Modern Professional Hunter Books

Modern professional hunter books are by the PHs that may have slightly overlapped the 'white hunter' or old-time hunter era, through to those who have followed in their footsteps and are still operating today. There may also be an overlap with the game warden books as so many professional hunters were game wardens before or after their PH careers.

Eric Balson

Eric Walter Balson (1930 - 2014) was born in Kenya. In his early working years he was a surveyor for the Cape to Cairo explorer, Ewart Grogan in Kenya and Uganda. After a stint with the British Overseas Service in Tanganyika, he transferred to the Game Department and became Chief Game Warden and a professional hunter. Eric Balson was one of the pioneers of anti-poaching in Tanzania. He conducted hunting safaris for many famous people, including Yugoslavian president Marshall Tito, Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, wildlife artists David Shepherd and Guy Coheleach.

In 1972 he moved to Zambia and started a National Park with Wildlife Conservation International in the Lower Zambezi region, now known as the Zambezi National Park. He moved on to Botswana Game Industries followed by a posts in Nepal and Papua New Guinea. In 1981 Eric ran a game farm in Namibia and then managed a game reserve in Mozambique. He retired to Canada in 1994.

On Safari With Bwana Game by Eric Balson (2003) who guided many notables, including Tito and European royalty and their hunting stories are all told in this book. This fascinating biography is full of amusing ancedotes.

More Safaris With Bwana Game by Eric Balson (2012). Not only was Eric Balson a PH to the rich and famous, he also worked for years for game departments. During that time he was charged with shooting some very disagreeable wild animals such as man-eating lions and crop-marauding elephants.

F M 'George' Barrington

One Happy Hunter by George Barrington (1994). As a professional hunter with Ker & Downey, the author hunted the length and breadth of East Africa during the 1950s and 1960s. Barrington was the professional hunter who took out John H Batten and also married his daughter.

Fred Bartlett

Frederick George Bartlett (1923 - 2012) was born in Kenya. He became a game warden and later a professional hunter who specialised in hunting the thick bush of Mount Kenya and the Aberdares. Fellow hunter, John Fletcher said "Fred was one of the quickest shots with a double rifle, and that came from his buffalo control work." Fred Bartlett was one of the men who, because of his knowledge of the bush and wildlife, was tasked with tracking the Mau Mau gangs during the Emergency. With his brother-in-law and fellow professional hunter Don Bousfield, he also ran a tracker-training school. In 1969 Fred Bartlett settled permanently in Botswana.

Shoot Straight And Stay Alive: A Lifetime Of Hunting Experiences by Fred Bartlett (1994) is a fascinating book is about Fred Bartlett's lifetime of hunting experiences. He worked as a game control officer in the Kenya Game Department before joining the legendary Ker And Downey Safaris. This is a wonderful story of a life truly lived in Africa's gamelands.

Dennis Blackbeard

Stories Of Botswana by Dennis Blackbeard (1992) was published in Botswana by the professional hunter author, mainly for his friends. It includes early stories about the Blackbeard family hunting lion, elephant and buffalo with snake encounters.
Read more about the Blackbeard family in 'The Hunting Blackbeards Of Botswana' by Brian Marsh.

Werner Brach

Memories Of Africa: Hunting In Zambia And Sudan by Werner Brach (2004) are the memoirs of a German hunter and construction engineer who became a professional hunter in Zambia and the Sudan from the 1960s to the 1990s. He knew how to get exceptional trophies which included a world-record sable antelope from Zambia. The book is written with an honest perspective on the animals, people and hunting the magnificent wildlife of Zambia and Sudan over the last three decades.

Bud Branham

Sourdough And Swahili: A Professional Hunter On Two Continents by Bud Branham (1989). Hunting Alaska for bear, sheep, caribou amd moose plus fishing for trout, salmon and char. Africa for elephant, buffalo, rhinocerous, nyala and lesser game.

Joe McGregor Brooks

Joe McGregor Brooks was a professional hunter, problem animal control officer, crocodile hunter, croc breeder and in general, an adventuresome individual in Zambia. Joe Brooks still lives in Zambia today, his long, healthy life attributed to half a teaspoon of crocodile fat a day. You can see him if you visit his crocodile farm in Choma and Livingstone.

Siatwinda: Fifty Years Of Hunting Problem Crocodile, Buffalo And Elephant In The Zambezi Valley Of Zambia by Joe McGregor Brooks (2009) is a well-written account of a life as a professional hunter in Zambia.
Read the biography of Joe McGregor Brooks by Elizabeth Balneaves

Geoff Broom

Geoff Broom: A Life On Safari by Geoff Broom with Craig Boddington (2004) is the autobiography of one of the renowned professional hunters in southern Africa. The first years of his hunting career were spent controlling marauding lions and elephants in Rhodesia. In late 1960s, the Brooms acquired a huge game-rich ranch in the Matetsi and started his professional hunting career.

Mike Cameron

Mike Cameron (1939 - 2017) was born in South africa and spent more than thirty years hunting in various countries such as Tanzania, Angola, Botswana, South Africa, CAR and Zambia. He started his career with the Bechuanaland Game Department until his chance meeting with East African PH Eric Rundgren which led him becoming a professional hunter.

My Wanderings Through Africa: The Life And Times Of A Professional Hunter by Mike Cameron (2004). As a professional hunter, Mike Cameron spent more than thirty years hunting in various countries such as Tanzania, Angola, Botswana, South Africa, CAR and Zambia. On one safari, his client and his colleague's client both wounded a leopard and Mike was left to follow both leopards alone into the tall grass. There are great tales about former East African PHs, Eric Rundgren, Andrew Holmberg, Bill Illingworth and Harry Lee-Wingfield the group he calls the 'When we' as in 'When we' were hunting in East Africa.

