appointed as UNDP-Angola Chief Technical Adviser on Biodiversity Conservation. She returned to Israel in 2005 where she continues her work in conservation. She recently proposed a framework for transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) in southern Africa, now adopted by regional governments, SADC, the Southern African Development Community.

Book by Ron Tamar Golan Tamar