African Hunter Traveller Books

The African hunter traveller books are generally the tales of independent travellers who hunted for themselves or to keep their travelling party in meat. Many were military men who travelled to remote regions as part of their army service and sport hunting was their main leisure activity. There is some possible overlap with the African explorer books.

Frederick George Aflalo

Frederick George Aflalo (1870 - 1918) was a sportsman, angler and prolific author and editor.

A Book Of The Wilderness And Jungle With Big Game Hunting Anecdotes by F G Aflalo (c.1912) is a book of big game hunting and natural history anecdotes contributed by numerous well-known sportsmen of that era. Includes contributions from Edwin Arnold, H A Bryden, Stevenson Hamilton, Henry Seton-Karr and more. Free eBook

The Encyclopaedia Of Sport edited by F G Aflalo and Hedley Peek, Earl of Suffolk And Berkshire (1897). 4 Volumes. The scope is very wide including not only every sport, even some obsolete ones, but such corollaries of sport as taxidermy, first aid and veterinary work as they pertain to sport. Natural history also has its place, though made subservient to sport throughout. Free eBook

For all Frederick Aflalo books.

Doug Allan

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

W J Ansorge

William John Ansorge (1850 - 1913) was a British traveller and collector of zoological specimens. He was born in Bengal and travelled extensively in Africa also doing much big game hunting. There are dozens of African birds and fish named after him.

Under The African Sun: A Description Of The Native Races In Uganda, Sporting Adventures And Other Experiences by W J Ansorge (1899). The author travelled extensively in Uganda, having made the trip from the Indian Ocean six times including to the Unyoro region east of Lake Albert, and the Shiri and Zambesi Rivers. He provides detailed descriptions of the people, nature, hunting and caravan life. He also includes lists of butterflies, moths, beetles and birds that he collected. Free eBook

A Arkell-Hardwick

Alfred Arkell-Hardwick (b.1878) was a seaman and a member of the British South African Police before going to East Africa to become an ivory trader.

An Ivory Trader In North Kenia: The Record Of An Expedition Through Kikuyu To Galla-Land In East Equatorial Africa by A Arkell-Hardwick (1903). The author hunted along the Guaso Nyiro river in Kenya, bagging buffalo and rhinoceros. His party attempted to reach the Lorian Swamp but, having failed, they returned to the Guaso Nyiro where hippopotamus and giraffe were collected. There are numerous additional sporting incidents after rhino, gazelle and other game, including a successful elephant hunt by a member of the party. After encounters with hostile Kikuyus, the expedition headed into western Kenya where more rhino were taken, as well as kongoni. Free eBook

Robert Arkwright

Sport And Service In South Africa: The Diary Of Lieutenant Robert Arkwright 1843-1846 by Robert Arkwright, edited by Edward Tabler (1971) contains descriptions of a time when "elephants and game were thick on the ground".

Robert Baden-Powell

Major-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell (1857 - 1941) was a British army officer, writer and founder of the Scout Movement. In 1899 during the Second Boer War in South Africa, Baden-Powell successfully defended the town in the Siege of Mafeking.

African Adventures by Robert Baden-Powell (date unknown). First-hand account of exciting travel in Eastern and Southern Africa, including early British Boy Scout experiences. Free eBook

Matabele Campaign: Being A Narrative Of The Campaign In Suppressing The Native Rising In Matabeleland And Mashonaland by Robert Baden-Powell (1897) Free eBook

Pig-Sticking Or Hog-Hunting: A Complete Account For Sportsmen And Others by Robert Baden-Powell (1889). "Pig-sticking, a sport second to none and invaluable to our prestige and supremacy in India, deserves, what it has not had for years, a book to itself". Topics covered include 'How to Succeed as a Pig-sticker', 'Selection of Localities', 'Living in Camp', 'Riding to Pig' and much more. Free eBook

Sport In War by Robert Baden-Powell (1900) Free eBook

Memories Of India by Robert Baden-Powell (1916). Recollections of soldiering and sport in India. Free eBook

Henry P Bailey / Bula N'Zau

Henry P Bailey aka Bula N'Zau spent four years in the Congo and kept a detailed record of his travels and sporting adventures. 'Bula N'Zau' which he used as a pen name, was his African name meaning 'the elephant smasher'.

Travel And Adventure In The Congo Free State And Its Big Game Shooting by Bula N'Zau (1894) covers his west African hunting exploits from 1884 to 1888. Bailey earned the non de plume of 'Bula N'zau' because of his hunting prowess. He initially hunted gorilla, then proceeded up the Rembo River where hippopotamus and leopard were hunted. In the Massabe Swamp, buffalo and antelope were bagged. He then traveled along the Kwilu River where elephants were taken. At Stanley Pool and later near Brazzaville, hippos and elephants were collected. This book ranks right up there with all the famous elephant hunting titles.

T Alexander Barns

Thomas Alexander Barns (1880 - 1930) was a traveller, hunter and naturalist in Africa.

An African Eldorado: The Belgian Congo by T Alexander Barns (1926). Chapters include The Craterland of Kivu, Rail, Road and River Routes, Pygmies, Cannibals, African Apes. Sections include Natural History and Anthropology.

Angolan Sketches by T Alexander Barns (1928) is not primarily hunting but a book sought after by hunters because it is a scarce work on Angola and gives a good picture of the pre-war conditions in the country and the outdoors. Lots of sport and adventure.

The Highlands Of The Great Craters, Tanganyika Territory by T Alexander Barns (1921)

The Wonderland Of The Eastern Congo: The Region Of The Snow-Crowned Volcanoes, The Pygmies, The Giant Gorilla And The Okapi by T Alexander Barns (1922) with the introduction by H H Johnston. The author explored the region about Lake Kivu and between Kivu and Ruwenzori in the Congo with good descriptions of the native peoples and nature and with some emphasis on gorillas, elephants, lions, entomology, cannibals and the volcanoes. The appendix lists the new species of butterflies and moths collected by the author and his wife who accompanied him. Free eBook

Across The Great Craterland To The Congo by T Alexander Barns (1924). "Describing a journey of exploration and research to the land of the giant craters in Tanganyika Territory, and to the forest, lakes and volcanoes of the South-Eastern Congo. With some account of the African apes and the capture and training of the African elephant."

James E Baum

Savage Abyssinia by James E Baum (1927) is an account of the expedition mounted by The Field Museum of Chicago to explore and record the natural history of this ancient land. The author was the expedition's historian and hunted ibex, kudu, zebra and oryx.

Unknown Ethiopia: New Light On Darkest Abyssinia by James E Baum (1935). The hunting caravan trekked through almost 3000 miles of country never before penetrated by white men. This book originally published under the title 'Savage Abyssinia'.

H Channing Beebe

Cannibals And Big Game: True Tales Of Cannibals, Big-Game Hunting And Exploration In Portuguese West Africa, 1917-1921 by H Channing Beebe (date unknown). The land is a hunter's dream, with plentiful game, angry elephants, charging lions, terrifying hippo, enraged buffalo and crocodile-infested waters. Beebe's elephant-hunting descriptions are especially riveting and the number of hippos he shot to feed his caravan is staggering by modern standards.

Edward Bennet

Edward Bennet (b. 1880) was a British big-game hunter. He hunted for 8 years in India while working for the Civil Service. He then went to British East Africa in 1912 on long hunting safaris in what is now Kenya.

Shots And Snapshots In British East Africa by Edward Bennet (1914) is an account of his 1912 big game hunts in BEA. Free eBook

Alfred J Bethell

Notes On South African Hunting: And Notes On A Ride To The Victoria Falls Of The Zambesi by Alfred J Bethell (1887). Travel and sport in Transvaal, Bechuanaland and Damaraland. This is one of the earliest practical guides to game hunting in Africa. His views on the techniques and the opportunities for big game in southern Africa in the 1880's. He describes the battery a hunter should bring, though his own hunting adventures are rather sparse, consisting of shooting ostrich and giraffe. He also details several of Frederick Selous' exploits. Recent Addition

John Jarvis Bisset

General Sir John Jarvis Bisset (1819 - 1888) was a British army officer in South Africa. He served throughout the Seventh Frontier War in 1846 and was wounded in the Eighth. For many years he commanded the Cape Mounted Rifles and retired with the rank of Lieutenant General. From 1865-7 he held the post of Lieutenant Governor of Natal.

Sport And War: Or Recollections Of Fighting And Hunting In South Africa From The Years 1834 To 1867 by John Jarvis Bisset (1875) Free eBook

Sir John Bland-Sutton

Sir John Bland Sutton (1855 - 1936) was a distinguished British surgeon, author and big game hunter who travelled to Africa in 1910.

Man And Beast In Eastern Ethiopia: From Observations Made In British East Africa, Uganda And The Sudan by John Bland-Sutton (1911) Free eBook

Men And Creatures In Uganda by John Bland-Sutton (1933) describes the territory and game of the region and recounts the exploits of various big game hunters. He describes his safari to the Lake Nakuru area with note of game bagged such as wild boar, reedbuck and more. This is the popular version of the author's previous book 'Man And Beast In Eastern Ethiopia'.

