This is a limited edition hardcover from Safari Press.

It’s full of fascinating stories drawn from W.D.M. Bell’s diaries written during the years he spent in Karamoja, the Lado Enclave and other African haunts hunting elephants for their ivory.

The book is well written and informative. It includes stories about far more than hunting, although it of course includes plenty of elephant and other hunting stories.

Lots of details not printed elsewhere about Bell’s small bore rifle preferences and general rifle knowledge - which was prodigious - are here spelled out.

Not least interesting, at least to me, were his discussions on the economics of elephant hunting.

Failure was not uncommon. But his successes were remarkable.

Bell reports that in dollars the yield from his best five safaris brought $141,635. This in the early decades of the 1900s!

Or as he puts it, “This . . . in days when that was a real fortune!“

I highly recommend this book.

That book would be a great read but for those unable to obtain a copy I have posted the following information about some of Bell's exploits some of which would be contained in the new book I guess.

Bell was an exceptional hunter and shot by anyone's standard, I wonder if the feat of taking 23 buffalo with 23 shots from a 22 Savage Hi Power could ever be beaten especially as most shots would have been taken from a standing position I imagine.


WDM Bell - Extracts from “Big Game Records Book” circa 1931

According to Professor H. Fairfield Osborn, man has been a hunter of mastodons and
elephants for the sake of their bones, ivory, and flesh, for a million and a quarter year’s. The question of the comparative danger of various wild beasts has always been a highly controversial subject, but, certain it is, that the pursuit of elephants is one of the most dangerous of sports, and most hunters of experience have placed the elephant either first second or third, on the list of dangerous game.

In the early days of South Africa, when these animals were to be found in relatively open country, it was possible to pursue them on horse-back, but the constant persecution to which they were subjected had the effect of driving them into the "fly" infested country of the interior where horses could no longer be used. With this principal exception the African elephant is hunted on foot, and if consistently followed up this represents the most exacting form of sport in the world,

The restrictions now placed upon elephant hunting seem to preclude the possibility of the enormous bags that follow ever being equaled, and elephant hunting as a remunerative profession is a thing of the past. So far as I have been able to ascertain, the most successful African elephant hunter of all time is Mr. W. D. M. Bell, who has killed 983 bulls and 28 cows, making a total of 1,011 elephants.

I am greatly indebted to Mr. Bell for the many intimate details concerning his career which follow;
Born in 1880, he formed the fixed intention of becoming an elephant hunter at an early age. He landed in Africa towards the end of the last century, and success attended his earliest efforts. Since that time he has spent sixteen and a half years on the actual hunting grounds and has shot in the following localities: Kenya, Karamojo, Abyssinia, Sudan, Lado Enclave, French Ivory Coast, Liberia, French Congo and Belgian Congo. All these countries contributed their quota of elephants to his enormous bag as the accompanying list shows.

W.D.M. Bell 23rd March 1931

Locality Bull Elephants Shot
Mombasa-Malindi Coast 14
Tana River 17
Masindi District 23
Mount Elgon 42
Mani-Mani 91
Dodose 63
Dabossa 149
Lado Enclave 266
French Ivory Coast 80
Liberia 27
French Congo 189
Belgian Congo 22

Total 983

With regard to these figures Mr. Bell says: “I have not included cow elephants shot for meat or in defense of myself or attendants. The number so shot is 28, making the total 1,011". The largest number of bull elephants he ever shot in one day was 19. Other days yielded 17, 16, and 15 on three occasions, and 14 and 12 on three occasions.
His best month produced 44, all killed in three consecutive days, and in his worst month he did not even see one. His most disappointing day he describes thus; "54 bull elephants (mostly huge) found and counted, all travelling steadily along. Got directly into path and waited until leaders bore ten and fifteen paces to front on either hand and then succeeded in dropping only 5 out of that magnificent millionaire herd. They split up in all directions and at Hell's own gait. Alas, what should I have done?"
His most pleasantly memorable experience "When my partner said; “Well, Bell, I'm damned”, after watching me from a tree-top run down and kill 6 large bulls out of 6 in long grass, at mid-day, in as many minutes".

