Hunting the African Elephant by Captain C. H. Stigand

I recently finished the reprint of this classic. Peter Capstick had this as part of reprint collection sold in the 1980's. What makes this one interesting is that Teddy Roosevelt wrote the introduction and that Stigand was a British officer killed in the line of duty in Africa. Written about various trips taken in the 1904 to 1910 time period, he was also a naturalist and a serious hunter.
The book is a series of observations by Stigand of hunting elephants in different places, the natives and trackers, the different towns and areas he hunted, the different animals, different practices of the locals and lastly, a summary of his observations of insects.

This guy wrote in a very easy to read style much like Selous. He was a soldier by trade but an explorer/hunter/naturalist by heart. He tries to hunt forest bongo in Kenya as well as many of the swamp dwelling animals. He is a novice with no PH to help him. His natives are not much help except to tend his camp and carry his gear.

A fun read, a bit too descriptive at times but a great "period" book that you will like if you like Selous and others.

I rate this a solid 7 out of 10.