I'm not sure where to post this thread and I couldn't find a category it fit so here is where it gets posted.

On my last trip to South Africa by PH gave me a copy of Peter Godwin's book Mukiwa which I quickly read cover to cover. I then purchased the next two books of the trilogy When a Crocodile Eats the Sun and The Fear. These books were real eye openers for me and opened the door to more research into Africa's recent past and potential for the future. I strongly recommend them if you haven't already started. No, they are not about hunting.

Any chance of a brief description on the books pls

I've read the first two and have them in my library. Both are about life in Zimbabwe after Mugabe took control. I have not read The Fear. My copy of Mukiwa, A White Boy In Africa, has been dog eared and is well worn from the many others who have read it.

If you like ready, my suggestion is to get yourself an Amazon Kindle.

You can download an enormous number of old book on African hunting and exploration, all for free.

Some of them are extremely interesting, and give you an idea of an era and forms of hunting that is no longer available for us.

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You can download an enormous number of old book on African hunting and exploration, all for free.

Link?

Go to amazon.com and look for kindle books.

Gutenberg

Also has thousands of free books.

Thank you
1st trip is Oct

Check book reviews forum on AR. Use the search feature to find the title. I may have reviewed these a long time ago.

Read Between The Sunlight & The Thunder by Keith Meadows.
Very intriquing story.

The book Mukiwa starts with Mr. Godwin's description of growing up in Rhodesia, the transformation to independent rule and then the shift to majority rule and the formation of Zimbabwe. The next two books are a blow by blow account of the destruction of Zimbabwe and the rule of Mugabe. If you want to go deeper into Africa than just hunting the game and seeing the sites, these books are eye opening. Mr. Godwin presents his own experiences and not a lot of here say.

I'm afraid Africa owns my soul now. Seriously.

I'm a fairly avid reader but other than coming and going from Africa on the plane I just can't imagine having time to read on safari. For me there is far too much going on for me to pick up a book. Good Heavens! Your on the adventure of a lifetime why would anything in a book be of interest.

Mark

It is too damn obvious that Frostbit never took any books.
Yup, Peter Godwin can make you sit up and realise that things are going to hell fast in paradise. In SA it is not as in your face as in Zimbabwe, but it is there, becoming slowly more apparent, a creeping, more insidious rot.

Same here Mark.

I only read and watch movies on the way there.

In fact,on the way back I normally sort through our photos to post here.

I find lots of time to read on safari (or anywhere, for that matter). I always have my Kindle with me, whether it be in my backpack to use during a lunchtime nap in the bush or just in my pocket when in camp for when I have five minutes.

Almost always, when on safari, I exclusively read Africa related books. At present, I have the Goodwin books on the Kindle (finishing the last in Zimbabwe two weeks ago... they are well worth the read). I have stored or have already read: Autobiography of a Lion, Zimbabwe, African Camp Fires, Allan Quatermain Complete reader, Blood on the Tracks, Don't Look Behind You, The Great Boer War, Hunting the Lions, The Ice Cream War, The Ivory Trail, The Land of Footprints, The Man-Eaters of Tsavo, On Commando, Suffering in Africa; The Incredeble True Story of Shipwreck, Enslavement and Survival, Travels and Adventure in South-East Africa (Selous), Whatever You Do, Don't Run, and about 50 others, including Roosevelt's, Baker's, Richard Burton's, Stanley's, etc.

The Kindle fits easily in my jacket or safari shirt (It is the smallest model). I find it great to use while awaiting everyone's arrival at meals, for an extra thirty minutes by the fire after drinks, in bed with a headlamp after the generator is off, standing in the customs lines, awaiting my rifle's arrival at SAPS or in a leopard blind. I just like to read, and a book, fiction or true about where I'm visiting, just adds to my enjoyment, and I think that P.H.'s appreciate that one is willing to learn about the history and culture of where they live.

JMHO, though.

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
I'm a fairly avid reader but other than coming and going from Africa on the plane I just can't imagine having time to read on safari. For me there is far too much going on for me to pick up a book. Good Heavens! Your on the adventure of a lifetime why would anything in a book be of interest.

Mark

Thanks for the titles JudgeG first timers and their wives should not read any of the Godwin books, they might not come to Africa!