Sten Cedergren

The Adventurous Life Of A Vagabond Hunter by Sten Cedergren (2000). Cedergren set out to become a cowboy at an early age, so his first stop was Paraguay. After further roaming, he landed in Kenya and joined White Hunters Ltd, in addition to doing elephant control work. Cedergren tells good stories about Jack Blacklaws, René Babault, Bunny Ray, Tony Henley, Eric Rundgren, Rolf Trappe and Robert Foster and others. When Kenya closed hunting, Cedergren did like nearly all the other PHs and relocated to Sudan, Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. By 1981, the Zimbabwe hunting industry was again in full swing, and Cedergren had good years in the Matetsi and the Dande area of the Zambezi Valley. Cedergren stopped professional hunting in 1997 at 78 and said, "I must conclude by saying that if it had not been for the heavy English-built double rifles that I used throughout my hunting career, I would not have been around to write about my experiences in the African bush."

Buzz Charlton

Tall Tales by Buzz Charlton (2018) is a collection of exciting anecdotes and stories from an experienced PH who has spent a lifetime hunting in Africa's wilderness.

Gordon Cundill

Gordon Cundill (1934 - 2019) was born in South Africa and went on to hunt in the Congo and Rhodesia before joining Ker, Downey & Selby in Botswana in the 1970s. He then started 'Hunters Africa' in South Africa, running safaris to East Africa and Botswana. After sustaining injuries in a car accident, he spent his last years writing books about his hunting experiences.

A Hunter's Africa by Gordon Cundill (1998) contains all the vivid safari experiences. Here is a man who has participated in every facet of the hunting industry - hunter on his own, professional hunter and partner/owner/general manager of safari companies.

Some Lions I Have Met by Gordon Cundill (2007) is an exciting, specialist book on lion hunting for the lion hunter. It contains many valuable lessons on calibres, cartridges and why not to use an over-and-under double rifle.

Fragments Of Africa: Vignettes From A Hunter's Life 1939-1998 by Gordon Cundill (2004). In these pages you will find what the author calls a random collection of impressions and events that presented themselves in his life as a professional hunter and along the many roads he chose to follow throughout the African continent. He recalls his days with the greats of the industry, such as Harry Selby, Werner von Alvensleben, Eric Rundgren and many others.

Robert De Pole

Robert De Pole is the pen name of the Polish professional hunter Robert Kotowicz who came to Africa after surviving Russian concentration camps. During 25 years and well over 100 professionally conducted safaris, he proved he was a man who carved out a life few have been priviledged to live. His family were deported to Siberia by the Soviets from where they escaped to South Africa via Iran and Aden, before being sent to a refugee camp on the Rhodesian copper belt. After the war, they had a farm at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro, until they were dispossessed by the Tanzanian government in the 1960's.

Tanzania Safari: Heia Safari by Robert De Pole (2004) describes in detail not only the hunting country but why he selected certain areas for certain clients or certain times of year for certain safaris. This is something noted briefly in hunting company brochures but the detail which De Pole has given really makes this informative as well as interesting. He treats not only the difficulty of terrain, availability and size of game, but size of the hunting party and how a PH tries to assess in advance the ability (physical and mental) of his client.

Kai Uwe Denker

Along the Hunter's Path by Kai Uwe Denker (2006). 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. Read Review

About The Spirit Of The African Wilderness by Kai Uwe Denker (2018) is an account by one of Africa's most successful elephant hunters and is not only a fascinating book on hunting the African elephant, but also a story of trophy elephant hunting as a means of conservation. It includes observations on the elephant as a game animal, the fine art of tracking (distinguishing tracks of young and old elephant bulls), ivory, elephant hunting equipment and much more.

Craig Texeira Doria

Craig Texeira Doria (b.1962) is a South African professional hunter who, after some years working on conservation projects in KwaZulu Natal, moved to Luangwa Valley, Zambia. He worked as a professional guide and professional hunter under the guidance of Norman Carr. In 2001 he continued as a professional guide and professional hunter in Tanzania. He now runs a photographic safari company.

Following The Dust: A Collection Of Safari Tales by Craig Texeira Doria (2012) is an unusual collection of stories on hunting and discussions on mans evolution as a hunter gatherer, the nature of mans relationship with the wild and the relationship between hunting and conservation.

Snakes Of Zambia: An Atlas And Field Guide by Donald G Broadley, Craig T Doria & Jürgen Wigge (2003) is a comprehensive book on all the snakes known to occur in Zambia. The book provides an introduction to the Zambian environment and species account gives the scientific and common names, venom status, description, size, colour, distribution and preferred habitat.

Fred Duckworth

Far From Ordinary Life: A Diary Of Adventures In An Africa Now Past by Fred Duckworth (2004). The author's descriptive prose vividly brings to life his wanderings and twists of fate as he evolved from his early years assisting game-control scouts in the Selous Game Reserve in Tanganyika to becoming a licensed professional hunter. Along that path in his long career he hunted for ivory at a time when a 110-pound per side tusker was worth four-month's pay as an assistant game ranger. He also describes the personalities, guns and game encountered.

Quest For Africa's Tomorrows by Fred Duckworth (2012). The author seldom uses aliases for hunting clients and fellow PHs and he recounts events as he experienced them, warts and all, without varnish. He is probably best known for his PH work in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and the Central African Republic, but he hunted elsewhere as well. Fred Duckworth delivers razor-sharp criticisms of Zimbabwe, on incompetent PHs and corrupt officials in the places he worked, and he takes to task the recent phenomenon of the erosion of honorable standards and ethical principles.

