Forever In The Serengeti

Forever In the Serengeti is Frans Boetes' remembrance of his fascinating and harrowing journey into the wilds of Tanzania with Hugo Baron van Lawick, wildlife filmmaker and former husband of Jane Goodall. 


Frans, a fellow Dutchman and Hugo's ex-sister-in-law travel to Hugo's base camp and explore the Serengeti with no weapons, no GPS, no phones, cellular or otherwise. Written in both English and Dutch and richly illustrated with photos by the author of life in the Serengeti.


Jane Goodall was fascinated by far more than just chimpanzees. Her other great interest while doing her research in Tanzania was Hugo Baron van Lawick. The Baron was a Dutch nobleman who had been hired by National Geographic in 1960 to film Jane's studies of the chimpanzees. Bound by a mutual and profound respect for the very 'human' qualities they observed in the primates, they fell in love and were married in the UK in 1964. 


Sadly, she and the Baron were divorced in 1974 but he stayed on in Tanzania for another 24 years until his death in 2002. He is the only human known to have lived in camps in the Serengeti for over 30 years. He spent the rest of his life photographing, filming and studying the varied wildlife there including zebras, elephants, wild dogs, hyenas, and lions. 


For his extraordinary work, Hugo won 8 Emmy Awards and was appointed an Officer of the Golden Ark in 1992 by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, the founder of the World Wildlife Fund. The Tanzanian government honored him by arranging for his burial on the site where his camp had stood all those years, with family, friends and Tanzanian government officials attending.


As Frans describes in his book, in this part of the world, titles and background, formal education and work experience are no preparation for a journey. The only way to survive is by exercising the strength and creativity to continually deal with the unexpected predator.