Hunting

On Safari in East and Southern Africa

Aubrey Wynne-Jones (Macmillan South Africa Ltd., 1980, 180 pages)

Reviewed by Ken Bailey

Like many others, early on I read the books of Capstick, Ruark and Hunter, dreaming of the day I could live out my own African hunting adventure. As that dream neared reality, I went looking for books that were less adventure-oriented and more instructive. It was 1986, and where I lived, in Edmonton, Alberta, with no internet and few resources available, I stumbled across this title and had my local bookstore bring in a copy. The price tag is still on it, $41.95, a princely sum for a book in those days. But Wynne-Jones’ book provided me with useful advice as I planned my safari, and much of it still holds up today.

The first section provides a ton of practical information; some is targeted to the visiting hunter, while other sections pertain more to the DIY hunter. The latter includes recommendations for camp gear, set-up and location, food and beverage suggestions, tracking tips, and advice on emergency and game extraction equipment to carry in your vehicle. Of course, these activities are largely handled by PHs and their teams for the vast majority of us today; DIY is restricted to local residents as far as I know.

The book’s section on rifle, cartridge and optics recommendations for the various species has been duplicated and bested in any number of books dedicated to these topics, before and since. Some of what’s here, particularly the optics section, is outdated, and several of today’s popular cartridges hadn’t been developed when this book was written. Still, the suggestions provided are meaningful and will resonate with many hunters, especially those who still prefer a .270 Win. to one of the many new 6.5s or .277s on the market.

There’s a short section on bullet placement that focusses on the big five, a brief chapter on bird hunting, and a detailed listing of Rowland Ward’s minimum trophy standards for nearly every imaginable species of game, along with detailed instructions, complete with accurate sketches, as to how each species is to be measured. As an Appendix to the book, there’s also detailed instructions and minimum scores for the SCI scoring method—my book is the 2^nd edition, printed in 1982; I’m not certain if the first edition includes the SCI information or whether it was added as an Appendix in subsequent printings only.

The largest section of this book dedicates a couple pages or more to every popular, and some not so popular, game species. Each is broken down into subsections—species identification (including height, weight, color, horn description, etc.), preferred habitat and basic behaviour, the regions where the best trophies have been taken (including maps), and a short section revealing some basic hunting tips. Each species page is also beautifully illustrated by South African artist André de Villiers. Interestingly, this section in my copy of the book still has my pencil notations on several pages, remnants from me attempting to narrow down my “want and can afford” list as I planned my first safari.

It’s fair to say that there have been several books published that offer advice for planning your safari that are more complete or more up-to-date than this one, including significantly greater information on the landscapes, hunting conditions and game animals you can expect to encounter—Mellon’s African Hunter and African Hunter II edited by Boddington and Flack immediately come to mind. Still, Wynne-Jones’ Hunting—On Safari in East and Southern Africa is an eminently readable book that is well-thought out and contains an immense amount of information that’s as accurate and useful today as it was when it was written.

Rhino War

Major General (Ret.) Johan Jooste with Tony Park (Ingwe Publishing, 2022, 268 pages)

Reviewed by Ken Bailey

Rhino War is a fascinating read describing the staggering level and sheer brutality of rhino poaching in South Africa’s Kruger National Park, and one man’s Herculean efforts to stem the losses.

In 2012, Johan Jooste, a retired South African general, was hired to lead Kruger’s anti-poaching efforts. He was selected for this role in large measure because of his military experiences, as South African National Parks (SANP), desperate to reduce the overwhelming rhino losses, wanted to introduce a paramilitary-like approach to combatting poaching. Jooste describes in great detail the unanticipated challenges he faced, from opposition within some ranks of the SANP system and a reluctance to change by many of the park rangers, to chronic underfunding, and a largely unsympathetic government in Mozambique, from where the vast majority of poachers originated.

Co-written by Tony Park, an established Australian writer of thriller novels and non-fiction biographies, the crisp and clean writing style encourages the reader to continue turning the page – there’s no fluff here.

Jooste quickly discovers that protecting Kruger’s rhinos isn’t merely a local operational issue, it’s heavily influenced by national and international politics, and success requires that he become a rhino ambassador, mingling with government officials, royalty, the media and wealthy patrons as he strives to garner the support and funding required to fulfill his vision and, ultimately, save the last great rhino herd on earth.

Jooste is clearly a man of many talents. Not only does he prove to be effective in recruiting support at the highest levels, he also shows himself to be a capable boots-on-the-ground leader, describing in fascinating detail many of the thrilling and dangerous anti-poaching operations he took part in, side by side with the unheralded rangers who risked their lives on a daily basis. And make no mistake, as Rhino War teaches us, anti-poaching is, often times, literally a kill or be killed exercise, reflective of the huge money in the rhino horn trade coupled with far too many poor and desperate people willing to do anything to feed their families.

