Old-Time Professional Hunter Books

The old-time professional hunter books are by the gentlemen who started guiding paying clients as 'White Hunters' in the golden era of safari hunting. Also there were those still professionally hunting elephant like W D M Bell and Taylor, who never went near a hunting client, if they could help it.

I will tell ye of the hunter, if ye listen for a while,
For their lives are worth the telling now and then;
There is much behind the curtain, which would make you raise a smile,
In the lives of all these hard safari men.
For his life is full of changes - there are no two weeks the same,
And he's not so free as hunters were of yore:
But his days are surely numbered, he must trek with all the game,
And ye'll never see the hunter any more.
Out in the tropical forest, and out on the great dry plain,
Always under the scorching sun and oft in the drenching rain,
Where he has led his safaris, there he will lead again,
Till the hunter's gone for ever, and the hunted all are slain.
Brian Brooke 1917

Bunny Allen

Frank Maurice 'Bunny' Allen, (1906 - 2002) was born in Britain and lived most of his life in Kenya. He hunted with Denys Finch Hatton and Bror Blixen and accompanied three royal safaris. He was much in demand by Hollywood studios as to find the African wildlife 'backdrop' for movies and as a stand-in for actors in dangerous scenes.

First Wheel: A White Hunter's Diary 1927-47 by Bunny Allen (1983) was the first of Allen's three books about his adventures in the African bush between 1927 - 1947.

Second Wheel: A White Hunter's Diary 1947-67 by Bunny Allen (1985) is the continuation of this colourful professional hunter's autobiography.

The Wheel Of Life: Bunny Allen, A Life Of Safaris And Romance by Bunny Allen (2002)

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Major G H Anderson

Major G H Anderson (1878 - 1946), better known as Andy Anderson, was a renowned professional hunter and one of the founders of the East African Professional Hunters Association (EAPHA). In 1946 he suffered a major malaria attack and while recovering from it, he completed the manuscript for this volume and delivered it for publication. He died shortly after from pneumonia at the age of 68 before the book came out.

African Safaris by Major G H Anderson (1946) are classic hunting adventures in the African wilds, some of his elephants carried tusks weighing over 200 lbs. The author also recalls his companionship with other great hunters like George Rushby and James Sutherland.

Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke

Baron Bror von Blixen-Finecke (1886 - 1946) was a Swedish baron, writer and African big-game hunter. He founded the company 'Tanganyika Guides Ltd' and was in partnership with Philip Percival's 'African Guides' based in Kenya.

African Hunter by Bror Blixen (1938) who was the husband of Karen Blixen, better known under her pen name Isak Dinesen, between 1913 and 1925. Von Blixen-Finecke was a respected professional hunter and guide, who counted amongst his clients Edward, the Prince of Wales. He returned to Sweden in 1938.

Douglas Collins

Douglas Tatum Collins became a professional hunter in 1956 after his time in Somalia. He initially joined Safariland and then founded his own company Kenya Safaris Ltd.

A Tear For Somalia by Douglas Collins (1960) is his fascinating story of African adventure. Collins spent ten years as a District Commissioner in Somalia.

A Tear For Somalia and Another Tear For Africa (2 Volumes) by Douglas Collins (1980). Available in 2 volume sets. 'Another Tear For Africa' further describes his adventures which are sometimes grim, but always exciting.

Tales From Africa by Douglas Collins (1995) is a "whimsical anthology of my fifty-four years in Africa, mostly in tents and under thorn trees". Collins was a soldier, an administrative officer in Somaliland and a professional hunter in Kenya. He was also a gifted raconteur and writer.

Charles Cottar

Charles Cottar (1874 - 1939) was an American who arrived in Kenya in 1909, hunted for ivory between 1915 and 1918 besides ranching and mining. After 1918 he took up professional hunting, subsequently conducting some of the biggest safaris ever to come to Kenya. With his sons, Pat and Mike, he formed Cottar Safari Services. Their legacy lives on to this date.

Cottar: The Exception Was The Rule by Charles Cottar (1999). Cottar pursued writing as a hobby and had a number of articles published and kept a detailed diary which forms the basis of this book. In spite of several maulings, one of which left him partially paralyzed, he did more with one eye and one leg than most men did with two.

Marcus Daly

Big Game Hunting and Adventure 1897-1936 by Marcus Daly (1937) is a memorable big game hunting book that should be required reading of all hunters and by all collectors. Daly's work is often quoted by other authors.

Jorge Alves De Lima

Jorge Alves De Lima left Brazil and went to Africa in 1948 and for the next almost a quarter of a century he travelled and hunted in eight countries as a hunter, a professional hunter, an ivory hunter, an explorer and the founder of two safari companies. Whether hunting elephants, buffalo, lion, leopard, rhinoceros, bongo or plains game, Jorge is a man of extraordinary energy and action.

In The Company Of Adventure by Jorge Alves De Lima (2006) is the true story of his exploits and hunting in Africa at a time when you had to venture into uncharted areas to discover your own great hunting territory and when your only companion was a sense of adventure. Very few men could bring out so clearly the romance and the reality of big game hunting in the manner of the classic works written years ago. His stories capture the excitement and the challenge, the joys and the dream-filled days when out after game.

Chasing The Horizon: Hunting In East Africa And India by Jorge Alves De Lima (2010) with contributions by Brian Herne, Derrick Dunn, Anton Allen and Richard DuPont. Herne said about De Lima, "There has never been a hunter anywhere in Africa, at any time, who has ever come close to matching his exploits in so many different countries. DeLima hunted Tanzania when it was a hidden paradise in the days when safaris were conducted without telephone or tarmac. De Lima had many secret hideaway far off the beaten track where there as hardly a track to follow, where clients hunted the big five and more. There is also a section on hunting in India as De Lima had a fascination with all big cats.

Fred Everett

Frederick William Everett (1920 - 2009) was a professional elephant hunter born in the Bechuanaland Protectorate. During his long hunting career, Fred Everett hunted in Bechuanaland, Southern Rhodesia and the Wankie Game Reserve, Mozambique and Sudan, shooting scores of elephants. He later became a tsetse control officer in Zimbabwe before retiring to South Africa.

Tuskers In The Dust by Fred Everett (2008). The story picks up in 1937 with a number of elephant hunting adventures. He hunted along the Zambezi River, in Okavango and in Mozambique. He was a professional elephant hunter.

Heat, Thirst And Ivory by Fred Everett (2009) is the life story of a man who came to be known as 'Radephiri', father of hyenas. An unusual life and a great story.

Andrew Holmberg

Andrew Holmberg (b.1918) was born in Kenya of Swedish parents. He grew up amongst the most famous hunters and East African personalities of the day. His father was the professional hunter, Emil Holmberg, his godmother was Isak Dinesen who delivered him into the world and his father helped manage the Blixen estate. He became a professional hunter himself in 1939, forging a successful career and taking many notable trophies for his clients and himself. Andrew Holmberg formed 'Selby and Holmberg Ltd' in partnership with Harry Selby who left Ker & Downey Safaris in 1956.

Out In Africa: The Extraordinary Life And Times Of Andrew Holmberg by Andrew Holmberg (2000). He holds the record for the greatest number of 100-pound plus elephants. Sixty-three taken for family, friends and clients and that does not include many that were almost 100 pounds. His personal best on elephant is 141 pounds per side. His best buffalo is 58 inches. Andrew consistently pioneered new areas where others followed later. In East African professional hunting history, no other individual has been given undisputed credit for so many number one accomplishments in the hunting area as Andrew Holmberg.

John Alfred Jordan

John Alfred Jordan (b.1885) was a British traveller, big game hunter and trader. He was also the most notorious ivory poacher along the borders of German East Africa. He killed forty crocodiles in one day on Lake Victoria and hunted for the 'Elephant Stone'.

Elephants And Ivory: True Tales Of Hunting And Adventure by John Alfred Jordan (1956) are the true tales, as told to John Prebble, of a professional hunter and an inveterate ivory poacher.

The Elephant Stone by John Alfred Jordan (1959) is the autobiography of 'Mongaso, 'the man who is always moving'. Jordan was an adventurer and hunter who travelled extensively throughout Africa in the early years of the twentieth century. He was obsessed with the search for the Elephant Stone, a "precious gem to be had from the skull of a tuskless bull elephant".

Mongaso: Man Who Is Always Moving: The Story Of An African Hunter by John Alfred Jordan (1959) is the account of the African experiences of hunter John Alfred Jordan as told to John Prebble. His story begins before World War One and he only left for England 25 years later when, as he said, "rotten with malaria" another year in Africa would have killed him. This is 'Elephants And Ivory' published with a different title.

Donald Ker

Donald Ian Ker (1905 - 1981) was born in Britain and lived most of his life in Kenya. He was great friends with Mike Cottar learning most of his hunting skills accompanying Cottar's safaris. In partnership with Syd Downey, Ker & Downey Safaris was founded in 1946.

African Adventure by Donald Ker (1957). The founder of Ker & Downey, the famous safari company, tells of his own experiences with big game and some of his better known clients.

Oskar Koenig

Oskar Koenig (b.1896) was for 25 years, the only professional white hunter in Tanganyika.

Pori Tupu by Oskar Koenig (1954) are the extraordinary adventures of one of Africa's great white hunters - 25 years of facing danger and excitement described by the man with a deep understanding of the continent and its big game. The title 'Pori Tupu' means 'dangerous bush'.

The Masai Story by Oskar Koenig (1956) is a history of the Masai and an account of their habits, psychology and traditions.

Snorty The Rhino by Oskar Koenig (1965)

Fred G Merfield

Fred G Merfield was an English planter in the Cameroons before the First World War and collected 115 gorillas and other rare creatures for European museums. During the 2nd World War, he had the distinction of becoming an French Commissioner of Police in the French Cameroons, despite being English. Merfield was the first author to describe the chimpanzees use of 'tools'.

Gorillas Were My Neighbours by Fred G Merfield (1956) with Harry Miller, is the true story of Fred Merfield's life among the gorillas of the west African forests. Merfield was described as the greatest white hunter in Africa, for he sought out the most difficult terrain for his activities and constantly belied the theory that only Africans have the necessary stealth, skill and endurance for tracking and hunting in their dense tropical forests. Fred Merfield's chief interest was always the rare gorilla of West Africa, and he eventually penetrated the remote, little known Mendjim country where, by the exercise of courage and persistence, he made friends with the wild natives.

Gorilla Hunter: The African Adventures Of A Hunter Extraordinary by Fred G Merfield (1956) with Harry Miller, are the memoirs of a professional hunter who spent 35 years in the French Cameroons, collecting rare animals for museums and zoos. This book contains much information about the gorilla in his native habitat and disposes of many false myths.

George Michael

African Fury by George Michael (1954) details the life of African big game hunter George Michael. 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'. Recent Addition

Get his wife's version of events in I Married A Hunter by Marjorie Michael

Tom Murray Smith

The Nature Of The Beast by Tom Murray Smith (1963) are the experiences of one of the best of the old-time professional hunters. He survived being pinned to the ground by a charging elephant and also an enraged lioness that leapt into his car. Smith was one time President of the East African Professional Hunters Association.

Safari Trail by Tom Murray Smith (1965) are stories from the author's life experiences as a professional guide.

Read Tom Murray Smith's biography 'Nimrod Smith: A Profile Of T Murray Smith' by Alan Wykes

Sir Alfred E Pease

Sir Alfred Edward Pease (1857 - 1939) was a British Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1902 and was an early settler and occasional professional white hunter in British East Africa. He was responsible for inviting Roosevelt to hunt in Africa.

The Book Of The Lion by Alfred Pease (1911) covers all aspects of lion history and hunting.

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Hunting Reminiscences by Alfred E Pease (1898) includes chapters on hounds, hare-hunting, fox-hunting and badger hunting. Free eBook

Edmund Loder: Naturalist, Horticulturist, Traveller and Sportsman by Alfred Pease (1923). Loder was a pre-eminent sportsman and horticulturist of his era and is lionized by Pease and other writers in this memoir. Among his worldwide hunts were excursions into Tunisia after wild boar and addax. During a safari to Somaliland, he bagged kudu in the Golas Range, as well as gerenuk and gazelle. At Hagal he collected several lions in addition to various species of plains game. In a later trip to the Kapiti Plains of British East Africa, he hunted rhino, gazelle, eland, impala and a host of other game. Loder's gazelle is named after him. He also hunted bear in Kashmir's Lolab Valley, markhor in the Pir Panjal, as well as barasingh, bison and tiger, the latter near Hyderabad. He also hunted tiger near Madras and in the Neilgherry Hills in India. Free eBook

Biskra: The Oases And Desert Of The Zibans With Information For Travellers by Alfred Pease (1893) Free eBook

A Private Memoir Of Sir Thomas Fowler, Bart by Alfred Pease (1911) is an interesting memoir to Sir Thomas Fowler, Lieutenant (later Captain) in the Wiltshire Yeomanry killed in action at the action at Moolman's Spruit, April 20th, 1902. His letters from South Africa which form the basis of the memoir are very descriptive.

Philip H Percival

Philip Hope Percival (1886-1966) guided Hemingway on both of his African safaris and was described by Papa as "the finest man I ever knew in any war or any peace."

Philip Percival was 'chief assistant PH' on the Roosevelt safari, when Roosevelt was hunting lion with Alfred Pease. He went on to conduct safaris for Carl Akeley, George Eastman, the Duke of Connaught, Baron Rothschild, Gary Cooper and many more notable clients.

Hunting, Settling And Remembering by Philip Percival (1997). Philip Percival recalled his long hunting career as a professional hunter in the safari business in manuscipts for this book just prior to his death in 1966.

Paul L Potous

No Tears For The Crocodile by Paul Potous (1956) The author seeks his freedom in a flat bottomed boat on an African river, killing crocodiles at a distance of six feet. As a professional hunter, he kills them for their belly skins which make leather that will last a hundred years. Recent Addition

My Enemy, The Crocodile: The Strange Story Of Africa's Deadliest Business by Paul L Potous (1957) More on the author's unusual profitable business, hunting, killing, and skinning African crocodiles.

Major P J Pretorius

Major P J Pretorius (1876 - 1945) was responsible for finding and sinking the German warship Konigsberg during World War I. Pretorius also helped the South African government clear a huge number of elephants in the Addo district. He cleaned them out so efficiently that it was decided to create a reserve and let the remainder live out their lives there - today that reserve is the Addo Elephant Park.

Jungle Man: The Autobiography Of Major P J Pretorius by P J Pretorius (1948) who began his career as an ivory hunter in the 1890s almost two decades before the profession of 'white hunter' was created. This book tells the story of this famed African adventurer in his own words and was published posthumously.

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Andreas Robert Siedentopf

The Last Stronghold Of Big Game by Andreas Robert Siedentopf (1946) is a memoir of the author's days as a big game hunter in Africa. Fifteen years in Tanganyika and Kenya after rogue buffalo, man-eating lions and leopards and other big game. Siedentopf was a keen observer and was made an honorary game ranger.

Ada and Laddy Wincza

Ada and Laddy Wincza went from being Polish freedom fighters in World War II to successful operators of big game safaris in Tanganyika and later in Kenya. Ada Wincza was also a fine hunter as well as photographer, linguist and author.

Bush And Plains by Ada and Laddy Wincza (1983) are the fascinating reminiscences of a husband and wife who started a new life in Africa as a white hunter and a safari guide, and their experiences with clients, natives and a wide range of big game.

Masai The Magnificent by Ada Wincza (1970) is a comprehensive study of the Masai tribe. Illustrated with photographs, as well as a bibliography and a 6 page common words and sentences in Masai language with English translation.

Ernst A Zwilling

Ernst Alexander Zwilling (1904 - 1990) was an Austrian white hunter in the Cameroon after the First World War. He went on to take clients to French Equatorial Africa and Uganda. He wrote many books in German about his African hunting career.

Jungle Fever: Expedition Into Equatorial Africa by Ernst A Zwilling (1956) recounts a hunting expedition into East Africa and the Cameroon for rhinos, lions, hippos, leopards, hyenas, buffalos and crocodiles.