Author: Alec McCallum
Publisher: Trophy Room Books, Mar 2004
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 1-882458-36-2
Synopsis
Alec has participated in the hunting industry for 40 years. Here, he talks about hunting in Kenya, Tanzania, Central African Republic (CAR), Sudan, South Africa & Zambia. Foreword by Pat Cottar. Signed & numbered, 235 B&W illus; 8.5x11 inches, 232 pgs.
More Information
Limited Edition: 1000. Signed and numbered.
We have selected an African patterned cloth as the background for this book?s cover because the McCallums have been a thread through the history of Africa and professional safari hunting for almost seventy-five years. As Pat Cottar states in her Foreword to this professional hunter?s journey of discovery throughout Africa?s great gamelands, ?Alec McCallum Sr. (the author?s grandfather) was one of the first settlers in Kenya?s Rift Valley back in 1908.? Alec McCallum?s ?Uncle Ben? may not be known to many hunters by name, but he is the very familiar third man in the well known photo of Philip Percival and Ernest Hemingway, the latter with a very large set of kudu horns. McCallum, Fourie, Hamman, Cottar and more?a host of great professionals have woven their influence through the McCallum hunting heritage.
Because of his hunting background, Alec McCallum has witnessed firsthand many of the changes in the world of professional hunting in Africa. Himself a professional hunter with licenses and experience in no fewer than six hunting countries, Alec has participated in the hunting industry for almost forty years. In this book he talks about hunting in Kenya, Tanzania, Central African Republic (CAR), Sudan, South Africa and Zambia.
From 1901 to about 1980, most ?safari men? had only a hunting camp, a couple of rifles and a home that they barely saw. They spent most of their time looking after the welfare of their guests, facing all kinds of dangers and loving it. They were governed by a love of personal freedom, personal pride, keeping their word and playing by the rules?many of which were not written down. In times of trouble, all rallied around the one in need. Some have compared the old White Hunter to the working cowboy of the American West.
But, like the old west, Old Africa is fading away. Competition for clients, and time available, has changed not only the marketing, but also some of the hunting. Each year there are fewer and fewer open and free spaces. Soon the old professional White Hunter might become recent history, all in the name of ?progress.?
While several have tried to tell the story of changing Africa, none have approached it in the manner of Alec McCallum. In My AFRICA: A Professional Hunter?s Journey of Discovery, he presents not only a picture of safari life and hunting but also a glimpse into the preparations for a hunt, the establishment of hunting camps, selection of areas, carving out of tracks through game areas, etc. We see fi rsthand the change from ?foot? safaris to mechanized safaris, from long drawn out affairs to much shorter ones.
The photos?235 of them?take us on a pictorial journey through this changing big game panorama. There are great old time photos that even modern hunters love to look at, pictures of the various camps (construction does differ in each country), and the modern photos showing some great trophies and hunting country in which the game abounds. We?ve even located some fabulous game location maps from the golden age of safari hunting.
Throughout the chapters (Heritage, East African Apprentice, Tanzania, Sudan, South Africa, Zambia, and Central African Republic) the panorama of African big game hunting unfolds. Anne McCallum adds a view ?From the Wife?s Pen? that is really a tribute to the women who remain behind to back up their men in the field.
This is a story of Africa and African big game hunting that fewer and fewer living professional hunters are able to tell. We are pleased to present My Africa: A Professional Hunter?s Journey of Discovery for your reading enjoyment. Only someone with four generations of professional hunting in his blood could craft this intriguing big game hunting book.
