Best classic Africa hunting books

cam1936

cam1936

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As the title says, what is your favorite classic African hunting tale?

I'm looking for some new reading material and would love to read an account of an exciting hunt in Africa from a time gone by.
 
I have the full set of hard cover books by peter capstick . hunting Africa ,he tells some great stores from the old days of ivory hunting with some of the best hunters in the world ,he was also a animal control officer and shot hundreds of elephants himself .,he is a great writer and tells great storys .I just got the new book from bodington and well it is a good book he just does not tell a story like capstick .you can google capstick and see what he has all wrote . I would say that anybodys that hunts should at least read a few of his storeys .Dutch
 
I found Jack O`Conner books to be very interesting ..Jack was aka the Man who re-built the 270WIN ..he was shooting editor for Outdoor Life magazine for long time hunted everywhere ..enjoy
 
dutchhunter said:
I have the full set of hard cover books by peter capstick . hunting Africa ,he tells some great stores from the old days of ivory hunting with some of the best hunters in the world ,he was also a animal control officer and shot hundreds of elephants himself .,he is a great writer and tells great storys .I just got the new book from bodington and well it is a good book he just does not tell a story like capstick .you can google capstick and see what he has all wrote . I would say that anybodys that hunts should at least read a few of his storeys .Dutch
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Yes he is a great writer, "Death in the Long Grass" dealt with the dangers of the African bush quite well!
 
Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter
Karamojo Safari ** this is the best account of what it was like on an early foot safari**
Bell of Africa
all by W.D.M. "Karamojo" Bell
Horn of the Hunter, Robert Ruark
Green Hills of Africa, Hemmingway
No More the Tusker, George Rushby
Adventures of an Elephant Hunter, James Sutherland
Elephant, D.E. Blunt
The Last of Old Africa, Brian Nicholson
Hunting the Dangerous Game of Africa, John Kingsley-Heath
African Hunter, Bror von Blixen-Finnecke
African Hunter, again, but this one by James Mellon
Maneaters of Tsavo, J.H. Patterson
Jungle Man, P.J. Pretorius
Hunter, J.A. Hunter
Pondoro, John Taylor, but take it with a grain of salt
Kambaku, Harry Manners
Horned Death, John Burger

Not so much hunting, but interesting Africana;
End of the Game, Peter Beard
Eyelids of Morning, Alistair Graham and Peter Beard
Sand Rivers, Peter Matthieson
Out of Africa, Karen Blixen (Isak Dineson)
Flame Trees of Thika, Elspeth Huxley

... and it could go on and on.
can't recommend anything by Alexander Lake, guy is full of it.
 
Dutch.............don't believe everything you read........Capstick was never a game control officer and never actually hunted as a PH. He did hold a PH license in several countries but these were purchased not earned. All of his "first person" stories are actually about a bunch of PHs who shared their stories with Peter Thataway Chapstick as he is known all over southern Africa. Although a big fraud, his writing is some of the best I have read and have almost, if not all, that he has written.
 
Google up "Don Heath" who sometimes writes under nom de plume "Ganyana". Not "classic" in the sense of 1920's Africa, but real eye opening stuff from 50's and 60's. Also, books by Finn Aargard - similar era. These guys seemed to be dealing with "bad guys", at least as often as they dealt with "snarly, toothy and clawed" things... Bell's books are simply awesome to read. So sad that the world he lived in is gone for good...
 
I too, have practically all that Capstick ever wrote, and he is a superb storyteller, if nothing else.

Some of the others on here have listed other great Africana reading.

