I've seen this book (The End of the Game by Peter H. Beard) mentioned on this forum a time or two and wasn't sure if I'd like it because I thought it would be anti-hunting.

Well, I ordered a copy from Abe Books and just finished it. I thoroughly enjoyed the story told by the photos, and the text read well.

It's more photography than text, but it's an excellent book. It details the opening up of Africa from the time when Nairobi was nothing more than a collection of tents in a mud hole. The book is heavy with photography from the early days of Africa. There are scans of Col. Patterson's journal detailing the Tsavo lion episode, writings and photos of Karen Blixen and Denys Finch-Hatton, and photos, photos, photos.

Many are stunning, many are graphic, all depicting life and death in an Africa long gone.

"What a missionary had gazed upon with freshness and wonder, explorers would conquer and give names to, geographers would explain, often incorrectly, and the tourist world would one day take for granted." -Peter H. Beard

There is one aerial photo in particular of elephants bones that litter the ground. I believe as the story goes, the Tsavo region endured a drought and rather than cull the elephants herds to a number the land and resources could sustain, all were allowed to live and they subsequently destroyed what little was available to them, resulting in the deaths of thousands of elephants.

Another quote from the book:
"When genuinely protected birds and mammals increase so rapidly it becomes imperative to kill them . . . The foolish sentimentalists who do not see this are the really efficient foes of wildlife and of sensible movements for its preservation." -Theodore Roosevelt January 20, 1915

Great book. (I see from Beard's web site that he got up close and personal with a jumbo that "skewered and trampled" him, but he survived it. The camera doesn't offer much protection against that sort of thing, I guess.)

I read it fifteen years ago, and I agree.

Bill Quimby

If you get a chance, watch his Scrapbooks from Africa and Beyond when it shows up on television. Strange mix of fashion models and Africa.

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Great book. (I see from Beard's web site that he got up close and personal with a jumbo that "skewered and trampled" him, but he survived it. The camera doesn't offer much protection against that sort of thing, I guess.)

Seloushunter

If you watch the documentary I mentioned above, they have footage of the events up to the attack and from afterwards through the trip out.

The cameraman was running and missed a bit in the middle!

You may have seen him describe the incident on Dangerous Game or one of the other shows. I think it was DG but I could be wrong.

Sue: This is indeed a very fine book. Wish I still had my copy from years ago. It was the softback version.

There are two editions of the book, slightly different photos, text.

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Originally posted by fla3006:
There are two editions of the book, slightly different photos, text.

One of these days I will pick up the original.