What do you think?
Rate this book
Hal & Roger Hunt Adventures #8
Safari Adventure
The entire population of Tsavo, Africa's largest game reserve , is threatened by big-game poachers. Hal and Roger capture the poachers using 'dope darts' - but find it reather more difficult to track down their leader, the mysterious Blackbeard.
189 pages, Paperback
First published May 20, 1966
8 people are currently reading
171 people want to read
About the author
Willard Price
142 books77 followersWillard DeMille Price was born in Peterborough, Ontario, and moved to the US when he was four. He got his MA and Litt.D from Columbia. He held a special interest for natural history, ethnology and exploration and made numerous expeditions for the American Museum of Natural History and the National Geographic Society. Price also went on to edit various magazines on travel and world affairs and spent six years working in Japan as foreign correspondent for New York and London newspapers. He travelled in seventy-seven countries before his death in 1983.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
August 3, 2020
- Safari Adventure was published in 1966 by the American author Willard Price. it follows the big problem of poachers who are killing off the wildlife in Tsavo Game reserve. Hal and Roger help capture many of the poachers and try to bring back wildlife.
- What I liked
- The book was a great story, and it taught a lot of poaching and its effects. There were many statistics about the wildlife being killed by poachers, and if those statistics were true in 1966, I'm surprised there are any animals left in parts of Africa at all. I really liked the plot twist at the end!
- What I disliked
- As another review put it: *"There is a strong colonial flavour"*, and I definitely felt this while reading. There was one point where the boys said about how it is important that part of African country's government is controlled by Britain so that the wildlife can be kept safe, because we can't trust African's to do that. This is obviously because it was published in 1966, so it is what to expect, and if you ignore those parts then it is still a good story.
- I often felt that I was being bombarded with statistics about animal deaths, and gruesome descriptions about how they painfully die. This is important to read, but I felt it occasionally interrupted the story.
- I would recommend this book to people who like adventure, and people interested in animal welfare and stopping poaching.
- What I liked
- The book was a great story, and it taught a lot of poaching and its effects. There were many statistics about the wildlife being killed by poachers, and if those statistics were true in 1966, I'm surprised there are any animals left in parts of Africa at all. I really liked the plot twist at the end!
- What I disliked
- As another review put it: *"There is a strong colonial flavour"*, and I definitely felt this while reading. There was one point where the boys said about how it is important that part of African country's government is controlled by Britain so that the wildlife can be kept safe, because we can't trust African's to do that. This is obviously because it was published in 1966, so it is what to expect, and if you ignore those parts then it is still a good story.
- I often felt that I was being bombarded with statistics about animal deaths, and gruesome descriptions about how they painfully die. This is important to read, but I felt it occasionally interrupted the story.
- I would recommend this book to people who like adventure, and people interested in animal welfare and stopping poaching.
January 17, 2021
Around age 13, I read the entire adventure series by Willard Price. Hal aged 19, and Roger, aged 13, went around the world having adventures that usually involved animals. While it is a simple formula, all the books were very entertaining, and I enjoyed the series. I would classify it as my favorite young adult series.
Safari Adventure was the best of the lot. It contained several powerful characters and two-faced villains. Also, the characters respected nature and wanted to show others how to enjoy it. But for me, this book provided much more. Hal and Roger inspired me to think up a character and created adventures for him. I can trace all my writings back to this book and Willard’s amazing characters.
I recommend the entire adventure series to any young adult. Today there is too much focus on being safe and not pushing boundaries. Safari Adventure is a gateway to a vivid imagination.
Safari Adventure was the best of the lot. It contained several powerful characters and two-faced villains. Also, the characters respected nature and wanted to show others how to enjoy it. But for me, this book provided much more. Hal and Roger inspired me to think up a character and created adventures for him. I can trace all my writings back to this book and Willard’s amazing characters.
I recommend the entire adventure series to any young adult. Today there is too much focus on being safe and not pushing boundaries. Safari Adventure is a gateway to a vivid imagination.
August 28, 2023
willard price went crazy with this one. what a banger
July 22, 2020
Although the Hunts main business is capturing animals, throughout the series it has been when they have veered away from this endeavour that I’ve found the books to be slightly more interesting. I suspect that this is because the novels where they are chasing animals for their collections do get a little repetitive in that this is all they do and there’s little room for anything else, but when they also have other tasks to concentrate on, the scope and style of the novel varies and it becomes more interesting.
