"This book is about exploration, danger, and discovery in a remote area of the planet where the greatest necessity is salt, where people plow the earth using themselves as the beasts of burden, and where the main source of meat is a group of primitive species that are little known outside the region.

In 1993 Alan Rabinowitz, called "the Indiana Jones" of wildlife science by the New York Times, first set foot in Myanmar, the country known until 1989 as Burma, hoping to survey the country's wildlife and convince the government to establish protected natural areas.

In the event-filled years that followed, as the Myanmar government allowed Rabinowitz and his Wildlife Conservation Society team to travel to increasingly remote areas, he succeeded beyond all expectations, not only discovering species new to science but also playing a vital role in wildlife preservation, including the creation of Hkakabo Razi National Park, now one of Southeast Asia's largest protected areas."--BOOK JACKET.