Being new to this forum I read with much interest the comments about Capstick. I have often heard a few less than flattering comments about his reputation. I have now been on 4 African Safaris and must say Peter Capstick is a big reason I became interested in the lure of Africa and I might say there have been very few days, if any, that I have not thought of an African sunset...and I might add that I suspect many of us have a healthy estimate of our own capabilities, from time to time...anyway I have enjoyed his books and have never seen his videos.

Reading his stories caused me to spend a lot of money to hunt cape buff!!!!!!!

quote:

Reading his stories caused me to spend a lot of money to hunt cape buff!!!!!!!

Yep! Me too.

And Ruark and Wilbur Smith.

Me three.

Death In The Long Grass got me interested.

It really does not matter if he was the real thing or not, I really enjoyed reading his books and it got me interested enough in hunting Africa to book a buffalo hunt to Zimbabwe.

J.A. Hunter ?

I started with JA Hunter and progressed to many others including Capstick. Yes he probably does stretch the point a little at times but so what. I'm sure others have done so too.

I laugh a little when folks, especially the younger ones read some of these old stories then point their fingers and cry foul. I guess the world today doesn't have any wonderment or adventure left in it.

In the back of our minds we knew it wasn't all true, but writers like Capstick still told a good story and that's all that really mattered.

I had lunch with PHC during an NRA meeting in San Antonio, TX. He was very gracious and amusing. His books kept me totally interested and wanting to go on safari. I did this year.
It was great.

I am not sure why this has always been such a big issue?

He wrote great books and perhaps he padded and embelished his own accounts with those of others.

He was still less of fraud than most politicians and prominent business people world wide

PHC RIP

quote:

kayaker: He was still less of fraud than most politicians and prominent business people

True, unfortunately this is pervasive everywhere these days.

Peter was a great guy, a real character (and he worked overtime at being a character). Towards the end I think he actually came to believe his own act--but as far as I'm concerned there should be no controversy at all: Peter was a good writer and great storyteller, and in the 1970s and 1980s he got an entire generation of hunters fired up about Africa. He brought a lot of folks to the party!

To my mind, he was a writer who wrote entertaining stories about hunting dangerous game.

His literary style was perhaps somewhat wanting to students of literature and his exploits may or may not have been based on his own experiences.

Whatever, he lived an interesting life and left a legacy of enthusing generations of readers about the dust, sun, blood and adrenalin that kept him, and keeps us, treading the plains and hills of Africa in search of big beasties.

Good vs harm? I think Capstick did more of the former than the latter.

quote:

Originally posted by RW Taylor:
Being new to this forum I read with much interest the comments about Capstick. I have often heard a few less than flattering comments about his reputation. I have now been on 4 African Safaris and must say Peter Capstick is a big reason I became interested in the lure of Africa and I might say there have been very few days, if any, that I have not thought of an African sunset...and I might add that I suspect many of us have a healthy estimate of our own capabilities, from time to time...anyway I have enjoyed his books and have never seen his videos.

Do yourself a favor and don't watch the videos......

There are two books in my collection that I have read too many times to count.

This one


and this one

I have to agree, read all his books, but don't watch the videos. The videos just give ammo to the non Capstick hunters.

Love his books. The 1st was Death in the Longrass, and almost everything else since then. Been wanting to go to Africa, for years, and made it last summer. With a little luck, I hope to go again in 2011. I could personally thank PHC for getting me started.

Mad Dog

quote:

Originally posted by 69deer:
I have to agree, read all his books, but don't watch the videos. The videos just give ammo to the non Capstick hunters.

The videos weren't the best for him after the books built him up for sure, but I really did enjoy the elephant and lion videos. The elephant was by far the best though. Great footage from Tanzania and giant Namibian bulls. Capstick was at his best in this video. I enjoyed the lion because you had Gordon Cundill, Jeff Rann, and Ronnie Blackbeard, people who definitely know a thing or two about lions and hunting them on foot doing the PHing. Too bad they couldn't find a properly maned Botswana kitty.

Brett

I could never get too excited about whether or not Peter Capstick was a world class BS'er -- I've read almost all of his books and he WAS a world class writer!

