Mario Cesare

'They say a man has only dog in his lifetime, only one dog with which he will share that special bond ...' Mario Cesare was twenty-five years old and managing a game reserve in the rugged Tuli Block in Botswana when he first took possession of a shy black pup that he named Shilo. The pup attached himself to Mario almost immediately and very soon he became known by the locals as 'The Man with the Black Dog'. Very few dogs that live in Africa's big game country die of old age, but Shilo was the exception that proved the rule. Shilo's incredible versatility ranged from skilfully tracking big game in the hot arid bushveld to retrieving wild fowl in the icy wetlands if South Africa. He was also a constant companion, a devoted protector and for more than fourteen years he and Mario, had innumerable adventures together, encountering crocodiles, buffalo, lion, leopard, baboons and poachers. The Man with the Black Dog is permeated with the same love and empathy that made Jock of the Bushveld a classic and it too is a very South African story. Seldom has an account of a man and his dog revealed so much of the flavour of life in such a wild location and although over a century has passed since the transport wagons carved their trails to and from Delagoa Bay, the scent evoked of dust and rain remains the same and the grey ghosts of kudu and elephant still melt into the bush.

Jonathan Ball

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