The elephants of Amboseli park in southern Kenya have been the subject of a unique study for many years. This book, which covers a period of 18 months, is written in the form of a journal which documents the saga of a particular family of elephants whose lives have become central to that of their observer, Cynthia Moss. Far from taking the formal and conventional approach of scientist or researcher, Cynthia adopts a more personal view, so that with her we enter the fascinating and often dramatic events surrounding these most remarkable and complex of animals. Echo, the matriarch of the herd, gives birth to Ely whose tragic start in life and miraculous recovery will touch the reader with its emotional intensity. Ely becomes one of the central figures of the book as we watch his day to day growth and development. In the 1990s human beings are at last beginning to be aware of how much we have to learn from other animals in their natural habitat. There is increasing worldwide concern for the safety and protection of these magnificent yet highly vulnerable creatures. Cynthia Moss's testament and Martyn Colbeck's superb photographs are both a tribute to the enduring appeal of elephants and a reminder of their vulnerability in the modern world.