African Game Warden Books

The African game wardens books are by the gentlemen who predominantly worked as game wardens and rangers but who also may have been professional hunters, either guiding clients or hunting elephant for themselves.

George Adamson

George Adamson (1906 - 1989) first visited Kenya in 1924. After a series of jobs, which included time as a gold prospector, goat trader and professional hunter, he joined Kenya's game department in 1938 and was Senior Game Warden of the Northern Frontier District. Six years later he married Joy and it was in 1956 that he raised the lioness cub Elsa who became the subject of the 1966 film 'Born Free'.

Bwana Game: The Life Story Of George Adamson by George Adamson (1968) is his account of his years spent as a Game Warden in Kenya and is crammed with gripping stories of adventure and delightful descriptions of the rescue of wounded or orphaned animals. George Adamson shares much knowledge of the land, people and fauna of Kenya. As well as being a thrilling autobiography of a man totally dedicated to the preservation of wild life, Bwana Game contains unique information concerning East African animals which have perhaps never before been so intimately observed over many years.

My Pride And Joy: An Autobiography by George Adamson (1986) is the story of his life. When his wife Joy wrote about the lioness Elsa in the book Born Free, the world was amazed. The story that George Adamson tells is infinitely more astonishing, for his life among the plants and trees, the birds and animals of the African bush, has been one of excitement and often danger - and, above all, of lions.

Movies Related To George Adamson's Life & Lions

• Born Free
• Living Free
• An Elephant Called Slowly
• The Lions Are Free
• Lions
• To Walk With Lions
• Christian The Lion

K De P Beaton

Kenneth De Planta Beaton (1905 – 1954) was the son of a missionary family and was originally a coffee farmer in Kenya before becoming the first Game Warden of Nairobi National Park. In 1952, he was sent to Uganda to develop the Uganda National Parks, becoming the director and chief warden of Uganda National Parks. He was highly regarded and did much in building up and improving the tiny Nairobi National Park and the parks in Uganda. He died at a young age and there is an appreciation of his life here by Mervyn Cowie who was the chairman of Kenya’s National Parks Board at the time.

A Warden's Diary by K De P Beaton (1949) is a 2 volume book about the author's life as a game warden in Kenya before relocating to take over Uganda National Parks in 1952.

Count Gregers Ahlefeldt-Bille

Count Preben Julius Gregers Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille (1905 - 1985) was not actually an African game warden but the Chief Game Warden of Denmark and keen African big game hunter. He hunted with Syd Downey and George Adamson and was instrumental in saving Downey's life when he was severely tsetse fly-bitten. Downey was treated in Nairobi but returned to Denmark with Ahlefeldt-Bille to fully recover. Some of Ahlefeldt-Bille's many African trophies are on display at the Egeskov Castle, Funen, Denmark which belonged to the Ahlefeldt-Bille family. Ahlefeldt-Bille was a skilled bowhunter and in 1937 he went on to collect many trophies on a bowhunting safari to Kenya and Congo.

Tandalla: A Danish Game Warden's Study Of Native And Wild Life In Kenya And Tanganyika by Count Gregers Ahlefeldt-Bille (1948). This book describes the 1947 Danish East African Scientific Expedition to collect animals for the Zoological Museum of the University of Copenhagen and the National Museum of Denmark. The word 'tandalla' is the native name of the greater kudu. He was the hunting client and friend of Syd Downey .

Stan Bleazard

Stanley Richard Bleazard (b.1930) was born in Kenya and he became Deputy Chief Game Warden so dangerous game control was as much of his life as professional big game hunting. Stan was a colleague of noted hunters like Nicky Blunt, George Dove, Reggie Destro, Geoff Bennett and Brian Nicholson.

Stan Bleazard co-wrote 'An Impossible Dream: Some Of Kenya's Last Colonial Game Wardens Recall' with Ian Parker.

Sunset Tales Of Safariland by Stan Bleazard (2005) is a first class story of adventure and achievement told with modesty and humour about a land that was full of glamour and promise, and written by one of the very few individuals with more than 50 years experience on the greatest big game hunting fields the African continent has ever produced. There is much in this book that current hunters can learn about big and dangerous game.

Commander David Enderby Blunt

After having served as a decorated World War I submarine commander in the Royal Navy, Commander David Enderby Blunt (1891 - 1971) became the manager of a sisal estate and cotton planter before working as a game ranger and elephant control officer in Tanganyika. He was the father of professional hunter, John Nicholas De Guisnes 'Nicky' Blunt.

Elephant by Commander David Enderby Blunt (1933) is a true classic on elephant hunting. It is an account of the author's time as an elephant control officer in Tanganyika, hunting primarily in the Linda Province. He details the natural history and biology of the elephant, relates his experiences as a cultivation officer and provides an excellent chapter on past and future elephant hunters. "I am sure that an elephant looks at human beings in the same way as we look on dangerous insects." This book is highly sought after, deservedly so.

