daverichey August 26th, 2009

African Experience: A Guide To Modern Safaris by Craig Boddington.

Published by Safari Press Inc., 15621 Chemical Lane, Building B, Huntington Beach, CA 92649-1506. 
e-Mail at < info@safaripress.com >.
Phone (714) 894-9080.
$39.95 only from the publisher.
Safari Press books are not sold through bookstores, and are available only from the publisher.

Craig Boddington’s name has been indelibly linked with Africa, and writing about African big-game hunting, for many years. He has become North America’s most well-known expert on hunting wild game on the Dark Continent, and he has many safaris under his belt and the experiences needed to write well on this topic.

This is just one of many books Boddington has written about hunting in Africa, and it’s possible that African Experience may be one of his finest  works. No other continent has as many varieties of big game and such diversified terrain as Africa.

It also could be said that no other continent has undergone as much change and upheaval as African over the past 50 years. Here, Boddington takes us through the safari industry as it emerged after World War II, suffered through a decline in the 1970s, and came back into glory over the past two to three decades.

African Experience takes the reader through this renaissance to become the vibrant and vital industry it is today. Read about the day when Kenya offered glorious hunting to the reopening of Chad. It covers all big-game animals, including the Big Five and the much smaller plains game.

It offers detailed information on game such as the antelope, bongo, buffalo, bushbuck, duiker, eland, elephant, greater and lesser kudu, ibex,  leopard, lion, mountain nyala, nyala, oryx, rhino, roan antelope, sable, sitatunga, waterbuck, zebra and many others.

This 302 page, color photo illustrated book is filled with valuable information that can show a prospective hunter how to plan a trip, how to stretch your money wisely, how to plan a successful hunt, what to do and what not to do. There even is a chapter that discusses  “safari manners.”

This title should become the indispensable go-to book, and it presents a great  history of the Africa safari as well as thrilling author anecdotes about hunts. Boddington has spent most of his adult life traveling through Africa, and hunting large and small game with a variety of well-known outfitters and professional hunters.

My advice for anyone contemplating a hunting trip to Africa is to buy this book, and read it thoroughly. Lay it aside for a week or two, read and study it again, and begin planning your hunt of a lifetime. It is as essential to a successful African hunt as a straight-shooting firearm.

Posted via email from Dave Richey Outdoors

Tags: africa, African, Boddington, Book Reviews, dave richey, experience, guide, hunt, hunting, Michigan, outdoors, safari

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daverichey November 30th, 2008

TITLE: Horned Death

AUTHOR: John Burger

PUBLISHER: Safari Press
DISTRIBUTOR: Safari Press, 15621 Chemical Lane, Building B, Huntington Beach, CA 92649-1506

CONTACT: Safari Press, 15621 Chemical Lane, Building B, Huntington Beach, CA 92649-1506

WEBSITE: Safari Press (contact or detailed information on this or and other Safari Press books)
eMAIL: info@safaripress.com
PHONE: 1 (714) 894-9080
ISBN #
COST $35 + S/H These books are not sold through other stores but must be order directly from the publisher.

The name John Burger has always been linked with the African buffalo because the author shot more than 1,000 of these animals during his many years in Africa, and he had more experience with these cantankerous critters than any man who ever hunted them.

The Cape buffalo has a nasty disposition, and it doesn’t take much to tip them over the ragged edge and into a rage. They tend to take their anger out on the closest thing, and if it is a hunter the buff sees, he plans to ambush you or charge from a distance. In any case, if the buffalo catches the hunter, the animal will hook the victim, bounce it into the ground, throw the person into the air, and otherwise rearrange that poor soul’s anatomy in such a way that few attack victim can survive.

Burger, after all the buffalo he had shot, considered this animal one of the most dangerous animals on earth. This book has everything needed to make it a fun but frightening read.

Burger seemed to have a wonderful sense of humor, and in one chapter describes how he and a friend lassoed a Cape buffalo although both men were injured in the fracas. In another account he described spending some time with a murderer and robber, who was eventually hauled off to jail.

This isn’t all about hunting Cape buffalo. It also deals with elephants and other game, but make no mistake about it: after reading Horned Death, and how dangerous this animal can be, a person will develop a new brand of respect for them.

Twenty-eight chapters, and 348 pages with numerous black-and-white photos, and Burger covers hunting this animal in grand fashion. His respect for the dangers of guiding hunters on a Cape buffalo hunt shows through.

The dust jacket cover, with its bold and haunting cover, sets the stage for what is inside. The cover features a red-eyed buffalo, and if that doesn’t grab you attention about this animal, nothing short of a buffalo attack will do the trick.

This is a book for the hardcore African hunter, a person who is willing to stand his ground, aim for the brain and hope the bull dies farther away than one buff the author shot. It died five steps away from him.

This is a book as pertinent to current buffalo hunters and hunting as it was after the turn of the 20th Century when Burger began killing Cape buffalo to feed the natives working to build railroad tracks across much of the African continent. Hunters may never experience all of the scenes that Burger describes, but if they experience just one charge during a hunt, they will be happy to have read this book before heading for Africa.

It is a very good read, and this is a legendary hunting title.

Tags: "big game", africa, cape buffalo, dave richey, horned death, hunt, hunter, hunting, john burger

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daverichey April 9th, 2008

TITLE: 21 Days In Africa: A Hunter’s Safari Journal
AUTHOR: Daniel J. Donarski, Jr.
PUBLISHER: Stackpole Books

CONTACT:

Stackpole Books
5067 Ritter Road
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055

WEBSITE: Stackpole Books
COST: $29.95 +P/H; Hardcover, dust jacket, 220 pages with index, and beautiful color photos throughout
ISBN Number: 978-08117-o288-1

The author, a native of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, is an active and prolific outdoor writer, and this book is a real-life adventure story that covers Donarski’s experiences while hunting wild African game during a 21-day safari/. The awe of the so-called Dark Continent is evident in each chapter.

