African Hunter (Peter Capstick's Library)

by Bror von Blixen-Finecke, F.H. Lyon (Translator)

The author, former husband of the novelist Isak Dinesen, describes his years in Africa as a professional big-game hunter

Genres: Nonfiction, History

292 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

Reviews

[smokeandsong · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blix wasn't a particularly gifted writer, but this book is 300 pages worth of various ways he almost died. And according to Beryl Markham: "The book to those who knew him is a monument of understatement. In it he has made molehills out of all the mountains he has climbed, and passed off as incidents true stories that a less modest man might enlarge to bloodcurdling sagas."

This excerpt sums it up, I think:

The situation was undeniably difficult. It would have been suicide to creep right up to the lion among the thick thorn bushes, but, on the other hand, a wounded animal cannot be left to its fate.
Then I proposed to Neil that he should climb up into the tall tree on the far side of the lion’s place of refuge and see if he could get a sight of the lion from it. Like the Boer he was, he went up without hesitation, but he had not got half-way to the top before the lion was after him. There were a few rather nasty seconds. The beast’s claws were not six inches beneath his feet when I fired my first shot. The bullet hit the lion in the breast, but did not kill him. Then he turned on me like a madly sputtering giant rocket. The bullet from my second barrel entered his mouth at a distance of five feet, and he rolled over dead at my feet.
“Well, my dear Cooper,” I said, “what about your bow and arrows now?”
“Hm!” Cooper replied, as he wiped the sweat from his forehead, “I think the bow and arrows had better stay where they are. It’s good enough fun with a rifle. And quite sporting enough.”

[Krista · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bror Von Blixen-Finecke was larger than life, charming, and had adventures that can only be dreamed of in this day and age. I believe this is the only book about his hunting exploits, and it is his accounting of these adventures. Other books were written by other people about his social exploits.
Very enjoyable and entertaining.

[Samantha Baughman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unintentionally, African Hunter gives the reader a view into the mind of a rich game-hunter in the late 1800s to early 1900s whom had a poor view of African people. He used African people to aid him in his trips, however the language he used to describe them is quite offensive. With that said, I do appreciate the look into history and the book is full of adventures and excitement.

[Craig Schlossin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Among the very best.

[Troy Stirman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional!!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bror Blixen was an accomplished and well known professional hunter whose clients included the future King Edward VIII, Earnest Hemingway, and others. One could think of this as a kind of companion to Karen Blixen's Out of Africa. Though she was clearly the better writer and storyteller, her former husband's account is well written and worth reading and provides a good account of what safari was like in then colonial Africa. One should note that the book is written at a time when certain ideas about Africa and Africans and how they should be regarded and treated were sadly commonplace amongst much of the white western world. Yet this is part of why the book is worth reading as it reveals how things were "back then" both from a social/cultural as well as a hunting standpoint.

[Larry Cagle · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my review of "West With the Night".