Judge G: I'm with you, and I find Africa so much more interesting when you have read about her politics and history. Seems that your vision of each country is much deeper. I have a whole credenza of African books in my office, most of which I have read, by the way. Some of the titles in my African library dealing with the history and politics of Africa include: Cry Zimbabwe, The Last Resort, The Great Betrayal, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, Mukiwa, Something of Value, Uhuru, and The Long Walk To Freedom, among others. I like Peter Godwin's books and they actually prepare you, in a way, for Africa, and put things into perspective.

My last few trips I brought only field guides (birds, trees, insects, etc.) and phrase books. Makes it feel more like an expedition.

TR, aside from The Bible, Alice in Wonderland and the Collected Works of William Shakespeare brought the works of Homer, Euripides, Dante, Milton, Bacon, Goethe, Cervantes, Molière, Pascal, Marlowe, Carlyle, Lowell; books of poetry by Longfellow, Tennyson, Poe, Emerson, Keats, Shelley and Browning; novels by Mark Twain, Sir Walter Scott, James Fennimore Cooper, Thackeray, and Dickens and more, 60 in total, each custom bound in pigskin.

Judge,

I hope all of those titles are on Kindle. It will give me more material. I can't nap in Africa, so those mid-day breaks etc. I am always reading. That is about the only time other than in bed with headlamp, that I read on safari. I usually only sleep 3-4 hours a night in AFrica as I just hate to miss a minute of it. Usually up at 3ish and down at 11-12...

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I'm not sure where to post this thread and I couldn't find a category it fit so here is where it gets posted.

"Books and Videos of Interest" is found in the "Other Topics" category near the bottom of AR's opening menu.

Bill Quimby

quote:

Originally posted by Tim Herald:
Judge,

I hope all of those titles are on Kindle. It will give me more material. I can't nap in Africa, so those mid-day breaks etc. I am always reading. That is about the only time other than in bed with headlamp, that I read on safari. I usually only sleep 3-4 hours a night in AFrica as I just hate to miss a minute of it. Usually up at 3ish and down at 11-12...

Tim,

I am like you. Never could take a nap and all I want is 6 good hours of sleep. I read in my bed with head-lamp before I go to sleep of a night and sometimes while everybody is napping under a sausage tree.

Many years ago, they would have some books in the hunting camps we hunted from.

And those are the ones I used to look through when we are at the camp and everyone is having a bit of a siesta, as I don't sleep in the day time at all.

But, in the last few years, I spend that time walking close to camb with my camera, taking photos of things that interest me.

No books for me while on safari.The trip itself has always been stimulating enough.I do enjoy going through the African hunting magazines at camp,sitting on a chair soaking up the sun, having a cold drink while listening to all the birds and other stuff.The thing I like most of all is natural conversation with people living different lives in other parts of the world.It is hard to have a conversation with someone who is occupied with a book or always writing in his journal.

What book titles for the Kindle have people been able to find. Seems like my searches never turn anything up of any interest. Maybe I'm inept at searching for them.

I always have some kind of books with me wherever I go, but the most worthwhile for me on safari has been a small pocket notebook. I write down the day's events so I can refer to them later.

My mistakes have been not to write down specific ammo loads, names of individuals, brands of insect repellent and many other little details that I wish I could remember. A small digital camera would help with those, too.

Another good book on Zimbabwe and how life there WAS, is Shadows in an African Twighlight, by Kevin Thomas, who's a PH, living near Grahamstown RSA. He guides in the East Cape and DG and plains game in Zimbabwe. He was born and raised in Zimbabwe, and in his younger years a Selous Scout. Kevin has another book out now, but I forget the title, thought have a copy ordered already. He also writes for Magnum hunting magazine. Shadows needs to be read by any one interested in South Africa.

Another fine book is Mbada, an African Epic, which is about Paul Grobler, a former PH now living in Australia, and his growing up in Rhodesia.

quote:

Originally posted by Bwanna:
What book titles for the Kindle have people been able to find. Seems like my searches never turn anything up of any interest. Maybe I'm inept at searching for them.

I have both When a Crocodile Ate the Sun and The Fear on my Ipad Kindle application.