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4.16 AVERAGE
4.16 AVERAGE
Simba is not a cuddly singing cartoon. He will kill you.
Everything in Africa will kill you. Lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos, hippos, flies, other guys with malfunctioning firearms, hyenas. Probably a lot of other things.
Exciting stories.
Everything in Africa will kill you. Lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos, hippos, flies, other guys with malfunctioning firearms, hyenas. Probably a lot of other things.
Exciting stories.
This was an interesting book to read after having been to Africa. I'm not sure if things have changed drastically in the 30 or so years of publishing this book or if I experienced something completely different. There was far more danger in this book than on the safaris that we went on. Capstick tells stories of his life as a Great White Hunter all over Africa. He hunted everything you could hunt and would tell how each of the animals could kill you. There were man-eating lions and leopards as well as man-crushing elephants, Cape Buffalos and rhinos. It is certainly a different view of hunting for sport.
His writing is rather humorous. He seems to have a sense of humor though I wondered at times if he got hold of some twisted thesaurus. He would describe "humidity that hung like a barber towel" and a "shriek that would curdle Bernaise sauce". The book is littered with these metaphors and similes. My favorites were within sentences of each other: "As the ammonia of his urine slaps you in the face, like a public men's room in Atlanta in August", and "You have the same feel of rising panic as realizing your fly is open while lecturing to your wife's garden club."
His writing is rather humorous. He seems to have a sense of humor though I wondered at times if he got hold of some twisted thesaurus. He would describe "humidity that hung like a barber towel" and a "shriek that would curdle Bernaise sauce". The book is littered with these metaphors and similes. My favorites were within sentences of each other: "As the ammonia of his urine slaps you in the face, like a public men's room in Atlanta in August", and "You have the same feel of rising panic as realizing your fly is open while lecturing to your wife's garden club."
adventurous
dark
informative
fast-paced
Normally this is not the type of book that I would read but it came highly recommended from my brother and I was curious about it due to the fact that the movie The Ghost in the Darkness is loosely based The Man-eaters of Tsavo which is referenced a few times in the book. In addition to being curious about it for that reason, learning about the dangers of certain animals is also of interest to me. Peter Capstick is a great writer and does a superb job of keeping you engaged in what is happening. Personally, I have no aspirations to try big-game hunting and I do not regularly engage in traditional hunting. However, I can appreciate Peter Capstick’s clientele whether they are engaging in their own version of a hero’s journey or are wanting to come face-to-face with their own mortality. I believe those reasons to be why hunting for sport is so popular. Our ancestors were forced to hunt for sustenance and sometimes were forced to defend themselves from being hunted. While weapons have evolved and the need to defend ourselves from creatures as often has dissipated, I can understand the urge to engage in big-game hunting as a way to try to connect with our basic instincts.
Joe thought this should be my book to read at his house (since he's reading the Series of Unfortunate Events at mine). I thought it would be about hunting, but so far it's a series of unfortunate events (read: true, and quite graphic, stories of people getting maimed/eaten alive by lions). I now have even less of a desire to go on a safari in Africa.
Josh read this out loud to me, and we both really liked it. It's the story of a white hunter and his adventures and close calls with deadly animals in the African bush. The writing is chock full of hilarious metaphors and similies. The book is broken into several sections, one for each deadly animal, and focuses mostly on hunting down maneaters in each species. A little gory, and I'm sure Josh edited a bit for me, but I really enjoyed it.
Death in the Long Grass is an outstandingly written account of the author's real-life adventures and experiences in Africa guiding big game hunters on safari. His stories are categorized by the different types of the most dangerous game of the African bush -- the lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, crocodile, hippo, and the Cape buffalo, which many consider to be the most dangerous of all.
