What got you interested in Africa

[tigris115]

I like hearing people's stories so that explains this thread.

I know that Disney films are often looked down upon by hunters as they fuel the anti gravy train (this annoys me as well) but it was watching The Lion King so many times I could blindly quote the damn thing that got me interested in African wildlife. Even seeing the movie as a not so grown man, it's clear to see how powerful the film was from it's masterful animation to it's simple story that mixes Hamlet with flavors of the Old Testament.

I also read tons of animal books as a kid, always fascinated by animals like elephants, lions, and rhinoceros. Oh and frequent trips to the Bronx Zoo helped steer me towards animals too.

My first photo safari at Simbabili game lodge was an experience I'll never forget. Being that close to the animals I've read about and seen on the TV was nothing short of amazing.

Finally, my interest turned towards the model of safari hunting, something I've never really paid much positive or negative attention. I was interested in the model itself and as I went further down the rabbit hole, I started reading stories like Man Eaters of Tsavo and my go to audiobook: White Hunters. Hearing stories of those bordering on insanity/bravery tracking dangerous game in wild country while fighting for conservation was really moving to me and despite listening to it any time I go for a walk, stories of people like Poolman, Rundgren, Bali, and many more spoke to my wanting of a life outside of Long Island and wanting to do something grand with the remaining 3/4 of my time on this Earth.

So it's safe to say that for me, Africa is an obsession that runs in my veins. Hopefully, I'll be able to work there in game management or at least get into academia and study the sustainable utilization model.

 

[sestoppelman]

Reading Robert Ruarks Horn of the Hunter in the 60's, then later got hooked on Capstick books. Early movies like Hatari, King Solomon's Mines, Something of Value (book and movie), The Macomber Affair and other lesser known movies. I have a book that my dad had bought when I was a kid called Big Game Animals of the World by Russell B Aitken that is full of color pix of his hunting adventures in Africa and other places that had a big influence on me. I never dreamed I would ever make it, but in the early 80's ads for cheap buffalo hunts started hitting the gun and hunting mags and the prices were ridiculously low, so I started looking around and found a fairly low cost buff and plains game hunt in Tanzania (of all places!), and in 1985 I went for a 7 day hunt. Been now 8 times and still trying to decide what to do next, but age and the things that go with it are catching up little by little and the situation in Africa changing just as rapidly. So like the well known booking agent/hunter Jack Atcheson from Butte Montana used to say, "go now while you are physically able". I would add, while you can afford it!

 

[Newboomer]

I used to watch shows like Wild Kingdom, Cowboy in Africa and movies like Hatari and others growing up. I was and am still fascinated by the variety and sizes of African animals and always had fantasies of someday hunting there. I had a bucket list of species I just had to have and after my first safari three years ago I am incurably hooked and addicted.
The animals all seemed to be a lot smaller back then. I read and heard about huge elephants, crocs, hippos and rhinos. All the dangerous things that would grab me the minute I stepped outside and carry me off. Great buffalo that would charge unprovoked and do me in. I just had to see for myself if all those tales had any credence in the real world. They don't. Although, in real life most of the animals I have collected are somewhat larger than they look in movies and pictures and are more wary of me than I am of them.
After reading about African hunting, the tracking, endless stalks, the charges and near misses, the great trophies, it really lit the fire. It took a lifetime but I realized my dream.

 

[Timbo]

My parents were products of the British Raj in India with my Grandfathers owning tea plantations there. As the landed gentry, my parent's stories of hunting tigers, leopards, bear etc belonged to a different age which fired my imagination as a kid: and I'd sit there - enthralled - listening to every word and living the stories in my minds' eye. My parents even went on a lavish tiger hunt for their honeymoon! So from then onwards I resolved that one day, when I grew up, I'd hunt game just like they did. I avidly read everything on Indian hunting including Corbett and Anderson (who's daughter my mother still talks too).

But now India's well nigh impossible to hunt, but then...............Africa's still got lots of game to hunt, hey? So I extended my library with a decent cross section of African hunting, which now spans the bulk of my collection.

It's now been a long trek and quite a few years since that kid decided to hunt Africa, but now with a number of DG and PG taken so far, I'm still chasing my dream as - FYI - in 10 days time I'm again off for buffalo, and gemsbok and eland etc!!

Woohoo!!

 

[Trogon]

My parents had a subscription to National Geographic for years, always enjoyed reading the stories about animals on other continents. The also purchased a Nat Geo book from 1969, "The Wild Realm, Wildlife of East Africa". I just got an copy for $4. The center pages are what really fascinated me. I think I had nearly all of the Capstick books at one time but lost them to water damage. Some of Ivan Sanderson's books of animal collecting in West Africa and South America were pretty neat also.
I think the Cincinnati Zoo (my local zoo) may have been the first US zoo to have Bongo antelope, or to breed them (not 100% on that). Absolutely stunning animals to see in real life.

 

[Kazinor]

I was obsessed with the nature and animals of Africa. I got my brilliant impressions from the National Geographic as well. It bewitched and overwhelmed me and it became my life dream to see with my own eyes the beauty of that far land. When still a kid, I begged my parents to visit the Zoos that were at least in hand distance to our town.

 

[Fred Gunner]

My Father read Hemingway and Teddy Roosevelt to me one chapter each night a bed time...No Dr. Seuss for this guy