Captain H C Brocklehurst

Henry Courtney Brocklehurst (1888 - 1942) was the Game Warden of Sudan in the early 1930s.

Game Animals Of The Sudan: Their Habitats & Distribution: A Handbook For Hunters And Naturalists by H C Brocklehurst (1931) is a beautifully illustrated and informative guide to Sudanese game animals. It features more humane hunting techniques and efficient skinning methods as well as descriptions of physical features and habits of a plethora of animals including the cheetah, the eland, the bushbuck and larger game like the elephant and rhinoceros. The book includes sketches by W D M Bell and Hesketh Raoul Lejarderay Millais (1901 - 1999), a portrait painter, equestrian artist and sportsman. He was the son of John Guille Millais.

Mike Bromwich

Mike Bromwich was a National Parks game ranger and later, game warden in Zimbabwe. Early on he worked at Robins Camp, Chizarira and then Mabalauta.

Following Independence, he was transferred to Matetsi and then to Main Camp, Hwange. After 17 years service, he retired from the Department of Parks that had been a way of life and his home, to immigrate to South Africa in 1983.

National Parks And Wildlife Management: Rhodesia And Zimbabwe 1928 - 1990 By Mike Bromwich (2016) relates the untold story of the Department of National Parks and Wild Life Management in Rhodesia and early Zimbabwe. A unique historic, factual and anecdotal account, it tells of the country's founding fathers and their foresight regarding wild life conservation through into the 1960s through to the 1980s.

Bruce Bryden

A Game Ranger Remembers by Bruce Bryden (2009) are the tales of 27 years in the service of in the famous Kruger National Park. Abounding with encounters with elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard and rhino, whether darting for research, managing culling operations by helicopter or stalking on foot. Kindle Version

Lt-Colonel C A Brown

Claws: The Tale Of A Lion by C A Brown (1938) with a foreword by Capt A T Ritchie, Game Warden of Kenya Colony, author puts his extensive knowledge of the East African bush to use to write this unusual story of a lion from a lion's standpoint. It is more than a fanciful reconstruction of a lion's life from birth to fatherhood but a close study of a lion's nature, character and habits, free from exaggeration or anthropomorphism. It is unclear whether Lt-Colonel Brown actually worked for the Kenyan Game Dept.

Nick Carter

The Arm'd Rhinoceros by Nick Carter (1965) is the account of the author's time working with the Kenya Game Department specialising in shooting hypodermic syringes from a crossbow into the backsides of rhinoceroses. This book he tells how he tested this method of capture with tranquillisers and how he set up and operated a Catching Unit. Sometimes he stalked the rhino on foot, sometimes he chased them in a Landrover, sometimes he swooped down on them in a helicopter.

Mario Cesare

Man-Eaters, Mambas And Marula Madness by Mario Cesare (2010). What started as a vision for the Olifants River Game Reserve has become the story of a game ranger's life. Life-and-death encounters with lion, elephant and buffalo are balanced by rescues and interventions as these giants of the lowveld suffer the effects of human interference in their ecosystem. There are problems with poachers and with rapacious neighbours, then the delights of success - and in the case of the elephant population, the conundrums of too much success. Mario Cesare's career has taken him from Timbavati and Mala Mala to Olifants River and beyond.

The Man With The Black Dog: A True Modern-Day Jock Of The Bushveld by Mario Cesare (2011) is the story of an adventurous life - spanning both pre- and post-1994 Southern Africa - which is interwoven with the tale of an intense, loving 14-year relationship between himself and his dog Shilo. It has lasted through innumerable adventures of duck-hunts and killer crocodile, wounded buffalo, lion, leopard and poachers.

Heart Of A Game Ranger: Stories From A Wild Life by Mario Cesare (2017) recounts African wildlife tales from the author's many years as a game ranger in the Olifants River Game Reserve. These include reuniting a buffalo calf with mother, injured lions given second chances and rhinos lost, one by one, to poaching.

Don Cowie

Don Cowie is a naturalist and professional hunter. He began his working life as an officer with the Southern Rhodesian Department of Customs and Excise, stationed at the Beitbridge border post. Already an experienced hunter, he soon became sought-after for problem animal control. When the brothers Alan and Ian Henderson, started their own safari company in Botswana, they hired Don Cowie as their professional hunter during the six-month safari seasons. In 1967 when sport hunting on a game-ranching permit finally became legal in Zimbabwe, the Hendersons moved their safari operation to Southern Rhodesia, teaming up with Brian Marsh to form Henderson & Marsh Safaris.

An African Game Ranger On Safari by Don Cowie (2006) is an entertaining account of the author's hunting life including stories of being charged by two male lions at the same time when he was a professional hunter in Botswana and game management in Africa's national parks and on the privately owned game ranches of Southern Rhodesia, where he was a game manager for practically his adult life.

