In the long planning stages for my hunt in 2012, I have began to take in the works of such notables as Capstick and Roosevelt. Roosevelt's books have long been great but I came away with a rather negative opinion of Capstick. After reading several of his books, it seems to me that he judges a Safari and the company that puts it on for him by whether or not they can provide ice and fresh lemons at each camp. So, to so many of you out there, that are far more experienced than I in and about Africa, what books would you recommend?

Ruark, Boddington, Hunter, Bell, Burger and Flack to name a few.

Depends on where you're going and what you're hunting.

I would definitely read Kevin Robertson's "The Perfect Shot." If you are after buffalo, read his "Africa's Most Dangerous."

For elephant, read "Ndlovu" (I forget the author right now).

Also read something of the history and culture of wherever it is you are going.

Lot's of good information here:

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/frm/f/4521043

Here is a great book of Africa, not stories or a how too book... It is poetry of Africa... From an American hunter, and I had the pleasure to sit next to him on the plane back from Africa to my final destination Pittsburgh, Pa. in 2002...
20 plus safaris, the drawings are by some of Africa's finest artists both color and black and white...

Where Elephants Go To Die by Rege Podraza

http://www.hunterstrax.com/flash/rp.html

Mike

Joe,

If you want to learn something about modern safari in anticipation of your personal safari read everything that Boddington has written and watch his DVD's. All the books by Ruark, Hemingway, Taylor etc. and even Capstick are not particularly relevant to your upcoming safari. They all generated some great reads and I've read their books over and over but they are useless as a planning aid.

Mark

*Pondoro, Last of the Ivory Hunters by John Taylor

*Big Game and Big Game Rifles by John "Pondoro" Taylor

*African Rifles and Cartridges by John Taylor

*Maneaters and Marauders by John Taylor

Thanks to everyone and especially Mark. Reference relevant to the current day is helpful, although maybe not as entertaining as The older works. I have developed quite a list for my next trip to the stacks.

Joe

quote:

Originally posted by Buliwyf:
*Pondoro, Last of the Ivory Hunters by John Taylor

*Big Game and Big Game Rifles by John "Pondoro" Taylor

*African Rifles and Cartridges by John Taylor

*Maneaters and Marauders by John Taylor

Pondoro rules!

In addition, you might also read: "Into The Thorns" by Wayne Grant (leopard) and "Nyati, The Art of Hunting the African Buffalo" by African Hunter Magazine. "Ndlovu" is written by none other than Richard Harland. "Leopard" by Craig Boddington is another good one. Most of these are also current how to's, as well as entertaining and informative in their own way.

As Mjines suggested above, AR's Books and Video forum has disussed this subject ad nauseum. You can find it in "Other Topics" above the "Classified" forum.

To the titles suggested in this thread, I would add the SCI record book's African edition if you want to know where the best trophies come from, and which outfitter/PH produced them. Also, in no nother book will you find as much information about the natural history of all of that continent's game animals, as well as photos of the top three or four trophies for each species and maps showing where each species and subspecies is found.

Bill Quimby

A hunters wanderings in Africa- F.C Selous

It gives a brilliant account of hunting in Africa. Brilliant

quote:

Originally posted by F.C.Selous Stu:
A hunters wanderings in Africa- F.C Selous

It gives a brilliant account of hunting in Africa. Brilliant

Reading it at the moment, for the umpteenth time. It is brilliant and comes across as being 100% true, unlike other publications of that era and before.

Dave

Dave

There are many types of books about Africa -

History (Michener - The Covenent - is a great start)

Adventure Story - may be fact, may be fiction (Hemingway, Ruark, Capstick)

Biographies of pre-1900 hunters/explorers

Biographies of post - 1900 hunter/poacher/PH's

How To - hunting nearly every animal in every country (Perfect Shot, Boddington on Buffalo, etc.)

How To - how to plan hunters, where to go, etc.

Equipment - guns, bullets, etc. (Safari Rifles by Woods, etc.)

Philosophical /Ethics - usually mixed with a bio or a history book (Uwe Kai-Denker, White and others)

There are many well read and well known classics in each category.

I have read about 120 of the various types. You can read the various threads on AR and get plenty of advice. Also, check was is offered by Safari PRess for some ideas.

For fun reading, Corbett's books on India are fantastic, Selous' book on Wanderings is his best, Ruark writes a couple of excellent books, Capstick writes "popcorn" type books (short, fun, exaggerated), Boddington is very practical with advice and comments, Harland is excellent on how to and a couple of his bio's, Denker makes you think, John Burger is a buff expert and writes well, Boyes is my favorite adventurer.

THis goes on and on. Jump in and have fun.

For modern info I found Boddington and Flack to be the most helpful. For enjoyment I really loved all the JA hunter books as well as all of John Taylors books, Ruarks books and the Green Hills of Africa by Hemmingway. I forget the exact number but I have now read somewhere between 50-60 books on safari and these are my favorites so far.