The Story Of A Surgeon by John Bland-Sutton (1930) is the autobiography of John Bland-Sutton with a preamble by his friend Rudyard Kipling.

Alnod John Boger

Alnod John Boger (1871 - 1940) was a British lawyer, cricketer and big game hunter.

The Road I Travelled by Alnod Boger (1936) is an autobiography which includes big game hunting in Uganda, India, the Far East and Norway.

Dermot R W Bourke

Dermot Robert Wyndham Bourke, 7th Earl of Mayo (1851 - 1927) was an Irish peer.

Sport In Abyssinia: Or The Mareb And Tackazzee by Dermot R W Bourke (1876) is an account of the author's hunting party as it travelled through the Mareb River region of Abyssinia and encountered lion, gazelle, hartebeest and elephant. While there are many incidences of sport, much of the narrative is of travel in the area. Free eBook

John L Brom

Ladislav John Brom (1908 - 1969) was born in what is now the Czech Republic but since 1945, lived in Paris. He was a filmmaker and photographer-explorer making documentaries, expedition films and travelogues in Africa, particularly of Saharan and Equatorial African cultures.

20,000 Miles In The African Jungle by John L Brom (1958). The author's lone 20,000 mile expedition across Africa to to record by camera African animals, African people and African scenery. He hunts for food and protection when neccesary. Recent Addition

Sidney Spencer Broomfield

Sidney Spencer Broomfield (1847 - 1930) had a numerous and varied careers which included ivory hunting and trading in East Africa in the 1860s and 1870s.

Kachalola Or The Mighty Hunter by Sidney Spencer Broomfield (1930) is an account of his life in Africa, Ceylon, Sumatra and New Guinea. There are numerous encounters with natives, as well as collecting a variety of big game including leopard, rhinoceros, buffalo and especially elephant. The natives provided him with the name 'Kachalola' meaning 'the mighty hunter'. In Asia he experienced adventures with cannibals and also hunted tiger and elephant in Sumatra.

William Harvey Brown

William Harvey Brown (1862 - 1913) was an American naturalist and big game hunter who was sent to Africa on a US Government expedition.

On The South African Frontier: The Adventures And Observations Of An American In Mashonaland And Matabeleland by William Harvey Brown (1899) is a book that celebrates the early Rhodesian Pioneers - hunting and adventures throughout. The author became a collector, big game hunter, gold seeker, landowner, citizen and soldier during seven years participation in the early settlement of Rhodesia. His sporting adventures included hunting for antelope, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, buffalo and lion. Free eBook

Sir Michael W S Bruce

Sir Michael W S Bruce (1894 - 1957) was a British baronet, author and adventurer who joined the British South African Police as a trooper at age 19, shot an escaping criminal in South Africa, hunted and captured a double-murderer, waged campaigns against the Germans and was sole survivor of a gold-seeking expedition up the Amazon.

Sails And Saddles by Sir Michael W S Bruce (1929). "The Adventures of a Man Who Had Fled Convention, as a Policeman in Rhodesia, a Soldier in the War, a Sailor Before the Mast, a Cowboy, a Journalist, a Rancher, a Schoolmaster, a Big Game Hunter, an Explorer, an Engineer, a Surveyor, Etc". Recent Addition

Major Frederick Russell Burnham

Frederick Russell Burnham (1861 - 1947) was an American scout and world-travelling adventurer known for his service to the British Army in colonial Africa and for teaching woodcraft to Robert Baden-Powell, thus becoming one of the inspirations for the founding of the international Scouting Movement.

Scouting On Two Continents by Major Frederick Russell Burnham (1926) reads like an adventure novel - warring against the Apache Indians in Arizona, gold prospecting in the Southwest, the Northwest and the Klondike, joining Cecil Rhodes in Africa in the war against the Matabele and Chief of Scouts under Lord Roberts in the Boer War.

E N Buxton

Edward North Buxton (1840 - 1924) was a British conservationist, politician and big game hunter.

Two African Trips: With Notes And Suggestions On Big Game Preservation In Africa by E N Buxton (1902). The first trip was to British East Africa for lion, rhino, buffalo and plains game. His second trip was again through the same country and more into Sudan where he bagged dangerous and plains game and enjoyed excellent sport. Free eBook

Short Stalks Or Hunting Camps North, South, East And West by E N Buxton (1893) is an account of trips in Somaliland, Sinai, the Eastern Desert of Egypt, Crete, the Carpathian Mountains and Daghestan. It covers a wide range of sport after large game. Free eBook

Camp-Fire Tales by E N Buxton (date unknown) is a book of stirring episodes collected from the works of mighty hunters.

William Astor Chanler

William Astor Chanler (1867 - 1934) was an American lawyer and US congressman for New York. In 1889 William Chanler travelled in the vicinity of Mount Kenya with Austrian Ludwig von Hohnel. Many of the African animals in the American Museum of Natural History were donated by him after being collected on this expedition.

He was the first westerner to explore the Usao Nyiro River as it passes into the Lorian Swamp. On one expedition in 1893, von Hohnel was injured by a rhino and was sent back to the coast. Chanler's men deserted but he was fortunate to meet with Arthur Neumann going up river. Chanler's mountain reedbuck, Redunca fulvorfula chanleri was named after William Astor Chanler in 1895.

Through Jungle And Desert: Travels In Eastern Africa by William Astor Chanler (1896) is a scarce account of adventure and exploration in Kenya. Chanler, an American lawyer, was accompanied on these travels by Ludwig von Hohnel. Free eBook

Cuthbert Christy

Dr Cuthbert Christy (1863 - 1932) qualified in medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He travelled in Ceylon, East Africa, Uganda, Southern Nigeria, the Gold Coast and the Cameroons. After official posts in the Congo and the Sudan he served during the First World War in Africa and Mesopotamia. He died as a result of being gored by a buffalo while on a zoological expedition in the Congo.

Big Game And Pygmies: Experiences Of A Naturalist In Central African Forests In Quest Of The Okapi by Cuthbert Christy (1924). In the central African forests for elephant, white rhinoceros and buffalo as well as okapi.

Mosquitoes And Malaria: A Summary Of Knowledge On The Subject Up To Date; With An Account Of The Natural History Of Some Mosquitoes by Cuthbert Christy (1900) Free eBook

The Nile Congo Watershed by Cuthbert Christy (1917)

The Bahr El-Ghazal And It's Waterways by Cuthbert Christy (1923)

Liberia In 1930 by Cuthbert Christy (1931)

The Ituri River, Forest And Pygmies by Cuthbert Christy (1915)

Notes In The Prevention Of Malaria by Cuthbert Christy (1930). These notes were originally prepared by Major Cuthbert Christy for the instruction of troops in East Africa.

The African Rubber Industry And Funtumia Elastica by Cuthbert Christy (1911)

Lord Randolph Churchill

Lord Randolph Henry Spencer-Churchill (1849 - 1895) was a British statesman and father of Winston Churchill. He travelled for some months through the Cape Colony, the Transvaal and Rhodesia, making notes on the politics and economics of the countries, shooting lions and recording his impressions in letters to a London newspaper, which were afterwards re-published as 'Men, Mines And Animals In South Africa'.

Men, Mines And Animals In South Africa by Lord Randolph Churchill (1892) is an account of his tour of the gold and diamond fields of South Africa while enjoying considerable sport on his journey. Free eBook

James L Clark

James L Clark (1883 - 1969) was a distinguished explorer and scientist of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. For many years he was with Carl Akeley in Africa. He was an expert taxidermist and sculptor and made some distinguished studies of wild animals.

Good Hunting: Fifty Years Of Collecting And Preparing Habitat Groups For The American Museum by James L Clark (1966) is his autobiography of his experiences collecting and preparing specimens for the museum. He collected animals in Africa and Asia including elephant, Marco Polo sheep and lion.

Trails Of The Hunted by James L Clark (1928) Hunting lion, rhino, elephant and buffalo in East Africa. American big game and then to Central Asia for ibex and marco polo sheep for the American Museum of Natural History. Free eBook Recent Addition

Francois Coillard

Francois Coillard (1834 - 1904) was a French missionary and hunter who worked for the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society in Africa.

On The Threshold Of Central Africa: A Record Of Twenty Years' Pioneering Among The Barotsi Of The Upper Zambesi by Francois Coillard (1897) is an account of the experiences and adventures of this well-known missionary, with a description of the social and political status of the natives of Rhodesia and Zambesi at the close of the nineteenth century.

Augustus C Collodon

Congo Jake: The Story Of An Adventurous Life by Augustus C Collodon (1932). From the introduction by Edwin C Hill describing the author... "Augustus C Collodon. was a bargee's offspring, son of a bargeman on English rivers. Destiny gripped him when his father sold him for a pound to a skipper of a windjammer trading to Africa. A kind fate brought to him, out of Yorubaland, in Nigeria, the big, bluff 'Rhino King', hunter and trader, who first revealed the mysteries of Africa, the mysteries and terrific perils to body and soul." Recent Addition

Zelie Colvile

Zelie Isabelle Colvile (d.1930) was the wife of Sir Henry Edward Colvile, the Commissioner of Uganda from 1893 to 1895.