Ted Davison

Edward Hartley Davison (b.1906) was born in Rhodesia and was 22 years old, with two years experience as a tsetse fly ranger, when he was appointed as the first game warden of Wankie Game Reserve in 1928. Wankie Game Reserve was Ted Davison's creation as he nearly singlehandedly explored it, reintroduced the previously locally extinct species, installed waterholes, tracks, firebreaks and tourist viewing platforms and roads. In 1950 Wankie gained National Park status and ted Davison stayed on as Warden of Hwange National Park for over 30 years. In 1960 he became second-in-command of all Rhodesia's National Parks which entailed a move to the city of Salisbury. Davison said it was the worst thing that had ever happened to him.

Wankie: The Story Of A Great Game Reserve by Ted Davison (1967) is an account of the author's life as the first game warden of Wankie Game Reserve who oversaw its transformation into a world class National Park, renamed Hwange. In the last pages of his book, Davison mourns the loss of his old bush life and predicts in time the National Parks will no longer be places for game-viewing tourists but also meat producers for the exploding human population in Africa.

Christo Hanekom

The Life Of A Doctor And A Game Ranger by Christo Hanekom (2017) is about a medical doctor, his medical training, his practice in Namibia and South Africa while at the same time becoming involved with wildlife. The author and his family experienced many years of the ups and downs of medical life and wildlife management in the African bush.

David Happold

Rodney Carrington Wood (1889 - 1962) was a British naturalist who spent 50 years mainly in Nyasaland (now Malawi) studying and collecting mammals, birds, fish, insects, shells and plants. After Wood arrived in Africa he earnt a living in the cotton industry, as a tea planter, school teacher and became the first game warden of Nyasaland. He was also a tracker and hunter who preferred to hunt with a bow and arrow rather than with a gun.

African Naturalist: The life & Times Of Rodney Carrington Wood 1889-1962 by David Happold (2011) is an account of Wood's life by a fellow African naturalist is based on Wood's diaries, notebooks and collections, and recollections of many people who knew him personally.

Peter W Hay

Peter Hay started as a locust control officer in Somaliland in 1953 and after postings in Ethiopia, became a Game Warden in Uganda for over 15 years.

One Long Safari by Peter W Hay (1998) relates hunting stories from the more remote parts of Africa such as Somaliland, Ethiopia and Uganda.

Anno Hecker

Anno Hecker was a German big game hunter who arrived in Tanzania in 1955 and decided to stay. He served as a tsetse control officer and an honorary game warden and taught at the Game Warden Training Centre at the College of African Wildlife Management.

C'est L'Afrique - That's Africa: A Somewhat Different Hunting Book by Anno Hecker (2007) are the memoirs of a German big game hunter of great experience. Hunting elephant, eland, buffalo and many others, principally in Kenya and Tanzania. His stories are all that more exciting and interesting as he had to teach himself how to hunt as he went along. From his notes and memory he has written, in no particular order, what he considers important and of interest to sportsmen.

Rodney Henwood

Game Ranger: Extracts From A Game Ranger's Notebook by Rodney Henwood (2013) is an account of the wildlife adventures from the author's early career as a game ranger at a remote outpost in Northern Zululand, to later becoming the warden of a game capture unit. Some of these adventures are funny and some more serious but never routine or mundane.

Ian Meredith Hughes

Ian Meredith Hughes (b.1940) was originally from Britain and moved to Uganda as a tsetse officer. Later he moved to the Kenya Game Department and in 1973 he volunteered to head a specialised anti-poaching unit to Northern Frontier District of Kenya.

Black Moon, Jade Sea by Ian Meredith Hughes (1988). During the 1970's in Kenya, the poaching of game particularly the elephant and rhino, reached unprecedented levels. The author headed the anti-poaching unit created to stop the slaughter and in this remarkable book he tells his story. A graphic portrayal of one of the major ecological disasters. The 'black moon' in the title refers to the moon during an eclipse of the sun and Lake Turkana is also known as the 'Jade Sea'.

C J P Ionides

Constantine John Philip Ionides (1901 - 1969) was a former British Army officer turned ivory hunter and herpetologist. He was briefly a white hunter working out of Arusha in the 1930s with Ken McDougall, then joined the game department in Tanganyika in 1933 and was sent to Kilwa, a small coastal port south of Dar es Salaam. He continued his avid hunting, collecting rare species from as far away as Sudan and Abyssinia.

A Hunter's Story by C J P Ionides (1965) is the autobiography of a great hunter, conservationist and a celebrated naturalist. He was a Game Warden in Tanganyika and was known as the 'Father of the Selous' by none other than Brian Nicholson, as he designed the Selous Game Reserve as a highly controlled hunting reserve. He was recognised as a foremost herpetologist and collected thousands of deadly snakes, especially green and black mambas, puff adders and cobras. This book was published in the US with the title 'Mambas And Man-Eaters: A Hunter's Story'.