Pete Fick

Cut To The Chase by Pete Fick (2012). The author is one of Zimbabwe's best known professional hunters. He originally joined the Parks Dept to engage in dangerous game culling during which time he shot over 1,000 elephants, plus many buffalo, lion and leopard. Later he became a professional hunter and hunted in Chewore, Matetsi, Ngamo, Kazuma and Save Valley. Most of the stories are about hunting dangerous game.If you ever plan to hunt in Zimbabwe, this book is a must.

Brad Fitzpatrick

Morning Shadows, Evening Sun: Stories Of Namibia's Professional Hunters by Brad Fitzpatrick (2013). The author, together with the Namibian Professional Hunter's Association, has interviewed the finest Namibian PHs and got each to give the story of their most interesting, exciting or dangerous hunt.

Cotton Gordon

F M 'Cotton' Gordon (1930 - 2000) was born in Texas and after hunting in Colorado, decided in 1974 to become a professional hunter in Zambia and later in Tanzania.

Bwana Cotton by Cotton Gordon (1994) is his account of his hunting experiences spanning four decades. This book deals with everything about big game hunting.

Wayne Grant

Wayne Grant is an experienced professional hunter who has worked in Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa and also a fine writer. He developed a special ability to successfully hunt African big cats which became his focus from the early 1990s. Today Wayne Grant’s name has become synonymous with massive leopard trophies.

Into the Thorns: Hunting The Cattle-Killing Leopard Of The Matobo Hills by Wayne Michael Grant (2008). Hunting the leopard with someone who is widely acknowledged as a leopard 'specialist'. The author has won many hunting awards including Professional Hunter of the Year.
Book Review

Drums Of The Morning by Wayne Michael Grant (2020) is the author's second exceptional book - this time about hunting lions and other game (especially Cape buffalo) in Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Wayne Grant relates tales of his most interesting hunts in such a way that the reader is drawn along on the hunt too.

Giorgio Grasselli

Giorgio Grasselli started out in west Cameroon when he was asked to shoot a man-killing elephant. From this start he became a PH in Cameroon. After leaving Cameroon, Grasselli settled in Rhodesia where he was until just before that country's independence. In 1979 Grasselli went to the Central African Republic where he hunted large tuskers, eland and bongo. Finally, Grasselli ends up in Zambia where he hunts once again for glamour game such as sable and buffalo.

African Sunsets: The Story Of An Adventurous Life by Giorgio Grasselli (2007) is a fascinating read which takes us on hunts for an elephant with a corkscrew tusk to a rogue gorilla to a bullfrog that weighed about ten pounds. The stories are not kill and kill some more, but rather they are the highlights of a most fascinating life - one that comes from being decades in Africa living and hunting in various countries.

Lou Hallamore

In The Salt by Lou Hallamore (1999) include 26 colour illustrations of shooting 'pay lines' (shot placements) and stalking recommendations. In addition to big game hunting stories, the author recounts his real life war stories during the long bush war that raged in Rhodesia. Each chapter contains sections on: choice of weapons, methods of location, tracking, trophy judgement, the approach, etc. A must for anyone planning to hunt Africa for the first time or for the returning hunter. A book hunters will read and reread.

Chui! A Guide To Hunting The African Leopard by Lou Hallamore & Bruce Woods (1994) presents the techniques used to hunt African leopard. It has stories of many great hunts and a large section of what to do when things don't go quite right. Highly recommended.

Richard Harland

Ndlovu, The Art Of Hunting The African Elephant by Richard Harland (2005) is essential reading for all with an interest in this subject - destined to be a classic. Richard Harland, is a seasoned elephant hunter. In this book he gives a great deal of practical advice on just about all facets of hunting elephant. In addition, there is a photo gallery of live tuskers, the largest known from Southern Africa in the last twenty to thirty years. A great book but hard to find.

African Epic: The Story Of Paul 'Kambada' Grobler by Richard Harland (2003). Grobler began his career in 1945 and had his last elephant hunt in 1990. In 1949 alone he sold almost 2000 tusks and handed in to government another couple of hundred belonging to crop-destroying animals. Give or take a dozen or two, that year he shot roughly Bell's, Sutherland's or Nyschen's lifetime totals of 1000 to 1200 head. Over the decades while accounting for thousands of elephants, he must have pursued more of the great beasts over more miles of African bush than any other hunter. For sheer weight of experience he is, and will remain, unsurpassed and to have survived so many experiences bears witness to the skill of the master.

The Hunting Imperative: Biography Of A Boy In Africa by Richard Harland (2001) is the autobiography of Richard Harland, one of the greatest living elephant hunters. Richard learned elephant hunting under the tutelage of Paul Grobler, one of the greatest elephant hunters who ever lived. This is Harland's story.

Lionel A Hartley

Lionel Alexander Holmes Hartley (1944 - 1998) was the son Lionel Hugh Holmes 'Rhino' Hartley who was a professional hunter in Kenya, as was his brother Thomas Augustus Corke 'Carr' Hartley. Lionel A Hartley was part of the large Poolman-Carr-Hartley clan of Kenya many of whom were hunters, big game capturers and animal wranglers for movies shot in Africa - he too became a professional hunter in 1970.

Hunter's Heartbeat: A Chronicle Of Two Generations Of A Professional Hunting Family In East Africa by Lionel A Hartley (1985) is an extremely well written exciting and entertaining book. The author's adventures come to life with hunts after elephants in Uganda and Tanzania, plus buffalo, lion, sitatunga and other game in Kenya.