Regards, Dave.
 
medvedqc said:
if we are contempary Krvin Roberston with the perfect hot and anything from him. good reason is the lovely use of 9.3x63 ...
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Plus 1 for the 9.3x62! It is worth your while to google around and find the story and photo sequence of Don Heath (Ganyana) guiding a photography tour, then get charged by a bull elephant which he stops with a single shot at less than 8 feet, with a 9.3x62!!
 
c-fbmi said:
Dutch.............don't believe everything you read........Capstick was never a game control officer and never actually hunted as a PH. He did hold a PH license in several countries but these were purchased not earned. All of his "first person" stories are actually about a bunch of PHs who shared their stories with Peter Thataway Chapstick as he is known all over southern Africa. Although a big fraud, his writing is some of the best I have read and have almost, if not all, that he has written.
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Don't believe everything you read either. Most of the PHs who made derisive remarks against PHC did so because they were jelous of his abilty to put pen to paper and turn a profit. He most certainly was a cropping officer in Zambia Botswana and Rhodesia. He has a cartridge named after him. His life was lived on his terms and as such he has fallen prey to the jelousy of us mere mortals. Up here their is a local legend about Jack O'Conner laying up drunk in camp while Johnny Johns goes and plugs the big dall ram on pilot mtn for him. true?? Or just a rumor started by those not able to live the life JO'C lived.
 
One Capstick book I would recommend is his biography of Wally Johnson, " The Last Ivory Hunter". Most of it is taken from taped conversations with Wally before he passed away.
 
the set I have is the hard cover with gold bindings all have his signature and are numbered ,I have 10 books in total ,I do love his storys of the old days .and all the old guys that hunted many years ago .also the story about the babons and the mac10 ,that was crazy ,anyway these books I got from a dear friend and it is something I would never part with ,I tried reading a book by CRAIG BODDINGTON ,TRACKS ACROSS AFICA .but he just does not have the story telling ability of capstick ,always looking for more books ,Dutch
 
nof60 said:
Don't believe everything you read either. Most of the PHs who made derisive remarks against PHC did so because they were jelous of his abilty to put pen to paper and turn a profit. He most certainly was a cropping officer in Zambia Botswana and Rhodesia. He has a cartridge named after him. His life was lived on his terms and as such he has fallen prey to the jelousy of us mere mortals. Up here their is a local legend about Jack O'Conner laying up drunk in camp while Johnny Johns goes and plugs the big dall ram on pilot mtn for him. true?? Or just a rumor started by those not able to live the life JO'C lived.
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nof60...........my information comes from talking with more than a dozen PHs who knew him directly and PHs as a lot, are not really a jealous sort. Also if one looks into HIS cartridge namesake you will find that he named it so, and it was developed by none other than P.O. Ackley many years before Capstick ever set foot in Africa.
I would never disparage Capstick's ability as an author, his work is second to none, but if you actually believe all he wrote was of his own personal experience then you sir, are the uninformed. As one PH who I spoke with put it, "no one who has hunted dangerous game could have as many close calls as Capstick claims to have had and survived to write about them all"...........
 
c-fbmi said:
nof60...........my information comes from talking with more than a dozen PHs who knew him directly and PHs as a lot, are not really a jealous sort. Also if one looks into HIS cartridge namesake you will find that he named it so, and it was developed by none other than P.O. Ackley many years before Capstick ever set foot in Africa.
I would never disparage Capstick's ability as an author, his work is second to none, but if you actually believe all he wrote was of his own personal experience then you sir, are the uninformed. As one PH who I spoke with put it, "no one who has hunted dangerous game could have as many close calls as Capstick claims to have had and survived to write about them all"...........
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"The .470 Capstick is a rifle cartridge created by Col. Arthur B Alphin from A-Square in 1990, named after writer and hunter Peter Hathaway Capstick.[1] It is based on a .375 H&H Magnum case blown out and necked to accept a .475 inch (12 mm) bullet. With 500 grain (32 g) bullets, it can achieve 2400 feet per second (730 m/s) muzzle velocity from a 26" barrel."

More than a dozen you say? You have talked to "more than a dozen PHs who new him directly"

Ol' PHC was not the only one who maybe overreached in his story telling.

But please. Tell us more.

I don't think anyone on earth believes everything any hunting writer puts on paper. I don't doubt PHC borrowed a few stories as well. Who hasn't? But I also don't believe he was totally full of beans either.
 
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