I bought this book in 1977 just after publication. Prior to that I had only read a few American hunting magazines. This book was a revelation in that it excitingly described the various adventures of an American professional hunter in Africa. The author was a hard driving, heavy drinking ,chain smoking larger than life character. No real surprise to me to find out some years later he had died of heart failure at the age of 56.
That said the book is very interesting if you wish to have an insight in big game hunting in Africa in the late 1960s and early 1970s. At that time big game hunting with paying clients was still a big industry. It started to collapse later in the 1970s when various countries stopped hunting altogether. No doubt many readers will think that a long over due move however the simple fact is that when regulated hunting stopped, poaching went out of control and huge amounts of cash from hunting fees were lost for conservation.
Professional hunters provided a substantial deterrent to poaching because they rented hunting blocks and patrolled them regularly. It was always in their interests to maintain the game populations and the huge license fees mostly also went into conservation. The big declines in animal populations can all be traced to the late 1970s when hunting safaris largely stopped.
All that said the reality is that big game hunting in Africa is a relic of another time now long gone. As an introduction to this "sport" this book is valuable although the writer is rather too "macho" in his stories, indeed some are just a bit far fetched, killing a man eating lion with a spear while it chewed on his gun bearers arm is a bit much to swallow !!!!!! Nevertheless, a well written book if you are interested in African big game hunting.
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