Round The Black Man's Garden by Zelie Colvile (1893) is an account of her prolonged journey to Africa starting at the Suez Canal and moving along the east coast, around the Cape and up the west coast of the continent. They visited several Red Sea ports on their way from Suez to Durban and then turned inland to Pretoria and Cape Town before completing the circuit to Brindisi by steaming up to Cameroon and Sierra Leone and touching on the Canary Islands. In addition they visited Madagascar. The author traces the main expeditions into the interior of Africa from 1870 until 1890.

Ten Days On An Oil-River by Zelie Colvile (1893) is an account of a British settlement on Oil Rivers. In 1891 the British 'Oil Rivers Protectorate' was founded in the Niger basin, named after it's main export, palm oil.

David C Comyn

David Charles Edward Ffrench Comyn (1877 - c.1918) was a British army officer who served in the Sudan.

Service And Sport In The Sudan. A Record Of Administration In The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. With Some Intervals of Sport And Travel by David C Comyn (1911) is an account of the life of a British officer in the Egyptian Army at the end of the 19th Century. The author describes his travels in the country. Free eBook

Captain Lionel Dawson

Sport In War by Captain Lionel Dawson (1937). The sports of the field have always appealed to the British Army, in peace and at war. Adventures in sport during war are vividly brought to life in this assembly of anecdotal descriptions of hunts, horse races, pig-sticking and polo games.

Hunting Without Tears by Captain Lionel Dawson (1938) is a collection of hunting stories and articles.

Lionel Decle

Lionel Decle (1859 - 1907) was a French traveller, journalist, explorer, hunter and scientist. He completed a world 'grand tour' in 1881 to 1885 before being sent to south and east Africa by the French Government in 1890 to study anthropology.

Three Years In Savage Africa by Lionel Decle (1898) is an account of his epic journey which took him through South Africa, Bechuanaland, British Central Africa, Mozambique, Nyasaland, German East Africa (Tanganyika), Uganda and Kenya to Zanzibar. He was also the first man to travel from the extreme south of Africa to above the Equator. The introduction was written by Henry Morton Stanley. Free eBook

Trooper 3809: A Private Soldier Of The Third Republic by Lionel Decle (1899) is the story of the Dreyfus Affair, which divided France into two hostile camps, those who believed in the condemned man's innocence, and those who believed he was guilty. Decle tells the story of this conspiracy and gives a faithful account of the hardships he endured when he served in the ranks of the French Army. Free eBook

The New Russia by Lionel Decle (1906) Free eBook

Eugene De Horthy

Eugene (de) Horthy was a Hungarian big game hunter and a brother of Miklos Horthy de Nagybanya, Admiral and Regent of Hungary. In 1905 he made the first of several hunting safaris to East Africa.

The Sport Of A Lifetime by Eugene De Horthy (1939) is about hunting and shooting mainly in Africa but also earlier experiences in Europe and others in Indo-China. Includes the hunting of wild geese, wild-boar, stag, big game in Africa and tiger in Indo-China.

John H Eagle

Adventures Of An Amateur Hunter In Africa by John H Eagle (1915) was privately printed and based on his diary, recounting his trips to Africa in 1911 and 1913. On his first trip, he hunted in British East Africa in the Guaso Nyero region for lion, roan antelope, topi, sable antelope, rhino, buffalo and a variety of other game. Near Lake Natron , he bagged oryx and cheetah. On his second trek, he hunted in northwestern Rhodesia. Near Kolomo, he took elephant and kudu, then shifted toward the Karue River after hippo, buffalo, sitatunga and numerous other species of game.

G Antonio Farini

Guillermo Antonio Farini aka William Leonard Hunt (1838 - 1929) was born in the US and raised in Canada. He was showman known as The Great Farini for his Niagara Falls tightrope walking performances. He took his tightrope act to Africa in 1866 and went on to do his Kalahari expedition.

Through The Kalahari Desert: A Narrative Of A Journey With Gun, Camera, And Notebook To Lake N'Gami And Back by G Antonio Farini (William Leonard Hunt) (1866) is a scarce exploration report by 'The Great Farini' describing his journey (the first by a white man) across the Kalahari Desert in which he recounts finding the legendary Lost City of the Kalahari. Farini was already a legendary showman, acrobat, hire-wire artist and inventor when he turned his attention to this exploration, which he hoped would lead him to a fortune in diamonds. Although Farini did not get rich from his exploration, his reports of the region to include its flora, fauna and geology were exceptional. Farini's claim to have found the Lost City is still controversial as no other explorations have been able to verify its existence.

G D Fleming

Blue Is the Sky by G D Fleming (1945) As an RAF and airline pilot, the author's tales of flying over 1,250,000 miles in thirty two countries including his efforts at shooting big game and wandering in Africa. Recent Addition

Edward Fothergill

Edward Fothergill was a British civil servant who worked on the Government steamers in the waterways of southern Sudan from 1900 to 1905. He was a very keen sportsman and spent most of his time big game hunting. He took every animal species to be found in the area except lion, including a record elephant trophy.

Read more about Edward Fothergill in the 1912 NY Times article 'Seeing Africa In Many Ways'

Five Years In The Sudan by Edward Fothergill (1910) is an account of his travels through Taufikier, Bahr-el-Abyad and the Bahr-el-Ghazal which was unexplored at that point, following the Blue Nile. He describes the peoples, wildlife and big game hunting. Free eBook

Douglas C Fraser

Impressions: Nigeria 1925 by Douglas C Fraser (1926). Big game hunting memoir when the British Empire still ruled Nigeria. The author writes about hunting hippos, crocodiles and other big game. Recent Addition

Heinrich Gortz

Beyond The River Bend: Life In The West African Bush by Heinrich Gortz (1979) includes a period in which this planter, big game hunter and adventurer spent in the Cameroon. Recent Addition

Rene Guillot

The Great Land Of The Elephants by Rene Guillot (1971). A hunter's memories of French West Africa. Translated by Gwen Marsh. Contents include chapters headed... M'Bam and M'Bil, Wart-hog and Antelope, the Great Rain Forests, Buffaloes, the Frontiers of Thirst, Firearms and Traps, Hippos, A Fine Captive, More Elephants, Whistle and Mask and Down the Niger in a Pirogue.

Charles Edward Hamilton

Sketches Of Life And Sport In South-Eastern Africa by Charles Edward Hamilton (1870). Hamilton travelled throughout Natal in 1864, mainly in the Pietermaritzburg, Drakensberg and south coast areas, hunting buffalo and leopard near the lower Umlazi River and crossing into Basutoland to hunt lion, wildebeest and giraffe. Free eBook

Lt Col A H W Haywood

Austin Hubert Wightwick Haywood DSO, born 1878, served in the Royal Artillery.

Sport And Service In Africa by Lt Col A H W Haywood (1926)..."A record of big game shooting, campaigning & adventure in the hinterland of Nigeria, the Cameroons, Togoland, etc, with an account of the ways of native soldiers & inhabitants & a description of their villages & customs as well as the fauna & flora". Includes lion hunts near the Niger River, elephant hunting near Timbuctu, interspersed with military campaigns.

Through Timbuctu And Across the Great Sahara: An Account Of An Adventurous Journey Of Exploration From Sierra Leone To The Source Of The Niger, Following Its Course To The Bend At Gao And Thence Across The Great Sahara To Algiers. by Captain A H W Haywood (1912). By the time of Haywood's journey, this route was no longer "exploration" and the are was administered by the French, though it still took 75 days to travel from Gao to Biskra. An entertaining account of this trip. Free eBook

M W Hilton-Simpson

Melville William Hilton-Simpson (1881 - 1938) was a British traveller, anthropologist and hunter.

Algiers And Beyond by M W Hilton-Simpson (1906). The author travelled to Algiers and into the Algerian hinterland by camel and horse. He spent time among the Arabs observing their lifestyles and especially their horsemanship. He also hunted gazelles, wild boar, partridges and more. Recent Addition

Land And Peoples Of The Kasai: Being A Narrative Of A Two Years' Journey Among The Cannibals Of The Equatorial Forest And Other Savage Tribes Of The South-Western Congo by M W Hilton-Simpson (1911). The party journeyed up the Kasai & Sankuru rivers in late 1907 - 1909 taking a vast amount of trade goods with them to barter. Hilton Simpson kept a diary during the duration of the trip & wrote this book at the behest of the expedition leader Emil Torday who was busy writing up the scientific aspects of the trip. Free eBook

Among The Hill-Folk Of Algeria: Journeys Amomng The Shawia Of The Aures Mountains by M W Hilton-Simpson (1921) is an account of three winters the author and his wife spent in the remote hill country of Algeria collecting specimens of Berber handicraft for the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Oxford. Free eBook

Arab Medicine And Surgery: A Study Of The Healing Art In Algeria by M W Hilton-Simpson (1922). "A layman - totally untrained in medical science - I suddenly found myself in 1913 admitted to some of the secrets of the reticent Rerber and Arab doctors of the Aures Massif, Algeria. It is my misfortune that I lacked the knowledge necessary to enable me to do justice to the opportunities of studying their art which I have enjoyed." Free eBook

Arnold W Hodson

Sir Arnold Wienholt Hodson (1881 - 1944) was a British colonial administrator. From 1904 until 1912 he was in the Bechuanaland Protectorate Police Force when he started his hunting career. He went on to be the consul in Abyssinia, Governor of the Falkland Islands, Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast (now Ghana).

