Born in Nairobi in 1936 as Joan Wells-Thorpe, Root was the daughter of Edmund Thorpe, a British banker who immigrated to Kenya to start a new life and became a successful coffee planter.
After her divorce Joan Root became very involved in conservation projects at and around Lake Naivasha, included supporting scientists and volunteers from the Earthwatch Institute who were monitoring environmental conditions.
There were many suspects such as disgruntled former employees, criminal gangs, organized crime rackets, poachers, those whose economic interests were threatened by her activism and even Task Force members.
[3] Mark Seal's biography of Joan Root, Wildflower: An Extraordinary Life and Mysterious Death in Africa was published by Random House in 2009.
The book originated from researching an article for Vanity Fair in 2006 when Seal was intrigued by a news report about the wildlife pioneer's death.