The biographies of C J P Ionides 'Snake Man' by Alan Wykes and 'Life With Ionides' by Margaret Lane.

Yuileen Kearney

Rufus The Rhino by Yuileen Kearney (1965) (As told by Joan Vyvyan) is the tale of the black rhino who was one of many orphaned animals raised by the author and her husband, the Tsavo Assistant Game Warden, Dennis Kearney.

Hannes Kloppers

Game-Ranger by Hannes Kloppers (c.1970) is the biography of Harry Kirkman, longtime ranger in the Kruger National Park and a colleague of Harry Wolhuter.

My Father, What is A Hero? by Hannes & Jan Kloppers (1999) is about the black rangers of the Kruger National Park around the end of the 1980s.

Leon Lippens

Count Léon Lippens (1911 - 1986) was a Belgian lawyer, local politician, ornithologist, conservationist and hunter who initially travelled to the Belgian Congo to manage the Lippens family plantation. However he mainly used it to study the wildlife in the nearby Albert Park National Park. He became the deputy curator of the national parks in what was then Belgian Congo.

Kivu Snapshots by Leon Lippens (1938) is a book of photographs, with explanatory text, of wild game, birds and scenery caught on film by the author between 1935 and 1936, while he served as assistant game warden at the Albert National Park.

Anthony S Marsh

Anthony S Marsh and his wife left England after finding a job offer for the Kenya Colony in their local newspaper. At the age of 30 he soon found himself in charge of the Kenya Game Department's elephant control unit.

Fourteen Years In The African Bush: An Account Of A Kenyan Game Warden by Anthony S Marsh (1997) is an account of a Kenyan game warden. Here you will read some of the most amazing adventures with elephants and other East African game.

Barbara Matthews

Stephen Harold Trollope (1882 - 1949) was a South African big game hunter and conservationist who was involved in the development of both the Kruger National Park and the Addo Elephant Park.

He was appointed as a Kruger Park ranger by James Stevenson-Hamilton (from his book, 'South African Eden') and one of his earliest tasks was alleviating the adjacent neighbours from their exploding populations of lions and leopards. His lion hunting and shooting prowess, cleared about 400 lions out of the area in 3 years. His private collection of trophies can be seen in the Harold Trollope Museum which is situated on the Woodbury property of Amakhala Game Reserve.There is also a commemorative plaque and cottage built in honour of Harold Trollope by his family at Malelane in KNP.
Man Magnum article about Harold Trollope's lion-hunting dogs

Harold Trollope: The Man They Called 'Vukani' by Barbara Matthews (2005) is the life story of Harold Trollope, a big game hunter and one of the original owners of Camelthorn reserve, near the Kruger National Park. In 1931 the Addo Elephant National Park was proclaimed when there were only 11 Addo elephants left in the area. Harold Trollope was the first ranger at Addo and he chased the elephants into the Park area using shotguns, firecrackers and fires. His African 'given name' Vukani, in the book title, means 'wake up' or 'awake'. This book is scarce and currently unavailable.

Victor Meyer

Game Ranger's Diary: Activities And Observations Of A Ranger In The African wilderness by Victor Meyer (2011) is a diary, kept during the author's first year in the field. It reflects on the challenges faced by park rangers of the early 1990s. The duties included anti-poaching patrols, black rhino monitoring, trail construction, estuary monitoring, beach patrols, ski-boat operations, public relations, law enforcement, rhino capture procedures, botanical identifications, alien plant control, fire management, map compilation, fence assessments, game censuses, turtle tours and diving activities.

Peter Molloy

Colonel Peter Molloy (1915 - 2000) became the first Director of National Parks in Tanganyika in 1954 and established new parks at Lake Manyara and on the eastern side of Mount Meru.

The Cry Of The Fish Eagle: The Personal Experiences Of A Game Warden And His Wife In The Southern Sudan by Peter Molloy (1957) is a long respected work on the game-rich but harsh to penetrate areas of Sudan.

Audrey Moore

Audrey Moore (1903 - 1982) was the wife of Monty Moore VC (1896 - 1966) who was the second Game Warden of the Serengeti in the 1930's. He was also one of the professional hunters on the Prince of Wales' 1928 hunting safari.

Serengeti by Audrey Moore (1938) is an account of the wildlife and safaris in the African Game Sanctuary, Serengeti. Foreword by Sir Philip Mitchell.

Guy Muldoon

Guy Muldoon was an agricultural officer in the 1940s in Nyasaland, now Malawi. He later became a game control officer and continued his battle against the destruction of livestock and crops by lions, leopards, baboons and warthogs.
1954 Article by Guy Muldoon 'How We Tracked The Killer Leopard Of Kota Kota'.

