4 comments about Safari: The Last Adventure.

1. This book provides the reader with virtually everything you need to know and ever wanted to know about going on safari. Everything from what one should expect from the guide and hunting concession, to what the guide and hunting concession expects from you! Lists of taxidermy prices, while it may be somewhat outdated, will give the reader an idea of what to expect. This book doesn't contain an much heart pounding excitment as Capstick's other books, but it is interesting nonetheless. Anyone going on safari or considering it will benenfit from reading this book.



2. Though a little dated, this book is an outstanding primer for your first safari to Africa. There is no better way to prepare than to read Capstick's book unless you have a friend or consultant who has "been there, done that"... This will truly enrich your first experience and prevent you from missing out on some of the richest moments of the trip.



3. I became a hunter later in life, not having a father or other family members to introduce me to the wonderful traditions of hunting. For a few years, I've had an interest in going to Africa, but didn't know what it would be like. My best friend gave me "Death in the Long Grass", also by Capstick. This classic gave me an interest in going to Africa, but also gave me trepidation, as a lot of the book deals with close calls and situations that didn't end well for the participants.
   "Safari: The Last Adventure" has fixed that problem for me. It gives (in addition to some of the stories only Capstick can tell) the nuts and bolts of going on Safari. It describes everything from how to properly take each different kind of game animal, what caliber rifle and what types of rounds to use, down to how many pair of socks you should bring. It is a bit dated (which is the only reason I didn't give it 5 stars), but is still quite useful. I'm looking forward to Africa in the summer of 2007.



4. My FIRST book on African hunting. Purchased and read cover to cover during the summer months of 1987. I vividly remember how this book both set the stage for my desire to hunt dangerous game and educated me on the industry that would certainly be a part of any such plans. For reasons no better caliber than excess money and general restlessness, I was very close to ending my own career as a student and starting another as an African hunter when that 1987 summer ended. This book, which continues to be among my favorites, assisted me in making informed decisions and for that I will always be grateful. The imagination can easily take over when the subject turns to the romantic lure of African Safari hunting but Peter Capstick uses the opening chapters to objectively define the business. The past is outlined and present day safaris are broken down into easily understood terms. A future outlook is also given with as much certainty as possible and time shown that Capstick knew his subject matter on this one. He goes on to discuss the obvious topics such as equipment, people and money along with the not so obvious factors like the use of an agent, language barriers, tipping practices and commonly encountered superstitions. In this title Capstick does what he did best, inform people about Africa. Portions of the book are now outdated but his advise on hunting, rifles, bullets, politics and the safari business will always be a good starting point for sportsmen planning a trip to the African continent. I would recommend this title to everyone and anyone, it ranks among his best work as an author and hunter.

2 comments about The Hotel Book: Great Escapes Africa.

1. I really like this book. Kind of heavy and big. Not serious reading of course. Stunning photographs of places most of us can't afford or wouldn't want to. Lots of ideas for those who want to try to make their home look completely different than the norm. Author has selected diverse properties showing you that Africa has just as romantic getaways places as in Europe and the Far East.



2. These tantalizing pictures of beautiful African terrain paralize me with delight. Once I opened this treasure chest of African glory, I could not stop. Cover to cover, backwards and forwards, this is by far the best hotel book I've ever had the priveledge of having my hands touch. This has a prime place on my coffee table, and heart. I'm going to Africa, baby!!!! And I KNOW where i'm staying!

5 comments about Eyes over Africa.

1. A new and refreshing perspective on a beautiful place. "Eyes Over Africa" will be a centerpiece of my photo book collection. Absolutely breathtaking. I've always been a fan of aerial photography and this book has solidified it for me.



2. A truly beautiful book that gives the reader an immediate sense of the vast and immeasurable beauty of this grand continent. There is a vunerability in his work too. One gets the sense that even though the subject is grand and impressive it is all too fragile.



3. I can only but dream of seeing as much of Africa as Michael Poliza has, but this book carries me along on his journey. The level of detail is incredible - the more I look at the images, the more I find that surprises, delights or intrigues. Many pictures are pure abstract - and then I flip to the back of the book, only to find they are acute observations on some fascinating aspect of the natural world. Sadly, this detailed record is now vital in an age when global warming is changing the face of Africa so quickly. Perhaps these images will inspire us all to make a difference.



4. Eyes over Africa (Hardcover) by Michael Poliza (Author)
   
   I saw the bigger version of this book "Eyes over Africa (Hardcover) by Michael Poliza (Author) " in a store were it was displayed and I fell in love with it .
   This piece of art is one of those rare items you do not forget after seeing it .
   The amazing and breathtaking images were imprinted in my mind , I had to buy this book!