I've read literally hundreds of books on African hunting -- many of them very well written -- but Capstick stands alone in terms of producing fun to read, while still very informative books.

I'm not as fond of Boddington, but then he's still alive and maybe he'll grow on me at some point in the future.

quote:

His literary style was perhaps somewhat wanting to students of literature

Thank God I am not a student of literature! I love PHC's writing style.

If a person has not caused you harm personally....

It is not nice to speak ill of the DEAD.

quote:

Originally posted by GeoffM24:

quote:

Originally posted by RW Taylor:
Being new to this forum I read with much interest the comments about Capstick. I have often heard a few less than flattering comments about his reputation. I have now been on 4 African Safaris and must say Peter Capstick is a big reason I became interested in the lure of Africa and I might say there have been very few days, if any, that I have not thought of an African sunset...and I might add that I suspect many of us have a healthy estimate of our own capabilities, from time to time...anyway I have enjoyed his books and have never seen his videos.

Do yourself a favor and don't watch the videos......

Gentlemen, you have to remember when those films were done! These were the first broadcast quality african hunting films ever made. The quality of the filming was excellent for the time. Capstick was talked into apearing in those films to make the films sell. At that time was when the Capstick books were selling like hotcakes in hungryville.

Capstick was not an actor, and came off a little sappy in many places, but I wounder how I would do with a mike stuck in my face and asked to say something profound for the camera. If you notice that when the interviews were filmed where he had some controll over where the dialog was going he came off considerably better, like the campfire interview with capstick, and Cundill in the lion film, where the story was related about Capstick's wounding shot on a lion, and the resulting charge from 50 yds, while Cundill was experiencing three hangfires, and a dud from his double rifle because of bad ammo, in a dire cercumstance, and the lion still recieving ten shots total with only three of them from Cundill hitting the lion. That says to me that Capstick could work the bolt on that 375 H&H Mauser rifle, and put the shots where they needed to be! If this happening was made up, then Cundill was complisit in the lie. I doubt that is the case, however.

I agree that the Namibian elephant film was his best, and was actually Capstick's only film. All the others were Ken Wilson's films while Capstick was there only as an observer to sell films, nothing more. I personally talked to Volker Grellman about that film, and he told me that Capstick was more knowledgable than anyone he knew about elephant, and African animals in general, and that he enjoyed hunting with Peter.

Much has been made of his wearing of a Beret and a short sleaved safari jacket over shorts. Folks in the late seventies most safari hunters dressed that way, and most of the Game departments, and bush soldiers in African bush wore berets. It looks funny today, but it didn't in the sixties, and seventies.

All I'm saying here is, he wasn't an actor, but a writer, and was no better or worse than every author who ever wrote about adventure in Africa. He lived in Africa from the early sixties till his death in the mid nineties,while Hemingway, and Ruark only visited periodicly to hunt, and all three were hopeless drunks who blew their on horn so to speak. Yet PC is the only one of the three that gets the middle finger! I simply do not understand this!

............................R.I.P. Peter Hathaway Capstick!

All,

Here is a eulogy written by Tink Nathan of Tink's 69 fame. Sorry to those who have seen this before.

Mike

As I Remember Capstick
By Tink Nathan


Peter Hathaway Capstick died in Pretoria, South Africa just before midnight on March 13th 1996 from a thrombosis following cardiac triple by-pass surgery. At his request, only his wife Fiona and her sister attended a private cremation ceremony. Fiona scattered Peter’s ashes over the Chobe River in Botswana with elephants and a herd of Cape buffalo in attendance. Peter will now remain a part of the land he loved so much.

Peter was 56.

I first hunted with Peter in the mid 1960’s when he was a student at the University of Virginia. We hunted groundhogs in the springtime between Remington and Scottsville Virginia. I was privileged to meet Peter again, in about 1976 or 1977 when he came up to me at a sporting goods show in Houston, Texas, and introduced himself to me. I had heard of Peter Capstick, and learned his last name for the first time. I had always called him Chapstick, and he never corrected me. He told me he was one of my readers, as I was a contributing editor of Bowhunter Magazine at the time, and he told me he enjoyed bowhunting. We managed to spend some time together and managed to down a few Pearl beers over some enchiladas.

