Caryl Férey, Okavango: “The fate of wild animals has always moved me”

In her new thriller, Okavango, Caryl Férey features two rangers in the largest wildlife protection area in the world. An immense territory that covers five countries: Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia and Botswana. Thirty-six reserves which are the target of poachers. When the body of a young native is found in one of these reserves, the rangers find themselves facing a vast criminal organization led by a ruthless man, the Scorpion.

LE FIGARO. - After several thrillers set in South America and one in Siberia, you return to the African continent, fifteen years after Zulu, which took place in South Africa, why?

Caryl FEREY. - Since childhood, I have had a passion for wild animals. I always dreamed of going on safari but it was expensive and at the time, I was broke! Later, I went to South Africa to write Zulu and discovered Namibia. I loved this country but I went to the southern part, which is very desert. However, there, the animals, the reserves, are more to the north. I wrote this story because in our time, which is still quite anxiety-provoking, the fate of wild animals and that of the planet are linked. In either case, it’s a disaster!

Also read Never Alone Again, by Caryl Férey: in the eye of the cyclops

Did you do a lot of research on site?

Not really, because I knew a little about Namibia and everything that revolved around poaching. Afterwards, when we go there, we have surprises. This has absolutely nothing to do with the animal documentaries that we have seen, often staged. When you are shown an attack by cobras and mongooses, there is someone who takes the cobra in front of the mongoose because otherwise you could wait days and days before witnessing a scene like that. And then these documentaries are a little watered down because it has to be a little family-friendly, an animal documentary.

You are angry at the men who shamelessly exploit the flora and fauna. Yet there is awareness and protective measures?

There are always more zoos and more people going to them. Zoos are prisons. The animals don't come out, and if they ever do, they have lost their culture and can no longer get by. The zoo offers a form of protection that is not sufficient. In the wild, the rarer an animal is, the more expensive it is. And the more expensive it is, the more it is hunted. So, it is endangered. Rhinos, for example, are killed for their horns, which supposedly have aphrodisiac properties. It’s absurd: keratin is nails! You won't become more powerful by biting your nails! Today, their horns are worth more than gold. In the novel, I talk about the largest rhino in southern Africa, the famous Long Horn, with a 70 centimeter horn, which rich Asians covet. The rangers do everything they can to protect him and his peers, but there will always be some idiot out to kill them.