Capstick's colorful descriptions make their way smoothly into the stories and he takes the reader deep into the intensity and danger of the hunt. His eye for detail is grounded in his years of actual experience as a hunter and guide, and he comments authoritatively (albeit briefly) on the weapons used for the hunt. For those of us who have neither the time nor the wherewithal to go on safari, Capstick's books are terrific armchair adventures. Imagine that you are sitting on the veranda of a safari camp kitchen, with a cool drink at hand, your heavy rifle leaning against the wall nearby, and the sounds of the jungle floating around you. Open the book and you will quickly be immersed in the hunt.
Capstick's colorful descriptions make their way smoothly into the stories and he takes the reader deep into the intensity and danger of the hunt. His eye for detail is grounded in his years of actual experience as a hunter and guide, and he comments authoritatively (albeit briefly) on the weapons used for the hunt. For those of us who have neither the time nor the wherewithal to go on safari, Capstick's books are terrific armchair adventures. Imagine that you are sitting on the veranda of a safari camp kitchen, with a cool drink at hand, your heavy rifle leaning against the wall nearby, and the sounds of the jungle floating around you. Open the book and you will quickly be immersed in the hunt.
I have been a fan of the hunting tales for quite sometime now. Somehow the idea of man taking on an animal in the animal's terrain and on the animal's terms armed with nothing but a rifle is an appealing and at the same time dangerously satisfying one for me.
The Africa of the old when animals rules the continent and humans were but intrusions onto the land makes the stage for the story. Most of the tales are tied onto the pole of sport hunting. Africa's deadly dozen are expolred in more detail too, with enough anecdotes to keep the gore lover satisfied. I cannot compare this to the finesse of the tales of Jim Corbett or Kenneth Anderson, the terrain, the animals and their brutality are but totally different. Capstick writes with humor in the face of danger ( which he might not have felt then..). At times the narrative feels a bit stretched with unneccesary details being poured in...however it all adds up with the anecdotes.
Recommended.
The Africa of the old when animals rules the continent and humans were but intrusions onto the land makes the stage for the story. Most of the tales are tied onto the pole of sport hunting. Africa's deadly dozen are expolred in more detail too, with enough anecdotes to keep the gore lover satisfied. I cannot compare this to the finesse of the tales of Jim Corbett or Kenneth Anderson, the terrain, the animals and their brutality are but totally different. Capstick writes with humor in the face of danger ( which he might not have felt then..). At times the narrative feels a bit stretched with unneccesary details being poured in...however it all adds up with the anecdotes.
Recommended.
Death in the Long Grass is an outstandingly written account of the author's real-life adventures and experiences in Africa guiding big game hunters on safari. His stories are categorized by the different types of the most dangerous game of the African bush -- the lion, leopard, elephant, rhino, crocodile, hippo, and the Cape buffalo, which many consider to be the most dangerous of all.
Capstick's colorful descriptions make their way smoothly into the stories and he takes the reader deep into the intensity and danger of the hunt. His eye for detail is grounded in his years of actual experience as a hunter and guide, and he comments authoritatively (albeit briefly) on the weapons used for the hunt. For those of us who have neither the time nor the wherewithal to go on safari, Capstick's books are terrific armchair adventures. Imagine that you are sitting on the veranda of a safari camp kitchen, with a cool drink at hand, your heavy rifle leaning against the wall nearby, and the sounds of the jungle floating around you. Open the book and you will quickly be immersed in the hunt.
Capstick's colorful descriptions make their way smoothly into the stories and he takes the reader deep into the intensity and danger of the hunt. His eye for detail is grounded in his years of actual experience as a hunter and guide, and he comments authoritatively (albeit briefly) on the weapons used for the hunt. For those of us who have neither the time nor the wherewithal to go on safari, Capstick's books are terrific armchair adventures. Imagine that you are sitting on the veranda of a safari camp kitchen, with a cool drink at hand, your heavy rifle leaning against the wall nearby, and the sounds of the jungle floating around you. Open the book and you will quickly be immersed in the hunt.
One of my favorite books, ever. I've read it many times. Absolutely riveting. Truth is far stranger than fiction, particular the chapter about the woman who tried to bite him.