Trekking The Great Thirst: Sport And Travel In The Kalahari Desert by Arnold W Hodson (1912). Much of this book originated as contemporary articles written for sporting and other popular magazines. It deals mainly with Hodson's journeys and hunting expeditions in Bechuanaland Protectorate (Botswana) in the years 1904-1919. Foreword by F C Selous. The author hunted throughout his travels in Namaqualand, the southern Kalahari, Chobe River and Victoria Falls. He bagged gemsbok, hartebeest, springbok, lion, kudu and leopard. Free eBook

Seven Years In Southern Abyssinia by Arnold W Hodson (1927). As the World War I started in 1914, Hodson was ordered to leave his regiment and travel as British consul to Abyssinia. He arrived in Addis Ababa in 1915, after a journey through the rugged hinterland of the country. On one excursion to the forested region near Mount Marsabit, he hunted rhinoceros and elephant. "I had a horrible sensation of utter helplessness, as I realised that even with a .600 express it is impossible to stop an elephant at close quarters." Mountain nyala were also hunted in the Chilalo Mountains, though none were bagged - the author was using a new rifle that he had not sighted-in!

Where Lion Reign: An Account Of Lion Hunting And Exploration In S W Abyssinia by Arnold W Hodson (1929)

Emil Holub

Emil Holub (1847 - 1902) was a Czech doctor, explorer, cartographer and ethnographer in Africa. He settled near Kimberley to practise medicine and soon set out in a convoy of local hunters on a two-month scientific safari where he began to assemble a large natural history collection. On his third expedition in 1875, he went all the way to the Zambezi river and made the first detailed map of the region surrounding Victoria Falls. In 1883, Holub set out to do what no one had done before - explore the entire length of Africa from Cape Town to Egypt. However the expedition was forced to turn back in 1886.

Seven Years In South Africa: Travels, Researches And Hunting Adventures Between The Diamond Fields And The Zambesi (1872-79) by Emil Holub (1881). 2 Volumes. Includes much on the upper Zambesi regions where hunting has always been enjoyed but this is not primarily a hunting book. Free eBook Vol I Free eBook Vol II

Edward J House

A Hunter's Camp-Fires by Edward J House (1909) is the author's memoirs of big-game hunting on both Canadian Coasts, cariboo hunting in Newfoundland, mountain goat hunting in the Rockies, moose hunting, giraffe hunting in East Africa, elephant hunting around Meru and bagging rhinos near Mt Kenya

J E Hughes

Joseph E Hughes (b.1876) was born in England and became the assistant native commissioner in north-east Rhodesia. He resigned in favour of becoming a full-time hunter and trader and spent the years from 1901 to 1919 organising hunting expeditions at Lake Bangweulu. He is noted for his information about the existence of a large prehistoric animal known as 'Chipekwe'.

Eighteen Years On Lake Bangweulu by J E Hughes (1920) is a scarce work of hunting and adventure with great detail of the area, which is today, Zambia. Hughes explored and hunted around Lake Bangweulu and the rivers Chambesi and Luapula. There are numerous hunting incidents, particularly after elephant, lion, buffalo, hippopotamus and rhinoceros, with cheetah bagged near the Luena River. In addition, eland, sable, puku, sitatunga, warthog and other game was collected.

Major E M Jack

Major E M Jack was a Royal Engineer who commanded the Anglo-Congolese Boundary Commission and later, the Anglo-Belgian-German Boundary Commission, Frontier of Uganda.

On the Congo Frontier: Exploration And Sport by Major E M Jack (1914)

F L James

Frank Linsly James (1851 - 1890) was an English traveller and hunter in Sudan, India and Mexico. He was killed in San Benito on the west coast Africa by a wounded elephant. A bird of East Africa, the Three-Streaked Tchagra, Tchagra jamesi, was named after him.

The Wild Tribes Of The Soudan by F L James (1883) is an account of the personal experiences and adventures during three winters spent in that country chiefly among the Base tribe. It includes an account of the routes from Wady Halfah to Berber by the author and a chapter on Khartoum and The Soudan by Sir Samuel Baker. Free eBook

The Unknown Horn Of Africa: An Exploration From Berbera To The Leopard River by F L James (1888). The author hunts for kudu, lion, rhino and other assorted antelope near the river Webbe. This work is actually more important as a work of exploration rather than big game hunting. Free eBook

B H Jessen

Burchart Heinrich Jessen was a Norwegian explorer who accompanied the American big game hunter William Northrup MacMillan on an expedition through Sudan and Ethiopia in 1904.

Lord William Northrop Macmillan (1872-1925) was an American soldier, knighted by the King of England, even though he was not British. He was a Scot raised in St Louis, USA. He arrived in Kenya in 1901 for big game hunting with John Boyes and later with William Judd and to explore the Blue Nile river. He bought a vast ranch in Kenya and hosted Theodore Roosevelt during his safari.

W N Mcmillan's Expeditions And Big Game Hunting In Sudan, Abyssinia & British East Africa by B H Jessen (1906) is an extremely scarce hunting and exploration classic. Jessen was an ardent hunter who made many trips through the African gamelands. He was a friend of many of the famous hunters of his day.

South Western Abyssinia by B H Jessen (1905)

Isaac Charles Johnson Jr

Sport On The Blue Nile: Or Six Months Of Sportsman's Life In Central Africa by Isaac Charles Johnson (1903) is one of the scarcest African big game books which is an account of Isaac Johnson's travels through the Sudan. Free eBook

Barrie Kaye

Boa: The Memoirs Of A Banana Planter In Remote West Africa by Barrie Kaye (2000). An extremely funny and well-written book about the life of a banana planter in remote west Africa. An entertaining account of the trials and tribulations of a young man on a remote plantation, which includes much on bananas, gold prospecting and hunting.

Walter Montagu Kerr

The Far Interior: A Narrative Of Travel And Adventure From The Cape Of Good Hope Across The Zambesi To The Lake Regions Of Central Africa by Walter Montagu Kerr (1886). The author travelled to the South African diamond fields to seek his fortune. He met Frederick Selous, the pair venturing into the interior of Matabeleland. A classic African adventure book.

Thomas Wallace Knox

Thomas Wallace Knox (1835 - 1896) was an American journalist for the New York Herald during the American Civil War. After the war, he made 2 trips around the world and wrote numerous books for boys as a result.

Hunters Three: Sport And Adventure In South Africa by Thomas Wallace Knox (1895) Free eBook

Kalman Kittenberger

Kalman Kittenberger (1881 - 1958) was a Hungarian traveller, natural historian, biologist, collector and big game hunter. He made six journeys to Africa from 1902 onwards and spent altogether ten and a half years in Africa. He hunted on the Athi Plains of Kenya, the region north of Lake Victoria in Uganda and the Ruvana Plains in Northern Tanganyika.

Big Game Hunting And Collecting in East Africa (1903-1926) by Kalman Kittenberger (1929) is an account of his hunting adventures particularly those describing the elephant and buffalo.

Captain Conyers Lang

Conyers Frederick Woodroffe Lang (he changed his name from Laing) (1891 - 1969) was a British army captain.

Buffalo: The Lone Trail Of A Big Game Hunter by Captain Conyers Lang (1934). The author's intention was "to buy a car in Capetown and drive it up through Africa on a long shooting trip with Cairo as the eventual goal".

Captain Edgar George Dion Lardner

Soldiering And Sport In Uganda 1909-1910 by Captain E G Dion Lardner (1912) Free eBook

Sidney J Legendre

Okavango Desert River by Sidney J Legendre (1939). The author's adventurous safari hunting big game and exploring, following the Okovango River through South West Africa.

Land Of The White Parasol And The Million Elephants: A Journey Through The Jungles Of Indo-China by Sidney J Legendre (1936). Illustrated with photographs by Gertrude Legendre.

Marcel Le Roy

Land Of The Niamoo: Travels In The Forests Of Equatorial Africa by Marcel Le Roy (1954). The author was a prospector in the Upper Guinea, Liberia and the Ivory Coast and this book is about his travels and observations, primarily anthropological. Includes two chapters on big-game hunting.

A G Lewis

Sport, Travel And Adventure edited by A G Lewis (1915) is an excellent anthology of hunting and exploration stories culled from the finest works of the early 20th century. Elephant and lion hunting in Africa, adventures in the Polar regions, mountaineering in Tibet, bear hunting in the American West and travels in Siberia.

