Safari: A Chronicle of Adventure

This well written book documents the evolution of Safaris from the early Boer settlers through the modern camera hunters.

The author, Bartle Bull, wrote a very interesting overview of Safari, both in fact and in legend. Combining the histories of famous professional hunters and adventurers along with the mythological "Great White Hunter" of the silver screen, he brings a very candid and personal account based on his experiences in the bush. Highly recommended if you can find a copy, one of the best I've ever read.

Bartle Bull knows about Africa, having spent many of his formative years there among its beautiful places and with some of Africa's more interesting people. As proof that all of this was not wasted on the author, he has written a marvelously detailed account of the history of the most commonly known of African institutions, the Safari. In Safari a Chronicle of Adventure, Bartle Bull starts with the first travels of Europeans in Southern Africa, on their own and for themselves, and shows how Safaris evolved into a vehicle for Ivory Hunters and explorers and finally into a business of its own. During this history trip we meet many interesting people along the way and find out how their African experiences changed their lives. At times the author takes us on some side trips explaining the lives of travelers, writers,white hunters, even Presidents and movie stars before and after their safaris. In many ways the history of the safari is the history of the European experience in Africa and the book rises to this task by giving us a sideward glance at Africa outside the safari business.The book is also a record of the exploitation of the continent wildlife and how the fortunes of people changed as the game became scarce. In all the work is well crafted with Bartel Bull's usual attention to detail and his flare for adventure that lets all of us travel on safari if only from the comfort of our easy chairs.

I found the book to be an excellent companion on a recent mountain biking holiday in Colorado. It rekindled my desire to visit the "dark continent". I envy the men and women who were able to experience this majestic land prior to its being decimated by over population, mechanized tribal conflict and overzealous preservationists.

This is a very well researched book, chronicling the history of African safari's from the first European safari starting in Cape Town. Packed with fascinating quotes and antecdotes, the book takes the reader on an action-packed safari through the history of Africa. Researching my own book on safari camps, I found this was a book that I continually referred to and was one of two books that proved to be the best of a great many that I read. For anyone who is planning a safari in Africa, I recommend this book -- whether you are traveling in East Africa or Southern Africa, you will find many historical references that will relate to your journey and will enhance your trip.