Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa History buffs...Question

Sitting around the campfire here I was wondering if some of our history buffs could share with me about,,,

The COLONIAL history of African countries like Zimbabwe (Rhodesia), Tanzania, Namibia (S.West Africa), Botswana and South Africa???

I would be very interested in whatever facts or opinions you could share...

If you can find a copy of Thomas Pakenham's "The Scramble for Africa" it'll give you a lot of background and insight into the subject. I've always found most of my interest has been in South Africa with the Zulu and British conflict and later the Boer wars. It is some great history and conflicts to read up on. The Victorian era British were power hungry and could be brutal, but I must admit that I applaud their bravery and determination. I think they met their match with the Boers though.
Very interesting era!

CC...Thank you and I will definitely look into that book and others that some here will recommend as I start my library!

I am mesmerized with Africa after my safari in June 2008

I long to go back with each passing day. Her land is so beautiful and her wildlife like no other!

There is a mystique to Africa that intrigues me and she has captured my heart ever since.

But she is a land of great contrast and bloody turmoil and utter chaos that besets her even today!

She is so RICH and yet so POOR in many ways that I had no idea of before she captured my heart on safari.

And in order for me to comprehend her present afflictions I am seeking to understand some of her past!!!

There are many copies available on www.abebooks.com for under $10. The same author wrote about the Boer War and the trees of Southern Africa. Check this link for the lowest priced copy ($3.99)

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Sea...p;tn=Scramble+for+Africa&x=0&y=0

I am jealous of your trip to Africa, it's a dream of mine. Maybe someday.......

A couple of more good reads would include Donald Morris "The Washing of the Spears" and David Clammer "The Zulu War". And for the Boer wars Michael Barthorp "The Anglo-Boer Wars and Farwell's "The Great Anglo-Boer War". Years ago I became so interested in the Boer wars that after a lot of reading and research I had an article published in Military History magazine detailing the life of one of South Africa's greatest Generals, Louis Botha.
I would love to visit S.A. for some plains game hunting, sightseeing and touring some historic sights.

+1 on The Scramble for Africa. Though it's not exactly a quick read!

There's a fascinating look at Kenya in Wieland's "A View From a Tall Hill". It's a bio of Robt Ruark, but uses the Kenya story as background for his time there.

"Are you married, or are you from Kenya?"

Pete

Pete,

Thank you for including this to this list!

That would take volumes of posts, so you got some good advise and hundreds of books are available on the subject. Africa is a colorful and wonderfully historic country, wrought with fire and Ice,..

What always amazes me is that some folks wish they could have hunted Africa back in the "glory days" of the early 1900s when in fact it was not colorful or wonderful or the best of times..In fact you suffered Malaria, blackwater fever, venarial desease, fevors ran rampant, and one suffered a thousand deaths, not the least of which could be a beheading by some indigenous warrior. Your body was continuely ridden with festoring sores and blistered feet from foot rot and from the daily hardships of simply surviving to bring home an ox cart load of Ivory so that you could be a rich man, buy a farm and be a country gentleman..It was an extremely hard and in most cases a short life. Those few that we celebrate today were the survival of fitest and became legendary, the rest expired in some dark cornor of the continient from a lingering and painful death and ended their life under a shade tree and got a small grave marker if they were lucky.

Todays Africa is much better, but still has a splinter of the past and enough to suit most of us...:)

While not history books these were written a long time ago, and I enjoyed reading them.
The Trillogy of Denys Reitz ( the Boer war and WW1 in africa )
Storm and strife in Rodesia by F.C Selous (Matabale uprising)
Wild Sports of Southern Africa by William Cornwallace Harris
(exploration of what would become Zimbobwe by Ox drawn wagon)
Jock of the Bushveldt (just a damn good story about a boy and his dog)

+1 on "The Trillogy of Denys Reitz", excellent reading!

Make the decision to go and then make the sacrifices needed to make it happen. You will be more satisfied and rewarded by your decision. It is not as much as you may think.

Randy

I picked up a really interesting little book the other day on the Battle of Lake Tanganyika. Name;

Mimi and Toutou's Big Adventure
The Bizarre Battle of Lake Tanganyika
by Giles Foden.

Not a big book but an interesting read nontheless. Found it in the $4 bin at Half Price Books. Mimi and Toutou were the two small boats the Brits took overland from J-Burg to the lake to fight the German Navy! Kinda the basis for Forrester's "The African Queen" and the 70's Lee Marvin flick "Shout at the Devil". BTW, The Queen is now out on DVD for the first time! Picked it up @ Wally-World last Thursday night!

Kaywoodie

For a great overview of the Anglo-Zulu conflict, try "The washing of the spears" by Donald R. Morris. The book goes into a fair bit of depth on the history of the Zulu nation. If you have ever seen the movie "Zulu" I think you should read this book.
The top link is for Abebooks website.

Interesting fact was that in Botswana up to 1935 you could still get a permit from your local magistrate to legally shoot Bushmen (San) on your farm if they were raiding your livestock.
Another interesting book is "SAFARI - A Cronicle of Adventure", written by Bartle Bull(Pelican). He researched sport hunting from Cornwallis-Harris & Burchell right up to the mid to late 70's in Africa. Book is no longer in print, but you might still find one if you scrounge around.

Thanks gang I appreciate the recommendations!

ditto The Scramble for Africa as a good overview of the colonial era. The Great War in Africa is a good treatment of WWI in Africa. For the late post war colonial twilight, Ruark's "Something of Value" is a great historical novel.

I have a bunch at home I can't remember I'll post later. Burton, Speaks, Selous, Stanley....all left memoirs, more or less true, which make great reading.

Some of the strategies and tools of war developed during the Boer war figured prominently in WWI, something that the Germans and Allies seemed to forget at times during the Great War. Many outdated strategies cost great loss of life during that conflict that could have been avoided if greater attention had been spent studying the war in South Africa.
Another interesting aspect of that era.