Alexander Kendziorski is a practicing physician in the United States with interests in carnivore conservation, community health and South African history and politics. Kendziorski uses his intimate knowledge of Africa, with its flora and fauna and the overwhelming political tension between poachers and rangers, to explore his passion for African endangered species. He is transitioning to living and working in South Africa in order to work more closely with wildlife conservation and community health education.
I edited Kendzirsko’s Wait a Season for Their Names, a modern-day Born Free for the painted wolf of the African velde.
Wait a Season for Their Names: The painted wolves Aalwyn, Grootboom, Blackthorn and their pack, threatened by the lion Moordenaar, leave their home on the Chobe River of Botswana to set out on a dwaal—a journey.
From Botswana through the dangerous human settlements of drought-ravaged Zimbabwe to the terrifying poachers of Mozambique, Aalwyn’s pack relies upon their finely-honed wits and unshakable family bonds as they grapple with starvation, rabies, hyena attacks, the deaths of their young pups and kidnapping for sale on the international wild animal market.
But it is the lion Moordenaar who becomes their nemesis. And Moordenaar nearly succeeds in destroying the pack before they can finally reach safety in the protection of Gorongoza National Park.
The young wolf Koorsboom, born on the dwaal, must eventually find his own way to understand the harsh realities of his existence and look courageously into the uncertain future of his species.
All proceeds of a Wait a Season for Their Names go to wildlife groups working to protect the painted wolf.
Kendziorski says:
“Thanks for all of your guidance and unmerciful—but essential—editing. I mean that as praise! Unmerciful is the best thing you can be. But you have also been very kind. And the way you crafted the final death scene is heartbreaking. A waiter just asked if I was okay.”