Tony Henley

Anthony Michael Hoste Henley (1928 - 1995) hunted professionally for 48 years in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, Botswana and South Africa, with Ker and Downey Safaris, Hunters Africa which was called White Hunters, as well as Safari South. He joined the Uganda Game Department in 1952.

Round The Campfire by Tony Henley (1989) is the life story of a long term professional hunter in Africa. The author also served in the Kenya Game Department as an elephant control offer. Here is his life story as a hunter and game officer.

Round The Campfire & Hunting And Wildlife In Botswana by Tony Henley (2002) is the re-publication of 'Round the Campfire' by the author's son with the addition of Tony Henley's hitherto unpublished manuscript, 'Hunting and Wildlife in Botswana'.

George Hoffman

A Country Boy In Africa by George Hoffman (1998) is the account of an American professional hunter in Africa who starts out his career with very little money, a new rifle and two young trackers. At the end of his career he has no money, an old rifle and two old trackers. But what adventures they enjoyed in the interim - not only had he hunted all the game under the African sun, but he was the developer of the Hoffman wildcat .416 rifle calibre. George Hoffman died in 2003.

William Dayton Holmes

Safari RSVP by William D Holmes (1960) is an account of a Kenyan professional hunter who started out with Ker & Downey. Holmes achieved prominence hunting world-wide. His rich experience covers adventures with the African Big Five.

A Square In The Arctic Circle: An Alaskan Hunt by William D Holmes (1960). The author is one of the few white African hunters to travel to Alaska in search of a trophy polar bear and Kodiak bear. An amazing hunting story told with some humour by a licensed African PH. Free eBook

Robin Hurt

Robin Anthony Hurt (b.1945) was the eldest son of Roger Hurt, a Kenya Game Warden. At the age of 18 he became a licenced professional hunter conducting hunts all over Africa.

Hunting The Big Five: Stories Of Hunting The Most Dangerous Game by Robin Hurt (2000). is an extraordinary book containing the hunting narratives of African professional hunter Robin Hurt on each of the African Big Five: elephant, lion, leopard, rhino and buffalo. This book may be unavailable.

A Hunter's Hunter: A Lifetime Of African Safari by Robin Hurt (2019) tells more exciting stories from Robin Hurt's long hunting career. They include being savagely attacked by a wounded leopard, shooting the world-record bongo and his own hunts for Marco Polo and Asian ibex, as well as birds and stags in the British Isles. His sons Derek and Roger Hurt also contributed chapters on near-fatal leopard and buffalo attacks they encountered while hunting.

A Dangerous Game by Robin Hurt (2022). The author invited many professional hunters and gun enthusiasts to write about their experiences on safari, hunting, and the benefits to conservation. The contributors include Mike Angelides, Harpreet Brar, Johan Calitz, Kai-Uwe Denker, Marina Lamprecht, Rudy Lubin, Danny McCallum, Michel Mantheakis, Gerard Miller, John Sharp, Hugo Seia, Tony Seth-Smith and more.

Terry Irwin

Memoirs Of An African Hunter: A Narrative Of A Professional Hunter's Experiences In Africa by Terry Irwin (1998) describes his early years as a schoolboy hunting in Bechuanaland/Botswana, his time as a prospector, and later, his employment by the Tanzania Game Department as an elephant-control officer. As a professional hunter he had his own safari hunting company conducting hunts in Tanzania, Kenya and the Sudan.

Mohamed Ismail

Mohamed Ismail (b.1938) is a Kenyan professional hunter, conservationist, writer and artist. He graduated from the College of African Wildlife Management and has been a game warden and professional hunter. He was one of the major players in the efforts to stop habitat destruction and animal slaughter that was rampant in Kenya in the 1960s.

The Lost Wilderness: Tales Of East Africa by Mohamed Ismail with Alice Thor Pianfetti (2000) chronicles the life experiences of five native Africans who worked with him during his years as a game warden as well as his own experiences as a professional hunter. The book includes tales of deadly poachers, the best ivory trackers, the most elusive quarry, the East African greater kudu and Ismail's dangerous hunts after buffalo and elephant.

John Kingsley-Heath

Peter John Kingsley-Heath (1926 - 2011) was born in Jerusalem and became a hunter, colonial service officer and later chief park warden for Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda. in 1956 he joined Ker & Downey and as his reputation grew he was hired to accompany many famous people on safari, and to manage animals on films such as Hatari.

In 1964 Kingsley-Heath joined Safari South, in Bechuanaland (now Botswana). He stopped hunting in 1978 when he realized growing human populations were putting big game's survival in jeopardy. He then left Africa to try farming in the UK. In 1990 he was asked to return to Africa, where he was appointed chief park warden of the Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda. He later became assistant director of national parks, staying for six years. He continued to lead photographic safaris into his 80s.

Hunting The Dangerous Game Of Africa by John Kingsley-Heath (1998). The author was for 30 years a leading professional hunter in East Africa and Botswana. The book features hunting numerous great tuskers with over 100 lbs ivory on each side, record rhinos and buffalo as well as lions and leopards, man-eaters included. Kingsley Heath spent a lifetime in Africa and assisted in bagging an incredible number of trophies for his clients. This book is a virtual who's who of African big game hunting in its golden years.

Leo Kröger

Leo Kröger (1912 - 2004) was born in the Russian Far East, the son of a German father and a Russian mother. He has lived and hunted in Siberia, Manchuria, China, England, Germany. In 1954 he moved to Mozambique to become a professional hunter. 'My Last Kambaku' is the story of his hunting life, particularly in Africa.

My Last Kambaku by Leo Kröger (1996). To the modern reader, Leo Kroger's life will seem like an adventure from long ago but the stories make great reading.

