Harry Selby, Renowned Hunter and Safari Guide, Is Dead at 92

Gatehouse said:
That guy LIVED! I didn't even realize he was still alive up until recently.
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"...He shot his first antelope at 8, his first elephant at 14....":eek:

I remember an article by his daughter, Gail Selby, in African Hunter mag or some such, maybe 10 years ago, about growing up with her dad. It was a good read. Unfortunately I don't think I have it now .
 
Pretty impressive life story. An inspiration for Robert Ruark and Ernest Hemmingway.

From his obit:
He was left-handed, but his favorite gun was a right-handed .416 Rigby, which can knock down an onrushing bull elephant or Cape buffalo in a thundering instant.
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(a 400 grain solid frontal brain shot will change a charging elephant's mind!) -AZ

and
In 1962, after Kenyan independence and political upheavals dimmed prospects for safaris in East Africa, he accepted a partnership in his old company, which became Ker, Downey and Selby, and in 1963 moved as its trailblazer to Bechuanaland, a British protectorate that became independent Botswana in 1966. It was a hunter’s — and a photographer’s — paradise.

“What we found exceeded our wildest expectations — a land which the passage of time had passed by, where nature had remained unchanged in the 20th century,” Mr. Selby said in an interview for this obituary. “The vast savannas were teeming with huge herds of elephant, buffalo, kudu, zebra, wildebeest and sable. Lions were everywhere, showing little fear of man.”
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"Every man dies, but not every man really lives!"
RIP
 
Quite possibly the last of the old legends. Rest in Peace, Mr Selby. Thanks for starring in the yarns that drove me to seek my own adventures in Africa over a half-century later.
 
Harry Selby was the quintessential safari guide we all grew up reading about. He actually apprenticed for Philip Percival (himself a safari legend) in order to get a start in the safari business. I often think about these guys who opened up the safari business when I am out hunting in Africa today and think of how exciting it must have been to open up the new concessions that they did amongst other things. I thank him and others like him who sparked my interest to hunt/work in Africa. R.I.P. Harry Selby.
 
Wow, he outlived Ruark, the guy who made him famous, by 52 years. They made quite a story about Robert's first safari. I wonder if he missed old Bob ?
 
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