Shakari Connection Bookshelf Newsletter

Issue 002 | 24th February 2011

The Shakari Connection Bookshelf Newsletter brings you the latest additions to the African hunting bookshelf.

I've just finished reading 'Black Poachers, White Hunters: A Social History Of Hunting In Colonial Kenya' by Edward Steinhart which I found very disappointing. He references many of the classic African hunting books by the likes of Bell, Stigand, Neumann and Akeley and has drawn his own strange conclusions about the hunting motives of these men. Steinhart says 'It is the purpose of this book to examine the history of hunting during Kenya's colonial era from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth century.' However the historical facts are laced with the author's barely disguised disapproval of safari hunting. He also casts his modern 'politically correct' opinions on the characters of Bell and Stigand rather than seeing them as men of their own times.

On with this month's book selection....

First off, if you feel so inclined, grab a copy of

Kai Uwe Denker's book Along the Hunter's Path while there is still one available at AbeBooks.

The author is one of Africa's most respected professional hunters, born in Namibia and grew up hunting both for himself and for clients in Namibia, Mozanbique, Cameroon and Tanzania. He was the first professional to hunt in Bushmanland (East Kavango). Through his pioneering efforts, that blank on the map in the middle of nowhere has yielded some of the finest trophies in recent years. Elephant, lion, leopard, buafflo, rhino plus bongo, greater and lesser kudu etc. The middle of the book is entirely on elephant hunting.

Those who enjoyed Bruce Kinloch's The Shamba Raiders: Memories Of A Game Warden may enjoy his latest autobiography....

Tales From A Crowded Life by Bruce Kinloch (2008) is an interesting account of the author's life, from his childhood in India and at school in Britain to his wartime career as an officer in the 3rd Gurkha Rifles where he served on the North West Frontier and subsequently through the Burma campaign. The last part of the book concerns his time in Africa, some fishing, game preservation and his work establishing the College of African Wildlife Management beneath Mount Kilimanjaro. A fascinating account of both war in the Far East and the period of transition of British East Africa to independence.

Hippo hunters may pick up a few tips from the next book by Oliver Walker

The Hippo Poacher by Oliver Walker (1967) is the biography of Tom Dunn, 'the most notorious hippo poacher in Zululand', son of John Dunn, King Cetewayo's white Prime Minister and a Zulu princess. Tom's colourful adventures take place during a vanished era, before the white man's sugar-cane and timber came to dominate the free-hanging bush. Oliver Walker's sympathetic narrative recreates the green Zululand of footpath and kraal and of the abundant big game that enabled Tom Dunn, a true nomad, to wander at will.

For the African history buffs is the classic book by Donald R Morris

TheWashing Of The Spears: The Rise And Fall Of The Great Zulu Nation by Donald R Morris (1965) is the definitive account of the bloody and tragic story of the rise of the Zulu nation under the great ruler Shaka, and its fall under Cetshwayo in the Zulu War of 1879. For over a century after the European landing at Capetown in the 17th century, the Boers advanced unopposed into the vast interior of Africa. It was not until 1824 that Europeans came face to face with another expanding and imperial power, the Zulus - the most formidable nation in black Africa. That confrontation ignited a prolonged struggle, which culminated in a bitter war, the last despairing effort of Africans to stem the tide of white civilization. The result was a dramatic, legendary and bloody defeat at Isandhlwana for the British; the aftermath was the defeat and fall of the remarkable Zulu nation. The Zulus challenged the might of Victorian England, and armed only with their spears, their rawhide shields and their incredible courage, they inflicted upon the British the worst defeat a modern army has ever suffered.

Bill G Yung's book is a must for anyone wanting to hunt Africa. He tells it like it really is and will have you laughing out loud.

TheHalf Fast Hunter by Bill G Yung (2010) is written by a novice hunter and describes the pursuit of adventure that hunting provided for the first 70 years of his life. It provides insight into the animals hunted, the geographical variations of the countries hunted, the culture and the personalities of the people encountered.

For a bit of an unknown quantity but with a lovely lurid 1960s cover, you could try....

Facing Danger In The Last Wilderness by Doug Allan (1962) is a collection of stories from previously published sources on hunting and exploration in Africa

Last but not least this month, there is Ellis Christian Lenz's book about an old time hunting safari in Tanganyika.

Rifleman's Progress by Ellis Christian Lenz (1946). Lenz recounts the 1932 safari to Tanganyika by noted marksman L R Canfield. While two-thirds of the text revolves around shooting matches at Camp Perry and other locales, the final third details Canfield's hunts after rhinoceros, buffalo, lion, oryx and other game in the Great Rift Valley.

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Good Reading & Good Hunting