Peter Beard’s Book Zara’s Tales: From Hog Ranch – Perilous Escapades in Equatorial Africa is just one of his many books. It was written for his young daughter Zara, and bought by me for my young niece Carlotta – although I fear I will have to wait until she is a little older to understand the content.
The official description on his website: “Zara’s Tales is an intricately woven series of eleven irresistible stories told to Peter Beard’s daughter, Zara, about his adventures in Kenya. His tales capture the essence of East Africa, bringing to life a cast of characters, including a 300-pound warthog named Thaka, who lived near his encampment. Man-eating lions and fifteen-foot crocodiles are part of every day life for Peter Beard, as he draws on the richness and diversity of East Africa to seduce the reader into a world of exploration, creativity, and excitement.”
I am not familiar with all of Peter Beard’s books but with some. While I am not normally drawn to overly decorated photographs, I totally dig the diary aspect of his work, which actually for me changes the whole frame into something I can very much appreciate. It is thus important to know that Zara’s Tales, like most of Peter Beard’s work, is part of his extended form of diary-keeping, which usually not only includes his writings and photographs, but also drawings and paintings, collages, blood and whatever else he thinks is necessary …
Zara’s Tales was published 2004 as a hardcover by Alfred A. Knopf in NY. It has 176 pages and includes Peter Beard’s photographs as well as “paintings by Mbuno, Mwangi, Galo-Galo, Kivoi, and the other members of the Hog Ranch art department.” (the Hog Ranch is Peter Beard’s Ranch in Kenya)
Have a look at Peter Beard’s official website
Here is an interview with him from 1998 (in German only)
Here is some kind of trailer about him on YouTube: Peter Beard – Scrapbooks from Africa and Beyond
And you can still get Zara’s Tales at Amazon - at least at the time I wrote this post.
By the way, Peter Beard did the Pirelli Calender 2009 :)
Read an interview about how he sees the current situation in Africa (and more) on the National Post website.