Long Life And Short Stories by Leo Kröger (2000) is inscribed in German by the author's daughter Jutta. This book may not be available.

Christian Le Noel

Christian Le Noel (b.1938) is a French professional hunter who has worked in Congo, CAR, Chad and Cameroon. Le Noel joined the French army at the age of 20 and fought in the Algerian War. Afterwards he worked as a topographer in Cameroon, where he first took up hunting to provide his workers with food. He was also known for his interest in investigating reports of mysterious creatures, such as Mokele-mbembe and others, in Central Africa. The author's name is frequently found as LeNoel or Le Noël.

On Target: History And Hunting In Central Africa by Christian Le Noel (1999) provides some entertaining stories of hunting man-killers and rogues, 100-pound tuskers and record book trophies. The book is an autobiographical account of the author’s adventures as well as an historical account of the characters who drifted through the rather obscure regions of Chad and CAR.

Basie Maartens

Basie Maartens (1929 - 2015) was born in South Africa, raised in South West Africa/Namibia and was generally regarded as the first licensed professional hunter in southern Africa. It was a hunt with Elgin T Gates for a gemsbok in 1959 which led to the start of 'Basie Maartens Safaris'. Over a career spanning five decades Basie Maartens would become one of the most well-known and respected professional hunters in Southern Africa. 'Basie Maartens Safaris' is now 'Maartens Safaris' and run by his son Craig Maartens.

The Last Safari: An Autobiography by Basie Maartens (2008) tells of the historic, turbulent and at times, dangerous career of this fifth-generation South African, generally regarded as the first licensed professional hunter in southern Africa. Through evocative stories and hundreds of photos from Basie's personal collection, 'The Last Safari' chronicles not only the life and times of one man but the many thrilling tales and colourful characters that made the southern swath of Africa the legendary hunting grounds they remain today.

Angus MacLagan

Angus MacLagan (b.1928) was born in Luangwa, Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia, to Scottish parents who settled there. Following his father's death, Angus MacLagan took over the family farm and entered the hunting safari business duriing the 1950s. During his early hunting expeditions MacLagan and his tracker were diagnosed as having sleeping sickness but recovered after several months. In 1964, MacLagan started working for 'Luangwa Safaris' and in the 1970s he worked for 'Zambia Safaris' until 1978 when he joined the Rhodesia Security Forces.

A White Hunter's Life by Angus MacLagan (1981) is the story of a professional white hunter in Africa in a time we will never see again. Hunting elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, crocodile, plains game and more in Rhodesia in the early part of the 20th century.

Harry Manners

Harry Manners (1917 - 1997) was born in South Africa and moved to Mozambique as a child. He shot his first elephant as a teenager which led to his career as an ivory and meat hunter. He became a professional hunter with Safarilandia, the company owned by Werner von Alvensleben. As a professional ivory hunter, he shot approximately 1000 elephants among which was an incredible pair of tusks that weighed 185lb and 183lb - the fourth largest African tusks ever recorded...or did he? Could 'Kambaku' be partially a work of fiction? Read Gregor Wood's series of Man Magnum articles ...

• Part 1: Manners Tusk Mystery Revisited
• Part 2: Manners Tusk Mystery
• Part 3: Manners Tusk Mystery

Kambaku by Harry Manners (1980) is the story of a lifetime spent hunting elephants in the jungles of Mozambique.

Ian Manning

Ian Patrick Alexander Manning grew up in South Africa and was a game cropping ranger, a professional hunter and later a wildlife biologist, conservation activist and author. Ian Manning is currently publishing his books as written by I P A Manning with his African name 'Chosanganga'. There is now a second edition available of 'With A Gun In Good Country' which was first published in 1995 as a limited edition. I P A Manning also wrote books on the the history and conservation issues of Zambia as well as some novels.

With A Gun In Good Country by Ian Manning (1995) presents the author's experiences while hunting alone and later with paying clients. The book recalls the time before the poaching onslaught which almost closed Zambia and continues to independence. It recounts Manning's hunts in Botswana, Congo and briefly in South Africa.

Where The Water Meets The Sky by I P A Manning (2018)is Ian Manning's memoir of his "life and research in the Lukulu delta of Bangweulu, Zambia - a wildlife paradise in the years 1973-1976". This book maybe downloaded as a free ebook with this link.

With A Gun In Good Country by I P A Manning (2021) is the second edition, available to download as a free ebook at the link provided. It is unclear whether any additional material has been added to this second edition.

Game Trails Of Northern Rhodesia: Excerpts From The Northern Rhodesia Journal (1950-1965) compiled by I P A Manning (2018) is a selection of articles from the 'Northern Rhodesia Journal' on topics such as hunting, maneaters, science of wildlife, lives of local characters, the East African campaign of WWI and more. The 'Northern Rhodesia Journal or 'NRJ', was produced between 1950 and 1965, to record some of the early history of Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia. It is one of the most important sources of historical information on Zambia before and during the colonial era, up to independence. Available as a free ebook.

Plunderers Of Eden Volume I: God's Country by I P A Manning (2021) is a conservation history and memoir of Zambia and briefly, of other parts of Africa. From the synopsis, the author says ... "I have always been motivated by a sense of adventure and a spiritual need for places wild and free and filled with big game. Latterly, I became more focused on the indigenous people who live with wildlife: on Bantu villagers, fishermen and hunters, on the Bushmen and Pygmy, on the Maasai. The book is centred on my attempt to implement my Landsafe framework for the customary and public commons – the chiefdoms and protected areas of Zambia - in the years 2002-2010". Available as a free ebook.