Leopards In The Night: Man-Eaters And Cattle Raiders In Nyasaland by Guy Muldoon (1955) are accounts of his dealings with man-eaters and cattle-raiding lions and leopards. During his career as an Agricultural Officer in Northern Nyasaland, the author made a study of the characters and habits of the wild animals which ravaged crops, carried off cattle and killed human beings.It includes accounts of hunting marauding lions, leopards, buffalo, elephants, hippo, crocodiles and wild pigs.

The Trumpeting Herd by Guy Muldoon (1957) is his account of his life as Agricultural Officer in Northern Nyasaland where, with the help of tribesmen, he attempted to drive marauding elephants into the national park to save their crops from destruction.

C C J Napier

Killers And Big Game by C C J Napier (1966) ids an account of the author's 50 years of observations and experiences as a game ranger in the Kalahari desert, the bush of Ngamiland in Botswana and his early days in Rhodesia. The book is divided into 18 tales about different African animal species.

Brian Nicholson

Brian Nicholson (1930 - 2009) was a professional hunter, elephant control officer and southern Tanzania game warden. He was one of the fathers of the Selous Game Reserve and one of the pioneers of using safari hunting to sustain a protected area and conserve its wildlife. Nicholson was hired and trained by the legendary game warden and herpetologist, C J P Ionides.

In 1965, Nicholson changed most of the vast Controlled Hunting Areas (CHAs) into hunting concessions that could be leased by outfitters from the government for two or more years at a time. Nicholson also demarcated the Selous Game Reserve's 20000 square miles of uninhabited country into 47 separate concessions. Concessions were given a limited quota of each game species and outfitters were expected to utilize quotas as fully as possible, but not exceed them.

Brian Nicholson visited the Selous again in 1979 together with the photographer Hugo van Lawick and the author Peter Matthiessen, who wrote the book 'Sand Rivers' about their foot safari. He also contributed a chapter in 'The Wild Heart Of Africa' by Rolf D Baldus.

The Last of Old Africa: Big-Game Hunting in East Africa by Brian Nicholson (2001). The author was instrumental in the formation of the Selous Reserve, Africa's biggest wildlife area, which he patrolled entirely on foot for months at a time and eventually helped open to hunting in 1965. The book chronicles his years growing up on a farm in Kenya in pre-World War II days and the characters he met, including John Boyes, Alan Black and Robert Foran. It also tells of the author’s career as a professional hunter during the 'golden age' of East African safaris. This book is becoming scarce.

Clive Nicol

Clive William Nicol, MBE (1940 - 2020) was a Welsh-born writer, singer/song writer, actor and a long-time resident and citizen of Japan. Due to his early interest in wildlife and the environment, in 1967 he spent two years as a game warden in Ethiopia, setting up the new Semien Mountains National Park for the Ethiopian Government.

From The Roof Of Africa by Clive Nicol (1972) is a fascinating account of the author's two-year term as Game Warden in the Simien Mountains of the central Ethiopian Massif. He had to set up a National Park there to protect the walia ibex in that region.

Bryan Orford

Kamchacha: Rhodesian Game Ranger by Bryan Orford (2008) is an anecdotal biography of Thomas Patrick Orford, a Rhodesian game ranger, hunter and conservationist, who was involved with Operation Noah. Anecdotes about Tom Orford also appear in Kevin Thomas's books.

Arthur Blayney Percival

Arthur Blayney Percival (1874 - 1940) was appointed Ranger for Game Preservation in Kenya and was largely instrumental in the creation of two big game reserves and the proper control and preservation of game. It was as a result of his own intimate knowledge and experience that the first properly codified game laws the East African Game Ordinance of 1906 - were drafted and passed into law. He was the brother of professional white hunter Philip Percival.

A Game Ranger's Note Book by Arthur Blayney Percival (1924). Percival was a member of the Kenya Game Department for 23 years. The book reflects the author's vast knowledge of the game and its habitat, with important descriptions of the terrain and numerous hunting adventures, including successful hunts for lion, leopard, cheetah, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, buffalo and plains game.In 1924 he claimed that he could smell giraffes at 300 yards.

A Game Ranger On Safari by Arthur Blayney Percival (1928) as Kenya Colony's first chief game warden, gives fascinating details of early safari and animal life in Kenya in the 1920's. Blayney Percival was also a friend of Karen Blixen.

R J Prickett

Richard 'Dick' Prikett (1917 - 2003) spent 12 years in the Forestry Department of Kenya before becoming an honourary game warden and professional hunter. He spent time at the famous Tree Tops lodge before moving to the newly opened Ark lodge in 1969.

The African Ark by R J Prickett (1974) is the story of the Ark game lodge in Kenya. In 1967 Kevin Lyons, owner of the Aberdares Country Club and game warden, Bill Woodley ('Elephants At Sundown: The Story Of Bill Woodley' by Dennis Holman) decided to build a lodge deep in the Aberdares Forest. The work started in February 1969 and the first guests arrived in November1969. The safari lodge was built rather like Noah's Ark and offered unique opportunities for seeing the rare forest bongo, giant forest-hog and leopard.

