We all read the post about the wrost book, now how about the best. Since I started it, I'll go first and I say it has to be African Hunter by JA Hunter by far. This is the book that started it all for this city boy when I was only 10 or 11years old.Marlin Perkins from wild kingdon had alot to do with it also.

Jack O'Connor's Big Game Hunts (I know it isn't pure Africa) and anything by Boddington. Safari Rifles goes with me wherever I travel. I can read and reread it.

Horn of the Hunter by Ruark

Where Lions Roar by Boddington

Those are two that leap to mind.

Onr of my all time favorites is without a doubt John F Burger's "Horned Death".

I mean how can you go wrong with a sampling of chapters as such:

"Stampede in the night"

"Death touches lightly"

"Five man eaters of Idete"

"The Chinganada killer"

"The one horned devil of Cherida"

"The cannibals of the Ubangi"

"Tough time in the Rift Valley"

"Rifles and their capacities"

To name a few.....

Oh I can smell the wood smoke, fresh elephant dung, and gun oil from here...

If there is better than PHC's "Death in the Long Grass"", I haven't read it yet.

I have to go with Ruarks "Horn of the Hunter" also.

Personally I think Tony Sanchez-Arino books are worth reading. I really enjoyed LAST OF THE FEW and ELEPHANTS, IVORY, & HUNTERS. Tony is not so old that his stuff is completely irrelevant. I think Boddington has put out a lot of very informative stuff and his writing is definitely current. As just an enjoyable read I thnk Ruark's USE ENOUGH GUN and Hemingway's GREEN HILLS OF AFRICA are my favorites.

Ian Nyschens "Months of the Sun" is one of the most beautifully written safari books I have ever read. I highly recommend it.

Anything and everything by Elgin Gates. I think Elgin was the real deal.

I recall the old Shikar and Safari from Edison Marshall, nowadays so forgotten and dealing with the golden era of hunting.

I'll second on Death in The Long Grass.

Where Lions Roar is right up there along with Tales of a Trophy Hunter and Heart of an Africian Hunter both by Peter Flack. Togeather the two eddited Africian Hunter II.

Can somebody give me a little synopsis of "Use Enough Gun"? also "Uhuru". I recently finished "Something of Value" and am trying to decide on which one to read next.

I love Ruark's prose style.

Any of Corbett's books on hunting the maneaters of India.

What hunting cat said... Jim Corbetts books great reads!
You guys talk about Leopards here a fair bit... how about Leopards that break into village houses and kill an occupant spirit them out of that house and eat them nearby. This was the sort of Cat that Corbett faced fairly often!

Greg R,
I second Ian Nyschens.. the matter of fact way he describes daily nose to nose elephant encounters, without embelishment or attempting to increase the drama... does just that.
"Death in the Long Grass" & "Horned Death" both have had very formative effects on me.

Mike

Another vote for "Where Lions Roar" by CTB.

Kyler

I like them ALL but my three favorites are
Horn of the Hunter, Where Lions Roar and Death in the Long Grass.

1 African Game Trails T R Roosevelt
2 Maneaters of Tsavo Patterson
3 Something of Value Ruark
4 Hunter J A Hunter

My favorites:

African Hunter -- Mellon

African Hunter II -- Boddington

Search For The Spiral Horn -- Boddington

Safari Rifles -- Boddington

Last of the Few -- Tony Sanchez-Arino

Trophy Hunter In Africa -- Gates

Shoot Straight And Stay Alive -- Bartlett

African Rifles And Cartridges -- Taylor

Jack O'Connor's Big Game Hunts -- J.O'C.

Hunting the African Leopard -- Rikhoff (editor)

African Twilight -- Robert F. Jones

African Game Trails -- Roosevelt

The Hunter Is Death -- T.V. Bulpin

A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa -- Selous

AD

Good Reads
Months of the Sun By Nyschens
Memoirs of an African Hunter by Irwin
Fourteen Years in the African Bush by Marsh
Search for the Spiral Horn
Where Lions Roar
From Kenya to the Cape all by Boddington

I think we need to distinguish between "technical" and "literary" types of books. On the technical side, I vote for African Hunter and African Hunter II, along with Robertson's Perfect Shot. For more leisurely readling, I vote for Ruarks
's "Something of Value", J.A. Hunters "White Hunter", and Boddingtons "Where Lions Roar".