5. This is the most amazing book. The photography is extraordinary capturing the smallest details, such as the smile on someone's face who is waving @ you. It is a must have for anyone interested in Africa & makes one want to go there.

2 comments about Kruger National Park Travel Pack (Globetrotter Travel Packs).

1. For the most part, I think this a great book for anyone considering a trip to Kruger National Park in South Africa. It gives some basic information on the park, then lists good places to stay and/or camp, and also lists the best drives to take while you're there. However, without having visited Kruger, I cannot tell you how accurate the map, or the book, is. Also, while it does give a basic history of the park's creation, nothing is mentioned of Paul Kruger- the man after whom the park was named! That seems like a fairly major oversight to me. Also, the attractions are starred with one, two, or three stars, but there's no key or legend that explains what each of these designations actually means. Again, that seems like big oversight, even if it is self-explanatory. However, I would say that it isn't reason enough to pass-up the book. On the whole it's a nice little book. It's concise, well-written, and has a lot of information for the price. I wouldn't, however, rely on this book alone. I would definitely pick out a couple of other books to take along.



2. This was excatly what we were looking for in planning our visit to Kruger National Park. It gives suggestions for different routes you can travel throughout the various sections of the park and the animals that are prevalent in each area. Since we have limited time in Kruger, this will help us choose which areas to focus on. It has a lot of useful info and is small in size and therefore easy to bring along.

5 comments about Sands Of Silence: On Safari In Namibia.

1. Somehow each one of capsticks books good better each time. After reading four of his books previous, I do believe that this one is just as good if not better. Although I prefer Death in the long grass, and death in a lonely land, this book is very well written. Your hands sweat until the problem is taken care of. So finally to sum it all up it's another great read, from a great writer.



2. This book is a recounting of an elephant hunt that PHC took in the late 1980s. This edition is a nice hardback with lots of color photos. The DVD entitled Hunting the African Elephant with Peter Capstick could be considered a companion to this book (the safari described in this book was filmed - man of the scenes in the book are duplicated on film). The story covers PHCs tracking of various elephants, some of the daily ups and downs of camp life on safari, and a dramatic showdown at the end. There is a wealth of information in this book about a wide variety of topics beyond just hunting elephants. Capstick discusses the Bushmen of Southern Africa and how contact with modern society is dramatically changing thier culture, the poison used by the Bushmen on their arrows (it comes from grubs!), the dangers of the puff adder (what a nasty snake), the synergy between hunting and conservation, the effect that a .470 Nitro Express round has on a termite hill (!), and a bit about the anatomy of elephants. One of the less favorable reviews of this books states that it is less `exciting' than some of his earlier works. I would generally agree with this in the sense that this book is not filled with harrowing stories about hunting and safari that verge on tall-tales (although the first chapter about the leopard hunt is about as close as anyone is going to get and survive). It is a more measured, realistic recounting of a relatively modern safari. If you are looking for stories about dangerous encounters with big game, PHCs earlier works are probably more your cup of tea. If you want to know what it would be like to go on a modern safari without all the hyperbole associated with hunting dangerous game, this may be exactly what you are looking for. This is a good, if not uniquely outstanding, story of safari hunting.



3. If you like Peter Capstick you will like this book. He has a way of putting you there with the rest of his crew. I've read all but two of his books and have yet to find one that I didn't like....this one is no exception.



4. Too bad Capstick only lasted as long as he did. Ruark was also an early departure: hard to figure when big game hunting is such a physically demanding pursuit. Same to be said for Mike Mentzer, a former Mr. USA Bodybuilder (Mr. Heavy Duty), who died of a heart attack @ 50. This probably proves a genetic link.



5. This is one of my favorite Capstick books! Written so interestingly and captivatingly that you can't put it down. I absolutely loved this book, five full stars!

No comments about Fez Encounter (Best Of).

5 comments about Green Hills of Africa (Scribner Classics).