J Leyland

Adventures In The Far Interior Of South Africa: Including A Journey To Lake Ngami by J Leyland (1866). Leyland made three trips into the interior of south Africa between 1848 and 1852, trading with the native people whilst hunting big game en route to Lake Ngami and Bechuanaland. The book includes an account of a meeting with Dr. Livingstone in 1850. Free eBook

William Lloyd-Jones

Havash! by William Lloyd-Jones (1925). Early hunting (lion, elephant and rhino) and military memoirs in Northern British East Africa, Somaliland and southern Abyssinia in the years before World War I.

Lt Col Henry Cecil Lowther

Sir Henry Cecil Lowther (1869-1940) was an officer in the Scots Guards during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

From Pillar To Post by Lt Col Henry Cecil Lowther (1911) is the author's memoirs of travelling to Somaliland where he hunted lion in the Haud region, encountered Teddy Roosevelt in British East Africa and hunted elephant. There are stories about working on a Montana cattle ranch, travelling to Ceylon and serving in South Africa during the Boer War.

Peter MacQueen

Peter MacQueen (1865 - 1924) was an American big game hunter and adventurer who attempted to scale the summit of Mount Kibu in 1909.

In Wildest Africa: The Record Of A Hunting And Exploration Trip Through Uganda, Victoria Nyansa, The Kilimanjaro Region And British East Africa, With An Account Of An Ascent Of The Snowfields Of Mount Kibo, In East Central Africa, And A Description Of The Various Tribes by Peter MacQueen (1909) Free eBook

Michael H Mason

Michael Henry Mason (1900 - 1982) was a British one time labourer, miner, prospector, lumberjack, trapper, big game hunter and author. After his travels in Canada he went prospecting in Central Africa in 1924. After an interlude in Chile, he explored the Libyan desert in 1935.

Where The River Runs Dry by Michael H Mason (1934) is a hunting and travelogue in the Sudan and Ethiopia. Mason returns to the Nile region after a nine-year absence and proceeded to hunt roan, reedbucks and buffalo near Bahr-el-Dinder, continuing into the Abyssinian interior after elephant and lion.

Deserts Idle by Michael H Mason (1924) describes an interesting and amusing account of conditions in Africa as he made a nine-month expedition and safari through the Sudan, Uganda, Kenya and Tanganyika in the early 1920's.

The Arctic Forests by Michael H Mason (1924). Hunting and traveling in the region westward from the Mackenzie delta to Fort Yukon and the Bering Sea.

Trivial Adventures In The Spanish Highlands by Michael H Mason (1932)

Where Tempests Blow Upon The Land Of Magellan by Michael H Mason (1933) is an account of his trip along the inhospitable coast of Chilean Patagonia.

Reginald Charles Fulke Maugham

Reginald Charles Fulke Maugham (1866 - 1956) was a British foreign service officer who held a series of colonial administrative positions in Mozambique, Liberia and Central Africa.

Wild Game In Zambezia by Reginald Charles Fulke Maugham (1914) is an account of the many species of wild animal in the Mozambique and Malawi area of Africa which were available to the game hunter. It is illustrated with anecdotes but apparently is intended to be instructional. Free eBook

Portuguese East Africa: The History, Scenery And Great Game of Manica and Sofala by Reginald Charles Fulke Maugham (1906). The author was the British Consul for the districts of Mozambique and Zambezia and for the territory of Manica and Sofala, all very rich game areas. Includes chapters on 'Flora, Fauna, Birds, Insect, Reptiles', 'Big Game - Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhinoceros, Hippotamus, Buffalo', 'Guns and Ammunition, Camp Equipment and Necessaries.' Free eBook

The Republic Of Liberia: Being A General Description Of The Negro Republic With Its History, Commerce, Agriculture, Flora, Fauna, And Present Methods Of Administration by Reginald Charles Fulke Maugham (1920) is a classic study of this African republic. Free eBook

Africa As I Have Known It: Nyasaland, East Africa, Liberia, Senegal by Reginald Charles Fulke Maugham (1929) are the first-hand reminiscences of his many years in Africa. Told in a conversational style, the book covers many aspects of life under British rule in the region. From a brief history to the flora and fauna of the region (including an encounter with a crocodile), to descriptions of slavery, marriage, dress and ornament, birth customs and dance.

Zambezia: A General Description Of The Valley Of The Zambezi River, From Its Delta To The River Aroangwa, With Its History, Agriculture, Flora, Fauna And Ethnography by Reginald Charles Fulke Maugham (1910) Free eBook

Nyasaland In The Nineties And Other Recollections by Reginald Charles Fulke Maugham (1935) is a warm, light-hearted, observant account of expatriate life in Blantyre, Nyasaland (British Central Africa) in the 1890s.

Hans-Otto Meissner

Hans-Otto Meissner (1909 - 1992) was a German diplomat and writer.

One-Man Safari by Hans-Otto Meissner (1957). The author was a prolific purveyor of elephant meat and big tusks. He recounts his hunting exploits in pursuit of buffalo, lion, the coveted bongo, elephants, hippopotamus and more. He tracks his quarry down in regions as different as the Sahara and the depths of the central African forest.

Henry Melladew

Sport And Travel Papers by Henry Melladew (1909) is an account of hunting in the Sudan. Free eBook

Frank Hulme Melland

Through The Heart Of Africa: Being An Account Of A Journey On Bicycles And On Foot From Northern Rhodesia, Past The Great Lakes, To Egypt, Undertaken When Proceeding Home On Leave In 1910 by Frank Hulme Melland (1912) Free eBook

In Witch-Bound Africa: An Account Of The Primitive Kaonde Tribe And Their Beliefs by Frank Hulme Melland (1923) is now a classic ethnographical study of the Bakaonde and their neighbours inhabiting the Kasempa District of North Rhodesia. Free eBook

Lord Hailey's African Survey edited by Frank Hulme Melland (1938)

Elephants In Africa by Frank Hulme Melland (1938) combines sporting elements and natural history. The author recounts elephant hunting by a number of sportsmen such as James Sutherland, David Blunt, Mickey Norton and others, including his own travels through Africa more than three decades earlier while armed only with a .303 which he had just bought for £1. "It was very old and the barrel was badly worn: it was not gas-tight and burned my cheek each time I fired it".

Henry H Methuen

Life In The Wilderness: Or Wanderings In South Africa by Henry H Methuen (1846) is an account of early exploration of the Marikwa and Limpopo rivers with much on big game shooting. He hunted elephant, rhinoceros, hippo, buffalo and plains game.

James Martin Miller

Hunting Big Game In The Wilds Of Africa With Thrilling Adventures Of The Famous Roosevelt Expedition by James Martin Miller (1909) tells of the expedition in search of lions, rhinoceri, elephants, hippopotami and other ferocious beasts of the jungle and plain, including journeys in unknown lands, miraculous escapes, curious customs of savage races, and marvellous discoveries in the dark continent, together with graphic descriptions of beautiful scenery, fertile valleys, vast forests, mighty rivers. A vast treasury of all that is marvellous and wonderful in darkest Africa. Free eBook

Fred L M Moir

After Livingstone: An African Trade Romance by Fred L M Moir (1923) is the story of the Moir brothers, Fred and John William who in the 1880s set out to penetrate the the heart of Africa to open up trade routes between the East coast and the Great Lakes of Nyaja and Tanganyika. Includes some hunting with chapters on his first elephant, taming young elephants and small game hunting. The Moir brothers were also responsible for the abolition of the slave trade in those parts. Recent Addition

J Morewood-Dowsett

Joseph Morewood-Dowsett (b.1864) was a British big game hunter, naturalist and author.

He said...."Please do not regard me as a wanton slaughterer of big game. I have endeavoured to study their life rather than to take it."

Big Game And Big Life by J Morewood-Dowsett (1925). Morewood-Dowsett's adventures took him from New Zealand to Canada, Iceland, Albania and on to Africa. He dedicates much of the book to the elephant and relates an incident in which he survived being knocked down and stomped on by a bull elephant.

Snake Life Simply Told by J Morewood-Dowsett (1928)

How Animals Live by J Morewood-Dowsett (1931)

The Romance Of England's Forests by J Morewood-Dowsett (1942) is a readable account which commences with early British forests, the Roman and Saxon forests and even fens and submerged forests.

The Spanish Bull Ring: Being Some Account Of The Spanish Bull Fight From Its Earliest History To To-Day by J Morewood-Dowsett (1928)

Captain A H E Mosse

Captain Arthur Henry Eyre Mosse (b.1877) was in the Indian Army and while stationed at Aden, he went on two hunting trips to the Haud region of Somaliland.

My Somali Book: A Record Of Two Shooting Trips by Captain A H E Mosse (1913) is the account of two long and mostly productive shooting trips to Somaliland. Much on the famed lions of the areas as well as elephants, plains game and a chapter on rifles suitable for the area. Free eBook

J T Muirhead

Ivory Poaching And Cannibals In Africa by J T Muirhead (1933) is an account of the author's experiences in Africa over a period of thirty years. J T Muirhead earned a living by poaching elephants throughout the Belgian Congo. He relates big game hunting in a sprightly manner and he is always hunting. Also he hunts lion and buffalo.