Peter told me of his amazing life, and we kept in touch. It turns out Peter and I had hunted groundhogs in Virginia ten years before. I saw Peter at some outdoor shows and SCI conventions over the years and started communicating with him when I made plans to move to South Africa.

Peter always had time for my calls, and his sage advice was welcome and dead right on target. I guess the best advice he gave me was not to come over to Africa, which I ignored, and came over anyway. Not to many people knew that Peter did some bowhunting in New Jersey, and I think he told me he once nailed a whitetail, sometime in the 1960’s.

Peter attended the University of Virginia, at Charlottesville, and it seems our paths crossed once or twice at Clarks Gun Shop in Remington, Virginia where we rifle hunted groundhogs, and where we first met on a Saturday on a spring day in the mid 1960’s. Peter was buying ammo and looking for a place to hunt groundhogs. I invited Peter and his University buddy to join me for a woodchuck hunt, and went to a farm that we hunted. We sort of lost touch when he graduated, I was getting ready for my first African safari and he was quite envious of my trek to Mozambique. He remembered me clearly, but I could not place him. Peter first came over to Africa in 1968 but spent quite a bit more time here in Africa than I did. Peter also hunted South America and always preferred the jungle and bush to the city and pavement.

After arriving in South Africa, I called Peter. I was a bit nervous about attending the first AGM / annual convention of the Professional Hunters Association of South Africa (PHASA), and asked Peter if I could sit with him. He told me I was always welcome at his table. Being the only two Americans in PHASA who lived here, he showed me the ropes, and apparently enjoyed being my silent mentor. He introduced me to his many friends, and showed me the correct path during the following years.

Early in our homesteading days in Africa, my miniature smooth haired dachshund Meg became ill and was at deaths door from dehydration, tick bite fever and a pinched nerve in her spine. She had become infested with ticks while guarding my wife and her lady client at a waterhole in the lowveldt, during a safari. We had to bring her in for surgery and treatment to a government research facility outside Pretoria, and I called Peter to see if we could stay with him and Fiona. He said he was a bit bored and could stand some company. We had just driven all night with the sick dog, and we had just completed a long safari with clients from France, and were exhausted when we arrived at his villa in Pretoria. Peter and Fiona made us welcome, and the next four days at Peter and Fiona’s were like a vacation in a grand Parisian hotel. They fed us like Kings, and we sometimes snuck out and grabbed a pizza. We shot pool or snooker in his pool room/office, where he wrote his many best sellers, his books and articles. We shot air rifles in the garden, shooting at empty 9mm brass cases. We talked of Africa, the Africa of old, and the new South Africa, and the Africa of tomorrow. He told me his favorite unpublished hunting stories, and I told my stories, and we discussed people he knew, and those we liked and those we did not like. It was strange we had come to the same conclusions independently.

While Peter was a man of Africa, he was still an American, and we talked endlessly about Africa and her wildlife, until he was ready for the sack. Peter liked to retire early, and after he bid us goodnight, I read those books of his that I did not own, and watched his extensive wildlife video collection, and videos of his hunts. He seemed to enjoy my company and was only to willing to sign, and in fact resigned and autographed several of his books he first signed in 1988 in the USA. He was very chuffed that I had purchased the first impression, first edition of his classic Death in the Long Grass. I gave Peter a small gift for putting us up, and putting up with us for almost a week while the dog healed. It was a videotape of my 1987 Elephant and Buffalo bowhunt in the Selous in Tanzania. Peter was fascinated with the video, and asked a hundred questions. After he hit the rewind button, he told me that he was amazed at the quality of the video, and after that it appeared my ratings with the former stockbroker rose 100 points. He then told my wife Donna Rae and I it was the best hunting video he had ever seen. Coming from Peter, it was an important and deeply appreciated compliment.