1. Hemingway once said that a writer needs a built-in- B.S. detector. He forgot to take it along on this safari, though he is willing to stand corrected occasionally by his then- wife Pauline for errors of 'diarrhea of the mouth'. In any case the old Hem style is truly at work here, and it supplies us with some truly beautiful and moving passages. It also supplies us with a capsule survey of American Literature as provided by the great Hem in which he finds Emerson, Thoreau and Whittier all mind and no body, Melville all rhetoric and and an imagined mystery not really there, and only Crane, Twain and James worth keeping. His most famous riff is of course the one in which he says all American Literature derives from a book called Huckleberry Finn which he then says is great to a certain point only. Old Hem in a wonderfully snobbish way tells us that America really has no literature and that we need someone with the discipline of Flaubert and the something else of Stendhal if we are to have one. No doubt he is the one who intends to supply the product.
   With all the posturing and the big - game hunting shtantz and the bull which accompanies it( And with it too the morally objectionable chest- beating at cutting down unarmed rhinos, lions, kudu etc. Hemingway is at times here at the top of his game. He was young and strong and relatively happy and had already made it as a writer though perhaps not in the way he ultimately wanted to.
   The dialogue between him and the other hunters is to my mind over-mannered stylized pretentious crap.
   But there are passages in the book which remind you that this is one of the truly great American writers, and one of , in my judgment, the best short story writers of them all.
   I want to cite a passage just to give the feeling of how good old Hem could be when he was good.
   
   " What I had to do was work. I did not care, particularly , how it all came out. I did not take my own life seriously anymore, any one else's life , yes, but not mine. They all wanted something that I did not want and I would get it without wanting it, if I worked. To work was the only thing , it was the one thing that always made you feel good , and in the meantime it was my own damned life and I would lead it where and how I pleased. And where I led it now pleased me very much. This was a better sky than Italy. The hell, it was. The best sky was in Italy and Spain and Northern Michigan and in the fall in the Gulf off Cuba. You could beat this sky; but not the country."



2. I found this writing less interesting than Rossevelt or Rourk work purchased at the same time. Perhaps the critics opinions are not always the best way to judge a work.



3. this book is annoying. hemmingway's ego is out of control as he tries to make a big man of himself by shooting his way through an array of animals that of course mean him no harm at all. though i love much of his early work, this book makes him seem a truly horrible person. no wonder he had a long string of failed relationships and ultimatley killed himself. who could live with a jackass like this. in the end, he couldn't even stand to live with himself. this is an almost worthless book.



4. some highlights: the swahili word "m'uzuri" meaning good or well reminds hemingway of missouri. such classical hemingway wry humor. also, "simba" is another swahili word that i had the pleasure of learning in this book, which reminds ME of the disney beloved character, of course. (and jason raize, who played the adult simba on broadway who died tragically too young--look him up, people!)
   
   the few pages in chapter one where hemingway met a guy in africa who has heard of hemingway from a lit magazine were excellent. it's hemingway pointing to the sources of great american writings. mark twain's huck topped this chart. moby-dick was mentioned, of course. and henry james (the "two most beautiful words in the english language" as the great--yet not really well known--american poet jim crenner says).
   
   having stated all this, i think this is one of hemingway's weakest books i've ever read. his occasional incredibly long sentences that he does so breathtakingly, magnificently well in other books don't seem to live up to the golden standard that i've seen. the details of the hunt are bloody. bloody boring, that is, at some points.
   
   this is hemingway's second attempt at non-fiction so i'd be interested in checking out his tome of a book on bull-fighting. tho, as any lover of hemingway's writings would know, my lukewarm reaction to "green hills" doesn't even put a tiny dent on my great admiration for this remarkable american writer.
   
   p.s: i finished this book on friday the 13th, june 2008. and how many chapters are there? i love coincidences like this.



5. This is one of Ernest Hemingways' best!(And there were some of his I did not like at all) You Must read this!

5 comments about Through the Dark Continent:Volume 1.

1. As noted already by another reviewer, if you do read this book, please read "King Leopold's Ghost" by Hochschild. The latter is a wonderfully written account of a nightmare society that was built with Stanley's willing cooperation (Stanleyville was named after him). Moreover Hochschild's account is the result of years of research in libraries to reconstruct a history that King Leopold, Stanley's backer, sought hard to obliterate. When you read headlines today about atrocities in the Congo today, be aware that Stanley is very directly responsible for what has happened. To give you an insight into the man, his contemporaries report that he enjoyed shooting Africans for sport. Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" is based on his own first-hand experiences in the Congolese slave society that Stanley helped to build. Too many good people sacrificed lives and careers to bring this to light, for people to now ignore the truth.



2. Startling book that should be read by everyone interested in the history of Central Africa. Probably, the greatest adventure book ever written.

   Interesting that Stanley, back in 1875, was aware that the Muslims from Arabia were "fanatical" as compared to other Muslims. To Arabian Muslims, everyone who didn't believe in the Koran was an infidel and should be killed.

   Have only read a little more than half the book and can hardly put it down. The previous two posts are way off base. Probably written by Muslims or those of African decent who have little pride in their history.