Robert Hamill Nassau

Robert Hamill Nassau (1835 - 1921) was an American Presbyterian missionary to the Ogowe region of West Africa, which later became Gabon.

In An Elephant Corral And Other Tales Of West African Experiences by Robert Hamill Nassau (1912). Tales and experiences of West Africa, includes gorilla hunting, native life, vampires and psychic mystery. Recent Addition Free eBook

James A Nicolls & William Eglington

The Sportsman In South Africa: The Haunts, Habits, Description, And The Pursuit Of All Game, Both Fur And Feather, Found South Of The Zambesi (Including The Cape Colony, Transvaal, Bechuanaland, Natal, And Damaraland), At The Present Day, With Brief Notices Of The Best Known Fresh And Salt-Water Fish by James A Nicolls & William Eglington (1892) Free eBook

Paul Niedieck

With Rifle In Five Continents by Paul Niedieck (1908). A German explorer and sportsman, Niedieck hunted in Portuguese East Africa, bagging hippopotamus, lion, buffalo, eland and a variety of antelope and zebra. While hunting in the Sudan in 1902, he collected buffalo, roan and other plains game but was severely mauled by an elephant. Later the same year, he travelled along the White Nile, bagging rhinoceros, lion and numerous antelope. Free eBook

Cruises In The Bering Sea: Being Records Of Further Sport And Travel by Paul Niedieck (1909) is an account of a big game hunting cruise from Japan to Kamchatka, then across Bering Strait to Nome, Kodiak and the Inside Passage. Free eBook

Felix Oswald

Felix Oswald (1866 - 1958 ) was a geologist. in 1911 he went to the Victoria Nyanza to investigate the geology of some Miocene deposits for the British Museum that were found in the area earlier that year. Upon his return, he followed the vogue of the times and wrote his own African travel memoir describing his adventures with the Kavirondo tribe.

Alone In Sleeping-Sickness Country by Felix Oswald (1915) discusses sleeping sickness, an epidemic disease carried by the tsetse fly that wiped out native and settler populations alike in the early days of European exploration of Africa. An interesting and detailed account of this East African journey, with some intriguing sections on fossil collecting. Free eBook

T R H Owen

Thomas Richard Hornby Owen (1903 - 1982) was a colonial administrator in the Sudan and Uganda and very keen big game hunter.

Hunting Big Game With Gun And Camera by T R H Owen (1960) describes his African bush adventures where he hunts big game to shoot - with camera and gun.

C V A Peel

Charles Victor Alexander Peel (1869 - 1931) was a prolific British big game hunter and collector. He collected for the Royal Albert Museum in Devon and had his own private museum at his home in Oxford.

Through The Length Of Africa: Being An Account Of A Journey From Cape Town To Alexandria And Sport In Kenya Colony by C V A Peel (1927) is an account of Peel's travels through Africa from south to north and his elephant hunting in Kenya.

Somaliland: Being An Account Of Two Expeditions Into The Far Interior, Together With A Complete List Of Every Animal And Bird Known To Inhabit That Country And List Of The Reptiles by C V A Peel (1900) details the author's two expeditions to the interior part of Somaliland in search of big game. An excellent sporting title, this features all manner of big game hunting in the regions southwest of Hargeisa on Peel's first expedition, then through the Haud and Ogaden on his second. Free eBook

On A Collection Of Insects And Arachnids Made In 1895 and 1897 In Somaliland by C V A Peel (1900)

The Polar Bear Hunt by C V A Peel (1928)

Mr & Mrs John Petherick

John Petherick (1813 - 1882) & Katherine Harriet Edlman (1827-1877) were Welsh travellers in East Central Africa where Mr Petherick became a mining engineer. In 1845 he was employed searching for coal in Upper Egypt, Nubia, the Red Sea coast and Kordofan. In 1848 he established himself as a trader and was, at the same time made British Consul for the Sudan. In 1853 he removed to Khartoum and became an ivory trader. He travelled extensively in the Bahr-el-Ghazal region, then almost unknown. Petherick's additions to the knowledge of natural history were considerable, being responsible for the discovery of a number of new species. In 1859 he returned to England where he became acquainted with John Speke, then arranging for an expedition to discover the source of the Nile. He returned to Sudan as consul in 1861 with his new wife and was entrusted with a mission by the Royal Geographic Society to convey relief stores for Speke and Grant. With Mrs Petherick, he undertook another journey in the Bahr-el-Ghazal, making important collections of plants and fish and returned in February 1863, four days after the arrival of Speke and Grant.

Travels In Central Africa And Explorations Of The Western Nile Tributaries by Mr & Mrs John Petherick (1869) 2 Volumes. These volumes describe the author's important expedition exploring the Nile Tributaries and describe the Speke controversy in detail. Free eBook Vol II

Egypt, The Soudan, And Central Africa, With Explorations From Khartoum On The White Nile To The Regions Of The Equator: Being Sketches From Sixteen Years' Travel by John Petherick (1861). Petherick, a contemporary of Baker, Burton and Speke, travelled along the Nile Valley through Kordofan and into the unknown region beyond. Contains some big game hunting incidents. Free eBook

Count Joseph Potocki

Count Jozef Nicolas Xaver Maria Alfred Jacob Potocki (1862 - 1922) was a Polish aristocrat, landowner, politician, railway builder, sportsman, big-game hunter, collector and Arabian horse breeder. He created a 12,000 hectare deer park known as Pilawin (visited and written about by Richard Lydekker) with it's own 88 mile railway service. Potocki kept game birds, elk herds, roebuck and wapiti along with both European and North American bison. In 1895 he took a hunting safari to Somaliland's Haud region and then into the Ogaden.

Sport In Somaliland: Being An Account Of A Hunting Trip To That Region by Count Joseph Potocki (1900) is one of the rarest of all African big game hunting books. There were 200 copies printed, apparently most or all signed by Rowland Ward. It is an account of his Somaliland hunt where the party bagged elephant, lion, leopard, rhinoceros, aoul, gazelle, hartebeest and beisa oryx. Potocki spared no expense with the original publication of his book and the excellent artwork in the book is from the talented Polish illustrator Piotr Stachiewicz.

Four Rhinoceros Prints are available taken from the book 'Sport In Somaliland' by Joseph Potocki.

Frank Lavallin Puxley

Frank Lavallin Puxley served in the Boer War after which he embarked on a number of shooting expeditions into the interior of Africa. He was convinced of the existence of a giant elephant known as the 'Crown Prince' which was claimed to have ivory of 300lb a side and he, himself had seen the 29 1/2" spoor.

In African Game Tracks: Wanderings With A Rifle Through Eastern Africa by Frank Lavallin Puxley (1929). In Mozambique, he hunted lion and eland and trophy buffalo with further eland in Nyasaland. There are chapters on hunting lion, elephant, hippopotamus and giraffe as well. The author writes, "There were two, and only two things, of which he was afraid, Women and elephant; but you can shoot elephants!" The hunt for elephants extends from the Sudan to the Cape Colony.

Jose Maria D'Eca De Queiroz

Wild Sanctuary: The Astonishing Animals Of Gorongosa And Safaris In Mozambique by Jose Maria D'Eca De Queiroz (1964) is a very scarce title on Mozambique - and one of the few mid-20th century worthwhile books on hunting in that country. Text in Portuguese and English. Recent Addition

Major Harry Rayne

Major Henry A Rayne was a New Zealander who settled in East Africa after gaining an impressive Boer War record. He made a living growing cotton and shooting big game, became District Commissioner in Somaliland and was an honourary member of the Camel Corps. Harry Rayne was one of the very few people to have hunted elephant with W D M Bell.

The Ivory Raiders by Major Harry Rayne (1923) are tales of the Northern Frontier District and Lake Rudolf (Turkana) before and after the First World War, hunting, police and KAR operations.

Sun, Sand And Somals: Leaves From The Note-Book Of A District Commissioner In British Somaliland by Major Harry Rayne (1921)

Robert H Rockwell

My Way Of Hunting: The Adventurous Life Of a Taxidermist by Robert H Rockwell (1956) The author's life as a taxidermist from his apprenticeship with Wards of Rochester to expeditions collecting big game specimens for the Akeley African Hall at the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Recent Addition

Peter Ryhiner

The Wildest Game by Peter Ryhiner (1958) as told to Dan Mannix. The author began as a hunter but then became an animal collector who captured animals from around the world for zoos. Includes accounts of the transport of animals mostly by ship and mishaps that occurred.

Frank Savile

The High Grass Trail: Being Difficulties And The Diversions Of Two: Trekking And Shooting For Sustenance In Dense Bush Across British Central Africa by Frank Savile (1924) is an account of hunting in Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia and along the Zambezi River.

The River Of The Giraffe: A Chronicle Of Desert, Stream And Forest Shooting In The Southern Sudan by Frank Savile (1925) is an account of hunting along a tributary of the White Nile for tiang, buffalo, roan, oribi, waterbuck and more.

