What First Spurred Your Interest in Africa?

I attended a church basement wild game feed. There was a presentation about hunting in Africa. My son, at age 11, asked if we could hunt in Africa. When I suggested it to my father, he was all for it. (He had traveled in Africa in the 1960’s). The progression was absolutely fascinating. Lots of reading, all of Capstick, two trips to SCI and finally a father, son, Grandson hunt. Even with all of the reading, the experience was much better than I imagined.

Chalk up another one for Mutual of Omaha. Came on on Saturday mornings back in the early '70s. Would watch every weekend.

Wilbur Smith and Paul Simon's Graceland album sparked a passion for Southern Africa in my teens. I managed to get an 8 month job in South Africa in the 90s while studying geological engineering. I loved the country and did lots of bird watching and game viewing, but wasn't yet into hunting.

In the years since I've pined to go back. Capstick helped drive an interest in hunting there (and I had started hunting here in Canada in the meantime).

Planning to go within a couple years.

Hatari and my dads friend who had tons of Africa Taxidermy.

JES Adventures said:

There were so many influences, one built on the next.

I used to spend Sunday evenings watching Mutual of Omaha‘s Wild Kingdom with my Grandmother. That got me intrigued about wildlife and the wild, unspoiled places in the world.

Next, I went on a grade school field trip to the Buckhorn Hall of Horns at the Lonestar brewery in San Antonio Texas. There I saw the first shoulder mounted elephant I had ever seen in my life - I was hooked! The museum was amazing with hundreds of species, both life size and shoulder mounts. At that point, I put 2 & 2 together and realized that my dream and goal was to go on an African Safari.

Finally, in high school I would regularly buy Sports Field Magazine just to read John Jobson. His stories about African hunting sealed the deal and I was there on my first Safari at 22 years of age. BTW -All on my own as we are from humble, working class stock. I worked two jobs while in high school and college.

My Mother always told me if you have a goal, write it down and read it every day. I bought a map of Africa, pinned it to the wall next to my bed when I was 18 years old and looked at it every morning when I woke up . It only took me four years to get there.

God is great!

Click to expand...

Ditto most of your post! I was 25 when I went th first time.
Philip

Got a subscription to Outdoor Life in the 70's. There was a monthly column titled Ivory, Apes, and Peacocks written by a guy named Peter Hathaway Capstick. I later found out he had written some books. After reading Death in the Long Grass I was hooked. I have all kinds of Africa hunting books now; J.A. Hunter, Ruark, Rushby, Lyell, etc. Going on my first trip to SA this year. Can't wait.

Cool, I didn't know Capstick had a column with that name. He would've got that from a poem that was once pretty famous, standard fare in English classes. It's called Cargoes by John Masefield.

'Cargoes'
Quinquireme of Nineveh from distant Ophir,
Rowing home to haven in sunny Palestine,
With a cargo of ivory,
And apes and peacocks,
Sandalwood, cedarwood, and sweet white wine.

Stately Spanish galleon coming from the Isthmus,
Dipping through the Tropics by the palm-green shores,
With a cargo of diamonds,
Emeralds, amethysts,
Topazes, and cinnamon, and gold moidores.

Dirty British coaster with a salt-caked smoke stack,
Butting through the Channel in the mad March days,
With a cargo of Tyne coal,
Road-rails, pig-lead,
Firewood, iron-ware, and cheap tin trays.

Capstick and Boddington for me. I read Capstick in high school, fascinated, but never believing that I would ever be able to go to Africa. Years later, several articles by Boddinton in Petersons Hunting brought me to the realization that I could go. That was the biggest, hardest step - realizing that I could, and actually doing it.

Mutual of Omaha, Daktari, Hatari, magazine articles. I watched the Sportsmans Channel til they took it off. Avidly devoured all the African shows. I joined AH and started reading everything on all the posts. A fire started burning inside about 3 years ago. I was talking to a salesman at a gun store about Africa and he made up my mind for me. When he said it was no more expensive than a US hunt for one species and I could take several, well, that did it. And he just happened to have a Winchester m70 Safari Express in 375HH in the rack. I went to RSA that next April and I'm going back this April for my third hunt.

well, it probably started with tarzan, then mutual of omaha, hatari, the american sportsman. then graduated to reading capstick and raurk (not in that order). africa is more than a place, it is a dream that finally becomes substance for some. i am one of the lucky ones.

