This is a highly entertaining read by Hannes Wessels. It is a collection of stories surrounding some of the more noteworthy experiences of his friends and fellow hunters who transitioned from the former Rhodesia to Zimbabwe.

Most of the stories are a mixture of hunting faux pas and humor. Sometimes gallows humor, but humor nonetheless.

One of my favorites was the good looking testosterone overloaded PH who, upon seeing the daughter of one of his Spanish safari clients, literally lost all common sense.

WHile drawing the comely young lady almost into his grasp early in the Safari, he thought his opportunity to close the deal would come after the father decided that he wanted to hunt bull elephant.

He saw a group of cows, and thought that he would use that opportunity to demonstrate his stalking prowess in getting close to them. Knowing that the client would not be able to see that there was not a bull among them, he told everyone, including his trackers, to remain in the vehicle while he got a closer look. He informed the group that it was much too dangerous for even the trackers to accompany his.

Accepting the come hither look from the daughter that he was certain would lead to steamy romance at the end of the day, he began his slow and deliberate stalk.

Unfortunately, he had underestimated the height of the grass. He knew he was getting close but the wall of grass made it impossible for him to locate the cow herd.

Looking back, he saw his future quarry smiling at his manly courage. But, he refused to ask the trackers to help him locate the herd, thinking that any such request may be viewed as a sign of weakness, which would surely mar his changes with the young lady.

He looked at the grass, and it was a little to high to see over. He jumped to get a quick view. He could not jump high enough. Necessity being the mother of invention, he came up with the plan to use his rifle as a base to help him spring higher.

On the first attempt, he was still too low. He then made the appropriate mental adjustments and, with the rifle buut to the ground, he valuted upward for all he was worth. At last, a glimpse!

Unfotunately, the adjustments he had made and executed only took the ascent into account. Thus, his descent was rather uncontrolled.

While he had easily cleared the height of the barrel, with his knees apparently higher than the top of the rifle, the rapid drop left no time to make adjustments.

The barrel of the rifle somehow was now between his legs, a little back. His bottom soon enveloped the barrel, a direct channel into his anus.

There he lay, with a loaded rifle sticking out of his backside. At this point, he realized he would need assistance from his trackers, who were called to quickly assist him.

The client, his wife, and the object of the PH's affection looked quizically on, not knowing exactly what happened.

Cautioning his trackers to be careful, because the rifle was loaded, attempts were made for a field extraction. They pulled and pulled. 150 meters later they had pulled the PH back to the vehicle, the rifle still firmly implanted in no man's land.

I will stop there. The story does have an end.

The other tales are just as intriguing. Wessels is very good at describing similar events. Just goes to show that PH's are human too.