I do not know dawn orange overalls and white-tailed deer, and freezing the feet of the lake. I know I'm waiting in a tent for the big cat from the stench of dead zebra is to be tempted of the baobabs. At that time, hunters respect animals more than people, and have never killed as many animals as the law allows. The fact is that poachers have killed more than animals.
Once upon a time in East Africa
If you have a license for something that wasto kill. If these securities were limited, and were monitored. No one dared to slaughter so poachers do today. In those days, ran the British Kenya and accelerate the poacher caught unlucky to kill them. Africans have had to eat the utmost respect for animals and just killed. The Masai do not hunt animals because they have never eaten meat. Their livestock was their only wealth. They lived on the blood from large veins in the neck, mixed with cow's milk. Only the whiteThe man must have his trophies.
Long after Karen Blixen wrote: "Out of Africa", long after Hemingway Safari, Joy Adamson and Elsa the lion made headlines in "Born Free", officials have met in what used to clean the city Flower Jacaranda Nairobi work, a very peaceful place to live. Today I will not go alone at night. Today, the government of the post-show nomadic Masai in huts where they lost their dignity and forced forced subsistenceAgriculture. Can a leopard change its spots?
The Kenyan, who once knew me
The time and place are always gone like a dream. In my dream my friends are Kikuyu native African and the privilege of second-and third-generation white Kenyan, who come from Britain and other European countries. If you're like me, you learn Swahili. Kenya, a white boy of fifteen, he learns from his Kikuyu friends, such as the triangular head of a lion's ear, deep in the tall grass, blonde, where the big cats, Lazy Townaround. When the boy grows his parents coffee and tea plantations in the highlands, and inherits the drier areas of less than sisal plantations. It has a stable of horses on the track Nairobi, and learn to hunt. Some of my closest friends are professional hunters who take wealthy tourists on safari. In the holidays I go to a guest. This is the beginning of my safari in Africa, education, the means for hunting in the wild with their own tent with a comfortable hot bathat the end of the day to help in a big bowl of steaming water.
Unlike the character played by Clint Eastwood held in "White Hunter, Black Heart", professional hunters to keep the label rigorous and humane approach to the big game. This means that knowledge of the species better than he knows himself, his habits, what time of day, hunting to wait as long as you can before you eat again, if a lion or an elephant is pregnant is a rogue dangerous. By far the most importantto learn what I love and the spirit of these wonderful animals. I can not speak of a professional hunter, who does not mourn the death of every single species. Most tourists who come for the thrill of killing and loud applause from the Long Bar of the 'Norfolk Hotel. But no sacrifice in thanksgiving for the Nobel Prize, that his life depends on the focus of a rich man.
The romance of the professional hunter
Have you seen the movie, read books, fall in love with actressesProfessional hunter. Edgar de Bono, one of the most professional hunters in Kenya and my friend, was the epitome of the image, and left a trail of broken hearts.
I had the beating of my heart, so big, macho Edgar with Northern Italian blue eyes, was my teacher, my lover. He taught me the fine line between sport of hunting and sport of an ego trip. He taught me about the different types of ammunition used in rifles and hunting areas of Africa. There is so much toand I know that most people have forgotten, because I'm not a hunter. In addition to single-versus double-trigger is double guns and different calibers and sizes as the big guns, 450 magnum, its weight will kill you. Elephants, rhinos, hippos, buffaloes, lions, and: E 'for the "Big Five" has meaning. Edgar gave me soon with a hole half old light 375 not too light, not too heavy and a recoil that I have left to do massage therapy. Aware there is nothingHyenas worse than a hunter, amateur wounds an animal, I have never even fired a baby hyena, and I do not know how.
The Good Old Rifle
However, I have a poultry farm for 12 gauge shotgun. One day, I on my rifle three pharaoh who heads pop-up and held in a thicket. Tricky and fast critters were so close, I thought of hitting at least one of them, which I did. The bird was one of the many dishes served in the dining tent that night, expertly prepared by ourAfrican cooks, knew what to do with Grand Marnier.
Some of my favorite things
Camping at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro before global warming, when there was snow on top. Climbing them. Sunrises and sunsets, you ruined my life. cold nights under the African stars as big as diamonds. Camp Fire gabfests farms are headed that day aboard Edgar's Land Rover and miles of savannah. Lion in the night, when I ran into the bathroom (WC-British) in the dark. The first words Ilearned Swahili: Jambo Memsaab / Bwana. Memoirs of an Africa that I once knew.
You can still go on safari, shooting with a camera into the bush and the experience of a lifetime. Go now before it's all just a dream.
Here comes the
Mashatu Game Reserve in Botswana, South Africa.
Rattray's Mala Mala Game Reserve, bordering the Kruger National Park in South Africa. The same company owns both. They offer very comfortable camp facilities or luxurymost important structures. Remember, prices include lodging, meals and great to see the animals up close. Even if you can not afford, you will see these places on the Web and the dream of Africa. I still do.
"Simplicity-Courage-Humor-Soul" ®