There is much more to this book than killing game animals, although it is a hunting book. The author, on his first African hunt, kept meticulous notes. This title is filled almost to overflowing with helpful suggestions about planning a similar hunting trip. He offers tips on bullet and rifle preferences, travel insurance, clothing, and much needed details on pre-safari preparations including physical fitness and how to fill out the numerous forms required for taking firearms and other gear into Africa.

Donarski discusses the fatigue of travel from home, and reveals the fact that unlike other writers who get complimentary hunting trips, he paid full price for his hunt, air travel, hotel rooms, hunting licenses and meals. He compares his experience with those of Robert Ruark, who spent his own money on safaris. Ruark, for those who don’t know, authored Horn Of The Hunter and Use Enough Gun, two very famous African hunting titles by this famous author.

Donarski writes of hunting springbok, oryx, bushbuck, eland, impala, nyala, red hartebeest, reedbuck, wildebeest, and some game. His stirring account of taking a kudu after a long and strenuous hunt is a large part of the hunting in this book, and his big kudu is featured prominently inside and on the front panel of the dust jacket.

His three weeks in South Africa was the beginning of this man’s thrilling love affair with Africa. He writes profoundly, and with great passion, and his words thrill the hunter inside of me. I may never go to Africa, but if I do, I shall read Donarski’s words of wisdom again about what to take, what to expect and how to enjoy the experience.

This is, in addition to being a terrific read by a wonderful writer who can make each experience come alive for the reader, intertwines the fabric of Africa into the human flesh and soul of the hunter. There it will rest until a trip to the Dark Continent unlocks its mysteries and someone else falls in love with that massive continent for all the same reasons it has appealed to hunters for more than 150 years.

Tags: , 21-day, africa, darkcontinent, Don Donarsky, journal

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daverichey March 10th, 2008

TITLE: Aagaard’s African Adventures
AUTHOR: AAGAARD, FINN & BERIT
PUBLISHER: Safari Press

CONTACT:

Safari Press
15621 Chemical Lane
Building B
Huntington Beach, CA
92649-1506

WEBSITE: safaripress.com
COST: $70.00 + postage (Safari Press books are sold only by the company, and are not avalable in bookstores)

Finn Aagaard (1932-2000) was one of the exceptional African hunters who possessed an ability to put words down on paper, and arrange them in pleasing fashion that made others want to read their story. Aagaard did quite a bit of magazine writing on hunting African big game as well, and when he wrote, hunters paid attention.

He was a highly respected professional hunter in Kenya from 1967-1977, and went through the Mau Mau uprising made so infamous by Robert Ruark’s “Something of Value” and “Uhuru.” Finn hunted steadily until Kenya halted all hunting, and he moved to the United States where he became a Texas hunting guide.

This book is richly illustrated with photos of Finn on hunts, both he and Berit at home and on safaris, and he loved hunting Cape buffalo and elephant, and leopard and greater Kudu are covered in accurate detail.

One of the finest chapter for the Africa hunter is on cartridges and rifles for African hunting. Unlike many Dark Continent writers, Aagaard discounted the America theory that heavier than normal firearms are needed for African game. He writes that,

“what works on deer, elk, caribou, pronghorn, moose, and bears in America will do equally well under like conditions on similar-size game in Africa.”

This wonderful new book by one of America’s finest firearm writers. It captures its place in the history of hunting African game in wonderful fashion. As always, Safari Press titles are the finest titles in the limited edition field. This book is signed by Berit Aagaard, and it is a numbered copy of 1,000 in a slipcase. It’s a dandy!

Tags: "big game", "Finn Aagaard", "safari press", "scoops books", aagaard, africa, excitement, hunting, kenya, outdoors

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daverichey March 3rd, 2008

TITLE: Tracks Across Africa
AUTHOR: Craig Boddington
PUBLISHER: Safari Press

CONTACT:

Safari Press
15621 Chemical Lane, Building B,
Huntington Beach, CA 92649

PHONE:
(714) 894-9080 [ Toll Free: (800) 451-4799 ]
WebSite: www.safaripress.com
PRICE: $125.00 (Deluxe Edition)

Craig Boddington is one of my favorite writers. I know when I read his books that he has been there, and has done what he writes about. There are no fancy frills to his writing: it is straight-forward, to-the-point, and he speaks from many years of roaming Africa and hunting its wide variety of big game.

This book accounts for his African safaris from 1997 through 2006, and although he travels more than most people could ever hope to, and hunts more than we do on the Dark Continent, this book is well worth the price. It is filled with valuable information for anyone who plans an African hunting trip, and as is true with all Safari Press books, the book and dust jacket is a lovely piece of work.

Boddington, in this his newest book, pulls out all the stops. He hunted the

• C.A.R.
• Chad
• Camer
• Ethiopia
• Kenya
• Mozambique
• Namibia
• South Africa
• Tanzania

This book has 325 quality glossy pages, and it is filled with superb color photographs that include many hunting scenes and many of the game animals taken during these hunts.

This widely acclaimed author-photographer takes a variety of game including

This is a book to get lost in. Few of us can ever hope to take as many African safaris as Boddington, but to spend time with this or any other of his books, is to capture the spirit of Africa and gain greater insights into African game animals, and the cartridges and rifles used to successfully hunt these animals.

I’ve known Boddington for many years, and have a deep respect for his 31 years in the U.S. Marine Corps and his great attention to detail in his writing and photography. This is one of his finest books, and I heartily endorse it.

Tags: "craig boddington", "deluxe edition", "safari press", "scoops books", africa, cartridges, hunting, photography, rifles, safari, tracks

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