Heywood W Seton-Karr

Heywood Walter Seton-Karr (1859 - 1938) was a British Army officer, big game hunter, amateur archaeologist and artist. As a very keen hunter, he went in pursuit of big game almost every year. He made nineteen expeditions to Africa, more than twenty to India and the same to the Arctic.

My First Lions: Hunting Fierce Game In Eastern Africa by Heywood W Seton-Karr (1893) is a magazine article.

Ten Years Wild Sports In Foreign Lands: Or Travels In The Eighties by Heywood W Seton-Karr (1889) Seton-Karr continues his adventures in Alaska, Norway and other venues. In Asia he relates tales of hunting barasingh near Mount Korwal in Kashmir and antelope in the Bikaner region of India. Free eBook

Bear-Hunting In The White Mountains: Or Alaska And British Columbia Revisited by Heywood W Seton-Karr (1891) describes his hunting trip to Alaska and British Columbia after bear and bighorn sheep. Also a chapter on fishing. Free eBook

Explorations In Alaska And North-West British Columbia by Heywood W Seton-Karr (1891) Free eBook

The Alpine Regions Of Alaska by Heywood W Seton-Karr (1887)

Shores And Alps Of Alaska by Heywood W Seton-Karr (1887) is an account of a visit in 1886 to the region of Yakutat Bay, Copper River and Prince William Sound, with an attempted ascent of Mount St. Elias. Free eBook

Captain William T Shorthose

Spade And Sport In Paganland: Being The Narrative Of A Rolling Stone In Nigeria by William T Shorthose (1934) is one of the very few books on prospecting in Nigeria together with big game hunting.

Sport And Adventure In Africa: A Record Of Twelve Years Of Big Game Hunting, Campaigning And Travel In The Wilds Of Tropical Africa by William T Shorthose (1923). The author recalls meeting Andersson and Sutherland. Much on hunting elephant, buffalo, sable and eland in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

Damisa The Leopard by William T Shorthose & Robin Harvey (1938). Tales from the African bush for chidren

Sir James Lewis Sleeman

Lt Colonel Sir James Lewis Sleeman (1880 - 1963) served in the 6th Battalion Welsh Regiment and became "a man who believed it is much more satisfying to have a photograph of an animal than to have its head on a wall."

From Rifle To Camera: The Reformation Of A Big Game Hunter by Sir James Lewis Sleeman (1947) with illustrations and an introduction by Arthur Radclyffe Dugmore. "The Author writes with engaging modesty, and possesses a great ability to present his many notable big game hunting adventures in a forthright, graphic manner." Much on hunting in Asia particularly tigers and in Africa and around the world. It also tells how the author changed his philosophy from predator to environmentalist and conservator of the beasts he used to hunt.

Francois Sommer

Francois Sommer (1904 - 1973) was a French industrialist and big game hunter. He founded the Association of Big Game Hunters and the Muse de la Chasse et de la Nature (Museum of Hunting and Nature).

Man And Beast In Africa by Francois Sommer (1953) with the foreword by Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway describes this as an excellent, well-informed book on shooting game animals in Africa - a book written for hunters.

William B Stanley & Courtenay Hodgson

Elephant Hunting In West Africa by William B Stanley & Courtenay Hodgson (1919) is not only an interesting account of hunting elephant in Sierra Leone and the Gambia but also provides details on other west African game. Elephant hunting throughout the west African coast. Also lion and Cape buffalo hunting. Ranks with the best of the better known African elephant hunting titles and is one of the few on hunting these animals in western Africa. Also good photos of west African antelope.

Colonel J C B Statham

Colonel John Charles Baron Statham (1872 - 1933) was an English surgeon, sportsman and hunter. He served in The RAMC and was killed by wild bees while on an archaelogical investigation in India.

Through Angola: A Coming Country by J C B Statham (1922) contains much remarkable material on the Giant Sable Antelope. Free eBook

With My Wife Across Africa By Canoe And Caravan by J C B Statham (1924). Colonel Statham knew Africa from previous hunting trips. His wife suggested that for their wedding trip they cross Africa. They decided to make the crossing from Mossamedes to the Kubango river, and down it and the Zambezi river system to the Indian Ocean. This part of the trip had never been done by white people and there were very few accounts of the region. So this was to be a wedding trip, a hunting trip and an exploratory trip of a life time. The trip was in fact not completed as originally thought out because of unforeseen dangers from the hippopotami and crocodiles.

Major P M Stewart

Major Percy Marlborough Stewart (1871 - 1962) was a British traveller, big game hunter and angler. He made seven round the world sporting trips over a period of twenty years.

Round The World With Rod And Rifle by Major P M Stewart (1924) covers shark and tarpon fishing in Mexico, black buck shooting in India, rhino hunting in Rhodesia, trout and salmon fishing in Norway, lechwe shooting in the swamps of Bangweulu and sword-fish angling in Florida.

Tales Of Travel And Sport by Major P M Stewart (1930) is an entertaining work, with hunting in both Africa and Canada.

Travel And Sport In Many Lands by Major P M Stewart (1928) covers shark fishing, caribou hunting in British Columbia, bear hunting in Alberta and angling in England.

Colonel Harald G Swayne

Colonel Harald George Carlos Swayne (1860 - 1940) was a British army officer who served in Somaliland. Swayne's hartebeest, Alcelaphus buselaphus swaynei and Swayne's dik dik, Madaqua swaynei were named after him in 1892 and 1894 respectively. Colonel Swayne still holds the Rowland Ward record for Swayne's hartebeest which is now extinct in Somalia but still to be found in Ethiopia.

Seventeen Trips Through Somaliland: A Record Of Exploration And Big Game Shooting 1885 To 1893 by Colonel Harald G Swayne (1895) is the narrative of several journeys in the hinterland of the Somali Coast Protectorate, dating from 1884 up to 1893. At that period Somalia was under British Protectorate. Swayne considered himself the first traveller to cross the country with the object of exploration. In his account he presents the different phases of life in nomadic Galla tribes who inhabit the land between the Gulf of Aden and the great African lakes. Most of the illustrations in this work are direct reproductions from the authors own drawings. The book covers wide variety of subjects including, the ethnology of the country, the nomadic life, camel and horse breeding, the government exploration surveys, and visits to the Abyssinian border and Ras Nakunan of Harar in 1893. Free eBook

Through The Highlands Of Siberia by Major H G C Swayne (1904). Swayne and his shooting companion, noted sportsman H W Seton-Karr, travelled from Moscow, across the Urals and into the mountainous regions of Mongolia and the Altai Shan. Near the Chagan-Burgaza Pass, Ovis ammon were bagged. In the Laki Valley, ibex and more Ovis ammon were collected. There are excellent descriptions of the terrain throughout. The author used Elim Demidoff's 'After Wild Sheep in the Altai and Mongolia' as a guide. Free eBook

Captain Clement A Sykes

Clement Arthur Sykes (1871 - 1938) was a British army officier and big game hunter.

Service And Sport On The Tropical Nile by Clement A Sykes (1903). 'Some records of the duties and diversions of an officer among natives and big game during the re-occupation of the Nilotic province'. Sykes relates his military duties in the Sudan along the Nile, but also mixes in some exciting elements of big game hunting. Free eBook

Patrick M Synge

Major Patrick Millington Synge (1910 - 1982) was a famous British plant collector and horticulturalist. In 1934 he made an important expedition to Ruwenzori mountain region in East Africa to study and collect the flora and fauna for the British Museum. Synge also travelled to Mount Kenya, Mount Elgon, the Virunga volcanoes and the Aberdare Mountains.

Mountains Of The Moon: An Expedition To The Equatorial Mountains Of Africa by Patrick M Synge (1937) is his account of the natural history expedition by the British Museum in East Africa. Synge describes the Ruwenzori Mountains as "The most monstrous and unearthly landscape I have ever seen".

Derek Temple

Ivory Poacher by Derek Temple (1930) is an autobiographical book which 'covers but a brief period of time in the life of the writer, and deals with but one phase of his activities as a hunter of big game. The book is dedicated to Temple's four gun bearers.

Richard Tjader

Richard Tjader (1869 - 1919) was a Swedish American big game hunter and later, a self-styled chaffeur-driven missionary in Africa. In 1907 he collected over 500 African trophy specimens for the Museum of Natural History , plus one live rhino for the Bronx Zoo.

The Big Game of Africa by Richard Tjader (1910). Big game hunting experiences of the author and observations on big game in British East Africa, German East Africa and Uganda. Kindle Version

C Court Treatt

Major Chaplin Court Treatt (1888 - 1954) was a British motoring pioneer and film-maker. With his wife Stella, he made a film in Africa about his motoring expedition from the Cape to Cairo and another in the Sudan.