Back of the classroom reading Sports Afield, Outdoor Life and in the library checking out any books I could find on Africa hunting. Finally made it in 2013 at aged 66.

My fascination with hunting Africa started very young. My dad always had alot of the old books from Africa. He would read them and tell us stories about it. By junior high he had gotten us alot of the old books for ourselves. Mainly JA Hunter, Ruark, Bell, Taylor, and Capstick books. I'm 32 years old now, and hopefully I'll get the chance by the time I'm 50. Well that's the plan anyways.

I went on a phot Safari to Botswana in 1996, I picked up an old paperback copy of Death in the Long Grass by Capstick for my trip. Many visits to the Holland and Holland and Holland store for the books and now I am on my way to my first African hunt next year.

barbells.and.arrows said:

Watching Ghosts And the Darkness with my dad 40000 times as a kid.

Click to expand...

Fun fact, I saw that in the movies the night before I flew to Africa for my first Safari . Interesting when you hear the lions at night in Savuti after having seen that film.

jeanes said:

As others have said, the movies, tv shows and books, but it really started for me with Jack Connor in Outdoor Life

Click to expand...

Jack created a monster in me. He created a lot of “monsters”.

How I missed this thread when it came out, I don’t know.
First came shooting. My dad wanted my younger brother and me to learn how to safely handle a gun. He bought a .22 rifle, a Browning T-bolt and signed me up for a junior target club. This is when I was 11. I definitely caught the bug. Then as a newly minted gun nut, I started to read everything about guns I could get my grubby little hands on. I already had a lot of copies of Outdoor Life on hand as I was an avid fisherman and went back and started reading the Shooting column by Jack O’Connor.
GAME OVER... I knew I wanted to take up hunting. In one of the articles, Jack wrote of a cape buffalo hunt. That totally captured my attention. I think I was 15. I began to read everything I could on hunting, but particularly African hunting. O’Connor, Keith, Capstick, Page, Hagel, Carmichel...
When I was old enough, I started hunting. As nobody in the family really hunted, I was basically self taught. From age 20-33, I hunted somewhere in the US, every chance I could. Did I ever think Africa would come to fruition? No. But one can dream.
After I got divorced in ‘93, I set two goals: Get to Africa to hunt cape buff by age 55 and retire before 60. I pulled off both.

I too missed this thread along the way. It all started with my uncle taking me hunting as a youngster with the same 410 single barrel both his sons(my older cousins) had learned with. Neither of them really took to hunting but there was something so cool about following Uncle Ed and his bird dog Pete after East TN quail. From there we moved to ducks, geese and then deer. The die was set. Long after my first book on Africa was Spiral Horned Dreams by Terry Weighland. I think I paid $75 and that was a lot for a book, but I realized that there were actually books written about Africa and hunting. Until then, I never read. From there, I bought every book I could find on Africa and read voraciously. I guess I have some 200 + by now. I started reading African fiction by Wilbur Smith, which helped me understand the history of the whole of Africa( since I probably slept through World Geography). Finally, in 1999, some customers and friends put a trip together to South Africa. I was totally inflicted with the African bug. One of my friends and I on that trip vowed to return, and we did so making the rounds through SA, Zambia and Tanzania multiple times. As I have said elsewhere on AH, it is the continent, the countries, the people, the flora and fauna and experiences that keep me going back. The hunting, which is my first love, is just a great reason to experience all the other things I cherish so much. It also helps to have an understanding wife of 32 years who does not give a flip about hunting, but knows that I am happiest when hunting or fishing. God bless her because she has put up with so much!

I never had any desire to visit Africa, let alone hunt there. My dad invited me to come along on his retirement safari this year and I got a little more excited as I read and prepared for it. Partway through our 2-week hunt I was already trying to figure out how to pay off the safari I was on so that I could get started on planning the next one!

I love your question. I was first introduced to RSA hunting during a business trip about 10 years ago. . I was working in Port Elizabeth and had some free time during a weekend to hunt with a few of the locals. I had the opportunity to shoot my first worthog and enjoy it over an open fire for lunch. A few years later I won an auction at the local NWTF banquet . I had a chance to experience 5 days of hunting In the Limpopo area and took several nice African trophies. Since then I have been back several times with my hunting buddies to experience hunts I will never forget.
I will be in RSA in couple of weeks for an other hunting adventure!!!

Reading all those hunting magazines in the 1980’s as a teenager.