Here are some thoughts on this subject pulished on the Safari Press web site. It's interesting the comment they make towards the end where they say, "African Hunter by James Mellon has been universally hailed as the best book ever on African hunting. Although dated (first published in 1975), it remains the standard reference text for all who go on safari." I haven't read that one. Any thoughts?

Vic


Recommended Reading
The following is a list of books published by Safari Press that contain hunting information on specific countries or animals or sporting weapons.


Botswana
Where Lions Roar/Craig Boddington
Under the African Sun/Frank Hibben
Hunting in Botswana/Tony Sanchez


Cameroon
Buffalo, Elephant, & Bongo/von Meurers
Solo Safari/Terry Cacek
The Last of the Few/Tony Sanchez

Central African Republic, CAR
Heart of an African Hunter/Peter Flack
Under the African Sun/Frank Hibben
Hunting in Botswana/Tony Sanchez
The Last of the Few/Tony Sanchez
Where Lions Roar/Craig Boddington

Ethiopia
Heart of an African Hunter/Peter Flack
Where Lions Roar/Craig Boddington
Hunting in Ethiopia/Tony Sanchez

Kenya
African Safaris/Major Anderson
Horn of the Hunter/Robert Ruark
Out in the Midday Shade/Bill York
Under the African Sun/Frank Hibben
14 Years in the African Bush/Anthony Marsh
Hunting in Kenya/Tony Sanchez

Mozambique
Where Lions Roar/Craig Boddington
Heart of an African Hunter/Peter Flack
Baron in Africa/Brian Marsh
My Last Kambaku/Leo Kroeger
Pondoro/John Taylor

Namibia
The Hunting Instinct/Philip Rowter
Where Lions Roar/Craig Boddington


South Africa
Heart of an African Hunter/Peter Flack
The Hunting Instinct/Philip Rowter
Memoirs of an African Hunter/Terry Irwin
Under the African Sun/Frank Hibben
Where Lions Roar/Craig Boddington
Hunting in South Africa/Tony Sanchez

Sudan
Out in the Midday Shade/Bill York
Hunting in Sudan/Tony Sanchez

Tanzania
Heart of an African Hunter/Peter Flack
Horn of the Hunter/Robert Ruark
Memoirs of an African Hunter/Terry Irwin
The Last of the Few/Tony Sanchez
Where Lions Roar/Craig Boddington
Under the African Sun/Frank Hibben

Zambia
Heart of an African Hunter/Peter Flack
Where Lions Roar/Craig Boddington
Hunting in Zambia/Tony Sanchez

Zimbabwe
Heart of an African Hunter/Peter Flack
Mahohboh/Ron Thomson
Months of the Sun/Ian Nyschens
Under the African Sun/Frank Hibben
Where Lions Roar/Craig Boddington


General African Hunting
The book universally considered the best up-to-date book on which rifles, calibers, scopes, and so on to take to Africa is Safari Rifles by Craig Boddington .


The Perfect Shot by Kevin Robertson shows anatomically correct drawings of the location of the vital parts of all African Game animals found below the Zambesi. It is in all in color and also contains hunting methods and natural history of game animals. Invaluable book!


African Hunter by James Mellon has been universally hailed as the best book ever on African hunting. Although dated (first published in 1975), it remains the standard reference text for all who go on safari. Many chapters, such as “The Element of Danger†and “How to Book a Safari,†and the animal check lists, are as valid today as they were when Mellon wrote them in 1975.


If clients are going to a special locale, Safari Press has put together the African Country Series of books on hunting in eight African countries, including Tanzania (sold out), Zimbabwe (sold out), Sudan, Botswana, Ethiopia, Zambia, South Africa, and Kenya. They give a wonderful overview in historic terms of hunting in each of these countries. (See list above.)