His heaviest yield of ivory as the result of one day's shooting amounted to 1,643lbs of soft ivory from 11 head containing 21 tusks, one being a single tusker. The average weight was over 77 lbs and the value £863.

The following detailed results which he has kindly given me are, I think, of exceptional interest;

Yield from five best Safaris

Weight of Ivory Value

14,780 lbs £7,300

14,247 lbs £7,082

12,814 lbs £6,923

11,024 lbs £4,792

10,670 lbs £4,230


Best Year

Ivory sold £7,300
Expenditure £3,100

Profit £4,200

Worst Year

Ivory sold £1,563
Expenditure £3,400

Loss £1,837

These are wonderful figures, but the extra- ordinarily severe nature of the work may be judged from the fact that Mr. Bell informs me that his average yearly consumption of boot leather amounted to 24 pairs, and he estimates that the total mileage covered on foot, including going to and returning from hunting grounds, amounts to 73 miles for every elephant killed.
His most unpleasant experience he describes as "Travelling hot-foot 8 hours at 6 miles per hour on enormous track in wet season to find a tuskless bull! Killed to prevent a recurrence! "The feet of his native assistants, carrying water bottle and spare rifle, lasted on an average for four months, at one month on and one month in the base camp. Their soles he says were then right down to the quick, in spite of sandals. One of his men alone stuck it for ten months on end, but then retired altogether.
Since it may prove of interest to know some of his rules of life when engaged in this arduous work, I will quote the following from the notes he has given me: "Best method of keeping one's own feet in working condition in spite of rubs and blisters, is to wash socks every day and powder them thickly with boracic. Best diet for hunting sour milk and dried buck meat (biltong). Next best elephant trunk, cut small and stewed, with native vegetables and flour. Worst diet for hunting the ingredients in what is known as doing yourself well".

Mr. Bell has related many of his experiences in his most excellent book, "The Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter ", which was published in 1923. There is nothing more remarkable in that book than his account of a day in the Lado Enclave in which he ran a herd of elephants to a walking pace. This notable day started by his killing a white rhino with a magnificent horn; by 8 a.m. he was at the heels of the herd of elephants and at sundown, or 6 p.m., he found himself passing the carcass of the rhino he had killed in the morning, having travelled all day in an enormous circle. He had the herd well in hand by 2 p.m. and at the finish they seemed quite incapable of anything more than a walking pace. He bagged 15 bulls from the herd, but though he often attempted to repeat the feat with other herds he was never able to live with them except for a short distance.

With regard to rifles, Mr. Bell tried many at one time and another including a double 450/400 and magazine rifles of various calibres. He formed a very definite preference for magazine weapons and for many years used the .275 and the .256 in every kind of country and against every kind of game. His greatest successes were achieved with the 7 mm. Rigby Mauser or the .276, firing the old round-nosed solid bullet.

As a big game shot it is difficult to write regarding his skill. Most first-class men are reticent on this subject, but those who have read Mr. Bell's book, "The Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter", will have quickly sensed the fact that it was written by a man of exceptional ability with the rifle. An exact knowledge of the anatomy of game, a rule never to fire unless he knew exactly where he was placing his bullet and a temperament that enabled him to retain a perfect control over himself in every moment of danger or excitement were important contributory factors to his wonderful success.

He invariably carried his own rifle, and the natural aptitude which he must undoubtedly have possessed, together with the years of incessant practice which his life as a hunter entailed, combined in giving him an almost complete control over his game, irrespective of the angle at which it presented a shot. For actual examples indicating his skill I am able to give two instances, but since these relate to experiences with buffaloes and lions I must refer the reader to the respective chapters devoted to these two animals. Outstanding ability with the rifle would not alone account for Mr. Bell's success; an iron constitution and a physique capable of withstanding the constant exposure and strain to which it was subjected, a thorough knowledge of the game he followed, and last, but by no means least, a complete under- standing of, and ability to handle the natives, were all vital factors in his truly wonderful career.
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F. C. Selous has said: "as regards viciousness I should be inclined to put the buffalo third on the list", and W. D. M. Bell who has shot them in East, West and Central Africa has described them as "worthy game in thick stuff but ludicrously easy things to kill in open country".