The Living Forest by R J Prickett (1964) is an account of the author's career with the Kenya Forest Department.

Treetops: Story Of A World Famous Hotel by R J Prickett (1987) is the story of a unique safari lodge in the Aberdare Mountains north of Nairobi. The stories of the many people who have been there, including the late Queen Elizabeth, who made a nostalgic visit in 1983, of the wildlife itself and all kinds of special happenings are recorded. Treetops began as a hut in a tree somewhere in Kenya, but this was the tree where Princess Elizabeth actually became Queen Elizabeth II. The book is full of poignant and amusing anecdotes and evokes all the magic and excitement of the life of a real life hunter-escort in the Kenyan wilderness.

Gertrude Annie: Forester's Wife In Kenya, A Story Of Twentieth Century Courage by R J Prickett (1991) is the remarkable biography of the forester author's wife, Gertrude, who was afflicted by polio.


Read 'The Claws Of Africa', the biography of R J Prickett by Rupert Wilkey

George G Rushby

George Gilman Rushby (1900 - 1968) was an English elephant hunter, poacher, prospector, farmer, forestry officer and deputy game warden of Tanganyika. He is also known as the man who faced and defeated 22 man-eating lions of the Njombe district of Tanganyika (described in the Guinness Book of Records as the 'worst marauding lions in the history of Africa').

No More The Tusker by George G Rushby (1965) writes of the behaviour of elephants, elephant hunters of the past and training and choice of weapons to use on safari.

Books Featuring George G Rushby:

T V Bulpin

The Hunter Is Death by T V Bulpin (1968) is aptly dedicated to that special band of adventurers known as professional ivory hunters, the author talks about men like George Rushby, Jim Sutherland and more men who went to Africa in search of adventure and found more than the dose they sought.

Peter Hathaway Capstick

Maneaters by Peter Hathaway Capstick (1989) where George Rushby features heavily in the man-eating lion chapter.

Ron Selley

West Of The Moon: Early Zululand And A Game Ranger At War In Rhodesia by Ron Selley (2009) is in two distinct parts: Part 1 chronicles the author's earlier years - an idyllic childhood spent roaming and hunting among the empty, rolling hills of northern Zululand. Part 2 recounts the author's move to Rhodesia where he becomes a game ranger, dealing with problem animals in the farming area and the escalating terrorist war in the Gonarezhou National Park.

Noel Simon

Noel Simon (1921 - 2008) was a British author and wildlife conservationist. During World War II he served as a fighter pilot for the naval air force. In 1947 he moved to Kenya, married and started farming there. Noel Simon joined the forces against the Mau Mau insurgents and operated in the Aberdares on foot and from the air. He later served as Deputy Director of the Royal National Parks in Kenya, under the first director Colonel Mervyn Cowie. He was largely responsible for persuading the colonial government to recognize the seriousness of the poaching threat in the nation's most important national park, Tsavo National Park and to provide the necessary means to counteract it. Working closely with David Sheldrick, the founding game warden of Tsavo East National Park, Simon instigated a highly effective anti-poaching campaign in the 1950s.

After a dispute with Colonel Cowie, he left the National Park Service and worked from 1962 to 1969 at the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) in Switzerland where he contributed to the IUCN Red Data Books.

Between The Sunlight And The Thunder: The Wildlife Of Kenya by Noel Simon (1962) is an account of the reasons for the decline of wildlife populations in Kenya, giving an indication of what remains of Kenya's once prolific fauna, as well as suggesting possible means by which the remnants of the great herds can be retained. The book was published with the dust jacket reversed, presumably an error.

John Sinclair

The Hunted Ones by John Sinclair (1965) is about Africa's most popular wildlife - all those interested in wild animals in their natural surroundings will enjoy this book.

Twilight Of The Wild by John Sinclair (1967) is a book of photographs by the Australian author who moved to South Africa and for 8 years was a Game Ranger for Natal game Department.

Paul Smiles

Paul Smiles was a Game Ranger in Uganda and Bechuanaland, now Botswana.

Land Of The Black Buffalo by Paul Smiles (1961) is a fascinating and gripping autobiography, packed with stories of bushmen and buffalo, lion and elephants. It is a remote and isolated life in which adventure is part of the day's work and which has its own particular rewards.

A Game Ranger's Notebook by Paul Smiles (1961) is a book of brief natural history summaries of the most common African mammals as well as some bird species.

A Leopard Came By Night: Alone In A Tiny Room With A Powerful Vicious Killer by Paul Smiles (1956) is an extract from the Wide World Magazine.

Fugitive Of The Nile by Paul Smiles (1960) is an extract from the Wide World Magazine.