Terry Mathews

Terry Owen Mathews (b.1931) was born in England, brought up in Uganda and educated in Kenya and England. As a child in Uganda, his neighbour was Charles Pitman, the Chief Game Warden of Uganda. He had originally wanted to be a game warden but instead started his hunting apprenticeship under Syd Downey, completing his training in 1958. After a decade of professional hunting, in 1968, Mathews lost his eye after a bird shooting accident which curtailed his hunting career to a certain extent. He still ran his own company 'Mathews Safaris' hiring freelance PHs, guided photographic safaris and became a renowned bronze wildlife sculptor.

The Woodpecker Calls On The Right by Terry Mathews (2010). Professional Hunter Terry Mathews worked for both Safariland and Ker & Downey hunting companies in the 1950s and was a contemporary of Eric Rudgren, Tony Archer and John Sutton. He was particularly known for his high-profile celebrity clients. After working on numerous African movie productions, the film stars, such as Stewart Granger, Robert Montgomery, Bing Crosby and others, booked their hunts with him.

Alec McCallum

Alec McCallum had four generations of professional hunting in his blood and was a professional hunter for 40 years in six African hunting countries.

My Africa: A Professional Hunter's Journey Of Discovery by Alec McCallum (2003) is an excellent work not only detailing McCallum's life as a professional hunter in Africa but also a pictorial history of the changes in the hunting safari industry.

George Michael

African Fury by George Michael (1954) details the life of the author who was a South African professional big game hunter. Contains much very dramatic action on leopards and elephant hunting.

The Michaels In Africa by George Michael (1959). The author's adventures hunting and filming dangerous game for the TV documentary 'African Fury' and the TV series 'The Michaels in Africa'.
Get his wife's version of events in I Married A Hunter by Marjorie Michael

Gerard Miller

Lives Of A Professional Hunting Family by Gerard Miller (2003) is a rare story about two generations of a professional hunting family in Africa. Frank Miller, Gerard Miller's father, was one of the legendary adventurers and early professional hunters. His wife Elsie was one of the few women ever given a professional hunter's license.

Robert J Montvoisin

Robert J Montvoisin (1922 - 2008) was a French hunter who spent years wandering in Africa doing odd jobs before becoming a professional in central and east Africa, particularly Chad and CAR. In 51 years of hunting, he took more than 600 elephants, over 70 percent with brain shots. He writes, "To me, only hunting that involved tracking, passion and emotion mattered."

Professional Hunter: Along The Roads To Adventure by Robert Montvoisin (2002). Part one of his adventure packed book is an autobiography brimming with stories of big game hunting that took place before he turned professional. Part two of the book consists of big game hunting stories from the author's forty-year professional career in eight central African countries.

Bill Morkel

Willem (Bill) Aron Morkel (1928 - 1998) was a South African born hunter who became one of the top-notch professional hunters of White Hunters (Africa) Ltd in 1954.

Hunting In Africa by Bill Morkel (1980). The author has been a professional hunter through most of his life, leading safaris in many of the big game countries of Africa. After he retired from hunting, he set down his experiences, conclusions and suggestions on how to and how not to go about the sport. He gives graphic accounts of incidents on his safaris and he gives hints and suggestions regarding equipment, survival and general comfort while living under primitive conditions in the bush.

John Northcote

After World War II and leaving the Royal Navy, John Northcote (d.2013) migrated to Kenya to farm. In 1962 he became a professional hunter with the newly formed hunting company, Uganda Wildlife Development which was the start of his illustrious career when guided people like Warren Page, Bert Klineburger, Elmer Keith, Guy Coheleach and Bob Petersen.

From Sailor To Professional Hunter: The Autobiography Of John Northcote by John Northcote (1996). The author is one of the few professional hunters to boast a continuous 50 year career hunting in Africa.

Ian Nyschens

Ian Reginald Nyschens (1923 - 2006) began his career as an elephant hunter in 1947 in Southern Rhodesia when he found a companion, Faanie Joosten and the pair of them started hunting ivory for a living. Ian Nyschens has shot equally as many elephants as W D M Bell and under much more difficult circumstances. He was the most notorious elephant poacher in Rhodesia until the time he was finally appointed a game warden.

Months Of The Sun: Forty Years Of Elephant Hunting In The Zambesi Valley by Ian Nyschens (1997). This book will rank or surpass the best elephant-ivory hunting books published this century. Remarkably, his adventures took place much later than the likes of Bell, Sutherland, Neumann and others. This is a highly entertaining story of a time long since gone and of a man remarkable for his adventures.

Footsteps Of An Ivory Hunter by Ian Nyschens (2005) was self published by Ian Nyschens shortly before his death and was not professionally edited. It has stories not told in 'Months Of The Sun' as well as stories about other hunters including the story of the death of Alan Lowe, a professional hunter who was killed by an elephant.

Jan & Annette Oelofse

Capture To Be Free by Jan & Annette Oelofse (2010) is a memoir told by Jan Oelofse and complied and written by his wife, Annette. This book is essentially an African story of wild adventures in then Tanganyika, of Hollywood movies with John Wayne, of life and work in the Natal Parks Board and of the 'Oelofse Method' of game capture which Jan Oelofse developed in 1968, and which is still the recognised method used for mass game capture. This book can be ordered by contacting Jan Oelofse Safaris. There is also a 1967 film of Jan Oelofse developing his method of game capture.

Natie Oelofse & Wayne Hendry

Natie Oelofse (1967 - 2005) was a highly respected conservationist and professional hunter with an international reputation.

The Practical Shot: A Field Guide To Shot Placement On African Game by Natie Oelofse & Wayne Hendry (undated) is an excellent shot placement guide written by two highly experienced PHs for hunters planning a hunt in Africa. There are clear text and colour photographs of African animals in typical locations which are illustrated to show the precise shot placement point.