Mr. W. D. M. Bell, whose opinion of the buffalo I have already quoted, has probably shot more of these animals than any other man. In the course of his career as a hunter he has killed between 600 and 700. In connection with the above I will now quote from information that Mr. Bell has kindly supplied me with: "In parts they (buffaloes) were the regular ration for the camp. I remember killing 23 out of 23 with a high velocity .22 rifle partly to see how effective the tiny 80 grain bullet was but chiefly because meat was required. I must have killed between six and seven hundred of these animals in all. Their hide was a constant trade article. Cut into sandal and shield sizes they never failed to attract an abundant supply of flour”

Lest the novice or moderate shot should be encouraged by the above statement to attack the dangerous game of Africa with a .22 rifle, I feel it should be stated that Mr. Bell is probably one of the most brilliant big-game shots that has ever lived. The high velocity .22 rifle in the hands of such an expert may well be an adequate weapon, but it is usually regarded as in the extreme of small bores for use against dangerous game.

As Mr. Bell was primarily an elephant hunter, fuller details of his career are to be found in Chapter I, but by way of comment on his bag of buffaloes, it can again be said that he spent sixteen and a half years on the actual hunting grounds, and, as his reputation spread and increased among the native tribes, his camp following grew in proportion. The bag is certainly enormous, but it must be remembered that the hungry mouths often numbered hundreds and it was vital to him to obtain and maintain the good-will of the natives in the many remote parts where he penetrated.

Mr. W. D. M. Bell, whose career as an elephant hunter I have dealt with in the first chapter, has kindly supplied me with the following notes on his experiences with rhinoceroses in Equatorial Africa: "Regarding my bag of black rhino I find that out of a total of 63 killed no less than 41 were shot when presenting some sort of menace to either myself or to a line of porters or to an encampment. Of the remainder only three were killed for food, thus indicating the richness of the other and better meat harvest, while the remaining were chiefly killed for making sandals or for rewarding natives with shield pieces. In my time the horn was not worth taking unless of unusual size”.

"During my elephant hunts west of the Nile on the banks of that river the white rhino was very plentiful. The greatest number I ever saw in one day was eleven but I saw some every day. They were quite inoffensive, unlike the pugnacious black, and hardly ever required shooting. Other meat was plentiful and I killed three only".

That great African hunter, Mr. W. D. ML Bell, was mainly concerned with elephants, but in some interesting notes that he has kindly furnished me with, he says; "With regard to lions I merely killed any that caused annoyance, such as roaring round camp, stampeding porters, and so forth. The total so killed is 25".
Leopards he shot, when he came across them, provided he was not close to elephants at the time, or by waiting for them at water-holes etc. Mr. Bell shot 16 leopards during the course of his hunting career.
I have already indicated in the chapters devoted to African elephants and African buffaloes that Mr. Bell is a rifle shot of outstanding ability, it is therefore particularly interesting to know his views on lion hunting, I quote the following from his most excellent book, “The Wanderings of an Elephant Hunter", in which he says:
"The reason of the high mortality among those who hunt lions casually is, I think, the simple one of not holding straight enough. Buck -fever or excitement, coupled with anxiety lest the animal should slip away, is probably the cause of much of the erratic shooting done at lions. This frequently results in flesh wounds or stomach wounds, which very often cause the lion to make a determined charge; and there are a great many things easier to hit than a charging lion. Great care should be taken to plant the bullet right. The calibre does not matter; I am convinced, provided the bullet is in the right place. Speaking personally, I have killed sixteen lions with .256 and .275 solid bullets, and, as far as I can recollect, none of them required a second shot".

Yes, the information posted above and much more is published in this book.