Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Best non-obvious safari reads

What are your best non-obvious safari reads? By obvious I'm talking Hemingway, TR, Capstick, and Ruark which are in the superstar class by themselves.

I have a collection, and re-read many of them every so often with great enjoyment.

Medium - well known

Horned Death - John Burger

Hunter's Choice - J.A. Hunter

African Rifles and Carteidges - John "Pondoro" Taylor

Bell of Africa - WDM Bell



Lesser known -

Killers in Africa - Alexader Lake

Months of the Sun - Ian Nyschens

Wheel of Life - Bunny Allen


Sorry that Harry Selby never got his stories down. I would have loved to have read them.

One of my favorites: Trophy Hunting In Africa by Elgin Gates.

Our own Bill Quimby might be a wealth of knowledge on this subject.

MAHOHBOH, Ron Thomson
MEMORIES OF AN AFRICAN HUNTER, Terry Irwin
HUNTING THE DANGEROUS GAME OF AFRICA, John Kingsley-Heath
THE BOOK OF THE LION, Sir Alfred E. Pease
THE BIG FIVE, Anthony Dyer
MEN FOR ALL SEASONS, Anthony Dyer
ENCOUNTERS WITH LIONS, Jan Hemsing
FOURTEEN YEARS IN THE AFRICAN BUSH, Tony Marsh

Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa by Arthur Neumann.

both Steve Christenson's books are good reads, especially 'From the Congo Basin to the Highlands of Ethiopia' is a hell of a good read for those thinking a safari is just someone driving around pointing out which animals you should shoot...

'Buffalo, Elephant and Bongo' by Reinald von Meurers is a favorite...DIY hunts into the jungles of Cameroon, couple dozen trips....

anything by Tony Sanchez-Arino....he is a darn good writer....

I can't disagree with any of the titles mentioned.

You might also check the websites of Safari Press and Trophy Room Books to see what catches your interest.

Though not strictly Africa, you might also be interested in two books I worked on: "Wind In My Face" by Hubert Thummler (as told to me) and "Royal Quest" (by me). Both tell about the worldwide hunting of notable 20th century hunter/collectors.

Another thread on the 'Fire mentioned Ortega y Gassett's "Meditations On Hunting," and I was surprised to read that there is at least one well-traveled hunter among us who had not read it. If you haven't, you should.

Bill Quimby

was wondering if "our" billrquimby was "that" Bill Quimby i recently have read 'Royal Quest'

Rattler:

Yep, I wrote it. Hope you enjoyed it. Prince Abdorreza's royal status (and Iran's oil) opened doors that allowed him to go on hunts that can never be duplicated.

Bill Quimby

yeah i did enjoy it, very neat story and some great photographs...well worth acquiring...

I see that you also like Asian hunting topics. Have you read "Wind In My Face," "Obsessed," "Yoshi," "The Heck With It, I'm Going Hunting," "Around The World And Then Some," and C.J. McElroy's four books? I wrote them with their authors, and all except one of the McElroy books have Asian chapters.

Bill Quimby

no they are on the list now that im working again and just looking out for myself(divorced a year ago and was out of work between August and January) though John Brandt's 'Horned Giants' will prolly be first on the list as ive wanted it for a long while.....not alot out there on hunting Asia the last 50 years or so which makes some of the books you listed already being on my radar....

Not so much an 'unknown' but a book I have never seen mentioned that I enjoyed the hell out of was Craig Boddington "From Mt. Kenya to the Cape".

Bills book of "60 Years a Hunter" is a damn fine read as well. I read it on my way to my first African safari. Plus, I have a signed copy!

Thanks for the plug, Casey. I didn't mention it above because there's only one chapter on my hunting in Asia.

Rattler: Of the books I did mention, You may want to pick up "McElroy Hunts Asia" and "Wind In My Face" first. Both have a lot of information about hunting markhor and argali in the last half of the 20th century.

"Wind" tells about Weatherby award recipient Hubert Thummler of Mexico's quest to post an entry in nearly every category of the SCI record books, including virtually every subspecies of the world's mountain game.

End of commercial. I apologize to all for getting this thread off track.

Bill Quimby

Craig Boddington books "Buffalo," "Elephant," "Safari Rifles II" and "African Experience."

Terry Weiland "Dangerous Game Rifles II."

no worries thanks for an idea where to start on the list sir.

Months of the Sun by Ian Nychens. Very interesting read. Nychens was a notorious poacher and what he endured to make his living is quite amazing.

unfortunately a damn expensive book....fortunately a member on here loaned me his copy to read....want to pick up the other book of his that was released this year by Safari Press

tag

I have found that after reading so many books with African hunting (specifically) as the subject, I have gravitated toward books more about the African experience in general.

I recommend:

Anything by Elspeth Huxley e.g. Flame Trees of Thika, Out in the Midday Sun etc.
Don't Let's go to the dogs tonight - Alexandra Fuller
Out of Africa (of course) - Denison/Blixen
The Bolter - Frances Osborne
The Temptress - Paul Spicer
West with the Night - Beryl Markham
Straight on till morning (about Beryl Markham - Mary Lovell
Too Close to the Sun (about Denys Finch-Hatton - Sara Wheeler
Safari - Bartle Bull
White Hunters - Brian Herne. This book is one of the very best chronicles of the great PH's in Africa.


That should keep you busy.


"Sorry that Harry Selby never got his stories down."

I hope you don't think Harry is dead; he's not. You can find many stories from Harry in Sports Afield and the NRA's American Hunter. I've known Harry for a decade now, and his daughter even longer. They are all very fine folks I am honored to call friends.

I talked with someone recently who knows Harry Selby well and is eminently qualified to help Selby with his memoirs. I would not be surprised to see such a book in a year or two.