Have to go wqith Capstick's "Death In The Long Grass." After all, it was THE tome that started it all! I love all his books for the most part, followed by Sanchez-Arino and Elgin Gates' book. jorge

Safari Girls Gone Wild



Make sure to get the DVD with it.

quote:

Originally posted by GAHUNTER:
Can somebody give me a little synopsis of "Use Enough Gun"? also "Uhuru". I recently finished "Something of Value" and am trying to decide on which one to read next.

I love Ruark's prose style.

Hi GAHUNTER:

Love Ruark too.

Uhuru is the succession story to "Something of Value", the story tells about how the Mau Mau activities continued in Kenia back then, although the charactes are different (and the story it's a lot more blood thirsty and less africa-romantic).

"Use enough Gun" tells various stories about Ruarks (and his characters) safaris. It is not one continuous story, but rather individual stories, although some are long enough that they could be a short book on their own. I thing I remember reading that "Use enough Gun" was complied posthumeosly.

Anyway, both of them are worth reading, and while you're at it, you might also read "Horn of the Hunter" if you havn't done so already.

Enjoy the reading!
500NE

This thread is making Safari Press and Amazon some money

I just ordered:
Use Enough Gun
Ruarks Africa
The Green Hills of Africa
and
From Mt. Kenya to the Cape.

Can you recommend a good read on leopard hunting or elephant hunting?

It is a dead tie for me, PHC's "Death in the Long Grass" and Ruark's "Horn of the Hunter". One inspires the hunt, the other inspires writing about it.

Safari by Bartell Bull was the one I have enjoyed the most but many of the ones mentioned already are very good.

GAHUNTER-Uhuru is very similar to SOV and if u liked that u will enjot Uhuru.The other book is more a collection of essays and short stories gleaned from the many magazine articles Ruark wrote through the years.

Boddington and Flack edited Africian Hunter II they were also contributing writers. The book is a collection of relatively short stories on most of the countries one could hunt.

500NE and eyedoc,

Thank you both for responding. Yes, I've already read "Horn of the Hunter" (hasn't everybody?) I was looking for more of Ruark's fiction. Since I loved "Something of Value," I think I might try "Uhuru" next.

Sound's like "Use Enough Gun" would be a fun read also.

My absolute number one, favorite safari book is
Horn of the Hunter by Robert Ruark

Other good Ruark books:

Robert Ruark's Africa (compilation of stories - edited by Michael McIntosh)
The Lost Classics (compilation of stories - edited by Jim Casada)

Another great book about safaris and their history is:
Safari: A Chronicle of Adventure by Bartle Bull

-Bob F.

Safari by Bartle Bull is particularly good because it gives you a baseline to understand all the politics, players and history of safari. When you read it, your expanded knowledge of the prisms through which the others write will give you much more enjoyment than before. Even an experienced reader of Hunter, Capstick, et al, will really get a lot out of Bull's book.. and then they'll wish to read their old favorites again.... at least, I did!

Alot of good ones are already listed that I have enjoyed, obviously some more than others.

However, I have to go with Capt. Stigards book on Elephant hunting. I picked that book up (lst edition in a used out of the way book store in downtown Kansas City as I was leaving for the Sudan in '73. Maybe it's because a lot of what he wrote along with his death took place where I was going, but it has always been special. I coouldn't put it down on the plane ride over or while waiting in Heathrow for the next flight south.

Scarce book, but if you can find it, don't pass it by.

"The Hunting Imperative" by Richard Harland
He is the real deal. Thanks, Bill Stewart for recommending it to me.

I second the recommendations of "Mahohboh" and "Months in the Sun".

Of course, I like "African Hunter II", especially the 59" kudu on page 109 - taken at Chete, by the way. Not the lowveld.

It depends on your interests, I think, but the one I have re-read most is Neumann's "Elephant Hunting in East Equitorial Africa."

"Months of the Sun" is quite inspiring and, of course, transpired where you can still hunt today.

Anything by Lyell and Foran, all excellent.

mark65x55

It may be hard to find now, but Hallamore's book "Chui" is a great technical book on hunting leopard.

CFA

The Rediscovered Country by Stewart Edward White. His account of a safari led by Cunningham into unknown territory pre WWI.

By the way, what's a good source for used books on the web?