A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa, Frederick Courteney Selous

One of my favorite genres of literature is adventure literature, especially when the subject is Africa.  A Hunter’s Wanderings in Africa is an excellent example.

I have begun reading another book by H. Rider Haggard, King Solomon’s Mines, in which the main character, Allan Quartermain is based on Selous.  I am looking forward to doing a review of this piece of fiction because only a few pages in it promises to be a great story.  

Frederick Selous is generally acknowledged as the greatest African hunter of all time.  He also served in the British Army under Cecil Rhodes and was instrumental in opening Rhodesia after the winning of the Second Matabele War.  He was a close personal friend of Theodore Roosevelt, and the African wing of the British Museum of Natural History is named after him.  The largest nature reserve in the world, Tanzania’s Selous Reserve, is also named after him.  Roosevelt said, “there was never a more welcome guest at the White House than Frederick Selous.”  Roosevelt added that “it is well for any country to produce men of such a type; and if there are enough of them the nation need fear no decadence.”

A Hunter’s Wanderings in Africa was first published in 1881; it is an excellent example of nonfiction adventure literature and a must read for anyone who is serious about big game hunting in Africa and for anyone interested in the history of Africa, especially hunting on the dark continent during the golden age of African Hunting.