Bill Quimby

Bill,

I hope you are right. And I think I might know who you are talking about. I would love to see a Selby book. Just the few stories he has told me are worth publishing, but they aren't a fraction of a fraction of all that he has.

Bill,

Glad to see you join in! I actually have "Yoshi" and have it my reading queue. Knowing you had a hand in it will make it more meaningful. I got introduced to Watson Yoshimoto several times at SCI through mutual friends. He was a super polite and gracious in our chats, and repeatedly offered to show me his "museum" and such in Hawaii shoud I ever get their. Never did, unfortunately.

Hatari:

Yoshi donated his extensive collection of lifesize trophies to a museum in Japan before I interviewed him at his home and office in Honolulu for that book.

He and his wife were gracious people, but interviewing him was difficult because he was 90 years old and deaf, and he was drinking a bottle of White Label scotch every day.

To get what I needed to write his book, I spent ten days going through six large filing cabinets where his various secretaries had filed receipts, correspondence, etc. from his many hunting trips over a lifetime, then cross-checking what I found in those files against his entries in the SCI record books, and using what I knew about hunting techniques for the various species and locales to describe "his" stalks. I also interviewed his friends and hunting pals and spent two days in the Honolulu newspaper's "morgue."

I cannot describe how shocked I was when every proof of the manuscript I sent him and Kay was returned without a single change.

Yoshi died within a couple of months after the book came out. I am glad I was able to preserve some of his stories.

Bill Quimby

OK, you asked for non obvious. How about some fiction.

Bartle Bull wrote a series of books on an African PH and his wild adventures before and after the war. It is a very good read.
A Cafe on the Nile
The White Rhino Hotel
The Devil's Oasis

Bill,

Maybe I am in the minority here, but I would be interested in seeing a book from you about writing books. Your experiences with these gentleman that clearly have more experience hunting around the world in one week then I will ever have in my life. I would think that could be an interesting read.

Casey

"Months of the Sun" is my favorite.

"After Big Game in Central Africa" is good.

One of the best books of any type I have read is "Alaskan Yukon Trophies Won and Lost". I know it not Africa but it is a great read.

+1 Excellent! I've read all three.

Cheers!
-Bob F.

Thanks, Casey. Don't know if I could interest a publisher in buying such a book. My specialty niche is helping others prepare manuscripts about their lives as hunters. "Sixty Years A Hunter" is my only book about my personal experiences.

You are correct about my clients. All had done more hunting in more places for more types of animals than most hunters have ever heard of. Their trophy rooms put many natural history museums to shame.

All except three were self-made men who took risks that paid off early in their lives. All but one are/were great people and a pleasure to work with, and we came away from writing their memoirs as friends.

I'll be 80 in just 17 months, and don't know how many books I'll do after finishing the two I've contracts for this year.

Bill Quimby

Bill, I live in a town on the east coast of Florida where, as a friend of mine puts it, "The retirees from Boca Raton go to visit their parents." If looking around me is any indication, even at 80 you'll still have plenty of miles to go.

TV Bulpin wrote some really great book - the Ivory trail, lost trails of the Transvaal etc, all fascinating reads - that's if you are into Southern Africa history and hunting legends.

RevMike:

We own a rental townhouse in a place like your town. Whenever we feel the need to feel younger, my wife and I drive there, just to look around.

Bill Quimby

If it's in my neck of the woods, stop in. You'll feel like a kid again!

This.

Bill, are you going to be in Greer this summer, like usual? My grandfather passed this past September so it will be hard/weird for us to be up there with out him for the first time, but I imagine my wife, kids and I will spend our usual week or so up there. Hopefully, it will be around the time of the Sunrise 3D shoot. We should have no problem meeting up for lunch, we will buy you and your wife a pizza and milk shake at the newish cafe in town. (the owner, Kristi catered our wedding and it was fantastic!)

Hi Casey. PM sent your way.

Bill Quimby

Bror Blixen: African hunter and The African Letters
Percy Fitzpatrick: Jock of the Bushveld (for dog lovers)
FC.Selous: African Nature Notes And Reminiscenes
Harry Manners: Kambuku

I liked Patterson's "Ghost and the Darkness". He undramatically told about huddling in a RR caboose listening to a colleague being eaten, and stalking lions with an Enfield and a borrowed double that fired only one barrel. I'm amazed he lived to write it. Much, much better than the movie, but then books nearly always are.

Patterson didn't go to Africa on safari. He went there to build a railroad. Shooting lion just fell under "other duties as necessary".

I'm told the lions are still in the Field Museum, so if I ever go to Chicago again I'll get a chance to see them.

Was about the only good thing I saw in Chicago once... in the museum. Or whole town for that matter.

Then I looked up and realized I was entering morton grove, with a loaded 1911 under the seat and TX plates on a 3/4 ton truck.... oops..... made it though.

A few more good reads:

THE SHAMBA RAIDERS: Bruce Kinloch
BIG STUFF: C.T.Stoneham
THE ADVENTURES OF SHADREK: Ron Thomson
SHOOT STRAIGHT AND STAY ALIVE: Fred Bartlett
IN ANY KIND OF COVER: Hugo Seia

Killers in Africa - Alexader Lake

I was captivated by this book when I read it as a boy in the early 1960's; I'm sure I read it at least 1,000 times. It ultimately served as the motivation for my two subsequent safaris (the first to Tanzania, the second to South Africa). A friend scoured the Net and found a signed copy of this book, which he conveyed to me as a gift, and which I cherish.

Great future reading suggestions.

I just received "Too Close to the Sun", the biography of Deny Finch-Hatton. I haven't read it yet, but at $11 hardback, never read (i.e., "new"), I couldn't pass it up.