Whilst I didn’t much enjoy the ending to “Elephant Adventure”, it is this which forms the starting point for “Safari Adventure”, as what occurred brough Hal and Roger Hunt to the attention of Mark Crosby, who is the Game Warden at Tsavo National Park in Kenya. The park is having serious issues with poachers killing large numbers of supposedly protected animals, but they don’t have enough men to catch them. Crosby calls on the Hunt brothers and the thirty men in their party to come and help him catch the poachers and their leader, Blackbeard.
The novel runs on these two streams, with the poachers being one thing, but the hunt for Blackbeard and their suspicions about a local judge, Sindar Singh, who is a very close friend of the warden’s, but acts in a way that doesn’t ring true for the Hunts. The combination of this, plus the addition of a couple of side trips means that the action in the novel keeps moving and, thanks to Price’s simple writing style the pages keep turning quickly. This comes as something of a welcome relief, as with the subject of the novel focussing on the injuries caused to the animals in the traps and the parts of them which are taken and what they are used for, it’s occasionally a stomach turning read, as price rarely focusses on animals been killed and even less so on them being maimed, as that isn’t what the series is about.
The character building is a little better in this novel than it is elsewhere, too. Warden Crosby is similar to Dr. Blake in “Underwater Adventure” and Dr. Dan in “Volcano Adventure”, in acting as an external, but expert voice, as well as someone with enthusiasm for the subject. The Hunt’s companions are little more than background characters, which is normal, as are the poachers and even their leader, Blackbeard, but Judge Singh is written as a mystery, which is a nice touch. Perhaps disappointingly is that there is no real sense of threat to any of the characters we’ve come to know, even when facing down the poachers, which takes some of the suspense away from the story.
You can tell from the darker turn and the subject matter that this novel is clearly something of a personal crusade for Willard Price, to highlight the horrific nature of poaching. As a natural history and animal lover, he is clearly against poaching and isn’t keen on the Masai using the areas where native animals live to graze cows and the effect it has on the grasslands. Crosby largely acts as Price’s voice in this, with his character being the one who imparts the information to the boys about methods of poaching and the profits that can be gained by it, although I don’t doubt that a Game Warden in such an area would feel the same way about things.
Unfortunately, the racist and colonial viewpoint which has been included in the few previous novels set in Africa is present here as well. It’s not quite as blatant as it was in those novels, but constant references to the colour of skin and a conversation between two white, apparently English, game wardens about having their jobs replaced by Africans was quite uncomfortable to read, as well as having no obvious purpose towards the plot of the novel and it seemed to be making a point which didn’t need to be made.
This is a particular shame, as this novel is otherwise one of my favourites in the series. Although the subject matter does mean it’s a little less comfortable to read than some of the others, even without the racist overtones, it has a wider ranging feel and the focus on criminality rather than just capturing animals for zoos gives it a different tone and welcomes the reader in a little more, as this is something that is still something of an issue all these years later. The lack of suspense and too many extraneous characters prevents this from being the perfect novel, but it’s certainly one that delves deeper into the subject at hand than many others, which makes it one of the best in the series.
Whilst I didn’t much enjoy the ending to “Elephant Adventure”, it is this which forms the starting point for “Safari Adventure”, as what occurred brough Hal and Roger Hunt to the attention of Mark Crosby, who is the Game Warden at Tsavo National Park in Kenya. The park is having serious issues with poachers killing large numbers of supposedly protected animals, but they don’t have enough men to catch them. Crosby calls on the Hunt brothers and the thirty men in their party to come and help him catch the poachers and their leader, Blackbeard.
The novel runs on these two streams, with the poachers being one thing, but the hunt for Blackbeard and their suspicions about a local judge, Sindar Singh, who is a very close friend of the warden’s, but acts in a way that doesn’t ring true for the Hunts. The combination of this, plus the addition of a couple of side trips means that the action in the novel keeps moving and, thanks to Price’s simple writing style the pages keep turning quickly. This comes as something of a welcome relief, as with the subject of the novel focussing on the injuries caused to the animals in the traps and the parts of them which are taken and what they are used for, it’s occasionally a stomach turning read, as price rarely focusses on animals been killed and even less so on them being maimed, as that isn’t what the series is about.