Etienne Oggeri

Etienne Oggeri (1930 - 2014) was born in South Vietnam and was the last professional hunter who grew up and hunted in what was known as French Indochina. Oggeri was descended from French settlers who emigrated to Indochina to build railroads and to hunt. He made his living either guiding sport hunters or poaching Asian elephants for ivory. During the course of his career, he also learned how to avoid the guerrillas who infiltrated the country and made hunting in the jungles of Vietnam a very dangerous profession.

I Killed For A Living by Etienne Oggeri (2009) is a collection of well-written stories of a hunting world that was once equally as vibrant as Africa. Ultimately, Oggeri was forced to leave his beloved Vietnam in 1962, not because the Vietcong or because of his poaching, but because of the love affair he had with the sister of the first lady of Vietnam. Etienne Oggeri was not only the foremost outfitter/guide in that country, but he is also a great writer who knows how to tell an interesting story. He also wrote some novels based on his life in Vietnam.

José Pardal

José da Cunha Pardal (1923 - 2013) was born in Portugal and at the age of 12 he went to Mozambique, where he lived until 1975. hunted for over thirty-two years in Portuguese East Africa, today Mozambique. During the years following World War II, Pardal hunted ivory by himself with only his family and occasional friends for companions. He shot nearly 100 elephants, the great majority above-average tuskers.

Elephant Hunting In Portuguese East Africa by José Pardal (1990) chronicles the hunting life story of a nearly vanished breed of man, those who single-handedly hunted elephants for prolonged periods of time.

Alfredo Pelizzoli

Alfredo Pelizzoli (d.2006) was an Italian adventurer, an artist and a hunter, originally in the publishing business in Verona. However, in 1955 he sold up and set off to drive around the world. He only got as far as Kenya where he decided to stay, opening a magazine publishing business there. He then decided to become a professional hunter and started his own safari business, acting as an apprentice hunter with well-established hunters whom he hired.

Soul Of The Hunter by Alfredo Pelizzoli (1998). Pelizzoli emigrated from Europe to Kenya and before long became a professional big game hunter. He took many European clients hunting for elephant, lion, bongo, buffalo and more, over a long period of time in Tanzania, CAR, Sudan and Ethiopia. He went on to establish a luxury lodge in 1973

Adelino Serras Pires

Adelino Serras Pires (1928 - 2015) was a Portuguese born professional hunter and safari operator in Mozambique.

The Winds of Havoc: A Memoir Of Adventure And Destruction In Deepest Africa by Adelino Serras Pires with Fiona Capstick (2001). The author went through many set-backs and problems as the map of Africa unrolled with political upheavals. This culminated in many months of interrogation and torture by the secret police in Mozambique after being abducted in Tanzania. This is the story of his disillusionment as told to author, Fiona Claire Capstick.

Michael Prettejohn

Endless Horizons by Michael Prettejohn (2012) covers 100 years of the Prettejohn family in Kenya. This book starts in 1904 when Jock 'Black' Harries came to Uganda with the King's Africa Rifles, moves on to Jock's pioneering cattle ranching near Njoro, to World War I, to Mike's grandmother coming to marry Jock, to Mike's father managing Jock Harries' stock operation, to Naro Moru where Mike's father bought his own farm, to Mike's schoolboy adventures, a trans-Sahara expedition, the Emergency, and then on to Mike buying his own ranch in Mweiga and becoming a professional hunter and managing massive cattle/game ranches in Galana and Taita before ending his career in conservation. The last chapter tells of Mike's efforts to save the endangered eastern or mountain bongo.

Rolf Rohwer

Rolf Rohwer (d.2008) was a professional hunter, conservationist and safari operator. He was one of the founding members of the International Professional Hunters Association and the Professional Hunters Association of Zambia, as well as a respected member of the African Professional Hunters Association. In addition to more than 30 years as an African hunter and wildlife biologist.

Campfire Tales: Stories From Zambia, Tanzania And Elsewhere by Rolf Rohwer (2011) The author was a well-known PH who hunted throughout Africa but extensively in Zambia and Tanzania. It was there that he guided such luminaries as Jack O'Connor, HIH Prince Abdorreza, Ted Williams, and Warren Page. However this book is not a run-of-the-mill account of hunts with famous people - it is all the interesting, funny, unhappy and outrageous events that occurred to Rolf and his clients over four decades of hunting in Africa. Rolf Rohwer died in 2008.

Hugo Seia

Hugo Seia was born in Angola to Portuguese parents. In 1970 he became a professional hunter in Angola, Sudan, CAR, Zambia, Namibia and since 1988, in Tanzania.

Mundjamba: The Life Story Of An African Hunter by Hugo Seia (1995) is a memoir about Hugo Seia's hunting adventures in Africa. 'Mundjamba' is his African name meaning 'the elephant mountain'.

In Any Kind Of Cover: Hunting The Dangerous Game Of Africa by Hugo Seia (2001). Seia's second book, came as a result of demand from those who throughly enjoyed his first book. He treats the big five individually and provides a chapter on rifle and ammo selection.

A M D Seth-Smith

Anthony Martin Donald Seth-Smith (b.1937) worked in the Kenya Game Department for three years before entering the safari industry as a professional hunter. He was a full member of the East Africa Professional Hunters Association and one of the original members of the International Professional Hunters Association. He has hunted extensively throughout Africa - Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Southern Sudan, Zambia and Botswana. He co-wrote 'Donald's War: The Diary Of A Settler In The East Africa Campaign' with his daughter in-law, Julia Seth-Smith.