3. Of course this book of full of lies, but that is what makes it so great. If you are reading this book through the eyes of a historian, and can't get past the lies, your eyes aren't open all the way. Stanley's "Through the Dark Continent" shows us the European idealogy of African colonization. All his lies are not produced simply for the purpose of lying, or hiding the truth. He lies to give Europe what it wants: a perfect arena for the civilizing mission. These savages that throw themselves at the feet of Stanley are perfect for conversion. This book helped propel imperialization in its own time, and now shows us how they did such.
   When reading this book, use your knowledge of Stanley's deception to get in the mind frame of a late 19th century explorer, not just to experience the adventures; that is the true joy of reading primary sources.



4. Yes, this book is full of lies and it's the least PC thing I've ever read, and for that it is worthy of interest. The voice is the thing here, and it really adds a dimension of understanding how the Europeans could have been so stupid and so entrepreneurial at the same time.

   Of note: It is lacking in the delicious details that make up a good adventure read, a-la Cherry Gerards's "Worst Journey in the World." After reading this book, I know little about the lower classes on the expedition, nor have I learned anything about the how's and what's of the everyday life of the explorer. But what I did get was invaluable insight into the mind of a quite exceptional (American) imperialist of the time, unfiltered through the lenses of modern sensibilities or morals. Yes, Stanley was a colossal a-hole, but just because he is so objectionable doesn't make his accomplishments any less extraordinary or this book any less valuable.




5. The natives of Africa who worked with Stanley called him Bulla Marari - "The Rock Breaker", and with good reason. It is really very hard to appreciate Stanley's accomplishments from today's perspective. In 1874, Stanley left Zanzibar. By 1877, he had crossed the continent and reached the Atlantic Ocean. There is nothing modern man can do that would equal this accomplishment. Today's daring adventurers climb rocks or mountains or go bungee jumping. Stanley was traveling into the unknown. Not even space exploration today holds the quality of the unknown, as did Africa in Stanley's time. The hardship he faced during this time was unbelievable by today's standards. His circumnavigation of Lake Victoria alone contained a constant stream of near death scrapes that not only required staggering amounts of physical courage, but a mental toughness as well. A lot of the reviews I have read on this work focus on Stanley's political incorrectness. I urge a closer reading of the work. Stanley was actually extremely open minded and, more than anything, fair in his views and certainly very progressive. When discussing the character of the African natives, Stanley was of the opinion that "they are, in short, equal to any other race or colour on the face of the globe, in all the attributes of manhood." Stanley was an insightful enough observer to draw comparisons between African legends and Christian beliefs, giving each equal respect and recognizing their similarities. Stanley even at one point performs the ceremony of blood-brotherhood with the famous chief Mirambo, which involved the sharing of blood by mutual cuts on the leg. I would suggest that Stanley was not only a progressive during his own time, but for any time. He judged men simply by deeds, nothing more or less. If only Stanley recieved the same standard of judgement. In Stanley's time, so much was unknown, and the world seemed so large and rich. In our time, so much more is known, and yet our world has become so narrow, specialized and petty. There can never be another man like Stanley. We are all far more interested in watching a teenager eat a plate of worms on "Fear Factor."

1 comments about The Shadow of Imana (Caribbean Writers SeriesRG).

1. Véronique Tadjo writes about post-genocide Rwanda with a poet's senses and a journalist's grasp of detail. She witnesses gangs of orphans rummaging through the Kigali town dump, searching for anything hopeful. She discovers a new plague of AIDS, exacerbated by the epidemic of rapes during the troubles. She even visits Rilissa Prison, a place filled with accused génocidaires. Within the prison are seven thousand prisoners, isolated in sections, including Section 15, which houses two hundred and fifty-three women accused of crimes. A male prisoner in the Section For Those Condemned to Death or Life Imprisonment pleads, "Write it down. Tell everybody. And if you can, send us some notebooks and pens to write with" (100).
   While Tadjo offers a thin shred of hope that truth, that words, that justice might heal the situation that she saw in Rwanda, she also admits, "I have not recovered from Rwanda...We need to understand, to analyse the mechanisms of hatred, the words that create division, the deeds that put the seal on treason, the actions that unleash terror. We need to understand. Our humanity is in peril" (118).
   This volume is a significant witness, part of the Fest-Afrique project to examine and broadcast the aftermath of genocide in this small central African nation.

5 comments about Journey Without Maps (Penguin Classics).

1. I've read a number of Greene's novels, but this little travel book was equal to his other publications. As usual, his attention to detail, people, and culture creates wonderful images that bring us right to the Liberia of the 1930s. I shared the book with my sister who lived in Liberia for 27 yrs. and she was astonished at the accurate reporting. His prose is the best I've read for a book devoted to travel experiences.