Peter was by and large a happy man, doing what he liked to do. There were times he gave the appearance of being grouchy, but it may have been due to health concerns. Peter loved people, and truly enjoyed them at times, but he treasured his tranquility and his very private home life. Peter was ever vigilant in his home, and carried his 9mm parabellum pistol from room to room as he moved about his home. He never forgot he was in Africa, and he never let his guard down. He told me the most dangerous animal in all of Africa walked on two legs. I think it was out of concern for his beautiful wife Fifi, as he called her and not so much for his own protection.
Speaking of firearms, he was very pleased that Art Alphin, honcho of A-Square Firearms, named his .470 Capstick after him. Peter was presented the first rifle made, which was a Winchester Model 70, and while I was visiting Peter, he told me he was forced to return his .470 Capstick to the Winchester factory for some minor repairs. There was a minor problem that might have slipped by a dozen professional hunters, but Peter found the glitch and had it corrected.

Peter told me he admired my guts, but not my intelligence, for bringing my lady to Africa at such a bad time, but he understood me. I think. Peter was quite surprised that I survived my first two years living in the remote bushveld of the Soutpansberg Mountains of the far Northern Transvaal of South Africa. Peter felt it was impossible for an American, like me, to become an outfitter and professional hunter in South Africa. Peter pointed out that old Rhodesia was, in many ways more civilized as far as culture, languages and security wise than modern South Africa was. In one of his books, Peter wrote that he had weekly letters from young Americans who aspired to become a professional hunter in Africa. Peter said in print “an American would have a better chance of winning the Victoria Cross than to become a professional hunter in Africa.” He told me with a wide smile “Tink, I think you have won the Victoria Cross and don’t yet know it.” I doubt if he knew that I knew what he was referring to, but I told him I knew the passage and treasured his comments. Peter was always kind and polite.

Peter was a kind man, and a truly caring person. At a hunter’s convention, I introduced him to a young black professional hunter, named Ross, who had been a classmate of mine at professional hunters school. As we took our seats, Peter became instantly aware that this young professional hunter had no one to sit with, as most of the tables were reserved or filled. Peter went to Ross, and insisted that Ross dine at his table next to Fiona. All real hunters were welcome at Peter’s table, and Peter was the classic U.V.A. gentleman. The University of Virginia, nicknamed U.V.A., produces gentlemen of the first water. Peter was a perfect gentleman to one and all. Peter was a kind man.

Peter once saved my life and when I thanked him, he made me promise never to mention it, since he didn’t want me to be embarrassed in having to tell the tale. Needless to say, I will always be in Peter’s debt. Peter did things other people would never do. He killed two Cape buffalo with a spear. Once to do it, and once again to prove it wasn’t a fluke. Peter had a dream from the time he was a small boy, and that was to go over to Africa to live. Peter lived out his dream, or was it his dream? Peter lived a life of adventure, then took the time to commit to his stories, and the stories of Africa, past and present, to the printed page. He was the world’s best storyteller.

Peter heard the stories we all do in Africa, but he captured them, edited, and polished them, and preserved them forever. Peter wrote twelve books, and sold more than any other hunting author in history. He made and appeared in many videos, so those who had never met him could someday see him on the small screen. Peter wrote stories for the French magazine FIRE, and for the leading South African hunting journal MAGNUM, as well as OUT THERE. It is said that Peter brought more hunters and people to Africa, though his works, than any other person. Peter not only wrote about Africa, but he lived Africa. Only someone who comes from far away can appreciate Africa. He spoke often about the people that were lucky enough to be born here and to live here a lifetime, seldom, if ever, appreciated in Africa. Peter did.

Writers and readers far more skilled than I, will discuss Capstick’s works well into the next century. However it was my wife that noticed his writing style, and pointed out to me that each paragraph told a story, and his colorful writings jumped of the pages and bit deep into your soul when reading his work for the first time. A close friend told me that Peter was aware of some coronary circulatory problems as far back as two years, but avoided the confrontation with the cardiologist. I tracked his 1996 medical progress through a source outside of Fiona, and was relieved to hear the heart operation went well on March 5th, 1996. I sent him a get-well card that I am sure he never saw. Fiona told me that she had taken it to the hospital and that he really enjoyed hearing from me.