The character building is a little better in this novel than it is elsewhere, too. Warden Crosby is similar to Dr. Blake in “Underwater Adventure” and Dr. Dan in “Volcano Adventure”, in acting as an external, but expert voice, as well as someone with enthusiasm for the subject. The Hunt’s companions are little more than background characters, which is normal, as are the poachers and even their leader, Blackbeard, but Judge Singh is written as a mystery, which is a nice touch. Perhaps disappointingly is that there is no real sense of threat to any of the characters we’ve come to know, even when facing down the poachers, which takes some of the suspense away from the story.
You can tell from the darker turn and the subject matter that this novel is clearly something of a personal crusade for Willard Price, to highlight the horrific nature of poaching. As a natural history and animal lover, he is clearly against poaching and isn’t keen on the Masai using the areas where native animals live to graze cows and the effect it has on the grasslands. Crosby largely acts as Price’s voice in this, with his character being the one who imparts the information to the boys about methods of poaching and the profits that can be gained by it, although I don’t doubt that a Game Warden in such an area would feel the same way about things.
Unfortunately, the racist and colonial viewpoint which has been included in the few previous novels set in Africa is present here as well. It’s not quite as blatant as it was in those novels, but constant references to the colour of skin and a conversation between two white, apparently English, game wardens about having their jobs replaced by Africans was quite uncomfortable to read, as well as having no obvious purpose towards the plot of the novel and it seemed to be making a point which didn’t need to be made.
This is a particular shame, as this novel is otherwise one of my favourites in the series. Although the subject matter does mean it’s a little less comfortable to read than some of the others, even without the racist overtones, it has a wider ranging feel and the focus on criminality rather than just capturing animals for zoos gives it a different tone and welcomes the reader in a little more, as this is something that is still something of an issue all these years later. The lack of suspense and too many extraneous characters prevents this from being the perfect novel, but it’s certainly one that delves deeper into the subject at hand than many others, which makes it one of the best in the series.
January 4, 2025
A thrilling book with a brutally realistic grim tone. Eradicating wildlife poaching was a personal crusade for Willard Price as he exposed the atrocities committed against the animals of Africa with morbid descriptions.
No fun and games in this book ! It's about capturing the brutal and mysterious king poacher of Tsavo , 'Blackbeard' who gave his namesake pirate a run for his money with his greed and cruelty. Hal and Roger devise ingenious plans to capture him along with their loyal native Safari crew.
The story is fast paced with rich descriptions of the flora and fauna. The characters as always in Price books are few but are interesting particularly the sweet and slimy Judge Sindar Singh, who could easily walk into a Shakespeareian play.
Hal is steady and dynamic as usual while Roger rises to the occasion by taming a cheetah and being a better 'judge' of men than his brother.
Warden Crosby who hires the Hunts to end poaching in Tsavo is a fine character. Unfortunately, several readers have ridiculously argued that Price propagated colonial stereotypes of Africans through Crosby. This is an unfair accusation. Crosby as he told the Hunts in the book, not only wanted to save Tsavo's wildlife but Kenya's economy which then newly independent was dependent on rich tourists. As a man who dedicated his life to protecting Kenya's wildlife without the hope of reward, the allegations of him being racist is absurd.
Another point that readers brought up is Crosby's attitude towards the Massaii's cattle grazing of which he disapproves . It is a well known scientific fact that overgrazing leads to ecosystem damage across the world .
It is disappointing that readers make silly accusations against the author without understanding the whole story. Price uses young African characters in this book too who're committed to protecting their wildlife.
Price' grueseome descriptions of an entire herd of elephants being burnt alive to the Hunts witnessing millions of animals slaughtered for trophies is moving.
Safari Adventure ends in style with a dramatic twist.
I enjoyed reading this book and it should be available in every library so young readers can realise the alarming magnitude and awful effects of poaching.
No fun and games in this book ! It's about capturing the brutal and mysterious king poacher of Tsavo , 'Blackbeard' who gave his namesake pirate a run for his money with his greed and cruelty. Hal and Roger devise ingenious plans to capture him along with their loyal native Safari crew.
