- Joined
- Jan 12, 2010
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- SCI, DU, Pheasants Forever
- Hunted
- Canada, United States, Zimbabwe, South Africa (Eastern Cape; Northern Cape; North West Province, Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo), Namibia, Cameroon, Benin, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mozambique, Argentina
I'm not sure to whom this question was directed, so I will assume it's an open question. In saying that, the following is my answer, and I can't vouch for anyone else.
If memory serves, I've hunted in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Benin, Cameroon and Ethiopia, speaking only of african countries. I've been to many of those countries multiple times, particularly Zimbabwe and South Africa (a total of something 16 safaris). I like to get to know as much as I can about the areas I'm going to hunt in, starting with the flora and fauna. For example, I was really tickled to be hunting in fever tree forests in South Africa, having read about them as a young boy (Rudyard Kipling, Just So Stories). I've been equally fascinated hunting the rain forests of Cameroon (what we'd call jungle), thinking about the Tarzan movies I saw as a youngster, and drinking fresh water from vines my Bako trackers cut for themselves and me). I think I could pass a mid-level natural history exam, especially as it relates to the animals in the areas I've hunted. I've often annoyed a certain PH I hunt with frequently by asking him the Latin taxonomic names of every animal I see and those I shoot. I generally get more than he does. And, as some here will know, I can argue about how many true subspecies of bushbuck there are in Africa, as well as what really constitutes a spiral horn slam.
But enough bragging. On to the particular question.
Just as I want to know what I can about the natural history of the places I'm visiting, I want to know just as much, if not more, about the overall history and politics of those places. So, for example, I can tell you probably more than you'd like to know about the exploration of Africa by Europeans - what some call the "Victorian encounter with Africa." I read lots of adventure books as a child and this led me to begin collecting books by the early explorers of Africa - Richard Francis Burton (not the actor); Henry Stanley; Livingston; Baker; Mungo Park; John Hanning Speke; and others, as well as more modern books, such as The Uganda Protectorate (and many other books by the prolific) by Sir Harry Johnston (an excellent set) and King Leopold's Ghost, as well as Congo by Van Reybrouk. So overall, I believe I'm quite familiar with the colonial history of the continent, extending into the modern day. Much of this interest, by the way, has both driven and been a consequence of my interest in hunting.
Now, with respect to more modern times and political conditions, I've informed myself about Paul Biya, the longest serving non-royal government leader in the world (were you aware of that?), and how he's either addressing or exacerbating for political purposes the issues facing Cameroon, including linguistic issues; I have read a great deal about the history of Rhodesia, both before the bush war, during the bush war (I could probably narrate the Green Leader raid for you), and since the bush war, and I have followed the economic development of the country since about 2005 (a great modern laboratory for the impacts of hyper-inflation - especially fascinating since I have a degree in economics). I know a great deal, probably too much, about the late unlamented Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe, as well as his successor, the felicitously named "Crocodile."
When I arrived in Ethiopia it was in the midst of a state of emergency, so I could bore you with the issues facing that country, as well as its history from the time of the Emperor Haile Selassie (the Lion of Judah, who was also the successor in an unbroken line back to the Queen of Sheba, until his overthrow by the Marxist Mengistu). I am a bit less familiar with the current political situation in Benin, although I think I could carry on a reasonable conversation about it, and about the impacts of Lhasa fever outbreaks as well as the incursions by Islamic terrorist in Burkina Faso..
I have learned much of the history of South Africa by reading fiction (Wilbur Smith); I am familiar with the history of the Boer war (an ancestor, whose military portrait I have, fought in it) and I've visited some of the scenes of great battles of the Anglo-Zulu wars (Rork'e Drift and Isandlwana for example) as well as the Boer war; I have familiarized myself with the history of apartheid, I've read Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela, I've visited the Mandela Capture site and museum; and I could go on. I've learned which Afrikaans singers I like and which I don't, and I've picked up a bit of essential Afrikaans, including very useful words like doos, because I find the culture fascinating. I have a pretty good understanding of the politics of South Africa (to the extent any foreigner can) since Mandela was President (one of his former security officers was on a hunt with mega ndwe spoke about him long into the night).
I'm afraid I've become quite boring. The reason I have gone on at such length - and believe me, I could have gone on much longer - is that I was trying to make a point. No, not that I'm particularly brilliant (for what it's worth, my wife, whose judgement I respect, says I'm not), but that I have learned many of these things because of, and through, hunting. Without hunting, my knowledge of the world, both natural and political, would be shamefully deficient. This, in part, is what hunting has done for me. I am proud of it, just as I am proud to be a hunter.