H J Southam

Blind Safari by H J Southam (1961) is the autobiography of a game warden in Uganda. First visiting Uganda as a railway engineer, the author joined the National Parks department. Southam having lost one eye serving in the RAF and eventually lost the other after being ambushed by ivory poachers.

Sudan Game Warden

Sudan Wild Life & Sport: Dec 1951 by Sudan Game Warden (1951) is the December 1951 issue of the journal 'Sudan Wild Life & Sport' which has articles about the wildlife of Sudan and is not a personal diary of a 'Sudan Game Warden'.

E A Temple-Perkins

Eric Arnold Temple-Perkins(1890 - 1972) was born in New Zealand. After serving in World War I he joined the Colonial Service, with District Commissioner postings in Karamoja, Ankole and Masaka. He later became Provincial Commissioner of Buganda, Toro and of the Eastern Province of Uganda. During World War II he was made Director of Security and Intelligence in Uganda. In 1944 he became Resident of Buganda until his retirement in 1945.

Temple-Perkins chose to remain in Uganda after he retired and lived on the edge of the Queen Elizabeth National Park. He had always been interested in wildlife and a keen big game hunter. In 1952 he was made an Honorary Warden of Uganda's National Parks.

Kingdom Of The Elephant by E A Temple-Perkins (1955) is about big game hunting, especially trophy elephants in Uganda and Tanganyika by one of the famous and respected game wardens and a great elephant hunter. Temple-Perkins was a crack shot and among his many stories is included one about a safari with Jim Corbett.

Nick Tredger

From Rhodesia To Mugabe's Zimbabwe by Nick Tredger (2009). After national service in the Rhodesian Army, the author joined the Dept of National Parks and Wildlife in 1978 as a cadet-ranger. His first station was the remote Chizarira National Park where he and a few other young rangers fought for their country and for the preservation of the wilderness around them. Subsequently, he worked in Wankie (Hwange) and in the Zambezi Valley, after Zimbabwean independence. He finally became a Game Warden of Mana Pools National Park at the age of 24. In the uncertainty of post-election Zimbabwe, he suffered the loss of his best friend, who was murdered by Mugabe's foot soldiers. In 1984 he decided he’d had enough and resigned from the Department and moved to South Africa.

Peter Turnbull-Kemp

The Leopard by Peter Turnbull-Kemp (1967). The author, a game ranger, made a particular study of the leopard during his years in the field in Nigeria, the Sudan and South Africa. This book looks at the leopard from ancient times, the superstitions, witchcraft and mythology associated with this predator - how and where it lives, mates, rears its young and hunts.

Barry Turner

From The Plains Of Africa To the Jungles of Parliament by Barry Turner (2012) is a tale of the author's adventures as a Game Warden in the Mkomazi Game Reserve in Northern Tanzania. He writes of encounters with Patrick Hemingway (son of author Ernest Hemingway) who was a PH and an instructor at the College of African Wildlife Management and the President of Tanzania, journeys on Mount Kilimanjaro, through the Serengeti and hunting and conservation experiences. The second part of this autobiography deals with Turner's life in Canadian politics after he was elected as a Member of Parliament.

Myles Turner

Myles Ian Maitland Turner (1921 – 1984) was a British-born game warden who spent most of his childhood in Kenya. He served in Africa during World War II and joined the Kenya Game Department in 1946 as a Game Control Officer. He first became a professional hunter with Ker & Downey Safaris in 1949 and was seconded to the Kenya police during the Mau Mau Emergency. He rejoined Ker & Downey in 1955. It was during this time that Turner learned much about the animals that he would later fight so hard to protect. In 1956, he married Kay Turner (who also wrote a book on her life in the Serengeti) and accepted a job at the newly formed Serengeti National Park.

My Serengeti Years: The Memoirs Of An African Game Warden by Myles Turner (1987) was published posthumously after the author died suddenly of a heart attack. Myles Turner was deputy chief game warden in the Serengeti from 1956 to 1972. This memoir contains much detail on the early Serengeti hunting safaris, including that of R J Cuninghame and Stewart White.

Desmond Varaday

Desmond Emil Varaday (1913 - 1995) started out as a film actor but his interest in African wildlife led him to become the game warden of a private reserve in the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now, Botswana). Subsequently he set a cheetah sanctuary near Middelburg, South Africa, where he housed and protected many animals. In 1990 when he was unable to look after them any longer, his cheetahs were taken into the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre in Mpumalanga.

Gara-Yaka: The Story Of A Cheetah by Desmond Varaday (1964) is the story of the author's relationship with a cheetah. He was a game warden of a private reserve in southern Africa and he found the infant cheetah cub after her mother was killed by a crocodile. Her existence as a close companion to Varaday did not keep her from venturing into the wild and finding a wild mate.