For The Honour Of A Hunter by A M D (Tony) Seth-Smith (1996) is an account of his life of working in Kenya as a big game hunter and guide before hunting was banned in that country in favour of large scale poaching.

The poetry quotations in 'For The Honour Of A Hunter' are from the 'Poems of Brian Brooke'. Poems Of Brian Brooke (1917)

John Sharp

Facing Down Fear by John Sharp (2018) is an account of the life and hunting adventures of one of today's most respected, recognized and larger-than-life professional hunters. For over 40 years in seven African hunting countries, John has guided a variety of hunting clients, often while facing his own fears, and always giving credit for success to his trackers, staff and client. If you are interested in firearms, then John Sharp also has plenty of information to share.

Stephen J Smith

Stephen Smith (1931 - 1993) was one of Africa's well-known professional hunters based in Kenya. He started with Ker & Downey then later moved to Laddy & Ada Winzca's company Hunters & Guides. Stevie Smith was the founder of PHASA, chairing the first meeting in 1978. Until his untimely death he was the editor and publisher of 'Rowland Ward's Records of Big Game'.

The Atlas Of Africa's Principal Mammals by Stephen J Smith (1985) is a superb and comprehensive field guide which covers the distribution of over 300 species and sub-species, plus the colouration, habitat, diet, weight, shoulder height, gestation period, birth details, maximum age, and horn or tusk measurement, and gives the track and a silhouette of each animal.

The Hunter And The Go-Away Bird: The Ramblings Of An African Hunter by Stephen J Smith (1992) are his autobiographical tales of his professional hunting days through Africa from 1955 to 1992. Stevie Smith was a great advocate of ethics in the hunting field, believing that it is a privilege to hunt, not a right.

Mark Sullivan

Death And Double Rifles by Mark Sullivan (2000) is an in-depth look at what motivates Sullivan to deliberately walk up to wounded Cape buffalo or 'rogue' bull hippo, challenging them on their own turf, just so he can hunt "his way".

Gilles Tre-Hardy

Gilles Tre-Hardy (1921 - 2008) was born in France and arrived in Africa in 1944 and hunted throughout his career in the colonial administration until 1962. He was the Chief Administrator and later Chief Game Warden in French Soudan, Ivory Coast, Niger and Central African Republic. He devoted himself mainly to hunting elephant, obtaining many exceptional trophies. When he was in Niger in 1957, he guided the, then future, President Mitterrand on a buffalo hunt. Finally, having left the colonial administration in 1978, he became a professional hunter in Tanzania.

The Path Of A Hunter by Gilles Tre-Hardy (1997) includes more photos of 100 pound elephant tusks than in just about any other book. Throughout the book Tre-Hardy comes through as a man who never tires and won't rest until he gets his job done. No wonder he was selected to be the PH for most French presidents during his career, as well as for anyone who who wanted a really big elephant.

Bruce Truter

How Not To Hunt Pigs And Other Cautionary Tales Of Gun & Rod by Bruce Truter (1997) is a mixed bag of stories from a true outdoorsman and long-time professional hunter. All of these stories have previously been published in either 'Magnum' magazine or 'The Fishing and Hunting Journal' and focus on hunting, fishing, camping and just being out in the bush.

Robert Von Reitnauer

Robert Von Reitnauer (b.1933) was born in Tanganyika to German parents. After a young life full of hunting, he became a professional hunter in 1953 after advice from PH Clarence Palmer-Wilson and a period of dangerous game 'self-apprenticeship'. With mostly Dutchmen, German and Belgian clients he garnered plenty of insights of these Nimrods engaged in big-game hunting action, to write his amusing book.

He writes of how "the characteristic ‘old time’ safari would change into a hectic, time-limited, measurement-conscious rush through the bush to find the biggest trophy". However, when clients were sloppy shooters..."I silently debated the pros and cons of my profession: the distasteful wounding of game and the prolonged suffering caused by such quests for trophies".

Kwaheri! On The Spoor Of Big Game In East Africa by Robert Von Reitnauer (2004) is his story of hunting in East Africa where he guided a client to what is generally regarded as the biggest and heaviest leopard ever to come from Africa.

Geoff Wainwright

Hunting For Trouble by Geoff Wainwright (2007) are stories of hunters, game rangers and clients who survived harrowing, life-threatening and never-to-be-forgotten experiences.

William York

William York was a British adventurer and professional hunter. He travelled to the Sudan when he was only sixteen seeking an adventurous hunting life. By the time he turned eighteen, he had already shot 250 elephant. He crossed southern Sudan on his own, with only a small band of hired help and made a living from ivory hunting. He learned to feed his men after his cook was eaten by a lion, he traversed the Lado Enclave eschewing big tuskers in favour of bulls with smaller tusks so his caravan could carry them and he was arrested and flogged in Uganda. York returned to Britain for a short period then joined the Kenyan police once back in Africa. He then gave up police work to become a professional hunter and mercenary. Robert Ruark got his inspiration to write Uhuru while he was in York's bongo camp.

Out In The Midday Shade: Memoirs Of An African Hunter 1949-1968 In The Sudan And Kenya by William York (2000) is the fascinating true-life story of a born adventurer, filled with adventure and humorous stories.

African Adventures And Misadventures: Escapades In East Africa With Mau Mau And Giant Forest Hogs by William York (2003). As with York's previous book, the pages are loaded with interesting anecdotes, fascinating tales and well-written prose that give insight into East Africa and its more famous characters. He relates stories of life on the veldt, on hunting giant forest hogs, encounters and adventures with crop-raiding elephants and ghost buffaloes that could be seen but not killed.

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Page Updated: Dec 2020