Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Video by Robert Ruark

I stumbled across this little gem today and thought I’d share.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N2Cim-4tWkw

I'm a Ruark nut and have a copy.

I ordered some time back from Safari Press. The narration is a little stiff, but typical of the 1950s style TV/Documentary. Great to get a glimpse of the Africa I missed out on....

I actually enjoy that kind of narration. Reminds me of watching documentaries with my Dad a long time ago. A much simpler time.

I liked the way he typed, pretty comical for a professional writer. I type the same way.

Great piece thank you for posting it .

I like Ruark's writing. His novels , African Adventures, and especially "The Old Man & the Boy".

I much prefer his work over Hemingway.

Thank you for posting.

Watched it a month ago on the TV. Really good. Enjoyed seeing the late Harry Selby.

Ruark's writing is really good. I think Capstick is the best of all.

Thanks for posting - really enjoyed it. Fun to match it up with his writing.

Thanks for posting that film of Ruark's safari.. I wonder what a three month African safari would cost today? Maybe what it would cost for a new Rolls Royce.

I do wish Ruark had mentioned the rifles and calibers used.

L.W.

Nice diversion from all the insanity.

i enjoyed this old film thank you for posting,Pete53

Thank you for posting this. I really enjoyed it!

Neat to hear Ruark's voice as the narrator and I realize after reading some of these African words for so long that I've been pronouncing them wrong! Imagine if they had today's video equipment what these images from 60+ years ago would look like.

I wonder what the venue for this was back in the day? Hunting and outdoor club meetings? Ruark book signings and talks? As much more mainstream as hunting was back then, I don't see it being a cinematic release. Maybe he just showed it to guests at his home in Palamos?

tag

I thoroughly enjoyed that. Thanks so much for posting!

Guy

That is a nugget of goodness

I should of never watched it. How at age 70 with a wife my age and a modest retirement income am I ever going to sell out and move to Africa and become a famous Land Rover driver LOL. I would have to do the sight seeing tourist thing because no way I could walk in that heat, to many years in Alaska has me climatized. I would also need a good Mauser actioned 7x57, 9.3X62, Three Seven Five, .416 Rigby and a couple of double rifles in .45 and .50 caliber, all with beautiful walnut and modest engraving. Hell, I would want a 6.5 Creed and a 30-06, never been with out a 30-06. Maybe a good .223 bolt gun also. Then there's the shot guns, be retro for me, so for sure a Mod. 12 Win. and a side by side.

Yup, it's got me dreaming and feeling sorry for my self for missing out on that place and that time in history. But, every fall I can still go creep a salmon stream as darkness falls if I want to raise my senses, big brownie tracks can do that.

What a great video, just perfect for this old guy. Thanks for the post Pard!

That was great, thanks for posting it!

I thought it was funny watching him type with 2 fingers.

Thanks for posting

that was a great watch, especially if you've read either of his Africa books.

thanks for sharing!

I’ve read that Ruark’s first safari cost $10,000. I think that was in 1951 or 1952.

I’m glad everyone enjoyed this video. I did too.

Ruark employed a Westley Richards .470
M70 .375 and Remington 721 .30-06...and
looks like Gordons was his choice of Gin.

We see Selby with a SxS and I am curious
since he had already lost his Rigby RS .470
when it got destroyed by the wheels of the
Landrover some yrs back. He had a backup
M70 .375, but very soon replaced the double
by acquisition of .416 Rigby Mauser (from
May & Co, Nairobi.. though other reports say
Shaw & Hunter, Nairobi.)
That being a rifle a game warden by the
name Don Bousfield had ordered but not
gone through with the purchase.

The Selbys did come into the possession
of a Jeffery .450/400 that had belonged
to WDM Bell (taken on first year of safari 1902)
but that was not until late 1956, just after
Ruark had visited WR London to aquire
for himself a .318 WR.
Ruark employed that Jeffery as his light
double for elephant during 1962 Kwaheri
horseback safari with Selby.

Thanks, Starman.

L.W.

Really enjoyed that! Quite refreshing after recent weeks of political antics.
Made me ready to go back to Africa. Maybe in a few more years.

Great video, been a Ruark fan since my uncle gave me a copy of Old Man and the Boy in the 1960's. Nice to have a chance to see what he (and Selby) looked like on safari - he had lost his eastern NC accent by then.

Great vid. Saw that two weeks ago. I remember buying his book Use Enough Gun when I was a teenager back in the eighties at a gun show. Read about leopards and the Black Death. I have gotten some more of his books as the years went by. I was going to live out my dream and planned my African safari last year but was canceled due to the CCP Virus. Hope to fulfill the dream sometime soon.

I've long been a fan of Ruark. Lost this girl in August. Perhaps she is finding birds for the Old Man and the Boy.

[img]https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/forums/80/1/image-gallery[/img]

Edited: Well, I guess that attempt to post a photo failed. I need to figure this out.

Thanks for posting the video. I very much enjoyed it. I've been a long time fan of Ruark's writing. What a time that would have been to experience Africa in the 50s!

Thanks for posting the video...I have several of his books, and eventually I made it to Africa. I was amazed tho, at the poor gun handling, muzzels pointed every where.

Love this! Especially the guys getting off of the plane with rifles in their hands!

Thanks for posting, Awesome video. Great to see Ruark and Selby. I too enjoy his writing over Hemingways.
Ruark types like me.

Whittail_in_Mt. fixed my problems. Here is my photo connection to Ruark. We took our bird dog to Southport to visit the home of "The Old Man". On the way, we stopped to pay our respects. This was a while ago. We lost our girl in August. May have to take the new girl on a road trip.

I enjoyed that. It reminded me of the early Gordan Eastman films too in Canada and the U.S. in the way he narrated his work.

Terrific video thanks for posting it. Something of Value was one of my favorite books as a youngster.


mike r

That video shows how much things have changed.

110 pound elephant? Or even 80 pound elephant? Can't find them any more.

Even his buffalo is larger than you'll probably find today.

Rhino? For the purposes of hunting, they're extinct.

And you don't spend days driving to the hunting areas any more.

For sure.

I saw that 49" buff, they said 45" was good.

Good bud shot a 41" in Zem last year, thought it was pretty good, as it was. Looks good on his wall.

Those were the days, for sure.

DF

Was great to watch this again. I no longer have the DVD and so grateful to be able to watch it again! Thank you for sharing!

Thanks for posting, great video

Thanks for sharing the video buddy.

I remember when I first read “Horn of the Hunter”, I thought to myself ...”Boy this guy sure drinks a lot”. In checking his biography I discovered he drank himself to death at the age of 49. Cirrhosis of the liver is NOT a fun way to peg out.

Tlhanks I will watch it completely a big later.. His book The Old Man and the Boy is one of my all time favorites..

Tlhanks I will watch it completely a big later.. His book The Old Man and the Boy is one of my all time favorites..

I read "Something of value" for a book report in 11th grade early eighties--ish, it really made you feel like you were there, the details, the tragedy, I always wonder how he knew so much about it..I guess I know now. He lived it, or at least a small amount. I remember trying to give the verbal report in front of my classmates, little hick logging town in WA, most stared blankly at me while I explained what a MauMau was, or tried too. After that I devoured everything Africa I could, I swore I was going to return to SA (born there in Pretoria) and be a Game Control Officer cropping elephants and rogue buffs. When "Uhuru" came out we were living in Pretoria, Mom and Dad read it...big mistake. Scared mom and made her want to leave SA.

His comment at 8:49 exemplifies why I like him so much. Just casually mentioning the Mau-Mau killing 2 people 1/2 mile away, but you'll make it alright.