On Friday March 15th, I got the call about Peter’s death. I could not believe that Peter had left us. I could not accept that someone who was so vibrant and dynamic and full of life was gone. As I write this in April 1996, I am not yet over the shock. On March 16th, I wrote a letter and faxed it to some of the hunters and friends across the world, that knew and loved Peter. It wasn’t much, but it was all I could think of at the time. I have the original folded and tucked away in one of his books that he had signed for me. It said something like this. Peter Hathaway Capstick passed away etc. Today Peter is on a hot spoor of a mighty black bull, in a land of dagga boy buffaloes, in a valley with massive elephants with thick tusks, and clever cats. Tonight Peter shares a small gleaming campfire with hunters from another time, such as Selous, Taylor, Bell, Harris and others. Peter was truly a son of Africa. Our prayers and thoughts go out to his devoted and beloved wife and soul mate, Fiona.

Peter was a giant of a man, with a heart as big as Africa, yet strong and straight as a new arrow. With out a doubt, Peter was one of the finest, if not the finest writer of our age. A man who turned his back on fortune, the family Hathaway shirt business, and went of into the jungles of Viet Nam to fight in freedoms name as a green beret officer, an American special forces soldier, and to Africa to fulfill a child’s dream. Peter, you did it all so bloody well too. You never got a client killed, you never got tossed in jail and you never stepped on a mamba. You lived your life, every second’s worth to THE MAX, and you were a gentleman the whole time. You were a man’s man, a man that women lionized, and you did America proud. You showed Africa just what could do when the chips were down. You took care of your clients, and hunted like a sportsman, with ethics and true responsibility.

There isn’t a good way to go out of this world, and while we both know you would have liked to go out in a tangle with a bull elephant, at least you were spared a long lingering struggle with a slow painful disease, and months of incarceration in a sterile, somber place of men in white suits, plastic pipes, needles and tanks of air. Hell Peter, you went out fighting. I choose to remember Peter as the well tanned, highly irrelevant, very witty and very funny guy who did his own thing, and didn’t “give a rats ass” about what other people thought. Peter had forgotten more about hunting than most people will ever learn. He loved African wildlife, and yet took endless delight in raising Koi, the oriental goldfish like creatures. He loved rifles, and all that go with them, yet he hunted with a bow and a spear, and loved all of nature, the good, the not so good, and the ugly.

Peter was one of the few truly happy people I have ever known. Peter was a hunter, and then a writer. Peter was a living legend in his own time, yet he was humble, simple and down to earth, a regular guy. Peter was a really nice guy, a super person, and I was fortunate to have had Peter as my friend. We will miss Peter.

Keep your powder dry, keep your nose in the wind, and watch your back trail, old friend.



Tink Nathan, Professional Hunter, Outfitter
9930 Hughes Ave.
Laurel, MD 20723-1744

Peter Hathaway Capstick is "the reason" my wife and I are leaving on September 5th for a 21 day Namibian safari.

quote:

Originally posted by craig boddington:
Peter was a great guy, a real character (and he worked overtime at being a character). Towards the end I think he actually came to believe his own act--but as far as I'm concerned there should be no controversy at all: Peter was a good writer and great storyteller, and in the 1970s and 1980s he got an entire generation of hunters fired up about Africa. He brought a lot of folks to the party!

This is some of the best info ever shared on AR regarding PHC. Thanks!

Mac,

Excellent points about video production and clothing styles of the time. In addition to the elephant video he also took a cape buffalo on the buffalo video. The other videos were very lack luster and PHC was only along for the ride (minus the lion video that is). I did enjoy the part about Ken Wilson hunting sititunga from a mokoro. That would be an interesting hunt for sure.

Brett

quote:

Originally posted by MacD37:

quote:

Originally posted by GeoffM24:

quote:

Originally posted by RW Taylor:
Being new to this forum I read with much interest the comments about Capstick. I have often heard a few less than flattering comments about his reputation. I have now been on 4 African Safaris and must say Peter Capstick is a big reason I became interested in the lure of Africa and I might say there have been very few days, if any, that I have not thought of an African sunset...and I might add that I suspect many of us have a healthy estimate of our own capabilities, from time to time...anyway I have enjoyed his books and have never seen his videos.

Do yourself a favor and don't watch the videos......

Gentlemen, you have to remember when those films were done! These were the first broadcast quality african hunting films ever made. The quality of the filming was excellent for the time. Capstick was talked into apearing in those films to make the films sell. At that time was when the Capstick books were selling like hotcakes in hungryville.