Out Of The Beaten Track: A Narrative Of Travel In Little Known Africa by C Court Treatt (1931) describes hunting elephant with a spear, journey down the Bahr-el-Arab, the Dinkas, witchcraft and superstition, night photography, lions, Habbania, big game and smaller animals, with several chapters on the African elephant. Court Treatt spent over 20 years in Africa and travelled through Sudan, Abyssinia, Congo, Uganda and Kenya.

Stella Court Treatt

Stella Maud Court Treatt (1895 - 1976) was the South African born wife of Chaplin Court Treatt. She was an author and co-director of the films they made in Africa.

Cape To Cairo: The Record Of A Historic Motor Journey by Stella Court Treatt (1927) is the fascinating account of a group of six British citizens who crossed Africa in a Crossley automobile, a feat which took 17 months. Illustrated with 64 photos by a member of the team. The entire trip was through British territory.

Sudan Sand: Filming The Baggara Arabs by Stella Court Treatt (1930) is an account of an expedition which initially planned to film game in southern Sudan but which eventually expanded its theme to include the Baggara Arabs. The film was titled 'Stark Nature'.

William Vasse

Three Years' Sport In Mozambique by William Vasse (1909) Translated from French by R & H M Lydekker. Guillaume Vasse (even his name was translated) sailed to Mozambique in 1904 to enjoy an extended hunting trip. In the foothills of the Drakensburg, he collected klipspringer and bushbuck, then travelled to the Zombi River where he bagged sable. Near the Pungwi River, Vasse hunted eland, hartebeest, waterbuck and buffalo. Numerous leopard were bagged in the region, as well as elephant. Continuing on to the Sungwi River, he also collected a number of lion. Entering the Zambezi, hippopotamus and kudu were hunted. Recent Addition

Theodore J Waldeck

Theodore J Waldeck (1894 - c.1969) was an American explorer, big game hunter and author who set out for Africa in 1912 and later in 1924. He accompanied the Duke of Mecklenberg on his expedition of East Africa in 1912. In 1936 he led an expedition to British Guiana to search for the missing American aviator, Paul Redfern. Some of his books are written for children.

On Safari by Theodore J Waldeck (1946) is an account of his 1912 expedition in Africa. Waldeck was eighteen and believed himself an adventurer. When fever kept him from accompanying the expedition, he set out on his own and quickly learned the lessons that Africa had to teach him.

Treks Across The Veld by Theodore J Waldeck (1950) is a fascinating account of the author's experiences in Africa hunting and capturing wild animals for zoos.

White Panther by Theodore J Waldeck (1941) is the story of Ku-ma the white panther. His education forms an authentic introduction to the jungle country of South America.

Lions On The Hunt by Theodore J Waldeck (1942) is a children's adventure story about lions.

Jamba The Elephant by Theodore J Waldeck (1942)

The Golden Stallion by Theodore J Waldeck (1947)

Harold Frank Wallace

Harold Frank Wallace (1881 - 1962) was a British naval officer, acclaimed artist of Scottish red deer and Fellow of the Zoological Society. He travelled the world, writing and illustrating his books.

Stalks Abroad: Being Some Account Of The Sport Obtained During A Two Years' Tour Of The World by Harold Frank Wallace (1908) is an account of his turn-of-the-century world tour. Yellowstone and the Tetons for American mountain game, BC Canada for sheep and goat, deer in New Zealand and then East Africa and India. Free eBook

The Big Game Of Central And Western China: Being An Account Of A Journey From Shanghai To London Overland Across The Gobi Desert by Harold Wallace (1913) is a heavily photo-illustrated account of hunting, taking wild sheep, white-maned serow, roe deer and wapiti in Northern China and the southern reaches of the Gobi. Free eBook

Leo Walmsley

Leo Walmsley (1892 - 1966) was an English writer and sportsman. During World War I he served as an observer with the Royal Flying Corps in East Africa, was mentioned in dispatches four times and was awarded the Military Cross. After a plane crash he was sent home and eventually pursued a literary career.

So Many Loves: An Autobiography By Leo Walmsley (1944) The author was born in the town of Shipley in West Yorkshire, England, and his family moved to the village of Robin Hood's Bay on the North Yorkshire coast when he was two years old. He was awarded the Military Cross whilst serving with the Royal Flying Corps in East Africa during the First World War and later travelled widely in search of adventure. With his family he lived in various parts of the British Isles before finally settling in Fowey, Cornwall, where he died in 1966.

The Silver Blimp: A Story Of Adventure In the Tropics by Leo Walmsley (1921) is the author's uncommon first novel. British and natives with an unstoppable silver blimp versus the Germans in Africa.

Frank Weber

Colonel William Hermann Frank Weber (1875 - 1936) was a British army officer and big game hunter.

A Novice On The Nile: Big Game Hunting In The Sudan by Frank Weber (1929) is an true account of the author's first hunting trip along the White Nile in the Upper Sudan. Equipped with double .470's, light magazine rifles, a 10 bore and shotguns, they seek to take a number of specimens from the area's big game population. Their list of quarry include elephant, buffalo, eland, ibex, waterbuck, various gazelle, kob, crocodiles and hippos. Exciting anecdotes of their often dangerous attempts to bag specimens of each of these.

Montagu S Wellby

Captain Montagu Sinclair Wellby (1866 - 1900) was a British army officer who made expeditions to Abyssinia and Tibet before being killed in the Boer War.

Twixt Sirdar And Menelik: An Account Of A Year's Expedition From Zeila To Cairo Through Unknown Abyssinia by Montagu S Wellby (1901)

Through Unknown Tibet by Montagu S Wellby (1898) is a narrative of Wellby and Lt. Malcolm's journey across Tibet and nothern China in 1896. They found a more northerly route to Peking than that of Bower. The journey started at Lucknow, continued to Simla and finished in the wilds of Waziristan. They traversed the entire breadth of Tibet, beginning at Ladakh in the west and finishing in Peking. They crossed the inhospitable Chang-Tang plateau of northern Tibet.

Carveth Wells

In Coldest Africa: Adventures On The Mountains Of The Moon by Carveth Wells (1929) is an account of the Cudahy-Massee-Milwaukee Museum African Expedition (1928 - 1929) to Tanganyika, debunking the myth of Africa as just jungles. Includes big game hunting of lion and eland, collecting specimens and a trip to the Montains of the Moon in East Africa covered with snow and ice. To collect specimens for the Milwaukee museum, a Buick automobile was used to place the hunters in shooting range for lion and eland. There is reference to Osa and Martin Johnson and 'Samaki' Salmon.

Arnold Wienholt

Arnold Wienholt (1877 - 1940) was born in Australia and had careers as an army officer, adventurer, big game hunter, politician and author. In 1913 while hunting in German South-West Africa, now Namibia, he was mauled by a wounded lion and he lost the use of his right hand. Between 1923 and 1929 he went lion hunting four times.

In The Sand Forest: Lion-Hunting With The Maquengo Bushmen by Arnold Wienholt (1939)

The Story Of A Lion Hunt: With Some Of The Hunter's Military Adventures During The War by Arnold Wienholt (1922). Lion hunting and fighting rebels and Germans in British East Africa and southern Africa during the First World War. The author served throughout the campaign in the Intelligence Corps, winning the DSO and MC with bar and the respect of the enemy, Major-General von Lettow in particular. Free eBook

Books About Arnold Wienholt

Rosamond Siemon

The Eccentric Mr Wienholt by Rosamond Siemon (2005) is the story of Arnold Wienholt, MP, lion hunter, intelligence agent, Queensland pastoralist and eccentric.

Captain John C Willoughby

Sir John Christopher Willoughby (1859 - 1918) was a soldier and big game hunter. After Joseph Thomson published his work about the abundance of game in the Masai region, Willoughby and his friend Robert Harvey set off on a big game hunting campaign.

East Africa And It's Big Game by John C Willoughby (1989) is the narrative of a sporting trip from Zanzibar to the borders of the Masai. Hunting big game in Africa in the late 1800s, the author and Sir Robert Harvey, bagged rhinoceros, lion, buffalo, hippopotamus, eland, elephant and other game. Kindle Version

Lord Frederick Glyn Wolverton

Lord Frederick Glyn Wolverton (1864 - 1932) was a British banker and Conservative politician.

Five Months' Sport in Somali Land by Lord Frederick Glyn Wolverton (1894) is an account of five months' shooting with Colonel Arthur Paget, mainly for lions, in Somaliland in the days when lions were plentiful and this was one of the best places to bag a big and big maned lion. They also took gazelles, crocodiles and a variety of other animals.

Augustus B Wylde

Augustus Blandy Wylde (c.1849 - 1909) was a British civil servant and trader in wild animals. He became vice consul at Suakin in Sudan during the early years of the Mahdist revolt.

'83 To '87 In The Soudan: With An Account Of Sir William Hewett's Mission To King John Of Abyssinia by Augustus B Wylde (1888) Free eBook Vol I Free eBook Vol II

Modern Abyssinia by Augustus B Wylde (1901). Wylde returned to Ethiopia after the battle of Adwa in 1896 to report on it for the Manchester Guardian. This is one of the few books of the period written from an essentially pro-Ethiopian standpoint. Free eBook