Overcoming myriad hurdles along the way, after several years Jooste is not only able to put the brakes on what had been a growing problem, but with the help of technology, generous private funding, a revitalized and recognized ranger team, and the true grit of a military man unwilling to fail, he ultimately succeeds in reversing the tide.

Rhino War will interest anybody with a passion for Africa’s great wildlife. It provides an insider’s look at the insidious challenges of poaching, how vast an impact poaching can have on both a local and regional scale, and how significant the personal and financial resource requirements are to conserve our threatened wildlife for future generations.

Wato

Brian Watson ( 2019, 321 pages)

Reviewed by Ken Bailey

Brian Watson’s Wato is purely and simply an enjoyable read. I suspect that’s in part because he’s one of us. Like many of us he took a fancy to guns, shooting and hunting as a child, and he grew up in Australia reading about hunting in Africa and dreaming that one day he, too, could make the pilgrimage. He’s been a working man his whole adult life and had to save his shekels to make those dreams a reality—again, just like most of us.

Throughout the book, Wato, as he’s affectionately called by his friends and associates, demonstrates remarkable recall of his many safaris to Africa, in addition to a handful of hunts in other parts of the world. Each chapter describes an individual safari experience or a specific animal he has hunted. Over time he’s taken most of the key species in southern Africa, including the big five, though elephant hunting is clearly his passion and is the subject of several of the chapters. He’s also a bit of a gun nut, and if you enjoy reading about firearms, Wato won’t leave you disappointed. He even serves up a little meat for the wingshooting and angling fraternities.

What I really found compelling is that Watson has landed on just the right amount of detail in describing his various adventures. That’s a fine line to walk—too much detail and a reader gets bored before the climactic scene; too little and the stage isn’t set properly, we can’t imagine we’re walking side by side with him. Wato tiptoes along that line perfectly.

Watson is clearly a naturalist and conservationist at heart, and his appreciation for wild places and the flora and fauna they support, shines through; it’s evident throughout the book that it’s all about the experience for Watson, he’s not stepping off the plane with a tape measure in hand.

For those seeking a little eye candy, Wato is illustrated with 15 pages of colour photographs showing many of the people, places and hunts he describes in his stories.

If I have one beef with Wato, it’s that there’s too much passive, rather than active, voice. I find that a little distracting and cumbersome, although it’s not all that unusual in self-published books; a thorough editing would have cleaned that up.

Notwithstanding that little nitpick, I encourage everyone who appreciates contemporary African literature to pick up this book. It’s all very relatable and would be a relaxing and enjoyable way to spend those long air hours on the way to your next safari.

Dangerous Game Quest

Kim Stuart, (Fjermendal Press, 2021, 236 pages)

Reviewed by Ken Bailey

Kim Stuart’s Dangerous Game Quest – A Personal Journey is a compilation of stories describing his odyssey to become the first hunter to take each of the Magnificent Seven African game animals (elephant, rhino, Cape buffalo, lion, leopard, hippopotamus, and crocodile) with each of rifle, handgun, and muzzleloader. That’s 21 dangerous game animals in total, and it took Jim 20 years (1997 to 2016) to accomplish this. The book is written in chronological order, with a chapter describing each hunt along the way.

Of interest to me was that Stuart wasn’t focused on “trophy” animals, which is to say that he wasn’t hunting horn length, tusk length, or any of the other size standards that drive most African safaris. He saw a tuskless cow elephant or a lioness as being every bit the challenge, equally dangerous, and just as rewarding as hunting for what most consider trophy animals. His primary objective was to take these animals by fair chase using his weapon of choice. He goes to some length in describing the development of each of the weapons used and how they came into his possession. This is particularly true for the muzzleloaders he used, which were designed and built for this quest by his friend, Jim Gefroh. In fact, as we learn, Gefroh accompanied Stuart on most of the hunts.

As might be expected when you engage in this number of big game hunts, Stuart experiences many highs and lows along the way, from aggressive animals to missed shots to unscrupulous PHs. It’s refreshing that he isn’t shy about describing the bad along with the good, even when the bad is of his own making.

The easy-to-read text is accompanied by 22 full-color photos showing many of the animals Stuart collected through the years.

Stuart’s quest was an unusual one by almost any standard, particularly given the costs of hunting dangerous game in this day and age. Dangerous Game Quest will appeal to any hunter wanting to read contemporary tales of hunting Africa’s most dangerous game, and in particular to those with an interest in hunting them with a muzzleloader or handgun.