Capstick was not an actor, and came off a little sappy in many places, but I wounder how I would do with a mike stuck in my face and asked to say something profound for the camera. If you notice that when the interviews were filmed where he had some controll over where the dialog was going he came off considerably better, like the campfire interview with capstick, and Cundill in the lion film, where the story was related about Capstick's wounding shot on a lion, and the resulting charge from 50 yds, while Cundill was experiencing three hangfires, and a dud from his double rifle because of bad ammo, in a dire cercumstance, and the lion still recieving ten shots total with only three of them from Cundill hitting the lion. That says to me that Capstick could work the bolt on that 375 H&H Mauser rifle, and put the shots where they needed to be! If this happening was made up, then Cundill was complisit in the lie. I doubt that is the case, however.

I agree that the Namibian elephant film was his best, and was actually Capstick's only film. All the others were Ken Wilson's films while Capstick was there only as an observer to sell films, nothing more. I personally talked to Volker Grellman about that film, and he told me that Capstick was more knowledgable than anyone he knew about elephant, and African animals in general, and that he enjoyed hunting with Peter.

Much has been made of his wearing of a Beret and a short sleaved safari jacket over shorts. Folks in the late seventies most safari hunters dressed that way, and most of the Game departments, and bush soldiers in African bush wore berets. It looks funny today, but it didn't in the sixties, and seventies.

All I'm saying here is, he wasn't an actor, but a writer, and was no better or worse than every author who ever wrote about adventure in Africa. He lived in Africa from the early sixties till his death in the mid nineties,while Hemingway, and Ruark only visited periodicly to hunt, and all three were hopeless drunks who blew their on horn so to speak. Yet PC is the only one of the three that gets the middle finger! I simply do not understand this!

............................R.I.P. Peter Hathaway Capstick!

I didn't mean production or film quality.

My biggest problem was that he was obviously WASTED in the vast majority of the filming.

There certainly isn't any controversy concerning PC in my mind. His books should be read for their entertainment value. Few African writers can match his books for pure entertainment.

465H&H

Funny thing about Mr. Capstick. I have not yet read anything he has written. Have 2 of Ruarks books and that is the total extent of 'African' writers I have read in 75 years that deal with hunting in Africa. My desire to hunt Africa was actually started by a woman. She wrote a book called ,I believe, 'I Married Adventure' and I think her name was Osa Martin Johnson. She wrote about the two things most adventurous to a teenager, Africa and Flying. I have been fascinated by both the remainder of my life along with a love of Photography that she also started. I'm sure Capstick was good I just didn't need him to kindle the flame.

I say God Bless, Pete.. I devoured EVERYTHING the man wrote from the time I was about 8 or 9 to this very day..I still pick one up every now and then and give it a read.
I refuse to go to Africa without a PHC and a Boddington book tucked away in my luggage.. I've done it 5 times now, and will do so on every trip thereafter. One pays my respects to the man who introduced me to Africana and lit a passion in me, and the other provides me with a great read on the plane ride over and in the hammock during the heat of the day while hunting..
Thank you PHC.

quote:

Originally posted by craig boddington:
Peter was a great guy, a real character (and he worked overtime at being a character). Towards the end I think he actually came to believe his own act--but as far as I'm concerned there should be no controversy at all: Peter was a good writer and great storyteller, and in the 1970s and 1980s he got an entire generation of hunters fired up about Africa. He brought a lot of folks to the party!

+1 It is because of reading his books that I went to Africa.

quote:

Originally posted by Scottyboy:
I sat God Bless, Pete.. I devoured EVERYTHING the man wrote from the time I was about 8 or 9 to this very day..I still pick one up every now and then and give it a read.
I refuse to go to Africa without a PHC and a Boddington book tucked away in my luggage.. I've done it 5 times now, and will do so on every trip thereafter. One pays my respects to the man who introduced me to Africana and lit a passion in me, and the other provides me with a great read on the plane ride over and in the hammock during the heat of the day while hunting..
Thank you PHC.

I envy all of you who began reading Africana at such a tender age. I did not discover Capstick until I was about 20 years old. Then the fire was lit.

Then I moved on to Boddington's Where Lions Roar and realized that such adventure was still possible.

