It’s over half a century since Brian Jackman first set foot on the Maasai Mara in Kenya, and in that time he reckons he has spent more than three years of his life (he turned 90 last April) under canvas in the African bush. With his articles for the travel pages and his books, including Savannah Diaries, Roaring at the Dawn and The Big Cat Diary (a collaboration with the photographer Jonathan Scott), he has transported many others to what he calls this “vast and heat-stunned wilderness… inhabited by an endless cavalcade of exotic creatures”.

He has witnessed, too, the birth of ecotourism and seen it sweep across the continent, raising the standard of guiding, encouraging the opening of new camps and lodges, creating thousands of jobs for local people — and helping to save the natural world. In a new book, Lion Song: A Portrait of Wild Africa (Brian Jackman/White Fox Publishing, £22.99, March 19), he urges readers to follow in his footsteps, go on safari and help stave off the looming crisis facing our greatest wildlife strongholds.

As the blurb puts it, he “reveals the evolution of African conservation, from the days when elephants numbered over a million to today’s urgent battle for survival, where living elephants are worth $1.6 million each to tourism but face extinction from poaching. Through vivid encounters with legendary conservationists like George Adamson, and first-hand accounts of anti-poaching wars, Jackman weaves an unforgettable portrait of a continent where lions still greet the dawn — but may not for much longer.”

The book will be available online through Bookshop.org, Amazon, IngramSpark and other platforms. A share of the proceeds from the sale of each copy will go to the conservation charity Tusk Trust.