The story is fast paced with rich descriptions of the flora and fauna. The characters as always in Price books are few but are interesting particularly the sweet and slimy Judge Sindar Singh, who could easily walk into a Shakespeareian play.
Hal is steady and dynamic as usual while Roger rises to the occasion by taming a cheetah and being a better 'judge' of men than his brother.
Warden Crosby who hires the Hunts to end poaching in Tsavo is a fine character. Unfortunately, several readers have ridiculously argued that Price propagated colonial stereotypes of Africans through Crosby. This is an unfair accusation. Crosby as he told the Hunts in the book, not only wanted to save Tsavo's wildlife but Kenya's economy which then newly independent was dependent on rich tourists. As a man who dedicated his life to protecting Kenya's wildlife without the hope of reward, the allegations of him being racist is absurd.
Another point that readers brought up is Crosby's attitude towards the Massaii's cattle grazing of which he disapproves . It is a well known scientific fact that overgrazing leads to ecosystem damage across the world .
It is disappointing that readers make silly accusations against the author without understanding the whole story. Price uses young African characters in this book too who're committed to protecting their wildlife.
Price' grueseome descriptions of an entire herd of elephants being burnt alive to the Hunts witnessing millions of animals slaughtered for trophies is moving.
Safari Adventure ends in style with a dramatic twist.
I enjoyed reading this book and it should be available in every library so young readers can realise the alarming magnitude and awful effects of poaching.
May 20, 2023
One of a series I read as a child. Now has some problems regarding race, colonialism and attitudes to wildlife, but still “fair for its day” in terms of environmentalism and conservation. This one has a story and mystery which is pretty obvious, but in making poachers the villains it sets out its stall clearly in terms of conservation.
July 26, 2025
I've read this book 35 years ago and now again. it is what it is ... a teenage adventure written in the late 1960's. Over the top and adventure packed. I came to realize only today how this booked help to shape my own adventurelust and love for the wilder side of Africa. This was a wonderful revisit.
December 22, 2025
This book, written by Willard Price, is part of his Adventure Series. It includes poachers, pirates, and a judge who is not who he appears to be. Animals need to be rescued and sympathetic readers will hope and cheer for teenagers Hal and Roger Hunt as they try to help the game warden in the Tsavo Game Reserve in Africa.
April 13, 2020
A great adventure novel and one of the best of the series. The Hunts live up to their name in breaking up illegal poaching gangs, once again dodging those who want to do them harm.
October 8, 2020
Even over 50 years on, the anti-poaching message is still relevant. The sheer love and wonder of animals shines through in this book.
February 22, 2022
Good nostalgia read :)
March 27, 2019
Action, adventure, survival, environment, conservation...
I loved these books when I was a kid. At the time, they seemed to border on sci-fi regarding the at-the-time-amazing technology the boys used.
Of course, looking back you can see how these stories are flawed, but I still think they are enjoyable. In fact, it would make for a really interesting middle school science project for children to read one of these books and then compare them with the knowledge of the world and technology we have today.
I loved these books when I was a kid. At the time, they seemed to border on sci-fi regarding the at-the-time-amazing technology the boys used.
Of course, looking back you can see how these stories are flawed, but I still think they are enjoyable. In fact, it would make for a really interesting middle school science project for children to read one of these books and then compare them with the knowledge of the world and technology we have today.
January 6, 2021
Hal and Roger Hunt take a break from collecting animals to help warden Mark Crosby wage war against poachers at the Tsavo National Park. If Willard Price was intending to shock his readers with the mind-boggling statistics on annual animal slaughter, he certainly succeeded. I wasn't sure how accurate his calculations were, but if the kind of wholesale poaching he describes was going on in the 60s, it seems impossible that anything would still be alive today. There have been many conservation efforts since, but I suspect much of his data are exaggerated. Readers are bombarded with unpleasant descriptions of the many traps used to torture and kill animals, along with what all their body parts are used for. It's depressing to think that fifty years later, the sordid business continues and is bigger than ever. When the book was written, rhinos were still a common sight in East Africa; now they are very difficult to find.
