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Bookshelf Latest Additions

The books listed here are the latest additions to the Shakari Connection Bookshelf. In no particular order, there are books on African hunting, African exploration, hunting firearms and more. All the books newly added to the website will be listed on this page before going into their various categories and into the author index.

Please note, this page contains affiliate links, which means Shakari Connection receives a commission if you make a purchase using these links.

JUNE 2023

William E Casey

William Stamps Cherry: Into the Dark Unknown: Central Africa In 1899 by William E Casey (2020) is the first in a trilogy about the life of William Stamps Cherry, an American explorer of Africa during the years 1896 to 1900. He travelled alone on foot for three years through the bush in the country that is now known as the Central African Republic.

William Stamps Cherry: They Called Me 'Demba Creecy' by William E Casey (2020) is the second book of the trilogy which focuses on William Stamps Cherry as the big game hunter - particularly his elephant hunting experiences.

William Stamps Cherry: 'THE African Explorer': Before And After Africa by William E Casey (2020) is the final book of the trilogy which addresses what happened to him after he returned home from his second journey in Africa and how come nobody has ever heard of him?

William Stamps Cherry

William Stamps Cherry (1869 - 1927) was an American engineer and explorer who made a solo voyage up the Congo’s tributaries and through the forests of the Congo basin. For nearly two years he did little but hunt elephants, returning to America with a large collection collection of African artifacts and tusks (his shipping documents suggest 250 tusks, weighing 2900kg).

William Stamps Cherry

Hunting The Elephant: William Stamps Cherry's Wild Sporting Adventures In The Congo Basin by William Stamps Cherry (2023) is a compilation of two magazine articles published from extracts from Cherry's journal about his elephant hunting experiences in central Africa. The first of these articles, titled 'Elephant Hunting in Africa' appeared in the October 1901 issue of McClure's, pages 579-584. The second article (which can be read below), titled 'Hunting the Elephant' was published in Hearst's International, Volume 5, 1903, pages 1426-1431 .

Michael Ashcroft

Unfair Game: An Exposé Of South Africa's Captive-Bred Lion Industry by Michael Ashcroft (2020) features the results of an inquiry the author conducted into South Africa's lion business. He details how tourists are unwittingly being used to support the abuse of lions, how lions are tranquillised and then 'hunted' in enclosed spaces and he demonstrates why Asia's appetite for lion bones has become a multi-million dollar business, linked to criminality and corruption, which underpins South Africa's captive lion industry.

Peter Whitehead

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

Gerald M Jonas

Hunting Southern African Safari: An Elephant And Buffalo Hunt by Gerald M Jonas (2014) is the author's "first big game hunt with all the fears and excitement". Available as an eBook only.

A Hunter's Heart: An African Safari, What You Hunt Most When You Hunt Is Yourself by Gerald M Jonas (2015) It is unclear whether this is a novel! It is about the "exciting life on a safari ranch - rhino battles, guests, guides and hunters - the good, the bad and the bewildered." Available as an eBook only.

South African History Safari: 1903-1994 by Gerald M Jonas (2012) is a look at the events and lives of people that made history in South Africa during the 20th century. Available as an eBook only.

Don Caswell

Great White Hunters by Don Caswell (2014) is a collection of stories taken from the classic books of 15 renowned hunters of Africa and India. Available as an eBook only.

Joshua Godfrey

Head Hunters: Hunting Safaris Around The Globe by Joshua Godfrey (2023) is a guide for hunters wanting to hunt in Africa, based on the author's experience on a hunt in South Africa. There in South Africa, as it says on his hunting sales website, he apparently 'harvested' every animal on his 'bucket list' - 19 animals in 10 days!!

Kevin Thomas

What Calibre To Bring On A One Gun African Safari by Kevin Thomas (2016) is an eBook full of advice from a leading African PH about selecting a one calibre rifle for all the animals a client may want to hunt.

An Iraq Interlude by Kevin Thomas (2022) details the author's two years spent in Iraq, 2004 to 2006, while he was working in private security contracted to a risk management company in Iraq. The author addresses both the seriousness and the humour of the work involved in the private security sector within a hostile environment and also writes about some of the more colourful characters he met and worked with in Iraq.

Cartwheeling with Geese: Short Stories From A Rhodesian Boyhood Circa 1955 To 1967 by Kevin Thomas (2020) is a collection of very humorous stories from a mischievious boyhood in the bygone years in Rhodesia. The tales include the author (aged six) and his friend stalking the farm's stud dairy bull with a view to shooting it on the scotum with a BB gun. The stories portray the high-spirited life of young boys living a carefree life before the advent of modern distractions.
More books by Kevin Thomas

Wendy Sheldon

Eighteen Dangerous Days in Zimbabwe, A Memoir: A Spouse's 2005 Zimbabwean Adventures While Her Husband Hunts In The Bush by Wendy Sheldon (2022) As the title helpfully tells us, this is a memoir written by a spouse who tagged along with her husband on a hunting safari to Zimbabwe in mid-2005. The author tells of her experiences of "a raw, emotional, 18 days in the Zimbabwean bush".

Ian H MacKay

Henry Hartley: Hunter Explorer Extraordinaire 1815-1876 by Ian H MacKay (2022) is a biography about Henry Hartley (1815 - 1876) who was an English settler in South Africa, who became a prolific elephant hunter and explorer. Episodes of his life crop up in association with other noted explorers and pioneers of the time, such as Livingstone, Thomas Baines and William Cotton Oswell. Hartley was believed to have been the first European to see the magnificent cataracts which later became known as the Victoria Falls. It had always been thought that Livingstone had seen the Falls first and put them on the map, publicising his discovery. Livingstone being the 'celebrity' explorer of the time, frequently neglected to mention travelling companions and took sole credit for discoveries such as the Falls and Lake Ngami (found by Mungo Murray & William Oswell). Livingstone's claim to discovering the Falls has been disproved with Henry Hartley's writings which indicates he saw the Falls years before Livingstone arrived there.

As well as discovering gold (with Baines and geologist Karl Mauch) in Mashonaland, Hartley was one of the greatest professional hunters known in Southern Africa. During his lifetime he is credited with killing 1200 elephants. You can read more about Henry Hartley in an article 'Henry Hartley: African Hunter And Explorer' written by his grandson, Reginald Hartley Thackeray, which was published in the Journal of the Royal African Society, Vol. 37, No. 148 (July, 1938). Henry Hartley's story also appears in 'The Far Interior: Chronicles Of Pioneering In The Matabele And Mashona Countries 1847-1879' by Edward C Tabler

Bruce Parker

The following titles are a series of hunting eBooks by an author who has hunted and filmed in Africa for four decades. He writes "for hunters who want more of that 'out there' feeling and for those who are battling to get their sons to join them on the next trip".