Gareth Patterson

Gareth Patterson is an award-winning environmentalist, wildlife researcher, public speaker, and author who is known internationally for his efforts to greater protect the lions and elephants of Africa. Born in England, he grew up in wild areas of western, eastern, and southern Africa. Several of his books about his life with lions and elephants have been published in many languages and editions. Gareth’s work for Africa’s wildlife has been featured in the media worldwide, as well as in international documentaries.

During the 2000s, Gareth rediscovered and studied the most southerly free-roaming elephants in the world: the highly endangered and elusive Knysna elephants of the southern Cape, South Africa. It was during this time that he became aware of the existence of mysterious relict hominoid beings known to the Knysna forest people as the ‘Otang’. Beyond the Secret Elephants is Gareth’s twelfth book.