Gara-Yaka's Domain by Desmond Varaday (1966) is about the remakable animal behaviours the author witnessed as a game warden - an elephant fighting with a crocodile, two buffalo outwitting a pride of young lions, a pack of baboons combining to drive off a leopard, a lioness on the verge of starvation, dragged down by hyenas and a baby elephant emerging from the bush, later adopting a game scout as a 'mother'.

Peter Whitehead

Bwana, There's A Body In The Bath by Peter Whitehead & Tony Park (2022) is the tale of the author's life in Africa where he worked as an agricultural officer, national parks ranger, big game hunter, animal wrangler and rancher. He worked on the sets of several movies, including 'Hatari!' with John Wayne, and he handled the lions for the film, 'Born Free'. He survived two aircraft crashes, as well as had encounters with man-eating lions, zombie witches, killer hippos, and nearly drowning in a crocodile infested river.

E Cronje Wilmot

Eric Cronje Wilmot (d.1967) went to the Bechuanaland Protectorate (now Botswana) in the early 1900s and worked at various jobs including as a Stock Inspector, Tsetse Fly Control Officer and Ranger.

Always Lightly Tread by E Cronje Wilmot (c.1950). Illustrated and edited by C T Astley Maberley includes accounts of hunting lion, buffalo, antelope, crocodile and hippo for trophies, the pot and tsetse fly control. Fishing too There is a vivid account of the author being mauled by a lion.

Okavango Adventure: Memoirs Of A Game Ranger by E Cronje Wilmot (1970) is the autobiography of a man who spent a lifetime in the wilds of Botswana.

Okavango Memoirs by E Cronje Wilmot (2018) is a re-released version of the author's 1956 book 'Always Lightly Tread' and its later re-release in 1970 as 'Okavango Adventure: Memoirs Of A Game Ranger'. It includes all his original tales about being mauled by a lion, charged by buffalo, encounters with crocodiles, bitten by snakes, alone in a deep, dark cave with a wounded leopard, victim of bubonic plague while working as tsetse fly officer and ranger in the Okavango Delta. This version was further edited by Frank Nunan and contains 2 extra chapters of new material added at the end which includes a photograph album.

Harry C Wolhuter

Harry Charles Wolhuter (1877 - 1964) was a South African-born game ranger who, with game warden Colonel Stevenson-Hamilton, played an important part in the development of the Kruger National Park.

"I suppose there can be few if any men in all Africa possessing a deeper knowledge and wider experience of bush lore in all its phases and in his prime he held all the qualities requisite to give effect to that knowledge and experience; a powerful frame, an iron constitution; cool courage and quiet determination. In addition, his complete mastery of the local Bantu language, and acquaintance with their customs, earned him exceptional liking and respect among the tribal natives. His unique exploit in killing, single-handed, and armed only with a knife, a full grown male lion which had seized, and was carrying him off, was in itself a feat rendering superfluous any further tributes to his rare courage and coolness; but it is worth remarking that in many hazards - happily all safely surmounted - which he has since incurred in the course of his duties, his nerve has shown itself to be just as calm and steady as it was when he underwent that terrible experience." J Stevenson-Hamilton's foreword of Wolhuter's book.

Memories Of A Game Ranger by Harry C Wolhuter (1948) is the autobiography of the first game ranger of Kruger National Park in South Africa who served from 1902 to 1946 and earned renown for his killing of a lion with a knife in 1903. The lion skin and Wolhuter’s knife are on display at Skukuza Camp in the Kruger.The book was illustrated by naturalist C T Astley Maberly.

R B Woosnam

Richard Bowen Woosnam (1880 - 1915) was a British soldier, traveller and naturalist who became a Game Warden in the East Africa Protectorate, replacing J H Patterson in 1909 after his 'incident'. Prior to this Woosnam made several scientific expeditions seeking new animal species and had a species of mouse and rat named after him. He was killed in action at Gallipoli during WWI.

Ruwenzori And It's Life Zones by Captain R B Woosnam (1907) about his 1905 British Museum expedition to the Ruwenzori Mountains in western Uganda. This is a Geographical Journal pamphlet - 1st Edition, Vol 30, No 6, 1907, pp. 616-629.

Allan Wright

Though strictly not a Game Warden, Allan Wright served as the District Commissioner for Nuanetsi district from 1958. As a keen conservationist, he oversaw the proclamation of the Gonarezhou National Park in 1975, assuming 'the mantle of unofficial game warden'. However his passion for wildlife conservation/preservation conflicted with his DC duties of improving the lives of local Africans...

Grey Ghosts At Buffalo Bend by Allan Wright (1976) is a series of short stories and anecdotes about the wildlife of the southern Rhodesian Lowveld. The Gonarezhou warden's home was located at Buffalo Bend on the Nuanetsi River. Wright writes with passion about his charges, both big and small.

Valley Of The Ironwoods by Allan Wright (1972) is a personal record of his 10 years as District Commissioner of Nuanetsi, in the south-eastern Lowveld of Rhodesia. Currently unavailable.

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