PHC lit the fire and Boddington packed my bags, so-to-speak. I didn't go until I was 25 years old. It may sound silly, but I wish I would not have wasted so much time before making that first trip.

Capstick was not a total fraud, but there was a lot of artistic license employed regarding his background. But who else could write a story about BB guns that a person would enjoy reading again and again?

I went to Africa because of Peter Capstick. I heard my own PH denounce him as a drunk. (My PH and I became friends in the course of about a month because we had a real argument about Peter Capstick to start) I'm a great believer in the ancient Roman maxim - De mortuis nil nisi bonum. The man could write. I spent much time in Cuba in the '50s and heard many stories about Ernest Hemingway that did not add to his public image. While, of course, I'm not saying that Capstick could compare to Hemingway as a writer in world fame, I can tell you that many Cubans had a jaundiced view of Hemingway -based entirely on who he was as a man. Personally, I think Capstick comes out better in the balance.

I have always been interested in Africa but only in a passing way. I am embarassed to say the mid '90's movie "Ghost and the Darkness" sparked me to read up. I started with Patterson's book and then moved to Capstick. I now recognize that PHC exagerated the heck out of a lot situations and lied about others, but as another of my favorite authors, J. Frank Dobie, once wrote, a tale belongs to him who can tell it best. I choose to look at PHC as one of those people who just saw life bigger than most and couldn't help but write it that way. I will always appreciate it, and I seriously doubt that the safari business would be what it is today without him.

quote:

Originally posted by zimbabwe:
Funny thing about Mr. Capstick. I have not yet read anything he has written. Have 2 of Ruarks books and that is the total extent of 'African' writers I have read in 75 years that deal with hunting in Africa. My desire to hunt Africa was actually started by a woman. She wrote a book called ,I believe, 'I Married Adventure' and I think her name was Osa Martin Johnson. She wrote about the two things most adventurous to a teenager, Africa and Flying. I have been fascinated by both the remainder of my life along with a love of Photography that she also started. I'm sure Capstick was good I just didn't need him to kindle the flame.

Actually, her name was Osa and her husband's name was Martin. Quite a good book. I you are interested in her/him, check out http://www.safarimuseum.com/.

whatever he was or wasnt , and we all know ...he was a great writer and responsible for many many people getting to africa ... i have read his books and enjoy them thoroughly.

there are a few modern day capsticks out there , some of whom even post here , but as long as the stories are good and when facts are quoted they are corect , i think thats fine ...weather telling your own stories or someone elses , well told they are great stories .

Practically every week someone discovers that PHC exaggerated a bit, or more.

Such clever detective work!

quote:

there are a few modern day capsticks out there , some of whom even post here...

Capstick ignited my passion for Africa and for that I thank him...maybe I should curse him insted for costing me alot of money.

Who doesn't embelish a story?? I could care less if he did!!

I owe you Peter, RIP my friend.

quote:

Originally posted by Leopardtrack:
Capstick ignited my passion for Africa and for that I thank him...maybe I should curse him insted for costing me alot of money.

Who doesn't embelish a story?? I could care less if he did!!

I owe you Peter, RIP my friend.

Guilty. I read stuff on the internet mostly for entertainment. Hunting and fishing stories just beg for embellishment. It is expected. Who want's to read boring stories? So when I write one I return the favor by spicing it up a little.

I have also enjoyed Capstick's writings, have his full selection of books and the videos .
The novel Safari, last adventure is a good 'how to' guide and offers some insight on how to properly set up a hunt.

Just an opinion here, but from what I have seen over the time I have been on AR, all of the folks that make an effort to discredit Capstick do it out of jealousy and envy, Period.

Good, Bad, Indifferent, Peter Capstick made choices in the way he led his life, same as Robert Ruark, Ernest Hemingway, John Taylor add infinitum.

They all chose a direction for their life and lived it, and the cowards among us that live the lives others have planned out for them are jealous and envious, because those people had the guts and nuts enough to pursue their dreams, and the detractors are frustrated and petty, because they don't.

Instead of respecting those folks for setting a goal for themselves and going after it, they want to discredit them as much as possible, because in some way in their twisted little minds, it makes them feel superior about their inability to live for themselves, and only live the way others expect them to.

Again, that is just my opinion.