2. Graham Greene was weary and appalled by the world atrocities of the early 20th century. He decided to go looking for life as basic and unspoiled as it was in the beginning. He chose to do so in Liberia, the African nation that had always been under black rule and not colonized or fleeced by Europe in modern times, though even it was a western construct, carved out of the continent by Americans as a homeland to repatriate freed slaves (or, as Greene says, a place to hide mulatto offspring). His trek on foot lasted the month of February 1935, and JOURNEY WITHOUT MAPS is his account of what became a transformative experience.
   
   The title is derived from the fact that there were no true maps available of Liberia at the time. He relied on a caravan of native porters and a lot of guestimations as to what direction and how far it would be from village to village. Once leaving the ragged European communities near the coast, he and his party plunged into that virgin world he sought. What he describes in exquisite detail is now familiar to us via decades of National Geographics but was then, to someone who had never left Europe at that point, a culture shock. He learned to leave behind his English insistence on time table and surprise at naked, ritually scarred bodies, the persistent sound of drums and the utter poverty of villages. He did not let go his own clothes or whiskey or discomfort over rats and insects. He is eventually waylaid by sickness, and in the healing process comes out with a new, more life affirming personal vision. Though it seems as if the details of the daily marches, the insects and discomforts are so much of the same, by the end you see the impact of the experience. He found what he went looking for and more, and he was not afraid to leave some mysteries unsolved.
   
   Greene's prose is clear as a bell and graceful. His observations of contemporary politics and missionaries, as well as the elasticity of truth in such a setting are valuable today, even seasoned with his candid biases.



3. This book provides and excellent background about traveling in the country of Liberia during the mid-19th century. A well written and interesting travelogue.



4. Graham Greene is a famous 20th C novelist ("The Orient Express") who also wrote a few travel accounts. This is his first, when he was 31 years old and left Europe for the first time in his life to experience the uncivilized "dark heart of Africa" by traveling through the back country of Liberia in 1935. It was a 4-week, 350-mile walk, mostly through an unchanging tunnel forest path, ending each day in a primitive village. He had about a dozen black porters who would carry him in a sling, although he walked much of the way.
   
   It's written with a very "old school" perspective, with one foot in the 19th (or 18th) century of romantic colonial imperialism, and one foot in the pre-war 1930s perspective of deterioration, rot and things falling apart. Heavy whiskey drinking, descriptions of the festering diseases of the natives, and plethora of bothersome insects, the run down European outposts and a motley cast of white rejects fill many descriptive pages.
   
   It reminds me a lot of Samuel Johnson's "Journals of the Western Isles" (1770s) when Johnson, who had never left England in his life, decided to go to Scotland to see what uncivilized people were like. Just as Johnson brought Boswell who would go on to write his own version of the trip, Greene brought his female cousin Barbara Greene (who remains unnamed in the book and largely unmentioned), who went on to write her own version of the trip in the 1970s called "Too Late to Turn Back", which mostly contradicts Grahams version.
   
   I can't say I totally enjoyed this book, I found Greene's attitude irritating - but therein lies its value, as a snapshot of prewar European zeitgeist. It is reminiscent of "Kabloona" (1940), another prewar travel account to an uncivilized place (Arctic Eskimos) by a young European aristocrat, who also is deeply inward looking and finds a new perspective and appreciation for the "cave man" people he meets. It's very much a transition period between prewar and post-war attitudes and the fluctuation's back and forth, the sense of things falling apart, but also new-found perspective, make it a challenging but interesting work.



5. In 1935, in the first flush of success of his first acclaimed novel, Greene took off to explore the concept of Africa, building on his notions of adventure from childhood reading. Identifying never-colonized Liberia as the most authentically uncivilized of African destinations, he set off, with his 23-year-old female cousin, a troop of native bearers and virtually no knowledge or experience of trekking. His four weeks of walking a twelve-inch path through the Liberian wilds, stopping at villages overnight, makes an interesting and engaging account, never sentimentalized, and with much thoughtful insight. He gives plentiful narrative detail, but always is overwhelmingly concerned with the psychic reverberations of Africa, and his perceptions of primitivism, in his own life and outlook. He is not unaware of the irony of his deliberate quest for un-self-consciousness flowing from external reflections on the "natural" human world. This book is an interesting counterpoint to observations of modern-day Liberia, for which progress over the ensuing seven decades remains elusive. A few more of the roads have been paved, but most of the country remains bare soil, now soaked in more blood and mayhem than the quaint natives and masked, raffia-skirted tribal "devils" of 1935 could have dreamed of.