Eden's Exiles

This is the story of war and conservation, a drama enacted in a theatre in the southwestern corner of Africa.
Author Jan Breytenbach, a legend in military circles, and the founder of South African Special Forces - the Recces - describes how he discovered that Military Intelligence was involved in illegal wildlife trade with Jonas Savimbi. To his horror and astonishment, senior officers were also using the MI created ivory-smuggling routes for their own corrupt ends. A must-read on a little known topic of the South African Border War, Angolan Civil War, and the de facto genocide of southern Africa's Big Five, particularly the elephant.
Colonel Jan Breytenbach, the founding commander of 32 Battalion, is a living legend in South Africa. He was the creator of three elite units of the SADF: 1 Recce Commando, 32 Battalion and 44 Para Brigade. He led the successful assault on SWAPO's main base at Cassinga in 1978 - believed to be the largest airborne assault anywhere since World War II. He also formed the South African Army's Guerrilla School, which he commanded until his retirement in 1987.
He is the brother of author/poet Breyten Breytenbach. Jan Breytenbach is 80 years old and lives in Sedgefield.