The story in this installment is not as good as previous books. In addition to the sombre mood, there is a weak antagonist leading the illegal poaching operation who they nickname 'Blackbeard'. There are also some dodgy, suspension of disbelief moments such as Roger taming a wild cheetah by speaking in a gentle manner, and both boys miraculously surviving a plane crash unscathed. Zulu, the pet safari Alsatian, undergoes a sex change from female to male. It seems like a glaring error to make considering that a previous plot point hinged on her being able to nurse leopard cubs. The war against the poachers is resolved hurriedly by the criminals being caught hiding in hollow baobab trees and simply giving up without a fight. In Scooby Doo fashion, Blackbeard is de-bearded by the cheetah and his identity revealed. Not the best book in the series by any stretch.
The story in this installment is not as good as previous books. In addition to the sombre mood, there is a weak antagonist leading the illegal poaching operation who they nickname 'Blackbeard'. There are also some dodgy, suspension of disbelief moments such as Roger taming a wild cheetah by speaking in a gentle manner, and both boys miraculously surviving a plane crash unscathed. Zulu, the pet safari Alsatian, undergoes a sex change from female to male. It seems like a glaring error to make considering that a previous plot point hinged on her being able to nurse leopard cubs. The war against the poachers is resolved hurriedly by the criminals being caught hiding in hollow baobab trees and simply giving up without a fight. In Scooby Doo fashion, Blackbeard is de-bearded by the cheetah and his identity revealed. Not the best book in the series by any stretch.
August 18, 2014
A fast-paced uncomplicated adventure. Already on page three there is a description of being eaten alive by hyenas and on page 14 the pilot is rendered unconscious by a poisoned arrow, so this book is great for keeping reluctant or young readers hooked, indeed the cover says that these are the books that got Anthony Horowitz reading.
This one of 14 Willard Price adventures was first published in 1966 though and it is a bit dated. There is a strong colonial flavour, but there is still plenty to enjoy if that can be skimmed over - it is packed with interesting snippets about wild animals, and wild Africa as it was decades ago.
This one of 14 Willard Price adventures was first published in 1966 though and it is a bit dated. There is a strong colonial flavour, but there is still plenty to enjoy if that can be skimmed over - it is packed with interesting snippets about wild animals, and wild Africa as it was decades ago.
December 2, 2020
Another straightforward adventure with Hal and Roger who now seek to thwart the notorious Blackbeard, a ruthless poacher and is definitely not the ranger’s kindly friend who tried to kill him several times. Apart from the obvious baddy who nobody could identify until the Scooby Doo reveal at the end, the story flowed quite nicely as we saw another piece of Africa. The scale of the poaching is truly terrifying.
June 6, 2024
I thought that this book was an average adventure from Roger and Hal Hunt. This book has a very easy mysterie to solve with the judge being Blackbeard. You could easily figure this out since the judge was trying to kill them and he was letting the poachers go from court without a major punishment. But apart that I thought this book was pretty good and I would definitely read it again. I highly recommend this book for people who like adventure and animals and don’t mind some animals being dead.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 12, 2012
2 boys flying to the vast plains of africa to stop the gang of poachers lead by
the ill tempered man blackbeard.Willard Price knows how to write the books
i liked the thrill and adventure in this book and i would recommend people to
read his book .In my opinion i liked arctic adventure better but this is a 5
star book
the ill tempered man blackbeard.Willard Price knows how to write the books
i liked the thrill and adventure in this book and i would recommend people to
read his book .In my opinion i liked arctic adventure better but this is a 5
star book
May 10, 2009
This is an enjoyable tale about the Hunts battling poachers in Tsavo National Park. The 'mystery' of Blackbird is ill-disguised, but fun nevertheless. Themes of interest include the retreat of British colonialism and early concern for conservation.
October 21, 2010
Fabulous. It is a great story about survival in Africa.
March 31, 2011
Pulling more of these (my fave series at WK) in on ILL. Love them. As the Denver Post reviewed when it came out in 1966: A cut above the average boys' serial. True.
April 6, 2012
this is a great book one of my favourites
September 8, 2012
I loved for these books when I was about 11 and learned A LOT about animals and geography from them
September 9, 2017
One of his best.
September 27, 2016
I remember loving this as a little girl.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews